A special thanks to Victor F. Krmela for providing this information. If you have any comments or have an interest in this family, please contact him.
Joseph Pechanec was born in Bohemia in the village of Porici on 6 May, 1819, the son of Frank Pechanec and Theresia Cmaha. He married Anna Splichal, the daughter of Vaclav Splichal and Anna Koutny of Jarosov, on 10 November, 1840. We know that Anna was born in Jarosov (close to Porici) about 1820 or 1821, and that she was the niece of Joseph Splichal who immigrated to this country in 1864 and settled in Johnson County, Iowa, not far from the Amana Colonies.Joseph and Anna's known living children were John, born in May, 1842; Anna, born in Posici in 1848; Joseph, born in 1849; Vojtech, born in February, 1850; Vaclav, born in February, 1858; and Frank, born in Budislav on January 29, 1859 (the writer's grandfather). Note that Porici and Budislav appear to be less than a mile apart on the road maps of the Czech Republic.
Joseph and Anna came to the United States on December 5, 1866, arriving at the port of Baltimore. They brought five of their six children with them; John, who had married Anna Jiran in Bohemia about 1866, remained behind for a couple of years. The Pechanec family went directly to Johnson county, Iowa, where Anna's uncle, Joe Splichal, had already established himself and his family on about 160 acres. The Pechanecs stayed with the Splichals for the first year or two, and then rented a place to stay after that while earning enough money clearing land of woods and brush in order to buy their own acreage. My grandfather's autobiography says they eventually acquired about 120 acres, 30 or 40 acres at a time. Apparently this land was next to Splichal's property; this is based on a plat map of the time rather than from a legal description. There is a legal description of land purchased in 1875; however, times were hard, and we see this land sold in 1878, shortly before Joseph and Anna Pechanec and four of their sons moved to Nebraska. (Since this was first written, the earlier land purchases have been discovered, beginning in 1868.)
Meanwhile, young Anna and Joseph, Jr. had found spouses, and would remain in Iowa. Anna married John Veselik in Cedar Rapids, Linn county, Iowa, on or about March 29, 1872 (the date on the marriage license). They had one child, Mary, who was born in February, 1873. The 1885 Iowa census tells us that John Veselik was a tailor and that the family lived at 309 Seventh Street in Cedar Rapids. The 1880 census shows them at between 305 and 313 Jackson Street. It's possible that the street names were changed, since Jackson Street cannot be found on later maps. John Veselik died on February 15, 1890 from tuberculosis. Anna Pechanec Veselik then married Jakob Pospichal (born July, 1836, in Sihlava, Bohemia) on June 5, 1893, in Cedar Rapids. Jakob was a widower. They lived at 1107 South Seventh Street in Cedar Rapids. Anna died April 9, 1899 in Cedar Rapids. According to a letter written by Mary Veselik to her uncle and aunt Frank and Anna Pechanec (my grandparents) her mother had suffered from heart trouble and edema (then called dropsy) for a number of months. Mary continued to live with her stepfather until her marriage to Joseph Holec at age 28. She must have thought a great deal of her stepfather. As a matter of fact, the new couple continued to live at 1107 South Seventh. In the 1920 census we see the Holec family still at the same address and Jakob still with them, at 84 years of age. (Jakob died July 23, 1931; he was 95)
Joseph Pechanec, Jr., married Helena Checkova (born about 1836 in Bohemia) on October 3, 1877, in Johnson county, Iowa. Helena was the widow of Wenzel (Vaclav) Chaka (Cejka?); she had one son, John. Wenzel and Helena had a farm in Monroe township, Johnson county, so Joseph and Helena continued to live on the same property. Joseph and Helena had no children. Soon after Joseph's death at age 41 on June 27, 1890, Helena deeded the farm to her son, John, and moved to Cedar Rapids. Apparently she acquired rental property there, for both the 1900 and the 1910 census list her as a landlord. She died sometime between 1910 and 1920.
Joseph and Anna Pechanec and their four remaining sons moved to Nebraska in 1879, settling in Midland precinct, Colfax county, near the post office of Heun, about 10 or 12 miles north of Schuyler. They had purchased at least 120 acres of land in several parcels near each other. Each of the boys got some of the land, so that eventually Joseph and Anna were on just forty acres. They all remained on their properties until 1885 or 1886, when most of the members of the Pechanec family sold out and moved elsewhere. Only Vojtech continued to live on his forty acres after 1890. Anna Splichal Pechanec died around 1885 or 1886; it is possible that her influence had kept the family together. So far her date of death and place of burial remain unknown.
Meanwhile, the sons Frank, Vojtech, and Vaclav had gotten married. Frank Pechanec married Anna Vondra, the daughter of Joseph Wondra (original spelling) and Paulina Cejnor, on Frank's birthday, January 29, 1883, in Columbus, Nebraska. More about them later.
Vojtech married his cousin, Catherine Pechanec (born December, 1856 of Frank Pechanec and Alzbeta Kvetanska, probably in Budislav) on March 26, 1883, in Schuyler, Nebraska. Vojtech and Catherine had no children; eventually they moved to Clarkson. They are both buried in Clarkson, Nebraska, in the Bohemian National Cemetery. Vojtech died August 9, 1911; Catherine died March 28, 1910.
Vaclav married Josie Bartas on April 11, 1885, in Schuyler, Nebraska, but this union was not destined to last very long. At the end of August of that same year , Vaclav (also called Wesley) published an ad in the Schuyler Sun warning others not to give her support and stating that he would not be resonsible for her debts. Sometime later Vaclav cohabited with Mrs. Antonia Cernohous, whose husband had died of a heart attack after coming in from the field. By the time the divorce was granted on February 27, 1890, Vaclav and Antonia were the parents of at least one child. (Josie, the plaintiff, claimed there were two children.) Vaclav and Antonia were married on April 7, 1890, in Schuyler, Nebraska. By this time they had moved to a rented 120 acre farm in Wilson precinct of Colfax county, neighbors of Frank and Anna Pechanec, who had settled in on their third farm by this time. Eventually Vaclav, Antonia, and their daughter, Mary, moved to Schuyler, where Vaclav and Antonia are buried. She died June 22, 1902; he died November 4, 1905.
An interesting note: it appears that Joseph Pechanec, Vaclav's father, knew something about law. Part of the divorce proceedings shows Joseph acting in Vaclav's stead, having conducted a deposition of Josie Bartas. It's also interesting to note that Josie did not collect a cent, because there was no property to levy against. Joseph had taken responsibility for the costs, but by the time the divorce was finalized, he had remarried (Mrs. Mary Zembach, on September 4, 1888), moved to Columbus in Platte county, and had divested himself of all his property; it was all in his new wife's name. Joseph and Mary lived on K Street, block 200, lots 5 and 6, Columbus, Nebraska from the time of their marriage at St. Bonaventure's Church in Columbus. As late as 1900 we see him buying property that had been sold for back taxes. He was 81 at the time. Joseph died December 17, 1902 after a two day stay in St. Mary's Hospital, "probably from old age" according to the Columbus Telegram. He was buried from St. Bonaventure's Church on December 19, 1902; however, there is no record that he was buried in the church's cemetery. He was 83. Probably he was buried beside his first wife, Anna, wherever that may be.
Returning to Frank and Anna Vondra Pechanec, Frank had become dissatisfied with the property he had in Midland precinct, partly because it was two forty acre tracts separated by some distance. By 1885 he had bought land about 10 miles to the southwest in a German neighborhood, close to Joseph and Paulina Wondra, his wife's parents. However, perhaps a more compelling reason for the move was the fact that Anna, his wife, had her own homestead of forty acres near the Wondra property, and that it needed to be "proved up" in the fall of 1885. In fact, Anna (my grandmother) was one of the few women of that day who went through the naturalization process, because the rules of the Homestead Act made that necessary. The land was in the very southwest corner of Wilson precinct, right next to Platte county. At first the couple lived with the Wondras, but since children were coming, Frank built first a dugout and then a small frame building with his father's help. However, the family had such hard luck from storms, accidents, grasshoppers, and poor crops, that Frank sold the land back to its original owner and moved back northeast to his third farm, also located in the Wilson precinct (Anna's property was probably signed over to her father, Joseph Wondra). There the family stayed until 1905. By this time Anna had given birth to twelve children. Two children died in childbirth; another two were struck down by diphtheria. In order of birth the children were Frank (1883-1965), William (1885-1960), Emil (1888-1891), Pauline (1889-1891), Bohumil (1891-1981), Anna (1893-1972), Joseph (1894-1894), Maria Anna (1896-1896), Ludmila (1897-1956), Henry (1900-1995), Bessie (1902-1988), and Libbie (1904-1995).
In 1905, the family made their last move, to a farm near Timken, Kansas, in the central part of the state. Here the family prospered, guaranteeing a continuation of the Pechanec name for generations to come. Another daughter, Frances, was born in 1906, but she did not live.
So far, little has been said about John and Anna Jiran Pechanec. In order of birth, their children were Joseph (1867-1934), Anna (1870-1953), Mary (1872-?), John (1874-1928), Emma (1878-?), Frank (1883-?), and Bessie (1887-?). Joseph migrated to Idaho shortly after his marriage (about 1900) and raised several children there. These were probably the first of the Pechanec family to receive a college education, and to achieve notable success in vocations other than farming. Anna married Frank Sobeslavsky in 1893; however, their union would be terminated in 1900 with Frank's death. Anna lived until1953.
Frank Pechanec, John's son, remains a question mark. Very little can be found of him in public records except his name and date of birth. The same goes for the other three daughters. John himself moved to Clarkson, Nebraska, with his family and became known as an architect there; his son, John, also took up the building trade, becoming a carpenter.
The Pechanec name no longer exists in either Iowa or Nebraska, but we have seen it thriving in other places such as Kansas, Texas, Idaho, Oregon and California. The fragile shoot continues to grow wherever the soil proves itself favorable. A salute to those who withstood the adversities of the early years.
Transcribed by Victor F. Krmela,
greatgrandson of
Joseph and Anna Pechanec
June 12, 1999