FAMILY STORIES

Weston, Nebraska, then later moving to Leshara where the Carlson family had purchased a farm.

Rose Carlson, 78th Birthday, 1978

   Rose and Victor had three daughters; Florence, born at Weston; Ruth; and Gladys, born at Leshara.

   Florence married Orville Logeman of Mead in 1943. They live at Yutan, and have no children. Florence works for the Metropolitan Utilities District. Orville is associated with Gate City Steel Co. of Omaha.

   Ruth married Glenn Mumm of Yutan in 1949. They are farming south of Wahoo. They have two daughters. The younger daughter, Ann, is a senior at Wahoo High School, and will be a student next year at U.N.L. The other daughter is Mrs. Kay Jurgens, Waverly, Nebraska. She and her husband, Michael, own and operate a supermarket in Waverly. They have a son, Brett Michael, 3 years old.

   Rose's third daughter, Gladys, married Norman Storm of Yutan in 1949. She passed away in 1973. At the time of her death she was a Medical Secretary for Bergan Mercy Hospital, Omaha.

   Norman was a farmer while living at Yutan. They moved to Pacific Heights, Millard. He is an engineer for the Omaha school system. Their children are Todd, who graduated from Millard High School, and is employed in Omaha, and Tara, who graduated and is in school.

   In 1939, Rose and Victor moved to Yutan on a farm the family had purchased. They continued farming. Victor passed away in Febr., 1963. Twenty acres of their Yutan farm was subdivided into lots in 1961. This is now called Carlson Heights. The streets are named after the family.

   Rose has traveled extensively in United States and Europe. She still lives at Yutan in her home which she designed and built in 1969. She is active in her clubs and church. Submitted by daughter, Florence Logeman

   Robert Carr Sr. was born at Salem, N.Y. in 1795. He married Mariah Barnes in 1824. Their children were: Robert Jr., Horace, Addison and James. They later came to Nebraska where he died in 1873 and was buried in the Ashland Cemetery. Mariah Carr died in 1885 and was buried in the Carr Cemetery North of Ashland, now known as the Clear Creek Cemetery.

   Robert Jr. was born in New York in 1835. He married Lenora Cooper (born in 1839), in Mendota, Ill. she was the daughter of Eliza Hill Cooper, who was a sister of Jim Hill, builder of the U.P. Railroad, and a cousin of James Fenimore Cooper, the author of "THE LEATHER STOCKING TALES".

   The family came to Nebraska in a covered wagon in 1866. They built a dugout home on the bank of a creek 2½ miles south east of Yutan, on a 160-acre Timber Claim, around which he planted an Osage hedge. He hauled wagonloads of grain to Ashland to sell at the mill to buy lumber to build a house and barn, going down one day and back the next day.

   They had 5 children: Linda A., Clara A., Alice Mae, Daphine A. and Jay Elmer. Robert died at the age of 49 years in 1885. His wife remained on the farm until her death in July of 1914. They are buried in the Carr Cemetery.

   The land for this cemetery was donated by Addison Carr, brother of Robert. This is Saunders County's first cemetery. The first burial was in 1861. The name was later changed to Clear Creek Cemetery. By Dessie Wilson

   Ness Ewald Carstensen was a member of the Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska city council, the year of 1914, when he and Josephine Anna Maria (Osterman) slipped off on a train to Columbus, Nebraska to be married February 11.

Josephine Anna Maria Osterman and Ness Carstensen

   Ness was the only son, and oldest of 4 children of pioneer family Peter and Fanny Maria (Jackson) Carstensen, and was born 13 Oct. 1869 in a log cabin built of cottonwood from the Platte River area about one mile north of the homestead.

   Josephine was born 19 May 1890, the daughter of Claus and Dorothy (Harding) Osterman of Cedar Bluffs.

   Five children were born; Howard Lyle, born 11 June 1915, died 28 Aug 1921; Mae Angee, born 10 Jan 1917; Phyllis Arlete, born 17 Dec 1923; Joyce Adell, born 4 Apr 1930; and Morris Arthur, born 4 Feb 1932. All were born at Cedar Bluffs.

   Ness and Josephine lived on the farm that his father, Peter, had homesteaded in 1866, and where he had grown up; where hunting and fishing was not necessarily a sport but a necessity for the food for the family. This was the beginning of the settlement in northern Saunders County. The town of Cedar Bluffs was not platted until 1886. Ness was then 17 years of age.

   Ness was a progressive person and, in 1908, he bought a Stanley Steamer Roadster. This had to be fired up (behind the seat) to build up steam before the car would run. By 1911, when he bought a Marion Roadster, cars had advanced to engines under the hood.

   Black Angus cattle were raised and many sold to 4-H projects. Hogs were also a profitable venture and he raised them for many years.

   Growing fruit trees was his hobby. He would sometimes graft several kinds of fruit on one tree.

   Ness died Jan. 23, 1960, and is buried at Johannes Cemetery. Josephine is 92 years old and living with her daughter, Phyllis, in Fremont, Nebraska. By daughter, Mrs. Herbert (Mae) Ritthaler

   Anna Stepina was born in Caslav, Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1864. She made the decision to leave Europe, arriving in America, (August) Srpna 11, 1883. John Cejka also emigrated on the same ship, and they were united in marriage, 1884.

Frank and Stella Cejka

   They commenced farming in Saunders County, Valparaiso, Nebraska, on rented property but eventually acquired their own land. To this union were born eight children, Frank being the oldest.

   After World War I, the family relocated to a farm west of Weston, Nebraska. Some of the fields were sown in red clover to improve the soil and family members were always involved in many activities. They produced their own popcorn and used the cream from Jersey cows to make fudge in the evenings.

   Edward, Milostine and Blanche graduated from Weston High School and all began teaching in rural schools, grades 1-8.

   Edward left in 1927 to accept the position of Railway Mail Clerk in Council Bluffs, Iowa. His avocation was his outstanding stamp collection.

   In 1933, he married Libbie Tomes. Donna, the oldest daughter, resides on the West Coast; Joyce Mary lives on the East Coast and Ed is in the Midwest.

   Milostine left in the '30's, locating in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where she married Daniel Gavin in 1944. Two sons, Daniel and Timothy, are still living in the state of Iowa while Charles, the other son, is situated in California.

   In the 1940's up to 1968, Frank, or "Cookie", operated the Phillips 66 Service Station in Weston, Nebraska.

   Frank entered eternal life August 16, 1968 at the age 83 years, 27 days and Stella on November 5, 1971 at the age of 83 years, 6 months, 20 days. Submitted by Blanche Cejka

   It was a creaky, covered wagon that brought Peter and Fanny Maria (Jackson) Carstensen to northern Saunders County in Nebraska, approximately one

Fanny Maria Jackson -- Peter Carstensen, Married July 19, 1865

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mile south of the Platte River where they homesteaded in 1866. They were one of the first families to settle in this community.

   Peter was born September 17, 1823, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was one of 12 children of Hans Peter and Mary (?) Carstensen. Peter immigrated to America in March of 1848. He was a stowaway on a sailing vessel that took almost seven weeks to arrive at the New York port. On September of 1848, Peter made out his Dec. of Intent in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

   On July 19, 1865, he married Fanny Maria Jackson, born in Duxbury, Vermont, May 19, 1843. She had moved to Manitowoc with her parents sometime before the year 1846.

   Peter and Fanny built a log cabin on their homestead in which they lived about 8 years. Five children were born here: Edward Andrew, born (?), died Oct. 24, 1868; Ness Ewald, born Oct. 13, 1869; Rose Agnes born Aug. 20, 1871; and Margaret May, born Oct. 14, 1876. They built a new house in 1875 (Margaret was born here), a part of the present home having been added to, and rebuilt three times.

   It was not unusual for Pawnee Indians to come to the farm and beg for food -- also riders traveling through by horseback would stop for fellowship and food, news and history of the area.

   Meat was easy to come by as deer, elk, and rabbit were abundant, as were wild raspberry, chokecherry, currants, elderberry and grapes. Wild mustard and dandelion were gathered for greens.

   Farming was not easy -- the elements were very severe, the grasshoppers of 1873 and 1874, the blizzard of 1880, and hot dry summers made the homesteaders' life difficult.

   Fanny died at the early age of 49, May 24, 1892. Peter lived until 1909 (June 5), age 86. They are buried at Johannes Cemetery, Cedar Bluffs. By Granddaughter, Mrs. Herbert Ritthaler

   My grandparents, Josef Cejka and his wife, Frantiska, were charter members of the Weston Presbyterian Church. Joseph T. Cejka and family were also members of the Presbyterian Church. As in most small towns the membership became too small to support a church. The problem arose as to what to do with the church building. At the same time the Saunders County Historical Society was looking for a country church. They had three to choose from. They decided on the Weston Presbyterian Church because it was in the best condition. It was moved to the Historical grounds in December of 1981 as a memorial to the pioneers of Saunders County. The architecture of the church was of the same period as the country schoolhouse that had been moved there. (See Joseph Cejka story.) Submitted by George F. Cejka

Josef and Frantiska Cejka

   My grandparents, Jozef and Frantiska Cejka, came from Caslavi, Czechoslovakia and arrived in New York on the 4th of July, 1876. New York was celebrating the Centennial with a lot of shouting and shooting. Grandmother had thought that the end of the world had come. With them were my grandmother's parents, James Nesladek and wife (my great-grandparents) and 2 small children, Mary, 2 years old and my father, Joseph T., 4 months old. The way was paid all the way from Europe to Fremont, Nebr. but how they got to Grandma's sister's farm 5 miles west of Weston (the John Moravec's) is not recorded.

Joseph and Mary Cejka

   Someone must have been there to meet them with a wagon because they had some bundles of clothes and a trunk made of lumber from a cottonwood tree that was cut down for it. My sister, Esther, still has it in her home.

   Language was a barrier. One day my grandfather met Mr. Olson, father of George and Fred Olson, on the road on a hot summer day and said Mr. Olson said, "Hot." My grandfather understood (had) a snake in Czech and replied, "Yes, yes, me kill three."

   That same year, he bought 80 acres of land in Chapman Precinct, Section 23, and lived there 3 years. Then he sold it and bought 160 acres in Rock Creek Precinct in Section 5. They lived in a dugout in the side of a hill. It still shows where it was. They remained on this farm until they retired to Weston. They had a new home built by a friend, Leopold Pallat, a carpenter by trade.

   They raised six children: Joseph T. Cejka, who married Mary Jasa; Mary, who married Dr. Aloise Barta, professor at Dubuque University; Anna, married to George Buresh; Frank, married to Rose Sklenar; and Rose, married to Paul William Mohr.

   My parents, Joseph T. and Mary Jasa Cejka, started their home in Chapman Precinct in Section 29, West ½ of Southeast Quarter. They raised 6 children. George F. (myself) married Ethel Sklenar. There are 4 children, Constance M., George J., Allan L. and Keith C. Paul married Adeline Havelka. They have 5 children, Paulette, Peggy, Nancy, Jolene, and Kenneth. Vladimir married Ruth Sklenar. They have 5 children, James, Elaine, Jean, Barbara, and Mark.

   Esther is not married. Martha died in infancy. Marie married Reuben Caha. They have a daughter, Judy. Henrietta Manning has two children, Donna and Tony. Submitted by George F. Cejka

George and Ethel Cejka

   My grandparents, Joseph and Frantiska Cejka, came to America from Caslav, Czechoslovakia. They landed at New York on July 4, 1876. From New York to Fremont, Nebraska they traveled by train. They were met at Fremont by their relatives, the Nesladeks, who took them by horse and wagon to the Nesladek home five miles west of Weston.

   Shortly after, they settled on an 80-acre farm one mile west of the Czech Presbyterian Church. Later they bought 160 acres five miles south of Weston, Nebr. on the Rock Creek bottom. Their first home was a dugout, later, a sodhouse. In time, a frame home was built. The lumber and all other materials were hauled by wagon from Ashland, Nebr.

   They experienced many hardships, lack of water, no fuel, hot dry summers, deep snow, and cold winters. The prairies were infested with water moccasins, rattlesnakes, and big bull snakes. One day, while my grandmother was hoeing potatoes, she killed a bull snake that measured 7 feet and 3 inches in length. They survived two prairie fires and the blizzard of 1888.

   The sod was broken up with a team of oxen. This union reared five children, my father being the second child.

   On Febr. 14, 1904, my father was united in marriage to Mary Jasa, daughter of Matej and Antonia Jasa of rural Wahoo. They made their home 3 miles south of Weston, Nebraska. They reared a family of six children, George, Paul, Esther, Vladimir, Marie, and Henrietta.

   At the present time I, my wife, and my son live on the family farm, our son being the third generation farming the land. Some of this land has been in the Cejka family over 85 years. Our farming operation is diversified. Crops consist of corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and alfalfa. We also operate a small dairy.

   My wife, the former Adeline Havelka, daughter of Emil and Anna Havelka, and I were united in marriage on March 7, 1946. We reared five children, Paulette Sabatka, Peggy Lowther (deceased), Nancy Alexander, Jolene, and Kenneth.

   We are of the Protestant faith, attending the Czech Presbyterian Church. I served in World War II for 3½ years in the European Theater. I am a member of the American Legion post #308 at Weston, Nebraska. I am a member of the school board in Dist. 103, serving in my twenty-first year. Submitted by Paul and Adeline Cejka

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