JOSEPH AND JOSEPHINE [TICHY] DIVIS
Joseph Divis, Sr, was seventeen when he came to this country in the
company of his brother and sister-in-law, John and Antonia Hvezda
Divis. He was born March 12, 1856, in the village of Srcany, Tabor,
Bohemia, and his parents had died young. His mother Katie
Brichovoska (according to his marriage certificate) died shortly
after his birth, and his father, John Divis, died when Joseph was
eight. His brother then took him in.
In 1873 the Divises emigrated. According to the story Joseph Divis
told, the steamship on which they traveled out of Hamburg, Germany,
the “Columbus,” was seized by a ship flying a German flag and taken
back to port where the passengers were interned for 18 weeks. (It
sounds as though they might have been placed under quarantine.) At
the end of this time, they sailed forth once again and arrived in
Baltimore, Maryland.
The Divises went on to Chicago where Joseph remained until 1877,
working at various jobs. His brother John had gone with his wife and
their two daughters, Antonia and Anna, to Iowa, where they farmed,
for the most part in the Pocahontas area. Joseph joined them here in
1877 and worked out as a hired hand.
In 1880 the Divises moved to Knox County, Nebraska. Joseph took up a
homestead a little to the southwest of the future town of Verdigre,
adjacent to his brother’s claim. On December 12, 1881, he married
Josephine Tichy. She was the daughter of Frantisek and Mary Novak
Tichy, late of Jankov u Votice, Tabor, Bohemia, now living on a farm
in Sparta Township.
There were six known children from this marriage. Adolph was born
January 8, 1889, and died unmarried March 25, 1956. Joseph, Jr. was
born March 11, 1890. On August 8, 1934, he married Rose Kotrba Tichy,
widow of his cousin, Albin Tichy. The couple had one son, Donald.
Joseph Jr., died July 21, 1967. Helen, born November 5, 1893, was
married on November 21, 1911, to August Psikal, who was for a time a
tailor in Verdigre. The couple’s children were Linhard, Otrto,
George, August, Elizabeth, and Helen. She died in July of 1976.
Albina was born October 16, 1896. On May 1. 1917, she married Emond
Kotrous. The couple’s only child was a still-born son. Emond died of
influenza in 1918 and on June 7, 1921, Albina married Anton Kotrous,
a half-uncle of her first husband. The couple had three sons, Alvin,
Melvin and Leo. She died August 26, 1977. Charles was born in 1900
and died in 1902. Edward was born March 3, 1902. He was first
married to Mildred Malcolm Carlson in September of 1924. The
children of this marriage included Lucille, Darlene, Dewaine, Edna,
June Ann, Alonzo, and Richard. The first Mrs. Divis died in 1948 and
on April 17, 1979, he married Mae Rubidor. Charles died on January
8, 1984.
Joseph Divis became a charter member of Lodge Bila Hora No. 5 of
ZCBJ in 1897. For years an old man named John Divis, whom he allowed
people to think was his father, lived with the family. He died
January 10, 1917, at the age of 105, having been born May 11, 1811.
He was said to have been the oldest man in Nebraska. He was buried
in an unmarked grave in the ZCBJ (now Hillcrest) Cemetery.
Joseph Divis and his wife eventually retired to Verdigre. On March
6, 1934, Josephine died of cancer. Joseph then lived either with his
daughter, Albina Kotrous, or with his son, Joseph, Jr., until his
death July 15, 1948. They are buried at the Hillcrest Cemetery.
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