Vosika Family

Times were hard for the Kate and Vaclav Vosika family of seven sons and > three daughters who had immigrated from Czechoslovakia in the 1800¹s and settled in western
Nebraska near Sidney, Nebraska. In 1903 they heard of the land opening in the Rosebud country of South Dakota. You had to be 21 years of age to register so they decided to send
son Emil as he was of age.

With a horse, rifle, dog and very little money he made the long journey to South Dakota. When getting to the old Dallas, he met the Cournoyer brothers, an Indian family who
lived on Ponca Creek. Emil built a small sod house there to wait for the drawing in 1904. There> were 20,000 applicants for 800 parcels of land, so the odds were not
great. In the drawings he was lucky enough to draw the northwest quarter of section 28-97-72. The land was not free as you had to pay $4.00 an acre. You had to build and live
there for at least one year to Oprove up¹ as they called it.

In 1905 the rest of the family came, parents, sons: John, Ed, Joe, Stanley, Jim, and two daughters: Christena and Emma. One son, Frank, and one daughter, Mary stayed on the
homestead in Nebraska. A sod house was built on the allotment in South Dakota.
In 1910 Vaclav, the father, slipped on ice and broke his back and died a few days later. He was 50 years old.

In 1913, a two-story house and barn were built from lumber salvaged from a livery barn near old Dallas. The Vosika brothers and daughters all married and settled in the area
in these years.

Stanley married Ona Stastny of Nebraska, who had also come from Czechoslovakia as a young girl. Kate continued to live on the homestead with the family of Stanley and Ona until her death in 1947 at age 99. As she could speak no English, Czech was the language of the home. Five children were born to Stanley and Ona: Melvin, Stanley, Jr., Evelyn, Jim and Ivan. When they started school they could not speak English, so school was hard for awhile. Stanley died in 1955, and Ona lived on the farm until 1962, when she moved to Gregory. She passed away in 1973.
Hogs, cattle, and milk cows were on this farm for many years. Melvin and Stanley, Jr. are deceased. Some of the siblings of Ed, Emil, and Jim are still living. Ivan and wife Shirley
(Boes) still live on the family homestead. They are semi-retired. Stock cows and some farming still exist.