Jakub Kristufek (1826-1895)

Jakub Kristufek's 1895 Headstone at
the Bohemian National Cemetery

Jakub Kristufek was born August 15, 1826 at Talin 18, in Talin, South Bohemia to Matej Krystufek (1788) and Lidmilla Krejci (1794). On August 3, 1847, Jakub married Anna Slepicka of Chvaletice 3 in Chvaletice, South Bohemia, a town about a mile from Talin. Anna was born on June 18, 1827, the daughter of Jakub Slepicka and Lidmilla Budjin.  

On April 6, 1848, they had a son Mattias  in Talin, Bohemia. On April 7, 1852, Jakub and Anna had a daughter Mary Anna Krystufek at Talin 18. Around September 1854, Jakub, his wife Anna and son Mattias traveled from Bohemia to America and settled in Chicago's 7th Ward.

Jan Habenicht’s History of Czech Settlers In America (1910) records that Jakub’s older brother Jan Kristufek arrived in Chicago in the fall of 1854, although a date is not specified. Habenicht relates that he arrived soon after another Czech settler who had arrived in September of that year. A passenger record for the ship Hull, which departed Hamburg, Germany on September 1, 1854 carried a passenger named Matej Kristufek (with wife and child) to Baltimore, headed to Chicago. I suspect there was name confusion at the point of departure and this is Jakub and Anna with their son Matej, Mary Anna having died as an infant in Bohemia before the journey.

Early Czech settlers to Chicago, like the Kristufeks, initially squatted in crude shacks or tents while picking up work in the local lumber yards to make money. Jakub was regularly listed in contemporary records as working in lumber yards or as a cooper (barrel maker) so it is likely that this was his immediate trade upon arriving in America.

In 1855, their son Joseph was born in Chicago, followed by another son John on January 17, 1858.  After the Republicans held their nominating convention in Chicago to elect Abraham Lincoln as their nominee, Jakub joined a secret militia of Union loyalists dedicated to protecting the Federal armory in St. Louis. At the time, the city of St. Louis was pro-Union, but the recently elected Governor and other state officials were supportive of succession. There was concern at the time that if war broke out between the North and the South, the armory in St. Louis would fall into Confederate hands, opening up the West as a second front in the Civil War.

Jakub Kristufek ended up in the 5^th Regiment, under Captain Ott and First LT.Hrdlicka (contemporary records don't list their first names but Hrdlicka is likely Frank Hrdlicka, who is listed among the names on the Civil War Memorial in the Bohemian National Cemetery along with Jakub Kristufek). Jakub is listed last, and out of alphabetical order because he died after the memorial was created.

According to the History of St. Louis City and County (1883), his group was the "Black Rifle" or or "Jaeger Rifle" Company. This was a common rifle, also known as the "Mississippi" that was among the most used during the US Civil War. While his regiment was involved in several battles in and around St. Louis (most of which they lost), they were never directly tasked with protecting the armory.

Jakub Kristufek US Civil War Pension Card

After the war, Jakub returned to his family in Chicago, working as a laborer and living at 192 Ewing. His daughter Rose was born soon after on April 8, 1867. By 1869, Jakub and his family were living at 235 W. 12th Street and Jakub was working as a cooper (barrel maker) for Patrick Mullins who operated a cooper business at 179-181 W. Harrison Street (near the corner of Desplaines). In 1870, Jakub’s son Mattias married Marie Vokurka and they had two children: Albert (1870) and Annie (1874).

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Jakub, Anna and their remaining three children moved to 210 Brown, with Jakub and his son John working as carpenters and coopers while his son Joseph worked in a lumber yard. It is unclear why they moved, since the home was not in the fire zone, but Patrick Mullins’ cooper operation did burn down and by 1872 Patrick Mullins was residing elsewhere and working as a cooper for someone else.

Property values around their previous home skyrocketed following the Chicago fire so they were likely either forced out by higher rents or sold at a profit and moved, as many other Bohemians of the day did, further West to a new enclave a few blocks away.

On April 21, 1883, son John Kristufek married Barbara Kadlec, a seamstress and recent immigrant from Bohemia. They had five children: Emma (5 Mar 1884), Edward (1885), John (10 May 1888), Otto (1890) and George (1898).

On September 26, 1885, daughter Rose Kristufek married Joseph Kase. They had seven children: Lillie (26 May 1887), Charles (1 Aug 1891), Della (11 Jan 1894), Alice (9 Feb 1896), Arthur (26 Oct 1900) and Sylvia (5 Jan 1903).

In 1887, Joseph married Josephine “Josie” Zajicek and they had six sons Willie (1888), Fred (1891), Charles (1893), Laddie George (1895), Benjamin (1898) and Joe Jr (1901).

Jakub and Anna continue to live with son Joseph and his family until their deaths. Jakub died of old age on December 19, 1895. The following year his name was added to an 1892 memorial statue at the Bohemian National Cemetery to honor local Bohemians who fought in the Civil War. His wife Anna Slepicka Kristufek died on March 3, 1911 of Bright’s Disease.

Notes: There is conflicting data about the birth year of son Joseph Kristufek. Later data shows him born in 1865 (including his Illinois death record) but earlier Census data puts his birth year at either 1855 (1860 Census) or 1857 (1880 Census). Absent other documentation, and how common the name was at the time, it is possible to believe these are two different people. However, it appears more likely that after Joseph’s marriage, he adopted (on purpose or by accident) a birth year closer to that of his wife, or there was just confusion. Addresses and other information clearly place Joseph as the son of Jakub and Anna Slepicka Kristufek, especially since both parents were living with him at the time of their deaths and early census data make clear he was born in the mid-1850s, not 1860s.  

Sources: All information listed is sourced from contemporary records, including Czech parish records from the Czech Digital Archive, US Census data, Chicago City Directories, birth, marriage and death certificates. Where available, exact dates have been listed and direct links to data provided.