HUGO AND BESSIE [BRTEK] DRYAK
Hugo Joseph Dryak, son of Joseph and Annie Marshall Dryak, was born
January 1, 1882, at Pischelville. His parents were farmers and he
grew up on their farm, attending District No. 7 school. As a boy he
herded and tended the cattle for other ranchers.
On January 13, 1903, he married Bozena (Bessie) Brtek, daughter of
Joseph and Barbara Cerny Ruzicka Brtek. She was born at Pischelville
December 24, 1886. There were three sons from this marriage: Otto
Hugo, Alvin Louis, and Alfred.
Hugo Dryak was a director of District No. 7 for many years and a 50
year member of the ZCBJ.
Much of his life was spent farming but there were other activities,
as his son Alfred relates:
“In 1912 my father and mother moved to Verdigre to work as partners
in a dry goods store with Nedorost and Jecminek. They lived there a
year or so and then Otto Hugo went to school there. My dad did not
care for the partnership arrangement although he liked the dry goods
business. He always said he wished he had bought the other partners
out instead of selling to them. I guess there was not enough
business for three families. Later Mother and Dad moved back to the
farm at Pischelville where his brother Edward had been living and
taking care of the farm and home while they lived in Verdigre.
“During the time my father and mother were living in Verdigre he
bought a 1912 Model T Ford car from Charles Juracek. It was the
first Model T sold in Verdigre and the first in that part of Knox
County. My father also started a dry goods store in our home on the
farm, competing with the stores in Pischelville. They operated it
for nine years but the larger stores in the towns crowded them out.
“In the year 1927, my father bought a brand-new 1927 McCormick-Deering
farm tractor, with steel wheels, a Little Wonder fourteen-inch,
two-bottom plow and a two-row, pull-type lister corn planter from
Frank Chvala.
“My father was a musician, too, and played with the Marshall Band
for many years. His instruments were the violin and harmonica. My
mother and dad liked to dance, especially those good old Czech
dances such as polkas. We boys never could learn to dance those
dances the way they were supposed to be done.
“My father was also a carpenter and, besides doing the usual farm
work, he helped build many houses and other buildings, including our
own house.”
Bessie Dryak died June 3, 1964, and Hugo Dryak died February 10,
1972. They are buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery at
Pischelville.
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