FAMILY STORIES

Howard) Walter who is 89 years old and lives with her daughter, Lois.

   Winnifred's parents, Joseph and Catherine Davey Fitzpatrick, came from Ireland and settled near Davey. Their son, Daniel, engineered the first Malle' engine across Nebraska to Alliance for the B.N.W.R.R. Their brother-in-law Michael Davey, gave Davey its townsite, named after him.

   Dr. Robert W. Norton came to Yutan in August 1962 to take over the family practice of Dr. Robert Christensen. Dr. Norton was a graduate of the University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska College of Medicine. The practice continued until 1975 when Dr. Norton died of cancer.

   Dr. Norton and his wife, Thelma, were both natives of Nebraska and were only away for two years in the Navy during the Korean War and two years of medical study after graduation.

   Steven C. Norton was born in Omaha and Vicki Lei Norton was born in Hanover, New Hampshire. Both attended all their school years in Yutan. They are both graduates of the University of Nebraska. Steven is married to Kim Jones of Lincoln and they are parents of Christian Robert Norton. Steven is a graduate student in psychology. Vicki is a registered nurse and is working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at the University of Nebraska. Thelma married James W. Anderson and is employed at the Bank of Yutan.

   Our family consisted of the following: father, Rudolph Emil Novak (1882 to 1965), mother, Minnie Blunk Novak (1887 to 1971), myself, Bernard Frederick Novak, resident at the present time in Haven House Nursing Home, Wahoo and a sister, Celice Marie Tarbutton.

   Our paternal grandparents were John and Josephine Novak and our maternal grandparents were Hans and Marie Blunk.

   My father told me of the many hardships that his parents went through -- particularly his father. He built one of the early sod-houses in Saunders County. He also walked everywhere to and from the work that was available in addition to the cultivation of his farm southwest of Prague in Elk Precinct. One of the projects he walked to in order to obtain employment was construction on an early state capitol building in Lincoln.

   My maternal grandfather left Germany as a young man and first settled in Iowa. In the early 1870's, he moved to Saunders County and later married Maria Hansen. They built one of the first homes in Wahoo and he was one of the original planners of Sunrise Cemetery east of Wahoo. My grandfather moved to Weston to become active in the lumber business and the banking business.

   My father was associated with the Chicago Lumber Co. in Weston after obtaining his education in Business College. He married Minnie Blunk, the daughter of our maternal grandparents, on June 23, 1909. He was later employed by the Weston Bank in which my grandfather, Hans F. Blunk, had an interest. In 1930, our family moved to Valparaiso where my father became associated in the re-organization of the Oak Creek Valley Bank. My mother continued her musical and community activities. In her early years, she had attended an Episcopal Girls' School in Omaha. Music was one of our family's great interests and each member of the family played a musical instrument.

   After obtaining my education in the Weston Schools, I obtained further education at a Business School in Missouri. My father was actively engaged in the operation of the Oak Creek Valley Bank and I joined him in 1933. After several years of this very satisfactory arrangement we both retired.

   My sister, Celice, with her husband, Harry S. Tarbutton, resides in Valparaiso. Celice is a former nurse and X-ray technician. She is active in her church, in music, and many community activities. She has one son, Kent S. Tarbutton, who lives with his family in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Submitted by Bernard F. Novak

   My father, Louis J. Novak, son of John and Elizabeth Hrozny Novak, was born on a farm near Brainard in 1886. His parents were born in Czechoslovakia and came here in 1871. Dad had four brothers and three sisters. He was able to attend grade school only two years in District 68, due to poverty. He was confirmed in the Weston Presbyterian Church, then located north of Weston, by Rev. Pipal.

The Louis J. Novak Family. Back Row, L to R: Henrietta, Charles, Henry, William, Louis and Alyce; Front Row: Wilma, Dad, Mother and Mildred.

   A brother, Frank, was sent with cash to Weston to board the train to Wahoo to pay the land taxes. But instead, he joined the circus which was in Weston at the time. No one ever heard from him. Rumors were that Kim Novak, the actress, may be his granddaughter.

   Dad was married to Frances Pallas Novak, daughter of Vaclav and Mary Pallas on February 6, 1910 by Rev. Novak in the Czech Presbyterian Church, Wahoo. There were nine children in her family. Two died in infancy. Mother's parents were born in Tason, Czechoslovakia and came to this country in 1878. They settled on a farm one-half mile west of this church. Mother was confirmed here and attended grade school in District 71. She lived in a home where family worship and Bible reading was very important. As children, we remember and cherish these prayer times at our grandparents' and parents' homes. Mother lived in a house that was separated from the kitchen. You had to go outdoors and into the living area. Grandma had a shawl hanging by each door for this walk.

   Mother and Dad resided on a farm six and a half miles west of Weston. Louis, Henrietta, Henry, Charles, and Mildred were born here. The folks were given a team of horses by Dad's parents, to work this land during these dry and difficult times. Dad tried to earn a living as best he could for his family. He operated a steam engine and threshing machine to harvest the grain in the neighborhood, driving long distances. Some grain had to be stacked in bundles until the rounds were made; which sometimes lasted into the winter.

   In 1918, the folks purchased a farm 2 miles southeast of Malmo. Due to the depression, they almost lost possession two different times. There was no plumbing, or electricity.

   Alyce, Wilma, and William were born here. We were crowded in this little house but were happy. Mother worked hard making most of our clothes, cooking, and doing laundry. Everything possible was made at home. The necessities, such as coffee, sugar and lye, were purchased. Flour was exchanged for wheat taken to the mill. We kids all attended grade school in District 97, walking every day which was one and a half miles one way. School was from nine to four.

   Charles attended Malmo High School for 2 years and finished by correspondence. Mildred had three years in Malmo and one year in Wahoo, since there were only 11 grades. Alyce and Wilma graduated from Malmo. Louie, Henrietta and Henry had to help at home, missing the opportunity of a high school education.

   We owned our first car, a Grant, in 1920. No anti-freeze these days, so the use of the car was limited. Horses hitched to a spring wagon or sled were used. Dad served on the school board and had the job of auctioneer at the box socials. One time he won a radio with head phones at Ferdinand Pascal Drug Store in Weston when we were small. Customers received a key when they came for a purchase. At a later date, they were asked to try to open a lock. He happened to be the winner. We were the only family in the area to have a radio. The neighbors came to look at this battery-operated box.

   Henry and Charles enlisted into the armed forces and fought in World War II. They both came back safely. Electricity was installed in 1943. Mother and Dad retired and moved to Wahoo in 1945. Dad served on the church board while living in Wahoo. William is presently residing on the home place.

   Mother passed away quietly at home in 1955 at the age of 67. Dad lived there alone until his passing at the Fremont Hospital in 1971 at the age of 85. Charles passed away in Crete on January 2, 1974. Peace be to the memory of our loved ones. Submitted by Mildred F. Pacal

   William, the son of Louis and Frances Pallas Novak, and I (La Verne), the daughter of Tony and Laura Thoms Saathoff, were married in 1952 and have made our home here on the farm near Malmo where William was born and has lived all his life. We farm approximately 300 acres, raising mostly corn and soybeans, and have a farrow-to-finish hog operation.

William and LaVerne Novak

   I was born in Jefferson County, Nebraska but have lived most of my life in Saunders County and we both have a deep ancestral heritage in the county. William's grandparents, Vaclav and Mary Pallas and Jan and Elizabeth Hrozny Novak, came from Czechoslovakia, and my maternal great-grandparents, Albert and Matilda Mix Thoms, and Dirk and Gesche Speckman Schmidt, came from Germany, and they all chose to make their homes and raise their families here in Saunders County.

   We have a daughter, Terri, who with her husband, Lonn Harlan, and their daughter, Heather, live in Lincoln where Lonn works for Nickelson Supply, and Terri, since the birth of Heather, has started a home typing service. Prior to that, she worked for a number of years at the University of Nebraska in the Veterinary Science Division.

   We are members of the Czech Presbyterian Church with William now serving as a Ruling Elder and I serve as Clerk of Session. We belong to the Mariners organization of the church. I am a member of the Ladies Aid and in the past was a Sunday School and Bible School teacher. We also, had the privilege of being members of the Centennial Committee when the church celebrated its Centennial Year in 1982.

   We enjoy doing a number of things for relaxation. I particularly like photography, reading, and sewing. I guess you could say William's main hobby is carpentry, since he has built nearly all of the buildings on our farm including the house. He has remodeled the barn, which was built in 1921, the year he was born, into a farrowing house.

   We both love to travel and have visited all the states in the western half of the country plus Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois in the east and have traveled

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in Canada. When we first started traveling, it was by car and staying in motels. But, about 5 years ago, our daughter talked us into going camping with them, using a van and tent, through rain and wind and flies and bees and probably even mosquitos. The bug bit us to the extent that we first purchased a slide-in pick-up camper that took us, among other places, to the Carlsbad Caverns and Death Valley, on our first winter vacation and through a mountain blizzard. We have now advanced to a motor home which we plan on keeping, using much more in our retirement years. Submitted by LaVerne Novak

   Dr. William W. Noyes was born November 19, 1882 at Blair, Nebraska. He was the eldest son of William W. and Johanna (Carter) Noyes. His father was the engineer on the first Northwestern passenger train through Saunders County from Lincoln to Missouri Valley, Iowa in 1886. With the transfer of his father to Lincoln, he moved with his family to Lincoln where he attended school, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1902.

Dr. and Mrs. Wm. W. Noyes

   As a young man, Dr. Noyes was himself employed by the Northwestern Railroad in Missouri Valley, Iowa. While working in the shops, Noyes lost an eye. He then decided to study medicine and went to school in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated from Lincoln Medical College in 1908. His first medical practice was at Inman, Nebraska.

   In 1909, he was united in marriage to Hattie Lippincott at Red Cloud, Nebraska. To this union five children were born: Mrs. Wesley (Hazel) Burklund, Mrs. Earl (Cecile) Johnson, Mrs. Edwin (Julia) Frasier, Mrs. Virgil (Veva) Anderson, all of Ceresco, and William W. Jr. (Bill) of Goleta, California.

   Dr. Noyes, or "Doc" as he was called, came to Ceresco in 1923 and was active in Ceresco's Community affairs, serving on the Schoolboard and the Village Board. He managed a boy's baseball team. He was active in the United Methodist Church, serving on the Church board, and as Sunday School Superintendent and teacher and president of the Epworth League. He was also active in the Saunders County and Nebraska State Medical Societies.

   Doc never let a child suffer, and he patched up many skinned knees with no charge to their parents. He traveled almost impassable roads to help the sick or the aging. He was very compassionate towards all people.

   While the "Knot Hole Section" was open to young people, Doc and Hattie drove two cars to Lincoln, taking all boys who wanted to go to a Nebraska football game.

   Hattie, the eldest daughter of William and Julia Carter Lippincott was born May 2, 1882 at Blair, Nebraska. She moved as a child with her parents to a farm south of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Having grown up on a farm, she experienced the hardships caused by drought, grasshoppers, low prices and general hard times.

   After her marriage, she was a helpmate to her husband, assisting him where help was needed to care for the ailing. While living in Holt County, she assisted with baby cases as no hospital was available.

   After caring for victims in an automobile accident, Dr. Noyes passed away August 5, 1957 at the age of seventy-five years. Hattie passed away March 12, 1982, just lacking six weeks of having lived a century. Submitted by Hazel Burklund

   Our family is of Czech heritage with our ancestors all coming from the same area in Moravia in the 1880's.

   Delmar was born on May 6, 1931, on a farm near Malmo, the son of Rudolph and Bessie (Brabec) Nozicka. His father, Rudolph, is a native of the Bruno-Plasi area and his mother a native of Weston. The family moved to Wahoo in 1933, where Delmar attended Wahoo Public Schools, graduating in 1949.

   Phyllis was born on January 5, 1936, on a farm west of Colon, the daughter of Frank J. and Bess (Cihacek) Vybiral. Her father, Frank, is a native of Wahoo and her mother, Bess, is a native of Abie in Butler County, Nebraska. The family resided on the farm near Colon until 1952 when they moved to a farm 3 miles east of Wahoo. Phyllis attended school at Colon District #117, District #26, St. Wenceslaus in Wahoo and Wahoo High School, graduating in 1953.

   During high school, Delmar worked part-time at the Wanahoo Park swimming pool and the City Cemetery and Street Depts. Following graduation he worked with an REA survey crew and in April, 1950 started his career with the City of Wahoo Electric Dept. Delmar served in the U.S. Navy on the U.S.S. Mazama with the Sixth Fleet from 1951 to 1955 during the Korean War. In 1955, he returned to his work with the city, first as a lineman and then transferring to the meter department. He has served on the Wahoo Volunteer Fire Department for over 20 years and still is an active member. His hobbies include his various collections and he is interested in old cars, especially the classics from the 50's.

   During high school, Phyllis assisted her father on the family farm and was active in 4-H. After graduation she began working at the Armco Office in Wahoo. In October, 1953, she began working in the City Hall under the direction of City Clerk E.J. Erickson. Her interests are gardening and reading. She has been a Girl Scout Leader for over 10 years and served one term on the Prairie Hills Girl Scout Council, Board of Directors.

   Delmar and Phyllis were married on April 27, 1957, and have two daughters: Paula, born August 29, 1964, in Wahoo who is presently a freshman student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business College; and Lisa, born February 21, 1969, in Wahoo who is an 8th grade student at Wahoo Middle School. The family are members of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church.

   Anders August Anderson was born in 1835 and Efva Mathilda Carolina Nelson was born in 1840. Both were born in the Morlunda community of Smaland, Sweden. They were married July 14, 1860. In 1868, with three children they emigrated to the United States, arriving at Rockford, Illinois in June. In November of 1869, they moved to Omaha from where they filed on a homestead on the SE½, SE¼, S 28 T 15 in Saunders County.

   On arriving in Nebraska they found so many Andersons that they changed the name to Nygren, meaning "new branch."

   Their first home was a dugout in the very southeast corner of the ground. The next was a soddy in the middle of the east end, and eventually a frame home was built in the middle of the south edge of the ground.

Mr. and Mrs. August Nygren

   Of a total of thirteen children, John Gunnar was the only one to stay and carry on the family name in Saunders County.

   Mr. and Mrs. August Nygren were charter members of the Lutheran church of Mead, organized in January of 1870. At that time, the church and cemetery were just a mile south of their home.

   August had served apprenticeships in Sweden and was an accomplished carpenter. He could also lay brick, do plastering, and was very handy in his own farm blacksmith shop. It was not long until he was busy building in the surrounding area. He built the first mill building for the Ithaca flouring mill on Wahoo Creek and also constructed the dam to furnish the water power to turn the burrs and milling equipment. He built several farm homes and did contract building in Ashland and Fremont.

   The Easter blizzard of 1873, which struck a great area of Nebraska, came when he was working in Fremont. This was a nine-day storm with a lull on the third day, which enabled him to walk home to his family. The entrance to the dugout had filled with snow and they were trapped without food and fuel.

   In 1892, August bought five eighties in Knox County, five miles west of Wausa. He did "suit case" farming for seven years, bringing horses and equipment up to plow and plant wheat in the fall, and back again to harvest and thresh and plow and plant, and so on. He got tired of this and sold the ground in 1899.

   In 1901, he sold his home place and bought the NW¼ of Section 4 in Wahoo Precinct, because of Silver Creek water. Ordered to eat fish for his health, he dug a cut-across channel, using the old channel for a pond, which he stocked with bullheads and sunfish.

   Mrs. Nygren had developed skills as a midwife and was called upon quite regularly when children were born in the community. A milk glass cream and sugar set, given in gratitude for this service, is still in the family.

   While leveling a cob pile during shelling, August suffered a stroke and died three days later on August 12, 1903. Mrs. Nygren died March 25, 1904. Submitted by Carl Nygren

   Carl was born October 12, 1906, son of John and Alida Nygren. John was born in this county October 20, 1871, son of Anders August and Eva Mathilda Nygren, who arrived in Saunders County from Sweden in 1869. Alida was born in Sweden and arrived in Saunders County in 1903.

   Carl received his grade and high school education in Mead High School, took a two-year college course in Luther College of Wahoo, and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in 1932.

   Due to the depression, jobs were not available. The first job was in 1934 in the State Highway Department testing laboratory, which was then on campus. The rate was 25¢ per hour. On this job Carl met Christine Ferguson, Secretary to Prof. C.M. Duff, State Testing Engineer.

   The next stint was a pump priming job for the Coast and Geodetic Service and then a rodman job for the Nebraska Highway Department.

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