VACLAV AND ANTONIA [HRAZKY] HOUZVICKA
In the first decade of the 1800s, Zebulon M. Pike declared that the
immense prairies beyond the Missouri were incapable of cultivation.
As late as 1854 a United States Senator declared the prairies west
of the Mississippi and especially the Kansas-Nebraska Territory not
fit for settlement or habitation because it would be as unproductive
as a barren waste. The land law of 1841, called the Preemption Act,
began the rush of easterners and immigrants to claim land of the
public domain. The Homestead Bill became law May 20, 1862. Thus it
was the Northeast Nebraska became a part of the sod-house frontier
though only a few families in the late 1870s and 1880s in the
Verdigre area found it necessary to live in sod houses because wood
was available.
In Europe, the Czechs (Cechs) were mounting a national movement
against the Austrian government. Revolution broke out in 1848 and
minor battles continued until about 1869 when Austria and Hungary
were governed by dual monarchies.
Several of the Czechs who arrived to claim and settle the land
around Verdigre had served in the Austrian military through
conscription and were caught up in the revolution and minor
uprisings. When they heard about the Homestead Act, many forsook
Austria to face extreme hardships such as flood, drought,
grasshoppers, prairie fires, blizzards, lack of supplies and
communication, and inadequate housing in order to obtain freedom of
speech, press, religion, congregating in public places without
government spying, and especially for the freedom to own their own
land. The Vaclav Houzvicka family came to Nebraska for all of these
reasons. By 1892, they owned over 640 acres of land.
In 1876, Vaclav, born October 15, 1824, in the village of Sadska in
the city of Podebrady in the county of Caslav in Bohemia, Austria,
and his wife, Antonia, nee Kracky (born February 27, 1834), left
Austria for the United States bringing with them three sons and
three daughters and a few precious belongings, such as a beautiful
brown silk-fringed shawl and hand-made dresser scarves.
They continued their journey westward stopping in Chicago, Illinois,
and Yankton, South Dakota. They arrived in Niobrara in late 1876 or
early 1877.
They acquired land as soon as possible. Vac, age 54, filed a claim
on 160 acres of land located in the North Half of the Southeast
Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section 19, and Northeast
Quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 30, Sparta precinct, and
received it on May 1, 1884.
Anton, the eldest son, at age 21, filed for a patent in 1878. (See
Anton Houzvicka). Three years later, Jan (John) filed for his
property. (See John Houzvicka). In 1892 Anton owned 240 acres of
land in Section 30 and 19 of Sparta precinct; his mother, Antonia,
owned 160 acres in Sections 17 and 18 and Jan (John) owned 240 acres
in Sections 30 and 31.
Vaclav applied for citizenship on April 26, 1877, and became a
citizen on April 25, 1883. Anton applied for his citizenship papers
on May 30, 1878. As minors, the rest of the family, John, Antonia,
Vaclav (James), Annie and Josepha (Josie), because citizens on the
same date as Vaclav.
The youngest child to survive of the total of twelve born to Antonia
(Nebraska Census 1885) was Charles on November of 1878, who was the
only one born in Nebraska.
Vaclav, 63, preceded Antonia in death on January 19, 1887. After his
death, a contract was drawn up between Antonia and Charles which
named Charles as head of the household but left the property in
Antonia’s name. About eight years after Antonia’s death on May 6,
1903, according to notices in the Verdigre Citizen of July 3, 10,
and 17, in 1911, Charles (Karel) went to court for clarification of
this contract in order that probate be completed.
Charles died at 77 years of age on September 19, 1955, in Galina,
Montana.
John Houzvicka, the second son, farmed his own land in Sparta
Township for a few years before he married Theresa Donat on December
29, 1887. The Houzvicka and Donat families became very interwoven as
Anton and John married Donat sisters. Terezie and Josephine. The
Donats also came from Sadska. (see John Houzvicka).
Vaclav’s daughter, Mary (1856-1896), married Henry Fosterman on June
8, 1878.
Another daughter, Theresa, born January 28, 1863, married William
Fosterman, Sr., on June 26, 1878. She died May 3, 1932.
Antonia B., Vaclav’s third daughter, at age 18 married Thomas A.
Tikalsky on June 1, 1886, just six months after he had taken out a
license to wed Mary Wandra, 18, daughter of Mike Wandra of St. Paul.
No more is known about Mary.
In 1892 Thomas and Antonia owned 80 acres of land in Section 19 of
the Verdigre precinct near his uncle, John Tikalsky. They farmed for
many years and were active in community affairs. They operated a
hotel in Verdigre and were well-known for their hospitality.
Thomas A.’s grandparents were Joseph Tikalsky and Rozena (maiden
name unknown) who arrived in Verdigre about 1877. His parents were
Thomas J. and Johanna (Sebesta) Tikalsky.
According to the 1910 census Antonia and Thomas A. had eight
children and seven lived. Four of the seven children, Rosa J.
Dittrick, Carrie (Carolyn M. ) Pavlik, Johanna (Janey) Liska, and
Irene Moticka, continued to live on farms in the Verdigre area.
Alvina died very young. John D. died at a young age after an
accident in 1927. Viola attended Galludet College for the Deaf and
acquired a degree. She and her husband, also a deaf mute, were
employed in Omaha and traveled in their own automobile.
Vaclav Houzvicka, Jr., as a young lad, was cleaning his gun when his
little sister Josie (born 1876-77, Federal Census 1880, Nebraska
Census 1885) came to tease him. He thought the rifle was unloaded
when he warned her in jest that he would shoot her if she came
around the corner of the house again. Josie died between January 19,
1887, and early 1888. In 1888, Vaclav moved to Beaver Crossing,
Nebraska. In 1914, he and his wife, Marie Lauretz, and family moved
to Exeter, Nebraska. They had three children: Helen, Fred, and
Elizabeth. Vaclav was born Novermber 4, 1868, and died April 19,
1945.
Anna Houzvicka was born about December 18, 1872. She and her
husband, William Grilll, married in about 1895. They had one son,
Marland. A daughter preceded Anna in death. Anna died on April 23,
1955, in Sherburn, Minnesota.
Vaclav and Antonia are buried in the St. Wenceslaus Cemetery in
Verdigre in separate plots. Josepha (Josie) was buried next to her
father.
-Submitted by Hazel B. Devine
Pages
273, 274
