JOHN [JAN] AND ANNA [DUSEK] ONDRACEK
John Ondracek was born on October 14, 1848, in the village of
Bozetice, County of Milevsko, State of Tabor in Bohemia. He
immigrated to America in 1869 and made his home in Chicago,
Illinois. Here he worked and met his future wife, Anna Dusek.
[pg 349 PHOTO Joe and Anna Ondracek and family Clara, Adolph,
Anna, Vaclav, and Ted, 15, in 1921]
Anna was born September 7, 1844, in Bozetice, Bohemia, and
immigrated to America to make her home in Chicago, Illinois. John
and Anna were married in 1870. In 1874 they migrated to Knox County,
Nebraska, with their two-year-old son, Joseph M. Ondracek. They
lived on a farm two miles west of Verdigre.
John and Anna had ten children, six of whom died in infancy. The
family endured the many hardships of early settlement. In 1884, the
John Ondraceks helped build the first catholic church in the village
of Verdigre and were charter members. They also helped build the
second St. Wenceslaus Church in 1915. Their son Joseph M. and his
wife Anna donated a stained glass window to this church. John and
Anna quit farming in 1900 and took up residence in the village of
Verdigre where they lived until 1916. Then due to failing health and
John’s blindness, they made their home with their son, Joseph M., on
a farm northeast of Verdigre in Sparta Township. Here Anna died in
1921 and John died in 1929.
[pg 350 PHOTO Mr. and ms. Ted F. Ondracek September 8, 1930]
Children surviving them were: Joseph M. Ondracek (1872-1943) had
five sons and two daughters; Vaclav J. (Jim) Ondracek (1877-1953)
had one son; Frank Ondracek (unknown) possibly lived in the eastern
part of the country; Mary (Ondracek) Burian (1883-1940) had four
sons and two daughters.
-Submitted by Veronica (Ondracek) Tharnish, Lincoln,
great-granddaughter of John Ondracek and granddaughter of Joseph M.
Ondracek]
Pages
349, 350
