FAMILY STORIES

   On May 25, 1907, a daughter, Mary Jane, was born. On February 3, 1909, a daughter, Virginia, was born.

   The family enjoyed life in the little friendly town. Frequent visitors in their home were Frank's sister, Emma, from Weston and their nieces and nephews who always stayed several days.

   Early in 1911, Frank was stricken with rheumatism and a heart condition. He died in May of that year. Mary, left with two little girls to support, worked to educate them. In 1921, they moved to Wahoo so the girls could attend high school.

   In 1922, Thomas Fraley, son of Frank Fraley, joined the family. He continued to make his home with them except for the years spent in the Air Force in World War II. Thomas married Ruth Miller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Miller, in 1947. Now, in 1983, they and their family reside in Houston, Texas.

   Mary and Virginia attended Luther College and the University of Nebraska. Mary taught for several years in Richardson and Saunders County. Virginia taught in the schools of Saunders County, Malmo, and North Bend.

   On August 10, 1934, Mary was married to Joe F. Jasa, a farmer and native of Saunders County. She passed away in 1946. On October 5, 1950 Virginia was married to Joe F. Jasa. They resided on the farm south west of Wahoo until Joe's death on February 21, 1981.

   Mrs. Janak died on October 25, 1961.

   Virginia Jasa moved to Wahoo in the fall of 1981. By Virginia Jasa

   Dolores and I were married in St. John's Church in Prague, Nebr. in May, 1951.

Robert and Dolores Janecek

   Dolores is the youngest of three children born to Adolph and Anna (Polacek) Humlicek of Prague, Nebr. Leonard Humlicek and Mae Safranek are her brother and sister.

   Dolores attended grade school at St. John's Parochial School and high school at Prague High.

   I am the oldest of four children born to Frank and Rose (Styskal) Janecek of Wahoo, Nebr. Leonard Janecek, Leona Germain and Judith Freeborn are my brother and sisters.

   I attended grade school at Dist. #70 and high school at St. Wenceslaus School and Wahoo High.

   We now reside on a farm one-half mile south of Wahoo on Highway #77.

   We are blessed with five children and five grandchildren at this time. They are: Daniel, married to Deborah Carder, with two children, Jeffrey and Allison; Karen, married to Scott Miller with two children, Michelle and Jillian; Steven; David, married to Kathy Wonka with one son, Adam; and Julie.

   Dolores, a homemaker, has worked for Safeway Stores and has helped me with my farm operation.

   I am a machinist for the Burlington Northern Railroad at the Havelock Shops and I am also a part-time farmer.

   We are members of St. Wenceslaus Church, Knights of Columbus, I.A.M. Machinist Union, Catholic Workman, Eagles, Eagle Auxiliary, and Catholic Daughters.

   We have a large antique tractor and gas engine collection. We are also members of the Camp Creek Antique Machinery and Threshing Club of Waverly, Nebr. We attend and exhibit our tractors and engines at many threshing shows in the Midwest.

   Our grandparents migrated from Czechoslovakia, and they all settled in Saunders County.

   We are proud of our Czech heritage and Czech music. We attend Czech festivals and listen to Czech music every chance we get. I have sung with many three-piece Czech bands over the years.

   We are proud to have lived in Saunders County all our lives. Submitted by Robert Janecek

   Frank and Anna Ruzek, my mother's parents came from Obora and Ze Vseka, Koncim, Czechoslovakia around 1879. His father and brother died in a coal mine before he and Anna were married. A brass band played for the wedding dance until 3:30 A.M. After breakfast they sang the national anthem, "Kde domov Muj", said "Good-bye" and left for the United States.

   They crossed Germany to Hamburg. Twenty-eight days later they arrived in Baltimore. Then, by way of St. Louis, they went to Prague where Grandpa's sister, Mrs. Joe Kaspar, lived on a homestead. After living with the Kaspars a short time, they settled 1½ miles away, near Cottonwood Creek. They chased a coyote out of his den and there they made their dugout. They thought the dugout would be safe, but it flooded.

   Grandpa and his brother, Vaclav Ruzek, walked to Rulo to work. They made landing approaches for ferryboats that landed immigrants coming from the East. The brother, Vaclav, killed in a cave-in, was buried in Vavak's pasture. He was later moved to the Plasi Cemetery.

   Grandpa also worked in Lincoln, staying 2 to 3 months at a time while Grandma stayed at home. Indians would come and beg for bread. Later, they had a cow for milk. When she saw the Indians coming, she would take the cow and hide in the weeds.

   They later built a one-room house, adding other rooms with lumber hauled from Fremont. They raised five sons and five daughters and bought seven farms in their lifetime.

   My father's grandparents, Peter and Mary (Brecka) Kucera, came from Jeminice, Okres Dacice, Moravia, in 1876. Their daughter, Mary, born in Moravia, was my dad's mother. She married Frank Jelinek II. They raised six children. Great-grandpa Frank Jelinek I was a blacksmith in the Austrian-Hungarian Cavalry. He related how the prisoners of war had to clean the barns and horses. The only food they got was the corn that passed through the horses. He was the first blacksmith south of Linwood.

   Later when Dad's father married Mary Kucera, my great-grandpa moved to Omaha with a daughter and lived to be 106 years and seven months old. A street car killed him one night when he was getting groceries in a heavy snowstorm, having walked home on the streetcar tracks.

   My grandfather was 35 when he was injured by a cornsheller on icy roads 1½ miles northeast of Abie. He suffered a broken back, living about 9 months after the accident. The doctor that took care of him at Prague was later found to be a fake without a diploma from the old country.

   Dad was only 11 or 12 years old, and being the oldest, had to farm the land. He had acquired only a fourth-grade education. His uncle came every morning to harness the horses. In the evening, his mother helped pull the harness off. After growing up he worked around Prague. He rented some land and finally bought a farm two miles south of Linwood. Submitted by Frank Jelinek IV

Mr and Mrs. Frank J. Jelinek III

   I, Frank Jelinek IV, am the only son of the late Frank Jelinek III and Antonia Ruzek who were married in 1906. Music and farming were my life. When Hitler started running all over Europe, I went to Aircraft School as I did not like the idea of a 65-lb. pack on my back with a bayonet on my rifle.

Frank and Millie Jelinek

   When I entered the service I landed in the Air Force. I was a factory crew chief on B-17's in the Wichita, Kansas factory for one and one-half years. At the Lincoln Air Base I was assistant instructor for several months. Later, I was sent to San Diego, California to Consolidated Vulte B-24 Bomber School for flying engineers. From there I went to gunnery school and back to San Diego to pick up the bomber and officers for our crew. After three phases of training we were made a base training unit in South Carolina. We trained all potential overseas crews by flying to Cuba and back at night.

   After V-J Day the war was over. We had to go to Los Angeles, California to Douglas Aircraft School on DC-7's and DC-8's. Since these planes were equipped with beds, they were used to fly home hospital personnel that were on stretchers, coming from all U.S. battle fronts.

   After my discharge, I met and married Mildred Anne Normann, on May 25, 1949, at Holy Name Church in Omaha.

   Millie came from a dairy farm near Grafton, Wisconsin. She had worked in National Defense

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there, in an egg-powdering plant. Having a brother in the Medics in Italy's Purple Heart Valley, and, after seeing little chickens in eggshells, she quit her job and went to Evenside, Wisconsin where she cut leather for military airborne troops. Later, she came to Omaha where she sewed parachutes, and was later made an inspector. After the war, this plant made men's slacks and women's blouses.

   Millie also studied music and played the Hawaiian guitar. She was playing with Jimmy Mantelly WAAW before we were married. Millie did not like city life, and nor did I. So back to the farm for us it was. We built our new home together with the help of 6 good neighbors and the veterans' class in Schuyler. I lost Millie on Dec. 4, 1976.

   Millie wrote a number of books of poetry and won countless prizes with them. One of 12 poems was selected by the monument works to be engraved on her monument.

   Millie's family has a rare family tree with 9 generations traceable in the United States and in Europe. The lineage goes back to 1066, the Norman Invasion of Europe. Her ancestor, Baron Lee Norman, was general of armies for King Frederick. After conquering France, Belgium, Spain, and England, the general, in Ireland, met a beautiful Catholic Irish girl, and married her. She persuaded the Normans that they were doing wrong. So they went back to Germany and stopped the invasions. The Baron's son, Karl Norman, owned the family farm in 1853.

   Millie also had ancestors (3 German brothers, all captains) in the Civil War in the Battle of Shiloh. Two were killed, and one, Pete Spehn, is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Grofton, Wisconsin. A flag is kept flying near his monument. Submitted by Frank Jelinek IV

   Joseph Jenny left Rouffach, Alsace, France at seventeen. He landed in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 12, 1912, where his sister Mathilda, and her husband, Joseph Roth, lived. Here he learned the barber trade. He worked in various activities, on the Havre Canal, unloaded bananas, worked in restaurants, etc.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Jenny

   In 1914, he came north to Saunders County, worked on the farm near Yutan. November, 1917, he entered the Army and WWI. He was a Sergeant in Company A, 314th Ammunition Train, interpreter to his Company Officers, being fluent in both French and German.

   After the war, Joe barbered in Lyons, Gretna and Ashland. He bought Bert Cummings' barber shop and pool hall at Malmo and opened for business, November 15, 1921. A few months later he bought the buildings and lots from the Chicago Lumber Company. About 1923, he stocked commercial radios, TV's and electrical appliances, as they became popular.

   With the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Joseph Jenny obtained a license to sell beer.

   Joe started outdoor moving picture circuits in 1935, operating 12 to 18 weeks through the summer months. At its peak, he had five circuits showing six nights a week, (thirty towns in the surrounding area). These patrons often called him, "Mr. Malmo". He was equipped with the best public address and sound systems in east-central Nebraska.

   A hollo-stone building was built south of the barber shop in 1951. One half held Joe's appliances; the south half, the Malmo Post Office.

   Joe learned the Morse Code via WJAG, Norfolk, obtained his Amateur Radio license in 1930, #W9FXF, later changing to W0FXF.

   Joseph Jenny was a Village Board member for thirty years, many as Mayor. He was a 52-year charter member of Malmo's American Legion Post #232, Wahoo Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post #4502, and Boy Scout Council for many years. Through his perseverance Malmo's main street was curbed in the early 1920's.

   Josephine Jenny is the 7th child of Jurgen and Wiebke Knuth Holtorf. She graduated from the Malmo and Wahoo High Schools. She was assistant cashier of the First Trust Company, Lincoln for several years.

   When the Post Office Department wanted postmaster applications, Josephine was the ONLY applicant. She entered the post office, April 1, 1921 as Clerk-in-Charge, passed the Civil Service Exams, and was appointed postmaster May 21, 1921.

   Josephine, a 62-year Charter member of the American Legion Auxiliary, has been active in the Unit on the County District, and State Levels. She is a member of the Dodge County Salon 8/40 and served as the Salon Chapeau, Area D, Demi-Chapeau and the Nebraska Departmental Chapeau in 1960. She was elected president of the Saunders County Historical Society for 1967, Nebraska's Centennial Year.

   She joined the National League of Postmasters in 1921. She was Nebraska Branch State president for two years, and was a national First Vice-President for five terms.

   Joe and Josephine traveled extensively. They visited every state in the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. They visited Joe's home in Rouffach, France, Paris, Switzerland and Germany in 1960 and 1969. They also visited a few days in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in 1960, where Josephine's parents were born.

   Joseph Jenny died March 9, 1973, ten days after a heart attack. By Josephine L. Jenny

   In the early 1900's, Lafayette Jesse and his children, Maggie, Joe, Fred and Anna, came to Saunders County from Nashville, Tennessee. They lived on a farm 3 miles east and three-fourths mile south of Cedar Bluffs. Maggie did the cooking. She was so young, she had to stand on a box to reach the table and stove.

   Maggie later married Clint Sailing. They resided on the farm where Maggie grew up.

   Fred married Mamie Walker of North Bend. They resided on a farm three miles east and one and one-half miles south of Cedar Bluffs. Some years later, they moved to a farm west of North Bend. Later they retired and moved to Fremont.

   Joe and Anna both died at a young age. Lafayette, Joe, Anna, Clint, Maggie, and the infant daughter of Fred and Mamie are all buried at the Cedar Bluffs Cemetery. Fred and Mamie are buried in Fremont Memorial Cemetery. By Joan Blankenbeckler

   Alexander Skoog and his wife, Charlotte Johansdotter, lived in the parish of Sodia Fogelos in the province of Vastergotland, Sweden. Alexander was a professional soldier so the family lived on a small farm provided for the soldiers. This was called a soldiers torp. He came from a family of soldiers; his father and grandfather had been soldiers before him.

   In 1880, the three oldest Skoog children emigrated to America, going to Chicago. Mathilda, my grandmother, was one of them; she was accompanied by a brother and sister. The young women found work as domestics and the brother worked as a laborer. In 1883, Alexander Skoog, his wife and the younger children came to America, too. They came to Chicago but did not remain there long. They proceeded west to Mead, Nebraska where a farm was purchased about a mile and one half northwest of town.

   Mathilda remained in Chicago and married John O. Johnson who had emigrated from the parrish of Alvsborg also in Vastergotland. He and a sister came to America together, landing in Boston where they worked for a while before going on to Chicago. There he worked as a furniture maker and was very good at fine woodwork.

   The younger children, who moved to Nebraska with Alexander, soon established homes of their own. John Skoog worked in Fremont for a while; then married Christine Sarene and started farming northeast of Colon. Clara married Ferdinand Almen; they had two children, Art and Signa. Ferdinand Almen died a few years later and Clara married John Lind. They had one daughter named Mabel.

   By the late 1880's, the elder Skoogs were no longer able to continue operating the farm so Mathilda and John O. Johnson left Chicago and came to Mead and took over their farm. After a few years, John O. Johnson sold this farm and bought a larger farm further northwest of Mead. The Johnsons had two children, Henry and Josephine. After John's death, Henry took over the farm and lived there until his death in 1936. His son, Henry, now lives on this farm.

   Josephine married David Smith. They farmed southwest of Mead. They were my parents. Submitted by Roger Smith

   I, Violette Johnson, was one of 9 children of Mr. and Mrs. C.J. Carlstrom of Malmo, Nebraska. My mother was a daughter of Andrew Wagner Sr. of Memphis. They came from Illinois in a covered wagon. My father came from Jonsbo, Sweden with his brother, Emil. Their mother and a sister and brother came later. They all were farmers near Malmo.

Mr. and Mrs. Algot Johnson, Grandchildren: Donald and Sandra Rogers.

   My father took a homestead near Sutherland where he met Mother. They were married July 3, 1893, and came back to Malmo in 1900. We lived on

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a rented farm 1 mile west, 2 south, and ½ west, and went to Dist. 97 school.

   I remember that there were a lot of gypsies and Indians roaming the country then. They would come and beg food for themselves and their horses. They would come back at night and steal more. And, as we were poor people, it really hurt. Buy my dad believed that was the thing to do.

   We all worked hard. I don't think there was anything we didn't do, from chores to digging postholes and putting up hay. We walked the corn rows and chopped out sunflowers, pulled cockleburs, etc. I wonder what my dad would think if he saw the sunflowers growing wild now. We girls would go out and work in homes to earn some clothes money in between times. The boys also worked for farmers.

   We had many hard winters. So much snow fell that we would find that we drove over fence lines when the snow would melt in the spring. That was the only time we got rides to school.

   We would roll big snowballs and pour water to make ice forts at school. Then we girls would stand the boys in snowball fights. They called me "Stonewall Jackson", as I was generally the last to give up.

   We had parties in our homes with the young neighbor people. We played outside games in the summer and inside games in the wintertime.

   We were members of the Mission Covenant Church of Malmo. I was baptized and confirmed there, and went to Sunday School there. Algot and I were married at a home wedding at our farm home 1½ miles south of Malmo by Rev. J. Johnson. His daughter, Lillian, played the wedding march. My bridesmaid lives here in Wahoo. She is Adeline Vermeline.

   We lived near Malmo 2 years, then 6½ years in Chicago. We had 5 children, Gladys, Alice, Arlene, Warren, and Richard. Arlene and her 2 children, Sandra and Donald, made their home with us. Sandra and Donald still call this their home.

   Algot passed away Oct., 1965. It would be pretty lonesome if they weren't here.

   We joined the Bethlehem Lutheran Church after moving to Wahoo. I am a member of the Royal Neighbors and V.F.W. Auxiliary, and I enjoy spending some time at the Senior Citizens Center. Submitted by Mrs. Algot C. Johnson

   Amandus Johnson was born March 8, 1871, in Vastergotland, Sweden, the son of John and Louise Peterson, and came back to the Mead area to live when he was about 14. His sister, Augusta (Mrs. Emil Udd), and brother, Alfred, also came from Sweden to Saunders County.

   Ellen Matilda Anderson was born October 21, 1873, on the farm her father, Victor, had homesteaded. Ellen and Amandus were married on August 10, 1895. They were a quiet, hard-working family who farmed in the Mead community, eventually buying the farm that Ellen's Grandfather Carlson had homesteaded. When a new home was built on the farm around 1910, the old house was made into a shop, milk-house, and a Delco light plant to supply electricity to the farm.

   In 1942, they moved to Mead when they had to sell their land to the U.S. government because several thousand acres of land were needed for a bomb-loading plant.

   Amandus and Ellen had 6 children -- Edith, Joseph, Eleanora (Nora), Ruben, LeRoy, and Louise. Edith married Blair Fogle, and had a son, Paul. Joe married Leila Gilchrist. They had 4 children -- Genevieve (Hilfiker), Elwyn, Joan (Blankenship), and Joyce (Carden). Nora married Arthur Olson. They had 3 children -- Clifford, Keith, and Donna (Bradford). Ruben married Julia Olson, and they had 2 daughters, Caroline (Whitcomb) and Rogene. LeRoy married Ruth Hanson. They had 4 children -- Elaine (Henrichson), Dale, Lila (Morris), and Eldon. Louise married Duane Ellison, and they had 2 children -- Annette (Kasl), and Gaylord.

   Ellen died October 1, 1943, and Amandus died March 14, 1954.

   Clayton Verner Johnson was born in Saunders County on Febr. 9, 1909, the oldest son of Oscar and Julia Johnson. He attended grade school in Ceresco, graduated from Ceresco High School in 1927 and attended Luther College in Wahoo. He was baptized and confirmed a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church where he spent several years serving in various positions on the church council.

   Clayton spent several years in the Triple A Office in Wahoo, served on the Co-op Elevator board, is a past Master of the Masonic Lodge, served on the County 4-H Council and served as a 4-H leader for 15 years.

   Clayton married Helen Elizabeth Wolfe in September, 1940. Helen was born Dec. 17, 1915, the oldest daughter of Ira and Hazel (Nelson) Wolfe. She spent her childhood days on a farm near Cedar Bluffs, attended grade school at Dist #79, graduated from Cedar Bluffs High School in 1935, and graduated from Lincoln General School of Nursing in 1946. She spent several years in the nursing field as a registered nurse at Saunders County Hospital and Wahoo Clinic. Helen was active in community affairs as president of PTA, officer in Lutheran Women's Society, a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, a member of Eastern Star, and as a 4-H leader for 12 years.

   Clayton and Helen are parents of 3 children. Daughter Barbara Jeanne, born May 24, 1942, lives on a farm near Ceresco with her husband, Leroy Hanson, and their two children, Jason Lee and Jennifer Lynn.

   Son Ronald Clayton, born March 22, 1944, graduated from Ceresco High School and U. of Nebr. College of Agriculture, and spent 6 years in the U.S. Navy. He married Charlene White Skogman in 1976, and has 2 step-sons and a daughter, Heather Danielle, born April 20, 1978. They live in Iowa.

   Daughter Sharon Elaine, born Oct. 7, 1945, graduated from Ceresco High School, Wesleyan University, and Bryan Memorial School of Nursing. Sharon married James Lee Tassler in 1968 and they moved to Boston, Massachusetts. James met his death in an accident in Boston in 1973. Sharon remained in Massachusetts to continue her education and is an Associate Professor in Rhode Island Junior College. She is now married to Rene Remillard.

   The Johnsons left the farm in 1969 and moved to Lincoln, Nebr. Clayton was employed by U. of Nebr. Agronomy Dept. Helen worked as an R.N. at Eastmont Retirement Home and the Tabitha Nursing Home. Clayton and Helen are now retired and enjoying retirement in their home in Ceresco. By Helen Johnson

   After hearing so many stories that America was a land of opportunity, my father, one of twelve children, left his native land of Sweden in 1910 for this country.

   My father's name was Gustav Adolph Jonasson, and after being in this country for a few years, he legally changed his last name to Johnson which seemed to be much easier for people to pronounce and spell.

   He first worked in Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota, where he had an uncle who later adopted my father's youngest brother. He worked for several years in various department stores, and later, went with a greenhouse construction company, working in the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nebraska. While in Massachusetts he met his wife, Greta Kristina Svenson, who had emigrated to this country in 1919 with her mother, sister and two brothers. They came here to be with five other brothers and sisters who had been in this country for several years.

   My mother used to tell about her first food in the United States and that was ice cream, which she had never before tasted. It always remained a favorite of hers.

   In 1922, my father was hired by William P. Nelson to build a greenhouse in Yutan. Then, in 1923, he came back and built three more additions to the first greenhouse and was asked to go into business with Nelson and his brother, Dolph. With the thought of marriage in the future, he accepted the offer.

   They were married in 1924 in Mankato, Kansas. I was born in February, 1925, a date that was well-remembered by so many of the local people as there was an early spring thaw that year and the roads were impassable. The doctor from Omaha came to Valley by train, and then by hand-car to Yutan.

   My brother Ralph Charles, was born in May, 1927. One of the things I remember of him at the age of about three was his painting our new car with house paint. How my parents worked to remove it!

   Ralph married JoAnn Sappenfield of Portland, Oregon. They have three children, twins, Jerome and Kristi, and Gail. He now resides in Salem, Oregon.

   After William Nelson left the greenhouse, my parents and Dolph Nelson continued in the business.

   I married Melvin DeLoss Turner of Elmwood, Nebraska in July, 1944. After his discharge from the United States Navy, my husband worked in the greenhouse. After the death of my father in 1957, we continued to run the business until 1959. In 1963, my husband was appointed the rural mail carrier for Yutan, and held that position until his death in 1973. We had two sons, Randy and Jeffrey.

   Randy married Beverly Herdman and they live in Yutan. They have a daughter, Kathy. Jeffrey married Deborah Brooks and they have a daughter, Tiffany. They are in Santa Barbara, California.

   I still work around flowers, but my best memories are of our own greenhouse and the beautiful flowers grown by my father and mother. By Mrs. Evelyn E. Turner

   Henry A. Johnson Jr. was born where he now resides to Henry A. Johnson Sr. and the former Bessie Weatherbee of Shaluta, Mississippi. His grandparents were John O. Johnson and Josephine M. Skoog of Chicago. They emigrated from Sweden and also resided at the same farm which was purchased in 1905. Henry has two brothers, Warren of Mead, and Wallace of Wichita, Kansas.

Henry and Alice Johnson and Sheila

   Henry graduated from Mead Public School and drove the school bus while attending high school.

   He has farmed all of his life and milked cows at one time, and raises hogs.

   He serves as a Director on the South Omaha Production Credit Association Board, is a member of the Saunders County Planning Commission,

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