SUPITA, Jacob F.

1876 - 1956  (80 years)

• Name	SUPITA, Jacob F.
  Nickname	Jake
  Birth	5 Apr 1876	Town of Gibson, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	North Prairie, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
  	Address: blacksmith
  	Building Erected 75 Years Ago by Gus Lau Passing of Former Blacksmith Shop Recalls Old Days in North Prairie By Elmer Austin NORTH PRAIRIE - Main street in North Prairie never again will be the same. Everyone whose school days reach back to Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" feels the loss. The big hole in the ground where the old village smithy stood for so many years is matched by an empty ache in the heart of the Prairie - especially among the oldsters. The shop, the "mighty man" and his scorched leather apron, his forge and anvil, his hammers and tongs, are gone forever. The village blacksmith shop has been taken away, to make room for the march of modern progress. RECOLLECTIONS of the history of this best known and perhaps most interesting landmark are dim in spots, but the record is clear in important details, and approximately correct as to time. Seventy five years ago Gus Lau erected the building as a wagon ship (sic). In the early days the blacksmith shop was on the ground where the Grams store now stands, and was operated by Morgan Williams. Morgan had a young fellow working with him named Jacob Supita, later to become one of the leading characters in this story. GUS LAU SOLD his wagon shop to Ed Stooper, and Stooper in turn was succeeded by Julius Hammond. By this time, it was being operated as a blacksmith shop. Jacob Supita now re-entered the picture, and remained there for half a century. "Jake," only recently passed away, became the owner of the business near the close of the nineteenth century, and plied his trade during most of the first half of the twentieth. It is Jake who remains in the memory of most of us now as the village blacksmith. Known for miles around the Prairie, Jake, an honest workman and a good one, shod horses, repaired machinery, sharpened plow points, set tires, and did all the work that a blacksmith is called upon to do. HE WAS THE expert mechanic upon whom everybody depended to keep things moving, and he did. After all those years at the forge and anvil, Jake decided to call it a finished job, and sold out to a man by the name of Fred, whose last name cannot be recalled. Clairmont Beatty, the last of the smiths, finally sold the property to the bank, and the building was purchased from the bank by Harry Hurst, principally for the material which it contained. In Jake's time, the village blacksmith was a vital element in the rural economy - in the days when horsepower came from horses, and not from a tractor. Then, too, courting, some of it, was done with the lines wound around the whipstock, and not in -a hot rod or convertible. The passing of the shop where the smith operated and the horses were shod marks the end of an era of the American scene. Is that good or bad - who knows? (Most of the material used here was obtained through the kindness and cooperation of Mr. and Mrs. John Baxter, and the John and Leonard Heintz family.) The Waukesha County Freeman Tue, Sep 17, 1957 ·Page 8
  		CH-Supita Jake Supita Blacksmith Shop
  Death	27 Oct 1956	Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
  	Address: Waukesha Memorial Hospital
  	Jacob Supita Jacob Supita, 80, of North Prairie died Saturday morning at Waukesha Memorial hospital. Supita is survived by a son Cecil, New Holstein, and a daughter, Mrs. Lois Litzow, Rochester, Minn., for grandchildren and a brother. Services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at the North Prairie Methodist church, the Rev. Paul Weisel officiating. Friends may call at the Mealy funeral home in Eagle after 4 p.m. Sunday and from 12 noon until the time of services Monday at the church. Burial will be at the North Prairie cemetery.The Waukesha County Freeman Sat, Oct 27, 1956 ·Page 11
  Burial	North Prairie, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
  	Address: North Prairie Cemetery
  Person ID	I7049	Jindra and Chaloupka Family Trees
  Last Modified	15 Mar 2025

  
  

  Father	SUPITA, Jacob,   b. 18 Jun 1848, Mladošovice, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic d. 11 Nov 1944, Manitowoc, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States (Age 96 years)
  Mother	LESTINOVA, Katerina,   b. 15 Jun 1845, Smržov, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic d. 9 Sep 1929, Manitowoc, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States (Age 84 years)
  Marriage	26 Apr 1874	Kellnersville, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States
  	Address: St. Joseph Catholic Church
  	Jacob Supita and Katherina Lestina Marriage April 1879 Translation Witnesses: On the 26th day of April 1879 were married Jacobus Ceputa, twenty six years born the son of Joseph Ceputa and Mariae, born in the same place in Bohemia, Cechy Budovice, Mladosovice (Wittingau) living in Neshoto, Manitowoc, Wisconsin with Catharina Leschtina twenty years born the daughter of Francis Leschtina and Mariae Walenta, born in the same place in Bohemia, [?] Hargov, (C. Budovice) and living in Neshoto. There were no impediments to the marriage. Jakub Cupita [signature] Kathrina Leschtina [signature] Jozef Wacek, Wolfgang Pankratz [Priest] J Maly married them (copulum)
  Family ID	F947	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	CARLIN, Elizabeth J.,   b. Jan 1881, Ottawa, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States d. 1 Feb 1944, North Prairie, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States (Age 63 years)
  Marriage	30 Oct 1901	Waukesha, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
  Children	1. Living   2. SUPITA, Dr. Cecil Carlin,   b. 22 Apr 1910, North Prairie, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States d. 4 Aug 1982, Calumet, Wisconsin, United States (Age 72 years)
  Family ID	F3232	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	30 Mar 2025