Frogtown Fade-In

Robert Hale

Frogtown Fade-In

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Acknowledgments

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Foreword

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Table of Contents

The Immigrants Arrive 1

Bohemia - Kubitschek 1

Upper Silesia –Weisbrich 5

Sweden - Erickson 9

Scotland - Gill 10

Bohemia - Hale (Hoëhle) 20

The Merry Cemetery 23

Kubitschek-Stegbauer Children 23

Children of Anna Kubitschek and Joseph Hale 34

Weisbrich - Knapp Children 57

Cedarholm Children 61

The Immigrants Arrive

Bohemia - Kubitschek

The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.

Rainer Maria Rilke

The word Bohemia is derived from the word Boii, the Roman name for an Iron Age tribe that fled across the Alps of northern Italy, in front of advancing Roman armies, around 390 BC, into the areas we now call Bavaria and Bohemia. In the centuries following, wave after wave of conquerors and immigrants passed through and settled the territory, which now comprises the western half of the Czech Republic. From the areas around the Black Sea came the Slavic peoples, bringing with them the Iranian language; some cities they inhabited in the Prachens region of the Czech Republic, still bear Iranian names. In the thirteenth century, after the Mongolian invader Batu Khan retreated, German immigrants were sent into Bohemia to replenish the population lost during those battles, settling in small German-speaking enclaves throughout Central Europe. In southwest Bohemia, along the border with Bavaria, there is a range of coniferous mountains called the Bohemian Forest and within the forest a small village named Furstenhut, the home of my great, great parents, Edward and Pieta Kubitschek before their emigration to the US.

Sketch of Fuerstenhut village in the late 1800's by Antonín Levý

Furstenhut, now known by its Czech name, Knizeci Plane, was long ago abandoned, and the entire forest district is now part of the Sumava National Park, a national treasure and a favorite hiking adventure for European vacationers. Along the base of the mountains glacial lakes and bogs cover the land in between pastures and the heavy winter snowfalls provide water for the Vtlava ( Moldau ) river that has its source there. Since discovering my ancestors’ home turf, I have found several online photo collections of the village and surrounding areas, some dating back to the 19th century. Using Google Earth, I‘ve been able to view the mountains and pastoral landscapes from several perspectives, I can’t help but think how amazed my aunts and uncles would be at that sight. Below is a photo postcard taken in 1903.

Postcard of Fuerstenhut, 1903

Bohemia is very rich culturally, and historically. The composers, Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana are well known Bohemians but probably not as well known to the masses as the Polka dance and music, a creation of the Bohemian peasantry. The city of Prague has for centuries been notorious for its cultural offerings. Giacomo Casanova, the famous Italian lover spent his last days writing his memoirs in Duchov Castle just outside the city. Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), Franz Kafka (The Metamorphosis) and Rainer Maria Rilke to name just a few, gave the world their literary gifts. However, probably the greatest contribution, aside from the Polka, was from the breweries of Pilzen. Using the soft water of the area, pale malt and Saaz hops, a new type of beer arose from the fermentation cellars, a light, fragrant, brew called Pilsner after the city in which it was created. Pilsner Urquell is still brewed there today. Near our ancestral village is a city named Budweis, another brewing center whose name became synonymous with beer. Beer, music, and dancing: it’s no wonder the Bohemian folk know how to have a good time.

The Kubitschek name is a Germanized version of the Romany (formally called gypsy) Kubíček. My great, great, grandmother’s maiden name was Stegbauer, obviously a German name. Because of the dominance of German culture in this area, Czechs changed the spelling of their names to make it easier to “fit in” with the majority, just as many people changed their names when they arrived in the US. The name Kubitschek is strongly linked with this village in the documents of the Selbitschka family who also settled in the Frogtown area of St. Paul. Two daughters of the family married Kubitschek men and moved to St. Paul. Another city nearby Kaltenbach, now called Nove Hute also lists the names of several Kubitscheks. In the city of Prachatice there is a section of the city called Kubitschek-Villa suggesting more Kubitscheks lived there. In the 1960’s the president of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek’s grandfather came from nearby Trêbôn.

The Feudal system of land management, that had existed for centuries, was dismantled in the 1848, the larger parcels of land where carved into smaller sections which were too small for individual families to make a living from their farming activities. Often a farm consisted of several small parcels of land scattered over a wide area, virtually impossible for a family to manage. Due to political tensions and growing militarization of the region, men up to the age of 30 were conscripted into the army for seven year stints. When the United States began dumping cheap grain on the central and Eastern Europe markets, it broke many of the farmers and the laborers that depended on them for work were suddenly without it. An “everybody’s leaving” mania swept over the country and anyone who could, sold their small parcels of land and packed their bags. My great, great, grandparents, themselves peasants, were caught up in the migration fever and decided to seek another life outside the country. They had no doubt been in contact with others in St. Paul, Minnesota, who made the trip ahead of them. The early travelers provided the encouragement to make the trip, and also passed back directions and warnings of the pitfalls of the trek.

In 1882 Edward and Pieta said good bye, to their loved ones and headed for Bremen, Germany where they boarded a steam ship and headed for either Baltimore or New York. In order to obtain emigration papers, each family was required to have sufficient funds for the cost of transportation plus three months living expenses at their destination. They had to provide their own food for the 3 to 4 week journey over the Atlantic Ocean. For lack of funds to buy better accommodations they traveled in the steerage section of the ship more commonly known as the cargo hold. With them they carried a few possessions and their children Mary, a.k.a Mamie, who was just about three years old and Louis (Bolie) who was 1.

Among the things they carried was an old violin. It’s unclear if they landed in Baltimore or New York the most popular destinations at the time. Edward presented himself as a musician to the immigration authorities thinking he would impress them more than if he stated he was a day laborer. It was lucky that they never asked him to play because as the story goes he couldn’t play very well if at all.

Hopping the train they travelled first to Chicago then caught another north; arriving in St. Paul, they were re-united with other Bohemians in the Frogtown area who made the trip before them. I can imagine their surprise as they endured their first winter in Minnesota; the climate in Bohemia is no where near as cold.

They were both in their 20’s when they settled in at 481 Blair later moving to 710 Blair, then 714 Mackubin St. in the Frogtown area of St. Paul, an area which was already home to a large settlement of immigrants of German and Bohemian ancestry. The church of St. Agnes was the center of community life at that time. Fortunately, for future generations, the parish priests kept detailed marriage records which included the names of the villages from where the families arrived from and the historical information kept by the parish contains a detailed history of the immigration to the parish. The written history of the parish lists several families and the businesses they operated.

The homes in Frogtown were often built out of discarded wood on top of roughly cut pieces of limestone. Many of them originally consisted of a single room from which more were added onto as more wood or time became available. In the 1960’s many of these older homes were torn town and the ubiquitous rambler built in their place.

Edward found work as a carpenter almost immediately, a good thing since the family was growing quickly. In 1885 Anna, my great grandmother, was born followed by Frank and Agnes. They thrived in the almost self-contained Bohemian community of Frogtown. According to historians at St. Agnes Church, almost every corner had a beer hall, a baker and a butcher. Backyard gardens helped round out their diets. The streets were not paved and if not frozen could be tricky to navigate. A block down from their house going east on Minnehaha Ave. was a small lake full of croaking frogs – this is one of many versions of the Frogtown story. The pond was reclaimed for homes; the croaking ceased but the tales continued.

They never made enough money to buy a large farm like they had intended but they did scrape enough together to buy a large piece of property on the south shore of Lake Owasso in Rose Township about 5 miles north of Frogtown following the Dale Street road. At the time Rose Township was checkered with several truck farms which sold their produce in the Farmer’s Markets of St. Paul. This area later became the suburb of Roseville.

When the children were in their teens Pieta took a job in the Crex factory across the rail tracks on Front Avenue and Mackubin Street, now the site of Crossroads Elementary school where her great, great, great grandson Dylan Koltz-Hale attended many year later. She operated a spinning machine that turned a plant called Razor Grass, grown in wetlands near Grantsburg, WI, into a material that was used to make furniture and rugs. The factory was cold in the winter and unbearably hot in summer, and for her efforts Pieta’s lungs were clogged by the dust and particles of material in the working environment and eventually contributed to her death. The Ramsey County Historical Society has several items from Crex Factory. Her daughters joined her and according the employee list of 1903, Mary and Anna worked along side her. 70 percent of the employees lived on just seven blocks of the Frogtown neighborhood. The family names are of the workers to reflect the German-Bohemian character of the area.

Frank, the youngest of the children went off to fight against the Germans in World War I, probably battling some of his own cousins, as a result of war injuries he died a young.

Grandma Kubitschek delighted her grandchildren with her wit. She possessed the special talent of being able to pee while standing in place. According to her grandchildren she would move here legs apart under her long dress and let it go. When she had finished she scooted over leaving a little yellow puddle where she had been standing.

Pieta Kubitschek and her daughters

Edward Kubitschek Born 12/23/1853 Bohemia, Died 01/07/1921 St. Paul, MN

Pieta Steigbauer Born 06/16/1854 Bohemia, Died 03/29/1935 St. Paul, MN

Resources:

Geographic Coordinates of Furstenhut: 48.381794 N ,13.353882 E Google Earth

German-Bohemians, The Quiet Immigrants – La Vern J. Rippley / Robert J. Paulson

1995 St. Olaf College Press ( in Minnesota Historical Society Library also)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia

Upper Silesia –Weisbrich

The Weisbrich family is another group of family members that left Central Europe in the 1880’s. The Kubitscheks came from Bohemia, just to the south of Upper Silesia which at this time was also part of the Prussian Empire conquered from Austro-Hungarian Empire in a series of wars. A trip to the region via Google Earth reveals large fields of crops interspersed with clumps of wooded areas and several tiny villages. The area is rich in coal and supported a rapid railway and industrial development, especially around the city of Katowice. Since this area is quite close to Bohemia, the same circumstances and events that occurred there led to the mass migration from Silesia.

The following is a the biography of my maternal great great grandmother as told to, and recorded by John Schomolke in April of 1937. According to other sources I’ve viewed, John was employed by the Work Progress Administration (WPA) to gather the biographies of the residents of Morrison County, MN. His name appears as the recorder of the biographies of several other members of the community, all maintained by the Morrison County Historical Society in Little Falls, MN.

The area she refers to as Silesia is now the south central portion of Poland. The Germany she refers to was actually part of Prussia. Many people believed that they lived in Germany because they spoke German however they actually lived in small enclaves of the Slavic lands. The city of ‘Brokendorf’ she refers to is most likely Birkendorf (City of Birches) which is now known as Brzezany, just south of the city of Leszno, Poland. In this area you find the famous Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Katowice is the largest city in that area.

Her daughter Hedwig is my mother’s grandmother or as I remember her – Grandma Knapp.

Biography of Mrs. Katharina Weisbrich

Given by self to John Schomolke for

The Morrison County Historical Society

Val E. Kasparek, President

Marie Benson, Corresponding Secretary