Nyklasa

My gg-grandparents, Johann Nyklass (or Nyklasa, Nyklass, Miklas, Miklus) and Katherine Rubinkovy (or Roubinkovy), lived in House 13, in Popovec, a small village near the city of Vysoké Mýto, in eastern Bohemia. Johann was a railroad maintainer.

They had at least one child, Anna Nyklasa, who was born 17 Oct 1855 in Vienna, Austria. I don't know how she came to be born in Vienna, when the family was from eastern Bohemia. Anna married Josef Sevcik Jr, and they lived in House 31, Zalažany, another small village near Zalažany and Vysoké Mýto.

Josef and Anna had Anna (26 Jul 1875), Mary (20 Jul 1877) and Frantiska, or "Fannie" (20 Sep 1880) in Zalažany. They immigrated to America, settling in Tama, Iowa, and had Frank (31 Aug 1884) and Kathryn (25 Sep 1885). See the Sevcik page. The records on this family are a little contradictory, so I will present the information I have. The name Sevcik is not an uncommon name, and there were several Joseph Sevciks in east central Iowa. Anna (Nyklasa) Sevcik was illiterate, probably even in Czech, and she never learned to speak English, despite living in Iowa for more than 50 years. Hence the many different spellings of her maiden name.

The 1885 Iowa State Census has the family on Warren Street, in Tama. Katie, the youngest, had not been born yet, but the rest of the family was there. Joseph was listed as a R.R. Employee, age 35, and Anna was 28, so they were born in about 1850 and 1857.

The 1910 US Census has Anna living with daughter Katie and her new husband, Frank Haloupek, before they had any children. I don't know where Joseph was in 1910. Anna is 56, so b. abt. 1854 in Bohemia.

The 1925 Iowa State Census is very useful, because it lists the names and ages of parents. At this time, all 5 Sevcik children were married, but Anna, Frank and Katie were still living in Belle Plaine. In fact, they were in the same neighborhood, since they all appear on the same page of the census. Fannie had gone to live with her husband in Oklahoma, and Mary had just been divorced - I have not found out where she was in 1925.

Unfortunately, Joseph and Anna's parents are listed as themselves. However, there is good agreement that Joseph's age is 75, so he was born in about 1850. This also agrees with family sources, which say he was born on 5 March 1850. Anna is between 68 and 71, so she was born 1854-7. This also agree with family sources, 17 Oct 1855. We have four new spellings for Anna's maiden name, all from one page of the census.

The Suevia, a ship which travelled from Hamburg to New York, arriving on 17 Jul 1881, has a SEVCIK family on its passenger list.

This sounds very much like the right family, if Franz is Frantiska, who would have been 10 months old.

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