FRANK AND JOSEPHINE [SLADEK] VONASEK
Frank Vonasek was born in Cecho Terrasos, Bohemia, on October 14,
1839. When he was a very small boy, his father was killed in a
logging accident. Heavy responsibilities fell upon him at an early
age; therefore, to support his mother and sisters, he learned the
carpenter trade.
The opportunities of the great land of America beckoned him, and at
the age of sixteen, he left his homeland by promising to work for
two years for the man who paid his boat fare to America.
The journey across the Atlantic Ocean took 17 weeks. It was a very
slow and tiresome journey with sadness intermingling. A small child
died and was buried at sea.
Frank Vonasek settled in Chicago and worked at carpentry tasks.
While there, he married Josephine Sladek.
Thinking that the western prairies had more to offer, they with
their three children, George, Millie, and Otto, traveled by train to
Yankton and thence by wagon and oxen onto the little Czech
settlement at Pischelville, Nebraska. Here they remained with the
Wirth family for several weeks until a claim was taken and a log
cabin was erected for the family. He was a teacher of the Czech
language and taught many of the settlers’ children in Pischelville.
(The land is still in the family, now owned by Virgil Vonasek.)
There was not any money to buy oxen and a plow, so Frank plowed for
two days for Mr. Jilek and then was able to use his team one day for
himself. The oxen were named Duke and Dime.
Wheat was taken to the Jilek Mill, later known as the Tuch Mill. For
each bushel of wheat, they would get 32 pounds of flour plus some
bran and shorts.
Six more children were born to this union: Zdenek, Vlasta, Lad,
Milos, Bob, and Olga. The boys would hire out to herd cattle for as
little as a quarter a week. They would go to Running Water and
Niobrara and would hire out to do housework. Evenings were spent
stripping feathers while the father read the Hospodar to the family.
Storing food used to be a problem. Meat was stored in a salty brine,
and plums, apples, and chokecherries were dried on roof tops. The
fruit was covered with cheesecloth.
Several members of the family vividly remember the blizzard of 1888.
The teacher and 22 pupils all joined hands and made their way to a
farmhouse, the Hunt home, which was a quarter of a mile away.
Everyone slept on his coat on the floor. The next morning when the
storm had subsided it was bitterly cold and all the children walked
home. All the valleys were level full of snow.
Members of the Frank and Josephine Vonasek family were:
George married Fanny Wirth; their children are Edward, Frank, and
Tillie.
Millie and her husband, Rudolph Barta, had three sons, George, Art,
and Roy.
Otto married Emma Tuch. Their children are Thelma Johnson and Lydia
Hale.
Zdenek and Millie Barta were married and their children are Walter,
Ben, Leonard, Ellen Dufek, and Alice Nelson.
Vlasta became the wife of Raymond Barta and they had three children:
Clifford, Arnold, and May Pavlik.
Lad married Anna Marshall and Emil is their son.
Milos married Bertha Minarik. Their children are Henry and Marcella
Dodson.
Bob and Lizzie Benda were married and had six sons: Alfred, Harry,
Paul, George, Robert, and Wilbur.
Olga and her husband Charles Blaisdell were blessed with six
children: Fred, Charles, Virginia, Fern, Billie, and Nellie Faye.
These pioneers helped build the foundation for our community. We are
proud to carry on their heritage.
Pages 454, 455
