Title
THE ALBERT FICEK FAMILY
Creator
Albert Ficek
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 140N RANGE 96W
Text
THE ALBERT FICEK FAMILY
My parents Anton and Filomena (Karsky) Ficek were married Nov. 9, 1904, at New Hradec, N.D. The church where they were married, had been built just recently, and there was no resident priest as yet. The couples anticipating marriage had to make arrangements for their wedding day according to the availability of a visiting priest. On this day, three couples were married at the same time. Besides my parents, they were; Steve Urbanec to Agnes Pavlish and John Pavlish to Mary Urbanec. As fate had it, children and grandchildren of all three couples were involved in marriages in later years.
My parents homesteaded on south half of south half of Sec. 22-141-96 in Dunn Co. They built a sod house, where three of us older children were born. In 1913 a large frame house was built on this farm, where four more children were born. Their farming the first years was done with horses and they acquired five additional quarters of land. In 1928 they bought their first tractor and thresher. After 34 years of farming (in 1938) they turned over their farm land to their children and retired to New Hradec, where they lived until 1969. Dad died on Aug. 23, 1969 and Mother passed away on May 1, 1970.
I, Albert Ficek, and Lillian Urbanec were married on Oct. 22, 1934 at the Sts. Peter and Paul church in New Hradec. We started to farm on our present location; Sec. 6-140-96 in 1935. Part of this farm was my grandfather's original homestead, thus this farm is in the same family since 1891.
Times really were rough the first few years, since it was in the middle of the Great Depression. Our records show that our entire gross income the first year was $162.83. Most of this income was from digging and selling coal from our own coal-mine. Conditions did not improve much until 1940, when finally we had our first fair crop. However a large portion of our fields were damaged by hail.
We still farm on this same place, and during our lifetime we have acquired 1500 acres in Stark and Dunn counties. We raised a family of four daughters and one son; Betty was born Oct. 2, 1935, Eileen, Feb. 5, 1938, Donna, March 9, 1943, Delmar, May 1, 1951 and Nancy, June 6, 1955. They all attended the parochial school in New Hradec and high schools in Dickinson.
Betty attended Dickinson State Teachers College for two years and taught in Stark County rural school. In 1958 she married Lawrence Pavlish and they farm north of Dickinson. They have three girls and two boys; Kevin, Melanie, Patti, Tim and Cindy.
Eileen worked for the ASC in Dickinson before her marriage to Roger Leiss in 1959. They farmed near Manning for a couple of years. Later they moved to Dickinson where Roger works as a drag line operator at Husky Industries. Eileen was supervisor of the N.Y.C. for a few years and currently is employed at the county auditor's office in Dickinson. They are the parents of five boys; Tom, Scott, Robert, Gerald and Ricky.
Donna married Thomas Binek in 1964. She worked for the county treasurer for five years and four years for the county auditor. She also worked as a bookkeeper for the N.Y.C. They operated the Uptown Motel in Dickinson for some time. Tom taught school for two years and later joined the Army Reserves. He was stationed in Red Wing, Minn. And later transferred to Eau Claire, Wise. They have one boy and two girls; Robin, Wendy and Pami.
Delmar is engaged in farming. He attended school in New Hradec high school at Trinity and graduated from Dickinson State College in 1973 with a degree in business administration. Delmar is the fourth generation that operates this farm.
Nancy was married in 1974 to Wilbur Hanel. They attended school in Glascow, Mont., and later moved to Bismarck, where Nancy worked as a receptionist at the St. Alexius Hospital. She also worked as a receptionist at the Williston Clinic. At present they reside in Watford City where Wilbur works as appliance repairman at Bob's Appliance. They have one daughter, Jenifer.
We are grateful to our pioneer grandparents for their courage to come to America. We remember the sacrifices they went through, so that the generations to come would have a better life than they did.
By Albert Ficek
My parents Anton and Filomena (Karsky) Ficek were married Nov. 9, 1904, at New Hradec, N.D. The church where they were married, had been built just recently, and there was no resident priest as yet. The couples anticipating marriage had to make arrangements for their wedding day according to the availability of a visiting priest. On this day, three couples were married at the same time. Besides my parents, they were; Steve Urbanec to Agnes Pavlish and John Pavlish to Mary Urbanec. As fate had it, children and grandchildren of all three couples were involved in marriages in later years.
My parents homesteaded on south half of south half of Sec. 22-141-96 in Dunn Co. They built a sod house, where three of us older children were born. In 1913 a large frame house was built on this farm, where four more children were born. Their farming the first years was done with horses and they acquired five additional quarters of land. In 1928 they bought their first tractor and thresher. After 34 years of farming (in 1938) they turned over their farm land to their children and retired to New Hradec, where they lived until 1969. Dad died on Aug. 23, 1969 and Mother passed away on May 1, 1970.
I, Albert Ficek, and Lillian Urbanec were married on Oct. 22, 1934 at the Sts. Peter and Paul church in New Hradec. We started to farm on our present location; Sec. 6-140-96 in 1935. Part of this farm was my grandfather's original homestead, thus this farm is in the same family since 1891.
Times really were rough the first few years, since it was in the middle of the Great Depression. Our records show that our entire gross income the first year was $162.83. Most of this income was from digging and selling coal from our own coal-mine. Conditions did not improve much until 1940, when finally we had our first fair crop. However a large portion of our fields were damaged by hail.
We still farm on this same place, and during our lifetime we have acquired 1500 acres in Stark and Dunn counties. We raised a family of four daughters and one son; Betty was born Oct. 2, 1935, Eileen, Feb. 5, 1938, Donna, March 9, 1943, Delmar, May 1, 1951 and Nancy, June 6, 1955. They all attended the parochial school in New Hradec and high schools in Dickinson.
Betty attended Dickinson State Teachers College for two years and taught in Stark County rural school. In 1958 she married Lawrence Pavlish and they farm north of Dickinson. They have three girls and two boys; Kevin, Melanie, Patti, Tim and Cindy.
Eileen worked for the ASC in Dickinson before her marriage to Roger Leiss in 1959. They farmed near Manning for a couple of years. Later they moved to Dickinson where Roger works as a drag line operator at Husky Industries. Eileen was supervisor of the N.Y.C. for a few years and currently is employed at the county auditor's office in Dickinson. They are the parents of five boys; Tom, Scott, Robert, Gerald and Ricky.
Donna married Thomas Binek in 1964. She worked for the county treasurer for five years and four years for the county auditor. She also worked as a bookkeeper for the N.Y.C. They operated the Uptown Motel in Dickinson for some time. Tom taught school for two years and later joined the Army Reserves. He was stationed in Red Wing, Minn. And later transferred to Eau Claire, Wise. They have one boy and two girls; Robin, Wendy and Pami.
Delmar is engaged in farming. He attended school in New Hradec high school at Trinity and graduated from Dickinson State College in 1973 with a degree in business administration. Delmar is the fourth generation that operates this farm.
Nancy was married in 1974 to Wilbur Hanel. They attended school in Glascow, Mont., and later moved to Bismarck, where Nancy worked as a receptionist at the St. Alexius Hospital. She also worked as a receptionist at the Williston Clinic. At present they reside in Watford City where Wilbur works as appliance repairman at Bob's Appliance. They have one daughter, Jenifer.
We are grateful to our pioneer grandparents for their courage to come to America. We remember the sacrifices they went through, so that the generations to come would have a better life than they did.
By Albert Ficek