Marie Sedlacek Vondra

Marie Sedlacek Vondra

33^rd In A Series on Hyde County Pioneer Daughters (Hyde County, South Dakota)

Marie Sedlacek Vondra Came from Czechoslovakia to US in 1884

Written by granddaughter Mayme (Bouzek) Kopecky (edited into two parts by Rita Sporrer, great-grandaughter of Marie, one part more about Marie, the other part more about her husband, John Vondra)

Marie Sedlacek was born in Hoslov, Czechoslovakia in 1855. She had three brothers: George, who remained in Czechoslovakia, Joseph in Chicago, Illinois; Jacob in Mishicot, Wisconsin; and one sister, Josephine Mencl in Chicago, Illinois.

(Rita's edit: Marie was born in Mlynec, Polen, Plzen, Bohemia. Her husband, John Vondra was born in Hoslov, usually written as Usilov and is in Domazlice, Plzen, Bohemia. Marie's brother George, died in 1863 from polio.)

In her native land, Marie would bake sweet breads and cakes for weddings.

Marie Sedlacek married John Vondra who was a blacksmith. He served in the War of 1866 as a gunsmith.

Marie and John Vondra with their four children came to the United States in the late spring of 1884. Jim was six and had attended school for four months in his native land. Mary was five, Joe three, and Agnes was two months old. It took them eleven and a half days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Marie was sea sick most of the time and taking care of little Agnes was hard on her. 

They settled in Chicago for two months at her brother’s Joseph Sedlacek and her sister’s Josephine Mencl homes. John got a job in a lumberyard and his boss was after him so he would hurry up. John used to say he couldn’t even take time to wipe his nose. He was not used to that type of work. He quit his job and went to Mishicot, Wisconsin to visit another brother of Marie’s, Jacob.

Vondra’s came to South Dakota in the summer of 1884. John took a claim in September on land in northwestern Eden Township in northern Hyde County. The family stayed in Highmore at Shreve Van Camps’s home. No one in the family could speak English. Rose (Kozel) Forman, a neighbor girl was working in Highmore and if Marie wanted something, she would get Rose to interpret for her. It took John almost two months to build the sod house for his family.

There was a Bohemian settlement in Northern Hyde County so they got along without the English language. But when it came to buying groceries, it was sometimes difficult to get what they wanted. There was a store located at Sedgwick, about seven miles southwest. The storekeeper would take oxen and a wagon to get supplies from Highmore for his store. John would walk to the store and carry groceries home from the store on his back.

For fuel, they used twisted hay or buffalo chips.

John bought two oxen and a milk cow from Albert Zemlicka who was considered a big operator to the northeast.

In 1886, Frank’s twin brother died at birth. He was buried on the prairie close to their home in Eden Township. At the time, there was no cemetery in northern Hyde County.

Four years later, because lack of water, John took a pre-emption claim near Rice Lake in Union Township. He built a home near the lake. They dug a well near the lake which furnished them and their stock enough water for their stock and personal use. They had a garden spot near the well so they could irrigate it.

In the olden days when the buffalo roamed the countryside, they left a trail leading to Rice Lake to get a drink of water and to wallow on the edge of the lake, a landmark. Another landmark was a big hill located south of the place and it was known as the Vondra Hill. From the top of the hill with naked eye you could see twenty miles south. In the horse and buggy days, the girls would walk to the top and look if their father was coming home from Highmore.

Marie would assist as midwife for her neighbors and for her daughter Mary. She was on hand for seven grandchildren. For herself, she would have a neighbor in the community for midwife: Mrs. Phil Ziegler, Mrs. Frank Kozel and others.

Marie came from a musical family. Her brother, Jacob was a band instructor in Wisconsin. She herself had a good singing voice. When her neighbors would visit in the Vondra home, they would ask Marie to sing in her native language.

She was blessed with thirteen children. Five sons, Jim, Joe, Frank, Bill (William), and John and eight daughters, Mary (Mrs. Martin Bouzek), Agnes (Mrs. Joe Thurston), Jesse (Mrs. Hall Jarvis), Emma, Annie (Mrs. Schuyler Hanson), Bessie (Mrs. Ray Hanson), and Helen (Mrs. Harris Scott), and Josie (Mrs. George Sporrer).

On November 11, 1897, Marie had a chance to use her talent in baking Czech sweet breads and cakes, which she prepared for the wedding dance in her home for her oldest daughter, Mary (Mrs. Martin Bouzek). Even seventy-three years later, her oldest grandson received a letter from Will Elsnic who attended the dance and commented on all the Czech goodies served on the occasion. They danced all night to the music of Phil Ziegler on the accordion and Anton Elsnic on the violin.

Along with her own large family, she took in two grandchildren, Ben and Etta (Henrietta) Bouzek, so they could attend school for their first grade in Union Township in 1905. There was no school in south Eden Township. Agnes Vondra (their aunt) was the teacher.

In her native land when Marie was a girl of nine years, she jumped from a stone wall and hurt her leg. As she grew older, her leg became more painful. She had TB of the bone. As I remember grandma, it was Fourth of July and a celebration was held at Phil Ziegler’s. My parents, sisters and brothers stopped to see grandma who had been in bed for a couple of weeks. She insisted on giving each of us a token to spend at the celebration. In the evening on our way home we stopped and she kissed each of us for the last time. Two weeks later she was admitted to St. Mary’s hospital in Pierre. In surgery the doctor amputated her leg. Following surgery, the shock was too much for her system. She passed away at the age of 58 years. She was laid to rest at the National Czech Cemetery in the year 1913. Surviving her at the time were all of her children and her husband John. Helen was the youngest girl, 8 years old.