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LIfe of immigrant John Zefronk
This is the Timeline of John Zefronk who is a immigrant from Czech -
Escape from Fort Mainz, Germany
On the evening of June 19 1847 I and 39 other of my comrades escaped our post at fort Mainz, I was only 13 at the time, since the Bohemians took over my home country of Czech they took in solders no matter what age, I had been in the army for six months, we had not seen combat. When we heard of land being given away for free in America we got excited. Most of my comrades had no idea what America was, we were all so young. We decided to escape a few nights later. -
Moving to America
After my comrades and I escaped for America, We stopped in the town of Cheb, Which is where I met my Wife, Ellie and had two kids, Samuel and Richard. Instead of moving to America I stayed there until the winter of 1880 when we decided to move to America because of the incoming Hungarian Army. We planned to open a cigar shop in New York. -
The Long Journey
After my family left Cheb, we boarded the ship Maria and started our long trip to America. The shipping company would only let us take as much as we could carry. There were many sick on the boat, many had the disease Tuberculosis: which affected the lungs and throat. They said the trip would take us 40 days. We met many other families in a similar situation while on the boat. -
Arriving in America!
We had just arrived in America, the joy out of the mist the statue of liberty towered, everybody rushed to the deck and celebrated- we had made it. After that we were transferred onto Ellis Island and started the long immigration process. When we were still on the ship we mad friends with a Italian family, unfortunately their only son did not pass the medical examination and was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. -
Discovering New York
New York is great! We just started our cigar buisness and it is going well lots of customers. There are many people from Czech and Gremany living around us, many people are freindly buty some people seem hesitant and aggressive towards us just because we are immigrants. -
Our Sister's Horrible Tragedy.
After arriving in New York we started a cigar business, which became rather successful. After making a large amount of money my wife insisted that we played for her Sister's voyage over to America. Unfortunately, much to our dismay while on the boast trip she caught pneumonia. She was sent to quarantine after arriving on Ellis Island. She would have passed if it were not for the law that passed in 1882 stating that all contagious immigrants were not permitted in the United States of America. -
Moving West
After several years in New York, We thought that the city had become too crowded and we heard that land was being given away for free in the west. We decided to move west my wife and I left the cigar business to our eldest son, Samuel and then bought a Horse and wagon and started to Move to Colfax, Nebraska, we planned to start a farm. We are what the Americans call Immigrants. -
Encounter with the Naitives
While on the trail we made many friends, we travel with several Czechian immigrant families who, like us were moving to Nebraska. We shared many experiences; with no firewood we had to use so we improvised by using buffalo dung. Once we were approached by Native Americans, I had heard stories that they were aggressive but they just seemed curios by us, a Woman named Pamela in our group had false teeth and had taken them out when the natives were near, freaking them out. -
We Made it!
After several months of grueling traveling we had make it to Colfax Nebraska, It was a small town and had very friendly citizens, I truly believe that this is what I can call home. I like it here we, have just started to build a house in the outskirts of town. I can still remember the day when I escaped fort Mainz, to come here, all in all, it was worth it. -
Perment Land Requirement
Since our Incredibly good harvest this year the Local government granted us with the land that we farmed on, we now own a 160-acre farm near Colfax, Nebraska -this is much better then what we hade expected.
