Pt 1: More than a “Mrs.”
The Story of Anna Cecelia (Bouska) Petrasek
At the turn of the 20th century, Anna was 36 years old, had five living children, had lost three children and she had been residing in a modest home at 407 Duke Street in St. Paul, Minnesota for several years. But before the century’s first decade was over, Anna would lose another child, birth four more and die of postpartum hemorrhage in the delivery of her last. On her death certificate, her name was recorded as “Mrs. Frank Petrasek” but even with just these few scraps of detail, a woman with remarkable resilience emerges.
Meet Anna Cecelia, my 2x great-grandmother.
Born 5 May 1864 in what was then Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic or Slovakia), Anna Cecelia Bouska immigrated to America at the age of six in 1870. Unlike other ethnic groups who tended to immigrate individually, most Bohemian immigrant families made the journey to the United States together driven by the possibilities in a young United States. Possibilities such as acquiring free land became an attractive alternative to the lack of opportunities in rural Central Europe, not to mention the desire to escape the growing tensions in the region, led by Prussia and Austria.
Cloaked by the ubiquitous name of her father -- Jan Bouska -- finding exactly where and with whom she immigrated as well as where the family settled in the early years continues to be a challenge. Some records indicate Iowa as a possible destination for the family which makes the desire to acquire land for farming a strong possibility. But other records indicate New Jersey. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure. However, upon marrying Frank Petrasek in 1883 at the age of 19, Anna becomes a bit more visible in the archives of time.
Born in Bohemia in 1859, Frank Petrasek was the first born child of Joseph and Joanna (Neuverth) Petrasek and like Anna, immigrated as a young child. He was only two years old when the family arrived, coming through the Port of New Orleans. Presumably, soon afterwards, they steamboated up the Mississippi River and made their home among a small community of Bohemians in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Joseph was working as a laborer, which indicated they may not have taken advantage of any potential land grant opportunities that he would have had as a farmer. The earliest recording of the Joseph Petrasek (spelled Petrasha in the census record) family in La Crosse, Wisconsin is the 1870 census. By 1880, Frank was 21 years old and had begun work at the Smith & Merrill foundry.
Though it’s not clear where the Bouska family resided after they immigrated to America, it is very likely they did not reside in the La Crosse, Wisconsin area since no “Bouska” names appear in census data or city directories. So, because Anna and Frank did not live in the same town, how they met is a mystery. In any case, in May of 1883, the couple filed a marriage license application and married on 13 May 1883.
In 1884 Frank is recorded in two different towns: The La Crosse city directory has him listed as a moulder at J. Torrance & Sons foundry and the 1884-85 St. Paul City Directory has him listed as a moulder at Orme Foundry. Possibly, this could be explained by the timing of data collection for each town. The fact that his occupation is the same, and he seems to be the only “Petrasek” working in a foundry, indicates that he likely moved from La Crosse to St. Paul sometime in 1884. It’s probable that they moved to St. Paul for a better paying foundry job, as well as to be closer to potential relations of Anna’s. The two towns are about 140 miles apart - a fairly easy trip by steamboat or railroad. St. Paul had a small but close-knit community of Czech-language speaking Bohemians as well as a dedicated church and the newly constructed Czech Society of America (CSA) fraternal organization.
Aside from the move from La Crosse to St. Paul early in their marriage, Frank & Anna seemed to live a quiet life, as evidenced by the very few records in old newspapers, with the CSA or elsewhere.
The quiet life was about to change.
In the second and final part to Anna’s story we begin to understand the constant fear in which she lived.
Looking forward to the next story.
Cliffhanger for sure!