FRANK AND JOSEPHINE PALECEK
Across the Atlantic Ocean, in a little country then called Bohemia , in the center of Europe , a little boy was born. His parents named him Frank Palecek. We do not know the names of these parents, but we do know of one brother, Rudolph, and that he had one or more sisters.
Frank grew up in a little town near the capital of Prague , in an ordinary peasant family, who no doubt worked very hard for their living. With conditions at that time being very poor, wages almost nothing, school must have been a rare luxury for the upper classes only, for Frank grew up unable to read or write. Frank's parents owned a little piece of land with a garden but there were no large farmers in that part of the country; the peasant lived a hand-to-mouth existence.
Frank grew up to be a tall, rather handsome man, a member of the military band in the army playing a trumpet. He served in the army in a revolution between Czechoslovakia and Germany , where at one time he was captured by the Germans and sent to a prisoner of war camp. There he and a group of other prisoners were lined up against a wall before a firing squad for execution. The soldiers sighted down their gun barrels and moving from the right and then the left shot down every third prisoner. Frank recalled waiting his turn with his heart in his mouth, not knowing when a bullet would be for him. The guns would have fired again had it not been for the timely interruption of the arrival of reinforcements who set the remaining prisoners free.
After the war, Frank worked as a carpenter. He married a Josephine Opeil and they had five children; Frank, Louis, Joseph, Pauline and Rosie (all born in Bohemia ). Frank and Josephine began making plans to come to Canada to homestead for Canada was like a promised land to the poor peasant, where farmland was said to be plentiful, and in Bohemia it was not. So they packed up and went with the hope of improving their lot in what was believed to be a more prosperous country.
And so it was that in 1884, when Frank was 52 years old, having sold their small plot in Bohemia , the Paleceks arrived in Canada . The money from the land sale paid for their voyage across the Atlantic . They were able to take tools, clothes and bedding but furniture they had to leave behind, and after an approximate 3 week voyage they landed in New York where they had to register as immigrants. By train they then made their way to the prairie city of Winnipeg in Canada 's province of Manitoba . For three years they lived in the city, with Frank probably making a living as a carpenter. At last he bought a homestead for the grand sum of $10. in the nearby community of Brokenhead and moved his family there to live in a shack until a proper cabin could be erected.
Although Frank had paid his $10, the laws were such that one did not receive official title to the land until buildings had been raised and a certain number of acres had been cleared and cultivated. Their first house was a two-storey log cabin, plastered with clay and whitewashed inside and out. It had a rough plank floor and a ceiling with exposed beams. Rocks were used as a foundation and the hencoop and barn were also built of logs. There were about 3 rooms downstairs and two on the upper floor. Frank gradually cleared the land with the help of his sons, planted crops, watched them grow and as time went by, acquired poultry and other farm animals. In the winter months he went out to work to earn extra money.
The Frank Palecek family arrived in Canada unable to speak any English like many other European immigrants. They learned to speak the language in Canada from listening to their neighbors and to their children who picked it up much more quickly. Since that part of Manitoba was made up of mostly European immigrants, with similar language problems, they were probably able to speak Czech with others of their own nationality. Brokenhead was a very small settlement with a very scattered population. Beausejour was 12 miles south and Winnipeg was 40 miles southwest of Beausejour. Six miles out of Beausejour was nothing but open prairie and from there on all bush land. Frank's homestead was all bush covered and he had to clear every acre before sewing his crops.
Frank raised his family and farmed his land until he was old and ready to retire at which time he divided his property between his three sons giving them a quarter (40 acres) aniece, and keeping the remaining a quarter for himself. He was 96 years old when he passed away in 1925. Josephine died in 1909, and two of his children, Pauline and iseph, also passed away before his death.
Frank was buried in the Ladywood Catholic cemetery. He had been one of the first settlers in that area to break away from the Catholic church and had been instrumental in the purchase of a non- Catholic cemetery in which he was buried. However, this cemetery has since been repossessed by the Catholic church.
As far as we know, Frank's family was the only Palecek family to cross the Atlantic at that time, although according to Mary Condorman who was the daughter of Pauline Palecek; one of Frank's brothers also came over and settled in the U.S.A. and one of his sons belonged to the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. The rest of their family apparently had no desire to move.
Frank: Born: |
? |
? |
1841 |
Died |
September |
12th |
1925 |
Josephine: Born |
December |
28th |
1843 |
Died: |
January |
24th |
1909 |
CHILDREN OF FRANK AND JOSEPHINE PALECEK
FRANK Born, about 1841 , Bohemia
He was about 15 when arrived in Canada .
Married Katherine ______
Children: Bill, Walter, Joe, Fanny, Annie and Rosie
Was a farmer, also had a grocery store in Beau Sejour during W.W.I Moved to a farm in Swift Current, Sask. where during the depression he lost one crop after another until he went broke. Crops improved and he continued to be a successful farmer.
LOUIS: Born about 1872, Bohemia , died May 16, 1946
Married Rosie Jakshova in 1899. She died Jan. 30, 1940. Came to Canada at age 72
Brokenhead , Manitoba , farmer
Children: Joseph and Mary
Died in 1948 of cancer of the abdomen.
JOSEPH
Born in Bohemia , March 15, 1877, died January 19, 1920, Manitoba Came to Canada at age 7
Married Mary Baranosky in 1902
farmer, Beau Sejour , Manitoba
Children: Annette, Marie, Josehpine, Alf, Walter, Rudolph
June, Gerald, Emily, Robert, Florence
(Stillborn were: Joseph and Albert, 1920 and 1919)
Died January 19, 1920, ruptured appendix (?)
PAULINE: Born in Bohemia in 1880, died January 7, 1932 (Came to Canada at age 4)
Married: Peter Condorman, homesteaded near Laduwood.
Children: Joseph, Peter, Annie, Mary, Jack. (Mary married John TAombo) Died of dropsy in 1924 Or 1925.
ROSIE: Born in Bohemia
Married Joe Tuma, lived in Winnipeg , then homesteaded in North Battleford , Sas Children: Mary, Joseph, Gerry, and Annie.
Joe Tuma died in hunting accident, Rosie not long after in 1927.
Orphaned children; 3 were adopted by a farmer in Loose land, Sask.
Annie was adopted by her Uncle Louis.
Their descendants settled in Edmonton and Vancouver .