VAC JEDLICKA-MARIE [KALAL] JEDLICKA
Vaclav Jedlicka and his wife, Marie (nee Kalal), came to the
Verdigris Valley in September of 1873. On the fifteenth they started
out from Chicago. The railroad took them to Sioux City and then they
transferred to a newly opened line which took them to Yankton. They
went by wagon team to Running Water (now Springfield, South Dakota)
where they were ferried across to Niobrara. It was then September
27th.
The Jedlickas traveled in a party with Joseph Kalal and his wife
Anna, a cousin of Joseph Mlady, their nine-month-old son Frank,
parents Frantisek and Mary Kubes Kalal, Joseph Kalal’s younger
brothers, John and Louis, and John Vakoc, a widower with two
daughters. Ms. Jedlicka was the daughter of Frantisek and Mary Kalal
and a sister of Joseph, John, and Louis Kalal. John Vakoc apparently
had other connections. His brother’s wife was a cousin of the
Jedlickas.
Mrs. Joseph Kalal described their arrival in an account printed in
Rose Rosicky’s History of Czechs in Nebraska. When they got to
Niobrara, Joseph Kalal and John Vakoc (Mrs. Kalal spells his name
Vagac) walked to the Mlady farm twelve miles away to get a wagon and
team.
[pg 283 PHOTO Mr. and Mrs. Vaclav Jedlicka]
It was in this wagon that most of the women rode, each seated on her
trunk. They drove down the Niobrara and Verdigris valleys, through
and past homesteads established since 1870.
When they arrived at the present site of Verdigre they found the
Mladys living in a cabin 20’x20’ with Mrs. Mlady’s son Frank Maly,
Sr., and his wife Barbara and the Vojtech Stourals who had just
arrived.
Vaclav Jedlicka, born April 5, 1851, was from Podoli Pisek. He died
January 4, 1909. Mrs. Jedlicka, born December 13, 1855, was from
Podbori, Tabor, as were the other Kalals. They had married in 1871
or 1872 and when they arrived in Knox County (then called L’Eau Qui
Court) Mrs. Jedlicka was pregnant. They took up their homestead in
Verdigre Township and had eleven known children.
Frank, the first, was born March 30, 1874, and died October 24,
1888, according to his tombstone.
Mary was born February 3, 1876, and died August 12, 1972. On January
11, 1897, she married Charles Kocina. Their children were Marie (Holan),
Charles O., and Emil.
Vaclav F. Jedlicka was born November 5, 1877. On November 23, 1898,
he married Mary Bartak. There were three children: Leon, George, and
Adolph. Mary died soon after Adolph was born and on June 4, 1907,
Vaclav married Marie Beran. Vaclav died March 6, 1969. There was one
child from this marriage; Martha was born in 1908. After the death
of his mother on January 25, 1894, and because of the hard times
(the drought in the nineties and beginning in 1893 there was a
depression)., Vac went to Chicago to find work and augment the
family income. He remained in Chicago for 1 ˝ years and then
returned to Verdigre where he was apprenticed to a harness-maker (Bartak,
one assumes). Early in 1897 he decided to start a business in Lynch.
He worked there at making harness and repairing shoes.
Emil was born February 8, 1879, and died September 5, 1962. On
October 30, 1900, he married Eleanora Pavlik (April 29, 1882-January
15, 1973). There were two children: Vac, who was born September 28,
1902, and died two weeks later, and Eldiva.
Albina was born November 20, 1880 (according to parish register, but
1883 according to her obituary), and died June 4, 1971. On February
8, 1904, she married Edward Pavlik (March 18, 1880-March 31-1969).
There were two children: Albie (Jankiewicz) and Edward L.
Joseph was born November 20, 1885, and died April 16, 1954. He
married Frances Vecera (no later than 1909). Their children were Vac,
Lucille, Frances, Joseph, Zita, Paul, Robert, and Marie. There was
also a son, Frank, who died in 1922 when he was a week old.
Otto was born August 6, 1887, and died July 4, 1968. He married Anna
Vecera (November 30, 1890-October 8, 1976) on January 29, 1907.
Their children are Victoria and Otto, Jr.
The parish records list an Adolph Peter Jedlicka, the son of Vac, as
having been born January 31, 1891. Family history indicates that a
set of twins and one child, none of whom survived, were born to the
Jedlickas before she died in childbirth, that child being buried
with its mother.
Vac Jedlicka Sr.’s, obituary states that for 15 years after his
wife’s death in 1894 it was his constant wish to join her in the
grave. He died of an ulcer of the lungs in 1909.
Pages
282, 283
