A transcription of pages 195-469,
Family Histories from the Verdigre Centennial Book
Thanks to the Verdigre Library and its volunteers for making this available.
 
The index below only includes the husband and wife for each family.
The maiden name for the wife is used if listed.
For other names, use the search on the Home Page.

Index's A-I, J-P, & Q-Z

JOHN PAVLIK, SR.

John Pavlik, son of Matej and Mary Barton Pavlik, was born October 12, 1849, in Bozetice, Bohemia. He arrived in the United States with his brother Joseph in 1865. He was 16 years old when they settled in Chicago, Illinois. Two years later when they earned enough money, they sent for their parents and brothers, Vaclav, Charles, Frank, Albert, and Mathew, and sister Barbara.

At the age of 19 he went to Wisconsin and worked in a lumber camp, later returning to Chicago where he worked for a lumber company. His job was to keep records of the lumber unloaded and loaded in freight cars. In the evenings he played for dances, leaving him little time for rest.

[pg 364 PHOTO John and Mary [Dlouhy] Pavlik]

He received his final citizenship papers on October 17, 1876, in Cook County, Illinois.

The government was giving homesteads in the Midwest to get it settled. This sounded like a good deal to John since most of the land in the old country was owned by nobility and the rest of the people had very little.

John and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Dlouhy and whom he married in 1874 at the age of 25, came to Verdigre in 1877 and took up a homestead six miles west of Verdigre. They built a sod house and farmed the land. He received the deed to 160 acres on May 1, 1884, under the government homestead act. Chester A. Arthur was President of the United States at that time.

On March 14, 1890, he acquired a 160 acres Timber Claim. He had to plant a part of the land in trees to qualify. Benjamin Harrison was the president then.

John organized, taught, and directed one of the first bands in northeast Nebraska. The band started with his brothers who had also come to Verdigre and, as they grew up, sons of his and his brothers’. At that time there were no radios, televisions or phonographs, so that was all the music people had. The band played for dances, parades, and shows in Verdigre and the surrounding towns for the next 50 years.

John was also a charter member of ZCBJ Lodge Bila Hora.

When he was on the farm, there were quite a few Indians around. One day some Indians came onto the farm yard and started saying, “Pezzee, Pezzee.” It sounded like “feathers” in the Bohemian language, so he picked up a feather and gave it to one of the Indians. Then they pointed to the haystack; they wanted some hay.

On November 22, 1890, John bought one-third share in the Verdigre Milling Company from Anton Dusatko. It was owned by his brother Joe, Louis Velna, and Dusatko and moved to the town of Verdigre. Later Joe and John bought out Velna and the mill was owned by Joe and John Pavlik. It was then known as “Verdigre Roller Mills, Pavlik Brother, Proprietors.” Later on Frank and Leon Pavlik, sons of John, bought out Joe and the mill was operated by “John Pavlik and Sons.”

The mill was located on the Verdigre Creek and was powered by a water turbine. Many improvements and additions were made; it had a capacity of 50 barrels of flour in 24 hours.

In 1895 John’s wife died and in October of 1899 he married Mary Heins, nee Preslicka. She came here from New Prague, Minnesota, with her two sons, Joe and Henry. Later her mother, Marie Preslicka, nee Mokovsky, and four sisters came to Verdigre and were married here. They were: Mrs. Vac Randa, Mrs. Anton Franek, Mrs. Louis Bartak, and Mrs. Anna Tomsik.

During World War I, the mill shipped several freight cars of flour to the government for use in the army.

Below the dam was a favorite swimming place for the boys and men of Verdigre. No girls went swimming as no one used bathing suits. Also there was good fishing before the high waters and floods tore away the banks and made the creek wide and shallow so the fish couldn’t come up from the Missouri River.

In 1922 a very wet year caused the hill east of the dam to slide and push the dam into the creek. After that the mill was powered by a diesel engine.

In April of 1928, the mill, which was located on Lot C, Pavlik Addition to Verdigre, was destroyed by a fire.

After the mill fire, John retired and he died on September 14, 1934. He had five sons and five daughters by his first wife, and two sons by his second wife. His second wife died in December of 1930.

Pages 364, 365