THE FRANK TUSHA FAMILY
Frank Tusha (Tusa) was born March 10, 1844, in Voparenech, near
Bechine, county of Tabor, Bohemia. At the age of 12, he journeyed to
Austria and eventually to Vienna, where he learned the trade of
mason, serving as an apprentice for six years. When he reached the
age of 21, he was mustered into the Austrian army. After serving the
required time, he received an honorable discharge.
In 1870 he emigrated to America, settling first in Chicago, where he
worked at his trade as a mason. In 1873 he married Barbora Masha
(born at Lhota December 4, 1850), also an immigrant from Bohemia.
Not satisfied in Illinois, they traveled to Nebraska in the late
1870s with his uncle, Frank, and the elder Frank’s son, John, and
family. On arrival the three families lived in a sod house dugout in
Knox County, intending to build homes on the homesteads for which
they filed. During the first Nebraska winter in the sod house,
John’s sixth child was born.
Apparently the rigors of the life discouraged uncle Frank and Cousin
John’s family and they returned to Chicago shortly thereafter. That
branch of the family has been traced to Jackson, Minnesota, where
the bulk of John’s many descendants still live.
Young Frank remained in Knox County on the farm he homesteaded near Pischelville. Ten children were born to Frank and Barbora. They
were: two who died in infancy, Anna (Frick), Kansas, deceased;
Joseph and August, both deceased as young single men, Ernest, South
Dakota, deceased; Albina (Martin), last known address was is in
California; Emma (Chocholousek), Verdigre, deceased; Julia (Vakoc),
Oregon, deceased; and Rudolph, Verdigre, deceased. Frank and Barbora
built a home in Verdigre following their retirement. Frank Tusha
died June 5, 1928; Barbora died September 15, 1929.
Pages 431, 432
