THE MATHEW PAVLIK, SR., FAMILY
The information for this family history was provided by Harriet
Pavlik Sedlacek of Omaha, Nebraska, as told to her nephew, William
Chocholousek of Ralston, Nebraska. Harriet’s son, Charles Sedlacek,
of Omaha provided additional research and her niece, Charlene
Ondracek of Des Moines, Iowa, compiled and wrote the family history.
[pg 369 PHOTO Mathew and Marie Pavlik]
William Chocholousek and Charlene Ondracek are a son and daughter of
Wilma Pavlik Chocholousek.
In 1864 at the time that Bozetice, Bohemia, was still a part of
Austria, John and Joseph Pavlik, sons of Mathew and Marie Pavlik,
sailed to America. Upon landing in New York after their three-month
voyage on the ocean, the Pavlik brothers traveled by train to
Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago John taught music and Joseph found
employment in a lumberyard.
In 1868 the older sons were able to send money to their parents and
family to assist them in making their journey to America. Besides
John and Joseph, Mathew and Marie Pavlik’s family also included the
following children: Albert, Vaclav, Frank, Charles (Karel), Mathew
and Barbara.
During their three-month ocean voyage, Mathew and Marie were
concerned about their younger children. Charles (Karel) was five
years old and Mathew was only crawling which meant he could easily
get splinters from the wooden decks of the ship. Their ship docked
in Baltimore, Maryland; then the family traveled by train to Chicago
where they joined their older sons.
In 1870 the family traveled to Sioux City, Iowa, by train, purchased
a wagon and a team of oxen, and continued their journey to the
Verdigre area by following the river and crossing it at Niobrara.
After staying with friends in the area, Mathew and Marie Pavlik
homesteaded just north of Verdigre on the land which is now owned by
Robert Jacobs. The Pavlik family lived in a dugout home on the
hillside. Then Mathew’s sons helped him cut and trim logs for
building the family’s log house. Mathew applied the carpentry skills
which he had learned as a young man in Austria where he had often
climbed church steeples to repair them. When completed, the large
log home was often used by priests to hear confessions of nearby
settlers, especially near Easter time. In 1872, another daughter,
Marie, was born to Mathew and Marie.
Mathew (Robert), Jr., born n October 30, 1868, and Anastasia Pavlik,
born on November 1, 1874, moved to Santa Rosa, California, shortly
after they were married. They settled on a farm and raised chickens
and grapes. Two sons were born to this union. Harry was born July
27, 1896, and Leonard was born August 26, 1899. Anastasia died on
December 8, 1922, and Mathew (Robert), Jr., died on May 26, 1923, in
Santa Rosa. Leonard died May 15, 1928, in Santa Rosa, and Harry on
July 12, 1940, in Napa, California.
Barbara, born September 17, 1854, married Francis H. Pavelka, son of
the first postmaster of Verdigre, on July 10, 1881. County Judge
Sparger officiated at the ceremony which was held in Verdigre. After
farming with his parents, the couple moved to Trout Lake,
Washington, where they lived from 1889 to 1893. For the next decade
they lived in the Verdigre area before moving to Pine County,
Minnesota, in 1903. The following children were born to this union:
Arthur, Ben, Robert, Alfred, Edith (Jones) and Ellen (Plumb). One
son, Ben, stayed in the Verdigre area and became a well-known
wrestler. Francis Pavelka died March 2, 1941, and Barbara died May
31, 1942.
After living the final years of his life on the family farm north of
Verdigre, Mathew Pavlik, Sr., died on May 31, 1898, at the age of 80
years and 5 months. Marie Barton Pavlik died at the age of 78 years
on March 7, 1903.
An interesting parallel has occurred in the Pavlik family history.
More than a hundred years later, Theodore Charles Ondracek,
great-great-grandson of Mathew and Marie Pavlik, began his college
career at The John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the
fall of 1986. Theodore’s great-great-grandparents landed in the same
city as they embarked upon their new life in America.
Pages
368, 369
