Title
THOMAS OUKROP
Creator
Mrs. Laura Oukrop Petska
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 139N RANGE 96W
Text
THOMAS OUKROP
I was born in 1821 in the village of Zisor District of Tabor, in the portion of central Europe which after World War I became the country Czechoslovakia. This land of my birth was formerly part of the empire of Austria-Hungary and ruled prior to the war by Franz-Joseph. I was the village blacksmith. I married Mary Mazalovska. Three sons were born to us. My wife and I and our three sons, Jacob, Thomas and Albert came to America in 1862. Embarking on a sailing vessel at Hamburg, it took 18 weeks to cross the ocean.
After reaching New York City, our port of entry, we then traveled to New Prague, Minn., filed for a homestead of 80 acres of land seven miles north of New Prague. Four years after having completed filing my claim, I purchased additional land of 160 acres near Montgomery, Minn. This was timber property and had to be cleared before crops could be planted and it took 20 years to completely accomplish this. Two daughters were born; Annie Marie in 1868 and Mary Catherine in 1870 to us on the homestead. After clearing off some of the timber and building a small home, we moved to the new farm in Montgomery.
Mary, my wife became ill and passed away in one year, leaving me with three boys and two very young daughters. It was a hardship taking care of household duties, farming and doing blacksmithing also. Three years later, I married again to Katherina Zoubek. She had three children of her own so this made eight young folks for us to take care of and bring up. Katherine and I had four sons of our own; Joseph, Henry, Charles and Anton. In 1886 we sold our two farms and came to North Dakota as homesteaders. We arrived in Dickinson, N.D. the 23rd of April. We arrived in two boxcars with some farming equipment, tools and a team of horses. There were many families that came with us and most of us filed on a homestead. The women and children remained in town while the men went to the various claims to build homes for their families. The first years were very trying for all of us and some of the families returned to Minnesota. They did not like the wide open spaces and no trees anywhere.
The year of 1889 a number of families experienced a prairie fire. We lost our home, horses with the barn and the hay. All that was left were the few cattle that were out in the field. A fire originating from a locomotive on the Northern Pacific, swept through a region seven miles wide at places and 20 miles long. Then we moved 35 miles north to a farm and lived there for three years, then to a ranch near Grassy Butte to winter Dr. Stickney's Texas long-horned cattle. He had 150 head and lost 75 in the spring flood. This was cow country where cattle from Texas were herded to be fed on the range during summer and fall and then sold in the late fall. Those not sold were left for the cowboys to take care of and this meant a lot of range riding by night and day watching for wolves, coyotes and mountain lions who attacked the cattle and calves. After a hard winter with a lot of snow, many cattle died of pneumonia and we lost 750 head. The spring flood from the Little Missouri River wiped out all but one building. We had lived here six years. My second wife passed on in 1896.
Once again we moved back to a farm near Dickinson. In 1900, I married the third time to Anna Pavlish Chastek on Sept. 20th. Her husband had passed on in 1898 and she lived on their claim which was hers before she married me. Thomas Oukrop died 1905 in Dickinson and Anna Oukrop died 1908.
By Mrs. Laura Oukrop Petska
I was born in 1821 in the village of Zisor District of Tabor, in the portion of central Europe which after World War I became the country Czechoslovakia. This land of my birth was formerly part of the empire of Austria-Hungary and ruled prior to the war by Franz-Joseph. I was the village blacksmith. I married Mary Mazalovska. Three sons were born to us. My wife and I and our three sons, Jacob, Thomas and Albert came to America in 1862. Embarking on a sailing vessel at Hamburg, it took 18 weeks to cross the ocean.
After reaching New York City, our port of entry, we then traveled to New Prague, Minn., filed for a homestead of 80 acres of land seven miles north of New Prague. Four years after having completed filing my claim, I purchased additional land of 160 acres near Montgomery, Minn. This was timber property and had to be cleared before crops could be planted and it took 20 years to completely accomplish this. Two daughters were born; Annie Marie in 1868 and Mary Catherine in 1870 to us on the homestead. After clearing off some of the timber and building a small home, we moved to the new farm in Montgomery.
Mary, my wife became ill and passed away in one year, leaving me with three boys and two very young daughters. It was a hardship taking care of household duties, farming and doing blacksmithing also. Three years later, I married again to Katherina Zoubek. She had three children of her own so this made eight young folks for us to take care of and bring up. Katherine and I had four sons of our own; Joseph, Henry, Charles and Anton. In 1886 we sold our two farms and came to North Dakota as homesteaders. We arrived in Dickinson, N.D. the 23rd of April. We arrived in two boxcars with some farming equipment, tools and a team of horses. There were many families that came with us and most of us filed on a homestead. The women and children remained in town while the men went to the various claims to build homes for their families. The first years were very trying for all of us and some of the families returned to Minnesota. They did not like the wide open spaces and no trees anywhere.
The year of 1889 a number of families experienced a prairie fire. We lost our home, horses with the barn and the hay. All that was left were the few cattle that were out in the field. A fire originating from a locomotive on the Northern Pacific, swept through a region seven miles wide at places and 20 miles long. Then we moved 35 miles north to a farm and lived there for three years, then to a ranch near Grassy Butte to winter Dr. Stickney's Texas long-horned cattle. He had 150 head and lost 75 in the spring flood. This was cow country where cattle from Texas were herded to be fed on the range during summer and fall and then sold in the late fall. Those not sold were left for the cowboys to take care of and this meant a lot of range riding by night and day watching for wolves, coyotes and mountain lions who attacked the cattle and calves. After a hard winter with a lot of snow, many cattle died of pneumonia and we lost 750 head. The spring flood from the Little Missouri River wiped out all but one building. We had lived here six years. My second wife passed on in 1896.
Once again we moved back to a farm near Dickinson. In 1900, I married the third time to Anna Pavlish Chastek on Sept. 20th. Her husband had passed on in 1898 and she lived on their claim which was hers before she married me. Thomas Oukrop died 1905 in Dickinson and Anna Oukrop died 1908.
By Mrs. Laura Oukrop Petska