The start of my research into the history of the Kristufek family began with attempts to sort out the different Kristufek families in Chicago. When I started looking at existing family trees on Ancestry.com, I noticed a lot of confusion. So many families had similar names, it was easy to get it all confused. What I discovered was that there were six distinct lines in Chicago, four clearly related and two mysteries still to be determined. Here are the six family lines in Chicago:
Matej Kristufek (1816-1891)
Matej is the eldest son of Matej Krystufek (1788-1837) and first wife Lidmilla Krejci (1794-1829) of Talin, South Bohemia. He married Anna Kolar (1831-1919) in Bohemia in 1856. According to the 1900 Census, she had nine children with only two still alive by 1900. I have recorded six of the nine births and it appears only three lived to adulthood: Matej Kristufek (1857-1896, married to Rose Nemec), George Kristufek (1870-1944, married to Mary Prihoda) and Anna Kristufek (1874-1955, married to Emanuel Spevak). Matej and Anna are buried near the Anton Kolar memorial in the Bohemian National Cemetery.
James Kristufek (Birth/Death Unknown)
James Kristufek is an unknown as there is no record of him in either Chicago or South Bohemia, but there are records for a wife named Anna Votana (born about 1820), who according to the 1900 Census had only two children: Kate Kristufek (1848-1917, married to Charles Wanek) and James Kristufek Jr. (1851-1931, married to Frances Hajek). Consumer DNA tests have linked a descendant of James Kristufek to me, so there is some kind of connection. Records indicate Anna and her children arrived around 1867-68, which would be around the time that Matej Kristufek arrived, but there is no record of them in the 1870 only Kate, then married, is in 1880 Census.
My sense is that either James Kristufek Sr. died in Bohemia before the family arrived (although there is no trace of any of these people in the Bohemian records I have seen), or more likely Anna was never married. The Bohemian records I have seen and the times being what they are, the women who only had one or two children tended to be unmarried and giving birth out of wedlock, Anna could have been an unmarried Kristufek or gave birth illegitimately to two children of a Kristufek. More research will be needed but for now, this line is a mystery.
Jan Kristufek (1824-1913)
Jan is one of the younger sons of Matej Krystufek (1788-1837) and his first wife Lidmilla Krejci (1794-1829). An 1824 birth record and an 1849 marriage record firmly establish him in this lineage however for whatever reason, there is no record of him in any of the Protivin Estate Census records from 1824-1830 and his adult life in Bohemia seems to have been spent outside of Talin. He married Anna Jelinek (1823-1881) several months after the birth of their first son. Because Anna Jelinek Kristufek died before the 1900 Census, it is unclear how many children she had but so far, I have traced six to adulthood: Johann/John Jr. (1848-1913, married to Mary Bedlan), Mary Amelia Kristufek (1851-1911, married to Frank Krch), Anna Kristufek (1855-1931, married to Vaclav Donat), Catherine Katie Kristufek (1857-1929, married to Frank Gross), Antonia Jennie Kristufek (1861 - 1939, married to Frank Lepsa, Frank Boehm, Alfred Rice Davies and Phillip Reinheimer) and Joseph Kristufek (1863-1932, married to Mary Mazac). They had another child in Bohemia, Franc Kristufek in 1853, but there is some question about what happened to him (see Michael Kristufek below).
Jakub Kristufek (1826-1895)
Jakub is the youngest son of Matej Krystufek (1788-1837) and his first wife Lidmilla Krejci (1794-1829). Jakub apparently arrived in Chicago in late 1854, around the same time as his brother Jan. Jakub married Anna Slepicka (1827-1911) in 1847. Anna had seven children with four still alive at the time of the 1900 Census: Mattias Kristufek (1848-1930, married Marie Vokurka), Joseph Kristufek (1855-1933, married Josephine Zajicek), John Kristufek Sr. (1858-1930, married Barbara Kadlec), and Rose Kristufek (1867-1956, married Joseph Kase). Jakub fought in the Civil War and is buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery near the Civil War Memorial that has a plaque that includes his name.
Frank Kristufek (1835-1915)
Frank Kristufek is the only son of Matej Krystufek (1788-1837) and his second wife Katerina Zoffkova (born 1797). Frank married Anna Vanatova (1841-1889) in 1861 and came to Chicago around 1870. The 1870 Census only lists two children, although they had at least one other in Bohemia that died as a child: Mary Kristufek (1863-1905, married to Josef Tauchen) and Josef Kristufek (1868-1920s, married to Minnie Skarda). Frank is buried at the Bohemian National Cemetery.
Michael Kristufek (1851-1913)
This is something of a mystery. Michael was apparently born in Austria on May 5, 1851 and came to the US in 1854-1855, according to Census records. However, there is no record of him before his 1873 marriage to Rosie Bednar. His 1880 address is 492 Canal Street, which is across the street from Jan Kristufek's house at 487 Canal Street and he arrived in Chicago in the same time period as Jan Kristufek and Jakub Kristufek. Bohemian migration to Chicago didn't start until 1848 and Jan Habenicht's 1910 historical account makes it clear that there were still very few Bohemians in the city at that time. The odds that Michael is from some coincidental, unrelated Kristufek family is extremely unlikely. There are also records of a Michael Kristufek at Jan Kristufek's 171 DeKoven address in the Chicago City Directories in 1875 and 1876. So he is definitely connected to Jan Kristufek somehow but his birthdate of May 5, 1851 would seem to preclude him from being his son since he has a daughter, Mary Amelia, born July 7, 1851.
So there are some possibilities here. First, Michael did not come to the US as early as he said since his marriage record is his earliest record. He seems to be connected to Jan and perhaps he is Jan's son Franc that was born in 1853 and the birth date on his death certificate was wrong (this has happened in other cases). Michael's oldest son is Michael Frank Kristufek, so that could be a clue that he was born Frank but chose to go by Michael. Or he could be the illegitimate offspring of a Kristufek sibling that was raised in the US by these brothers. Until a birth record matching or nearly matching this known birth date, it will remain a mystery.
No comments:
Post a Comment