Jindra Family

Written by Michael Jindra
October 14, 2007

On May 20, 1868 Jiri "George" and Maria "Mary" (KRCMARIK) JINDRA journeyed to the Roman Catholic church in nearby Dlazdova to obtain a baptismal certificate for their 8 year old son Jiri Peter JINDRA, Jr.[1] Jiri and Maria were about to immigrate to America. They farmed near Miletic (about 15 miles southeast of Domazlice) in western Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), which was where Jiri Sr. was born in 1831. Jiri was the son of Vaeslava JINDRY and Marie STREKA, and he married Maria KRCMARIK, the daughter of Josefa KRCMARIKA, a small farmer, and his wife Marie VALDMANN, from Dlazdova.

(See the Jindra Ancestors info from Pathfinders research)

In September of 1868 they landed in New York and the names of both Jiris were Americanized and became George, their English equivalent. Few details remain from this period. No ones knows why they emigrated, or how they decided to live in Manitowoc, although the history of that period in Bohemia does indicate some turmoil. [2]

County plat books from 1872 and 1878, and the 1880 census, indicate that they settled on 40 acres southwest of Francis Creek on Reifs Mills Road, where G. Gendra[3] is listed as owner.[4]

Shortly before 1880, George Jr. left home to work as a cook in a logging camp near Crystal Falls in the U.P. of Michigan. He returned to Kossuth by 1885, the year he married Mary LENHARDT, who had come to America with her parents in 1868 from Germany (about 50 km west of Mainz) at the age of 5. The marriage was conducted on May 6, 1885 in Mishicot by Rev. J.P. KOEHLER of St. Peters Lutheran Church. Witnesses were Frank LENHARDT, Katherina REINART(?), Charles MEYER and Lena "YINDRA" (probably the younger sister of George).

The next plat book published, in 1893, shows George Jr. and his mother Mary on the corner of old County V (now Samz Rd. and Cherney roads). The move from Francis Creek to Mishicot was probably made between 1880 and 1885, because George and Mary's 1885 marriage certificate lists his residence as Mishicot township. In fact, the marriage was probably either a cause or effect of the move, since this is where Mary's parents owned land. [5] This farmhouse was built of log buildings. Details about farm life in this early period are sketchy. It is known they used oxen at first, and later switched to horses. George Sr. lived on what was later the NOVAK farm (see plat map) and when George married Mary LENHARDT he moved just south to the LENHARDT farm, which later became the DIRKMANN farm after it was sold.

Across the road was the Fred and Katherine FREISS farm. Katherine was Mary's sister, and Fred their first cousin. (First cousin marriages were not uncommon at the time). Also see info gathered on the FREISS and LENHARDT families through a re-connection with FREISS family relatives still in Germany.

(Click here for letter from Freiss relative in Mishicot to German relatives in 1916, showing life on the farm, and anger toward England, in war with Germany, one year before US entered war)

In 1888, George Sr. and George Jr. were naturalized and became U.S. citizens. Two years later, George Sr. died at the age of 59. He had been crippled earlier when he fell off a load of hay. His widow, Mary, stayed in the farmhouse where son Frank also lived. (Frank JINDRA worked as a carpenter and remained unmarried and lived with his mother on the old NOVAK farm (but not farming) before moving near Kings Bridge, across the road from Wenzel.)

On Christmas Eve, George Jr. and Mary would visit and eat "delkas" (a biscuit with prunes) and pea soup. Mary Sr. was called "babichka," or "babi?ka" which is Czech for "grandma," and was also known to smoke a pipe. She died in 1929 at the age of 92.

Obituary: Mrs. Marie Jindra, Aged 92, Pioneer, Dies at Kings Bridge Mrs. Marie Jindra, aged 92 years, widow of the late George Jindra, who passed away 39 years ago and has been a resident of this county for 61 years, passed away at Kings Bridge where she has been making her home for a number of years. Her maiden name was Marie Kremarik (sic) and she was born in Bohemia May 30, 1837 and came to this country 61 years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Jindra first locate in the town of Kossuth where Mr. Jindra conducted a farm. After his death, Mrs. Jindra continued to reside there and moved to Kings Bridge 13 years ago. Three daughters, Mrs. Lena Hartigan, Seattle, Wash., Mrs. Anna Tuma, Gibson, and Mrs. Mary Peltier, this city and five sons, George of Mishicot, Joseph of Maplewood, Frank of Kings Bridge and Wenzl and John of this city survive. One sister, Mrs. Katherine Vieau of Green Bay also survive. Funeral services will be held Friday morning at the Holy Cross church at Mishicot. Manitowoc Herald News, Wednesday, December 11, 1929 Page 11 (Note: maiden name is Krcmarik)

Notes

[1] Father Karel Korbelec signed the document. Peter Krobel(?), a tailor at Dlazdova, and his wife Katerina were the godparents.

[2] See "History of Czechs in America" by Jan Habenicht (1996) or "To Reap a Bountiful Harvest: Czech immigration beyong the Mississippi, 1850-1900" by Stepanka Korytova-Magstadt, 1993.

[3]Variant spellings were not unusual in this early period. The three plat books from 1872, 1878 and 1893 list George and Mary's last name variously as Genra, Gendra, Gindra, and Yendra before the 1903 book lists Jindra. In Czech, Jindra is pronounced with a "Y" sound. Families that now use "Yindra" as the spelling likely changed it when coming to the US, to match the pronunciation.

[4]This land was originally purchased from the government on May 16, 1849 by Gottfried Summer.

[5]The Lenhardts (one of whom George Jr. married) had 80 acres of this land in 1878, as shown on the plat book for that year. By 1893, 80 acres to the north was under Mary's name (probably the widow of George Sr.), which by 1903 was under Wenzel's (George Jr.'s brother, b. 1874), and 80 was under George's name, 40 of which was the Lenhardt land. Fred Freis (Mary's uncle or cousin, since her mother was a Freis) became the owner of the other 40.