ALBERT AND MARY [KALAS] TICHY
Albert Tichy, the younger Albert Tichy, as he was called, or Albert
A. Tichy, to distinguish him from another Albert Tichy, came into
this county. He was the eldest son of Frantisek and Marie Novak
Tichy, and the only one who could be considered full-grown, though
he was only sixteen, born May 1, 1854, in Jankov u Votice, Bohemia.
Circumstances required him to work out for wages of a few dollars
and a milk cow. That was essential; some of the new settlers had no
livestock whatsoever.
By the time he was of age, in 1875, he was ready to homestead for
himself and he chose the Northwest Quarter of Section 3 of Sparta
Township, just to the east of where his sister and her husband, Anna
and Wencel Baumruk, lived and to the northeast of his parents’ farm.
He also found a wife. Mary Kalas, daughter of Joseph and Mary Koci
Kalas, was born in Bohemia in 1846. She had been separated from her
first husband and had a daughter, Camilla. Later on when Mary sought
a divorce from this man, Albert stood up for her in court. It must
have been an unhappy, if exceedingly brief, marriage. In later years
Mary Kalas Tichy allowed some members of the family to think that
their grandmother had not been married before and that Millie was
illegitimate.
Albert Tichy and Mary Kalas were married on February 7, 1877, in
Springfield, Dakota Territory, according to the Niobrara Tribune.
They then settled down to farming and raising children.
There were seven children of this marriage, of whom three sons
survived. According to the census of 1880, the children were Adolph,
2, that is born in 1877-78, and Minnie and Josephine, 1, born
1878-79 and likely twins. The census of 1885 lists these children,
except that “Minnie” is now “Annie.” There were also Kvida, 4,
Lydia, 3, and Frank, three months old. Some time after the census of
1885, Adolph, Annie-Minnie, Josephine, and Lydia died, perhaps of
diphtheria, and (in 1886) Richard was born.
The surviving children of this marriage were therefore Kvida
(November 19, 1880-December 24, 1958), Frank V. (October 4,
1884-July 4, 1963) and Richard (February 28, 1886-March 9, 1960).
Albert Tichy prospered as a farmer. Nonetheless, he may have though
of a different kind of career for his oldest son, Kvida, for he sent
the boy off at fifteen to a business school in Omaha. The
accompanying photograph may have been taken at this time. A few
months later, on September 24, 1896, Albert was threshing at the Vac
Mastalir place. He lifted a heavy thresh machine and sustained a
rupture. The doctors operated but were unable to arrest the course
of his traumatic illness. He died the next day. He is listed as one
of the founding members of St. Wenceslaus parish, though perhaps the
older Albert Tichy fit’s the bill better. However that may be,
Albert Tichy was buried in the parish cemetery.
Albert’s oldest son, Kvida, returned to the farm and took over. Mary
Tichy married once again, some years after. Her husband, Joseph
Motis, a some-time partner in a saloon in Verdigre, divorced her.
She died October 28, 1925. Her daughter, who had married Ernest
Conklin, buried her in the Conklin lot in L’Eau Qui Court Cemetery
in Niobrara, so that she might more easily visit her grace, it has
been suggested.
Albert took a homestead in the Northwest Quarter of Section 3 of
Sparta Township. He married Mary Kalas, a divorced woman with a
child, Camilla. The couple had seven or eight children of their own,
of whom Kvida, Frank V., and Richard lived. On September 25, 1896,
he lifted a heavy thresh machine and sustained a rupture. From the
effects he was dead within 24 hours. He was buried in St. Wenceslaus
Cemetery but his wife is buried at L’Eau Qui Court.
Frank, Jr., homesteaded on the South Half of the Northeast Quarter
and the North Half of the Southeast Quarter of Section 10 of Sparta
Township, further up on Bingham Creek. He married Marie Dvorak, who
soon had a claim of her own when her mother and brother perished in
a prairie fire. They had eight children, among whom Sophie, Leon,
Albin, Lydia (Mrs. John Genser), and Charles lived. He died on
January 2, 1936, the last of the family. The couple is buried at
L’Eau Qui Court.
Anton was born April 18, 1858, and died December 21, 1931.
Josefa married Joseph Divis, Sr. Of six children, five lived:
Adolph, Joseph, Jr., Helen (Mrs. August Psikal), Albina (Mrs. Anton
Kotrous), and Edward. She died March 6, 1934. She and her husband
were buried in the ZCBJ (now Hillcrest) Cemetery.
Pages
422, 423
