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

ZDENEK AND MILLIE [BARTA] VONASEK

Zdenek Vonasek was born on Ground Hog Day in 1880, the son of Frank and Josephine (Sladek) Vonasek, in a little log cabin about 2 ½ miles southwest of Pischelville. All their ancestors came from Czechoslovakia, settling in Chicago, and later migrating to the Pischelville settlement. Here Zdenek grew to manhood with his three sisters: Millie, Vlasta, and Olga, and his five brothers: George, Otto, Lad, Milos, and Bob.

His education came mainly from his parents and Mother Nature. School was offered during the three winter months when the children were not needed to herd cattle or otherwise help make money. Herding cattle for the neighbors brought in $2 a month.

The blizzard of 1888 was vividly remembered by the eight-year-old as a very intelligent teacher made all the children join hands and follow one another to safety at the Hunt farmhouse. They slept on their coats on the floor near the stove until their fathers walked over the next morning to take their school children home. All the gullies were level full of snow.

Zdenek’s father was a carpenter by trade and so all the sons were taught the trade. Father Frank bought three quarters of land in the Walnut community and Otto, Lad, and Zdenek all built new barns on their quarters with the help of their father. Zdenek batched for five years during which time he built a small house and tried to build up a livestock herd.

It was customary then for Jewish peddlers to drive through the country with a horse and buggy selling shoestrings, clothing, and other dry goods. Ed and Joe George would sometimes spend the night with Zdenek and they got to be good friends.

George Berkeley, another bachelor, lived down the draw a mile and every other night they would visit and play cards; the horses knew the road by heart.

While he was batching he was courting his future bride, Millie Barta. Millie was born to John and Anna (Scheiner) Barta on December 17, 1884. She received her education in the little rural school near Pischelville. Millie delighted in telling of the cipher downs in which the neighboring schools participated. She could win over all but Victor Haineraich and Joe Dobrichovsky, who added two or three columns at one time.

Millie was keeping house with her sister Bertha and brothers Raymond and Albert while her other brothers and sisters, Rudolph, Frank, Emma, and Tillie, remained at home. They milked over 30 cows and all the milk was made into butter. The milk was put in crocks and the cream was skimmed off the top and then churned. The butter was then hauled to the little village of Pischelville to be sold.

From the age of 14, Millie worked at the Josha Davidson Ranch for two years as a hired girl. All the washing for a family of six was done by hand, using a washboard. She milked cows and would bake seven pies at one time, one for each day of the week. Once in a while, she would ride a horse about six miles to go home for a visit. Millie also worked for the Emil Pischel family who operated the Pischelville Store. Emil Pischel was the County Treasurer at the time when the courthouse was in Niobrara.

After a long courtship, Zdenek and Millie were married in a double wedding ceremony with her brother and his sister, Raymond Barta and Vlasta Vonasek, at the home of the parents, John Bartas, on March 29, 1905.

Zdenek and Millie set up housekeeping on the groom’s farm in the Walnut community. Here two sons, Walter and Ben, were born. The neighborhood was a lively place and they talked so much of their good neighbors, the George Berkeleys, Val Smith, Earl McElhose, Millers, Motts, Harveys, Butterfields, and Otto and Lad Vonasek. In those days house parties, dances, school box socials, and community ball games were their means of entertainment.

Millie would take the team and buggy and pick up her sister-in-law Emma, and daughters, Thelma and Lydia, and they would take their produce of eggs and butter to the country stores at Walnut, Ruth, Gross or Pischelville. The country stores carried a wide range of merchandise, clothing, staples, and sewing material, along with hardware, etc.

After six years in the Walnut community, they moved seventeen miles northwest of Verdigre to the farm vacated by his brother George who moved to Missouri. While on the place Leonard, Alice, and Ellen were born.

The whole family worked together. Raising large gardens and canning and processing the fruit and vegetables took a great deal of time. Corn was dried in large pans in the oven of a wood range. Apples were dried in the same way. Soap was made from waste lard and tallow. It was used in the boiler for the family wash. A room in the attic was used for food, storing several 100-pound sacks of sugar, many 50-pound sacks of flour brought from the mill when they took their own wheat to grind, sacks of dried apples, corn, navy beans, popcorn in the ear, and fried-down sausage and pork in crock jars covered with lard. Trips to town were only made when farm produce had to be hauled away. Stored at the bottom of the cellarway were ten and twenty-gallon jars of sauerkraut and cucumbers in brine to can when fruit jars were empty again.

Their home was always open to young people to come spend their Sundays - hunting in the woods, skating on the creek, or sleigh riding on the hills. A ball diamond was made in the pasture near the farm buildings where many people gathered for games on Sundays. Teams came from Redbird, Walnut, Verdigre, Verdel, Lynch, Jelen, Sparta, etc. Entertainment was found near home.

In the twenties, crow hunts were popular. Crows by the thousands would roost in some wooded area and clean up a big share of the corn. The men would get together and watch for the roosting place. Then they would sneak under them and open fire at once. The county bounty was ten cents a crow head, a lot of money at the time. The crows chose to roost in the tall oaks in the pastures belonging to the Val Smiths and Ernest Millers.

Big Sunday dinners were common and enjoyed with friends and relatives. Many recipes and plants were exchanged at these gatherings.

Stripping goose and duck feathers was a winter pastime after supper. The family would sit around the table and strip feathers until the bowl in the center of the table was full. After the stripping bee, they could play games or cards. The stripped feathers were used for pillows and featherbeds.

Flour and sugar sacks were bleached, and sheets, towels, and underclothing was made from them.

Zdenek loved to play ball and played with teams at Walnut and Pischelville. Some players were Bob and Milos Vonasek, Bill O’Keefe, Albert Barta, Uksa and Otto Wavrunek. It was customary to practice catch while the horses were resting during noon hours.

Zdenek and Millie celebrated their Golden Anniversary in 1955, and then their 67th Wedding Anniversary. This time they received a congratulatory message from President Johnson. Zdenek outlived his life insurance policy of 75 years.

The years they spent on the farm offered Zdenek and Millie a happy, long, wholesome and healthy life. Millie passed away April 7, 1972, at the age of 88. Zdenek passed away November 24, 1977, nearly 98 years young.

Millie and Zdenek were always boosters of the Verdigre community where their family attended school and found employment.

Pages 456, 457