Tomas Krystufek (1751-1809)

Tomas Krystufek was a farmer who lived at #18 in the village of Talin in the Pisek District of South Bohemia from the mid 18th century to the early 19th centuiry. Born on Dec 10,1751, he was one of five sons of Vojtcech Krystufek and his first wife Alzbeta.

Tomas is significant to Talin 18 because his descendants, first through his son Matej and later through his older daughter Anna, lived at this house for most of the 19th Century. And he is the grandfather of at least four of the original Kristufek settlers in Chicago in the mid 1800s.

Tomas was married to Veronica Koza of Milenovice, South Bohemia (born 31 Dec 1758) and had at least six children of his own. Tomas Krystufek died on June 9, 1809. His known children were:

Alzbeta Krystufek (born about 1781 - 19 Mar 1843). Lived and died in Talin, never married. Had one known son Frantisek Krystufek (born 9 Oct 1813) with unknown man.

Anna Krystufek (22 Jul 1785 - 4 Jan 1847) Born in Talin. Married Matej Koza of Talin (Abt 1788 - 17 Feb 1847) on Feb 14, 1820. Anna and Matej had two known children Alzbeta Koza (22 Jul 1824) and Matej Koza. (21 Feb 1827). They lived at Talin 1 after marriage and both died there in the winter of 1847.

Matej Krystufek (20 Jan 1788 - 15 Dec 1837) Eldest son of Tomas and Veronica. Took over Talin 18 after death of father in 1809. Married Lidmilla Krjeci (16 Sep 1794 - 27 May 1829) of Chvaletice, South Bohemia on Feb 16, 1813, after the birth of their first child Jiri Krystufek (1812-1813). They had at least seven childrem, including Matej, Jakub and Jan, who came to Chicago. After Lidmilla's death in 1929 soon after the birth of their last child Alzbeta (6 May 1829- 13 Jun 1829), Matej remarried to Katarina Zofkova (14 Nov 1797 - Death date unknown) of Smrkovice on Jul 26, 1829. Matej and Katarina had at least two other children together: Rozina Krystufkova (1831-1872) who lived her whole life in Talin and Frantisek Krystyufek (17 May 1835 - 14 Feb 1915), who joined his half-brothers in Chicago.

Magdalena Krystufek (19 Jun 1790 - before 1843) never married but had two daughters with unknown men: Maria Krystufkova (19 Jan 1813) who married Vojtech Rines of Radcice on Feb 6, 1837 and Dorota Krystufkova (about 1818) who married Jan Hornik of Paseky on Sep 12, 1843 and had three children: Vaclav, Jan and Alzbeta. Hornik, all born in Paseky.

Ondrej Krystufek died on the day he was born at Talin 18: Nov 30, 1792.

Eva Krystyfek was born around 1796 and died, unmarried, at the age of 30 at Talin 18 on 2 Mar 1826.

Son Matej Krystufek became the primary resident of Talin 18 after the death of Tomas in 1809. After the death of Matej in 1837 and the subsequent remarriage of Matej's second wife, Tomas' daughter Anna Krystufek Koza's family and their Salek descendants, through daughter Alzbeta Koza Tsalek/Salek) became the primary residents of Talin 18 for at least the next two decades.

Catherine "Katie" Kristufek (1857-1929)

Catherine "Katie" Kristufek was born in Chicago, Illinois on Nov 24, 1857, the fifth of seven known children of Jan Kristufek and Anna Jelinek. Katie grew up at 171 Dekoven, near the corner of Desplaines, where her father owned a grocery store and later a saloon. On the night of the Great Fire in 1871, she told her descendants that she had buried her jewelry in the yard before her family fled into the night.

The house was undamaged by the fire which started on their street at 137 Dekoven but burned north and away from their address. But by 1875, she was living at 487 S. Canal Street a few blocks away in an apartment house her father had built in 1868 and had been the home of Vaclav and Catherine Donat, the in-laws of her older sister Anna Kristufek (1855-1931). An 1875 City Directory lists her at that address and working as a milliner. On October 26, 1875, she married a butcher six years her senior named Frank Gross, who had been born in Hodina, Bohemia on Nov 28, 1851.

Frank and Katie Gross 1875 Wedding Portrait

By the 1880 Census, Katie and her husband Frank were living at 487 S. Canal Street, along with her married brother John Kristufek Jr. and his family and their parents and youngest brother Joseph (1863-1932). Sometime around 1884, Katie and Frank, along with her brother Joseph joined their sister Antoinette "Jennie" Kristufek (1861-1939) and Jennie's husband Frank Lepsa and brother-in-law Thomas Lepsa who had relocated to Wahoo, Nebraska and engaged in a brewery scheme.

The brewery business, for whatever reason, did not last long. Joseph Kristufek went quickly back to Chicago, married and moved with his new wife to New York City. Frank Lepsa turned to local politics and banking, while his brother continued on in the area as a boilermaker and amateur boxer.

Frank Gross went back to being a butcher, opening a successful meat market in Wahoo, which remained his occupation until he retired in 1904 and a business he passed down to his oldest son, John Frank Gross (1878-1967) who had joined him in it in 1896.

Frank and Katie Gross with three of their children: Sylvia, John Frank and Georgiana

Katie remained very close to her sister Jennie for the rest of her life. Contemporary newspaper reports of the time include several visits between the two while Jennie was living in Denver, Colorado and Katie and Frank spent summers in Manitou enjoying the mineral springs there. The Aug 13, 1911 edition of the Denver Post reports that Katie's son John Frank Gross was married to Elizabeth Woodward at her sister Jennie's house in Denver the previous Monday.

In addition to John Frank Gross who married Elizabeth Woodward on Aug 7, 1911 in Denver, Katie and Frank also had a daughter Sylvia Gross (1876-1938) who married Albert Oscar Zerrenner, two sons who died as infants Frankie (1883-1886) and Eddie (1885-1888) and a daughter Georgiana Gross (1892-1943) who never married.

John Frank Gross, wife Elizabeth Woodward, and their three children around 1922

John Frank Gross and his wife Elizabeth had three children Pictured above): Jack Edward Gross (1913-1999) who married Hilvie Mae Olson, Frank Gross Jr. (1914-1998) who married Hazel Fraley and Marjorie Elizabeth Gross (1917-1995) who married Thor Pearson.

Frank and Katie Gross later in life.

Katie Kristufek Gross died of pneumonia on Apr 17, 1929. Frank Gross Sr. died on March 16, 1937.