Genealogy
of the
Jan "John" & Anna
(Novotony) Smejkal Family
of Crete Nebraska
|
Genealogy of the Jan "John" & Anna
(Novotony) Smejkal Family
|
|
CONTENTS
LINKS |
The Family of Jan & Anna Smejkal
John Smejkal John was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated in 1884 with
his parents.
Frantisek Smejkal Born 1882, 31 March in House #50, Drazic, Czech Republic. Died 1882, 27 April in House #50, Drazic, CZ. Treboň Digital Archives, Book 8, Image 28 & Book 15, Image 243.
Mary (Smejkal) Valenta Mary & Frank lived to the north of Joe Smejkal with Impressed on my memory is that they had a water pump inside the kitchen that supplied water for the house. Other conveniences were of coarse outside. This inside pump probably impressed me because on the farm, I had the chore of carrying water across the yard from the windmill pump to be stored in a bucket in the kitchen or in the hot water container on the side of the wood stove. Frank Valenta was always an intriguing figure in the family. Frank worked for the railroad, the local brewery, and probably other enterprises in Crete. In my memory, Frank exhibited the characteristics of a more volatile personality. There were the unconfimed stories in the family that Frank had fled Bohemia because of the involvement in the killing of another individual This is completely hearsay and not confirmed in any way. .
Frank
Smejkal I have little information on Frank available. The June17, 2009 issue of the Crete News contained a note ins Days Gone By column that in 1909 "Frank Smejkal returned to Swanton this morning where he has charge of the general store belonging to Joe Brabec" He would have been approximately 23 years old at that time. Frank worked as a hired hand on our farm at harvest and haying times and when my parents needed to be away. During the period within my memory, Frank lived in one of the 2nd floor apartments on Main Street. It seems that he struggled with alcoholism through much of his life. He died of heart disease.
Joseph Smejkal To put down my memories of "Uncle Joe" is difficult; where to start and where to stop. Joe was a FISHERMAN, with endless stories of fishing the Big Blue River in its better years. He was also a trapper of mink, beaver, coyote and whatever other fur bearing wildlife that existed in the early days. But, Joe was also a master carpenter, mason, concrete finisher, plasterer, butcher and meat cutter, and probably many other trades that I am forgetting or not aware of. Uncle Joe never bothered to learn to drive a car. If you wanted to employ his services, you would need to pick him up and return him to his home. I spent much time with Uncle Joe and Aunt Bertha, because I would walk to their house after school and wait until my parents or brothers had the opportunity to pick me up. I also stood by, attempting to help when he poured the concrete and built our garage on the farm, when he built the chimney, added the mud porch, and added the kitchen and built the cabinets for my mother in the farmhouse. I particularly remember watching him plaster the kitchen in the old three coat process to form a completely smooth wall. I have attempted this on my own and have utmost respect for his skill. In the mid 1990's, as Senior Architect at Texas Tech University, I hired an engineering consultant with a nationally recognized firm, very specialized in concrete, brick, and ceramic processes to assess a particular building failure problem. In the couple of days we worked together, she disclosed that she was a native of the Czech Republic and had been educated there. she queried me on my Czech background and when I briefly explained Uncle Joe's skills she was genuinely shocked. She told me that this description was of a person, a name exists in Czech that I did not record, that has skills in all the areas I described, that they were one of the most valued members in the old communities of Bohemia, that they would have housing and living expenses provided by the village, and would be valuable trade commodity with neighboring villages. She felt that surely, Uncle Joe must have been trained by his father, a Carpenter and native of Bohemia, in these trades, even though they had immigrated to the United States. It would very much like to have a better understanding of Uncle Joe's background. The skills he possessed were certainly not acquired by accident. And they certainly bear the mark of having been developed in another culture from the United States, even though he was born here. It is unlikely that we will ever know how these skills were passed to him from another culture.
There is no need to spend time on Anna's background.here It has been well covered in other websites: Anna Bals Diaries and Bals family history. My only regret is that she did not live to experience some of the information available on the world wide web, such as photos of St. John the Baptist Church in Drazic, Czech Republic where her parents were married. She would have considered this a real miracle. Several times she spoke of the description her mother gave of the beauty of the Church's in Prague, never anticipating these could be experienced by anyone browsing the web in their living room.
|
|
Web Page created by Gene Bals |
%20&%20frank%20valenta.jpg)
%20bals.jpg)
Anna
Rose (Smejkal) Bals