|
Petran Family circa 1922 |
-
|
|
|
to MAIN PAGE
"Arrival In New York - First Sight" c. 1880
Castle Garden c. 1885
Vaclav Petran's gravestone, House Springs, MO. Tombstone text (Czech) reads: "OPEC Zde v Panudopociva" translates "FATHER "rests here with the Lord"
Anna Kriklan Petran Hinnrichs Hajsky
John Petran circa 1900
John Petran circa 1950
Katie Petran Bochnicek
Gravestone of John Petran, Mary (Nimmerfroh) Petran (John's first wife) and her parents, John and Marie Nimmerfroh.
To the right of the stone is the stone for Nicholas Hanning, and Jean Petran Hanning Wilson.
To the left, are the graves of Helen Petran Little and unmarked, Edwin John Petran, Sr. and Martina Petran (his wife).
|
- WILLIAM PETRAN: B: unknown, D: unknown, probably Bohemia (from Vaclav Petran death certificate) MARY VOLKA: B: unknown, D: unknown, probably Bohemia (from Vaclav Petran death certificate)
The Petran family story begins with William Petran and Mary Volka, of whom nothing else is known. Their names are known only from their son, Vaclav's death certificate.
From the Trebon Archives in Czechoslovakia, records show that the Petran family lived in a town called Hurka. Padarov (Pararow) would be where Vaclav and Anna would reside.
Vaclav (Wenceslaus) a.k.a.William, would marry a young woman named Anna in Tabor, Bohemia. They would have two known children, Johann (John) and Katarina (Katherine/ Katie). And while their children were still young they would leave what they had known for a new land.
VACLAV (WENCESLAUS) (a.k.a. WILLIAM) PETRAN: Born: June 27, 1848 Named For: unknown. Died: Feb. 14, 1917, Missouri; gunshot to the head --suicide. Buried: St. Philomena Cemetery, House Springs, MO. Section One North, lot 13 Married: Anna Kriklan (Kriklanova); divorced Oct. 14, 1890 Other: farmer in CZ; Stonemason
LEFT: - Vaclav Petran's grave, House Springs, MO RIGHT: Great grandson Forrest at Vaclav's grave.
Above: Vaclav (Wenceslaus) a.k.a. William Petrans' death certificate. The first of (8) pages and an amended death certificate. Cause of death: Self inflicted gunshot.
ANNA KRIKLAN (KRIKLANOVA) PETRAN HINNRICHS HAJSKY: Born: Feb. 15, 1852, Bohemia Named For: Unknown; father- Frantisek Kriklan Died: Feb. 19, 1931, St. Louis, MO. Buried: Feb. 23, 1931,New Picker (now Gatewood Gardens, St. Louis, MO). Moydell Funeral Home Married: Vaclav (Wenceslaus) Petran, Aug. 26, 1870; later married Gerhardt Hinrichs: b. 22 May 1893, St. Louis city; divorced, date unk nown; married Josepf Hajsky, date unknown.
LEFT: Anna Kriklan Petran RIGHT: Bochnicek gravestones at New Picker (now Gatewood Gardens Cemetery, St. Louis, MO.) Anna is buried with her daughter Katherine (Katie) (top center).. - ABOVE: Anna's death certificate, with her last husbands name. Her daughter, Katie provided the information, but indicated Anna's mother's name was unknown.
The Petran's (and at some point all the rest) were immigrants. Immigrants in many cases saw advertisements promoting America and travel "deals". As a result, new dreams began to spring in their hearts. Part of what drove the Petran's, as well as others, was the life they experienced at this time. Mel Wilson relates a true story that Anna "Baba" Petran and her daughter Katie related to him. - While living in Bohemia, most of the time food was scarce. The people lived and worked not on their own land, but on land owned by the aristocracy, the Habsburg's. They worked for them, and at their pleasure. They were poor. Gathering food, hunting game, etc, was prohibited. On one occasion the family was so hungry they killed a rabbit to have something to eat. But then, what to do- how to keep the smoke and aroma of cooking pilfered game, which "belonged to the master", from being discovered by his minions? Imagine, then, of hearing about a distant land of freedom and a better life. - Fifteen years and eight days after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and ten years before Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, the arrival of Evelyn Petran Guittar's parents and grandparents was recorded. - Vaclav Wenceslaus (William) Petran, 27, Anna, 28, Johann, 9, Katarina, 8, arrived from Bohemia on the ship SS HERDER on April 22, 1880. The ship was 375 feet long (a bit more than a football field) and 40 feet wide (less than many houses), and was launched in 1873. It's maiden voyage was in 1874 from Hamburg, Germany via La Havre, France to New York-the same route taken in 1880. - Their known children were: - JOHN FRANK PETRAN B: July 4, 1871, Austria D: Oct. 8, 1952, St. Louis, MO KATHERINE "KATIE" PETRAN BOCHNICEK b: Nov. 26, 1873 Austria, D: Jan. 21, 1943, St. Louis, MO.
- LEFT: John Petran, circa 1900 RIGHT: Katherine (Katie) Petran Bochnicek
ABOVE: John Petran's death certificate - indicating his father's name as William.
ABOVE: Katherine (Katie) Petran Bochnicek's death certificate- also indicating\ her father's name as William.
Keep in mind the planned accommodations of the ship -90-1st class, 100-2nd class and 800-3rd class passengers, Roughly 1,000 passengers plus crew. Five years and eight months after her maiden voyage, the SS Herder would carry some 2,000 passengers, mostly 3rd class, and among them the Petran's. - ABOVE: The S.S. Herder, which brought the Petran's to the new world.
So where did the Petran's reside before immigration? A little village called Pararow, now called "Padarov, NW of Tabor, CZ (Bohemia). It is known as "Southern Bohemia" almost on the border to Moravia. In the neighborhood of 50 miles from Prague, it is some 768 miles from there to Hamburg, Germany. - For most immigrants, especially early arrivals, the experience of steerage was like a nightmare. (At one time, the average passenger mortality rate was 10 percent per voyage.) The conditions were so crowded, so dismally dark, so unsanitary, so foul smelling, that they were the single most important cause of America's early immigration laws. Unfortunately, the laws were almost impossible to enforce; steerage conditions continued to remain deplorable almost beyond belief. - The Petran's arrived April 22, 1880, so Castle Garden was their first experience in America- there was no Ellis Island, no Statue of Liberty. - On death certificates Vaclav's father is noted as William Petran, and his mother Mary Volka. To date, they are the known patriarch and matriarch of this side of the family. For both, their birth, deaths, resting place and siblings and other children remain unknown.
UPDATE: June 2009 a trip is planned to Prague and to the churches and area they lived in. Trebon, CZ records have listed dwelling numbers - and these dwelling possibly still exist. More info after the trip! - In 1890 Anna would divorce Vaclav - quite a thing for that age. She would re-marry - and divorce again! She would then live with her daughter, Katie Bochnicek, and close to her son John. When she died she be buried at New Picker (now Gatewood Garden) Cemetery, in the same plot as her daughter, and near her grandchildren. Vaclav is buried south of St. Louis, in House Springs, MO. John would also be buried in the same cemetery, although not in the same plots. John would marry twice. His first wife, Mary Nimmerfroh, is buried with him at New Picker (Gatewood Garden), and along with her parents. In addition, several of his children from his second marriage, to Mary Kaspar Hrdlicka, are buried next to them.
When Anna died, the wake was held at the 6916 Grand Avenue, St. Louis, MO. house. Mel Wilson, son of Anna Katherin Bichnicek Wilson (Katherine's grandson) remembers the event and describes is as follows: "She was laid out in a casket which had a glass face cover plate, upon which a house cat kept sitting." - John, her son, and Mel's uncles were pall bearers. Before the burial John and an uncle kept digging around in the yard (in John's garlic patch) until they found a cremation urn, dug it up and placed it in Anna's casket. Following the funeral Mel remembers John saying "You know, we spilled the ashes". Apparently someone slipped and lurched with the casket, causing the urn to fall over inside and spill. Who the inhabitant of the urn was is unknown. That such an item was included was peculiar at best, but it was someone of obvious importance. Whether is was a wish communicated to Anna or not, the result is while Anna is buried in the same grave with her daughter Katie, who followed her some twelve years later, a third "occupant" is buried with them. - Below are pictures of some of Mary Kaspar Hrdlicka Petran, Mary Nimmerfroh Petran and John Petran's 13 children.
Cecelia Hrdlicka Rose Marie Edwin
Helen Evelyn and Genevieve "Jean" Joseph Hrdlicka
Not pictured: unnamed infant, buried Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery, and several as yet unidentified siblings. -
LEFT TO RIGHT: Cel Petran Korman, Helen Petran Little, Genevieve Petran Hanning, Edwin Petran, Evelyn Petran Guittar - Joseph Hrdlicka and his wife, Hilda, would have a son, Merle, and move to the Seattle Washington area. Merle would become the Mayor of a town for many years in the area. More regarding them will be added later. - John and Mary Kaspar Hrdlicka Pertan's thirteenth and youngest child, Evelyn Erna, would marry twice. First to Raymond Creel when she was seventeen. In 1948 she would Forrest Guittar. All her life she would be known by her nickname of "Epp". -
LEFT TO RIGHT: Evelyn as a young child; Evelyn in elementary school; on her wedding day in 1948 to Forrest Guittar.
|
