Koutecký and Marek Origins - Prague is at upper right Click on image for full size view.

Marek, Wolf and probably Landa Origins and Churches Click on image for full size view.

Josef Marek was born in Bohemia about 1826 and died in Chicago in 1890 at age 64. He married Marie Wolf in Bohemia about 1846.

Marie Wolf was born about 1826 in Lužce (Beroun) [see obituary below], which is just 5 miles north of Karlstejn Castle. She died in Chicago in 1896. That her maiden name was WOLF is known from the death record of her daughter Klotilda.

• The Church Records for Lužce
  The parish church of Lužce was Svatý Jan pod Skalou (St. John under the Rock), whose records after 1805 are not yet posted on ActaPublica.eu. There is a good web page about Svatý Jan pod Skalou

So far, I only know the birthplace of one of their children: Josef was born 2 Jul 1854 at Vysoký Újezd, which is about 1 mile northeast of his mother's birthplace at Lužce. So I suspect that the father Josef was probably also born at Vysoký Újezd and that all of the children were born there.

• The Church Records for Vysoký Újezd
  Although it is very close to Lužce, the church for Vysoký Újezd at that time was at Tachlovice, whose records after 1817 are not yet posted on ActaPublica.eu. However, a search of ActaPublica for Vysoký Újezd shows that there are records at four different places, with Svatý Jan pod Skalou apparently being the church for Vysoký Újezd prior to 1668. The Tachlovice register #8 has baptisms from 1799-1817, with the Vysoký Újezd baptisms starting on image 33 in 1802, but I cannot make the jump back to these records without having the records for 1818 onward, so that I can trace the proven ancestry. BUT I have gone through the 1802-1817 baptisms and while I find a number of LANDA baptisms, I do not find any that are MAREK, although the hand-writing is very difficult for me to read, so that I may have not recognized the name when I saw it.
• The Town of Vysoký Újezd
  The town name means High Estate or High Manor. Keep in mind that when Josef and Marie were born, the feudal system of serfdom was still in effect. So people were not allowed to move and had to give to the lord of the manor a significant amount of mandatory labor (called robota from which author Karel Čapek created our modern word robot).
  There is a very good web page of the town history: Czech English

Both of their death records place their arrival in the US at 1880. Joseph had been a resident 10 years at his death in 1890. And Marie had been a resident 16 years at her death in 1896. I have thus far not been able to locate their passenger records at either end of their voyage.

Children
All of their children were born in Bohemia. These are the ones who are known. Bullets are included for Anna since she was married and had children in Bohemia before coming to Chicago.

1. Anna Marek / Marková - Anna was tragic: the 1900 census showed that she had given birth to 7 children, all of whom had died.
   • born about 1847
     I suspect that both she was probably born at Vysoký Újezd, since this is where her brother Josef was born.
   • married c 1865 in Bohemia to Jan Landa (age 26 on 1867 voyage, 1881 Chicago death record gives age 40 - thus born c 1841 Bohemia)
     I suspect that both he was probably born at Vysoký Újezd and they probably married at the church at Tachlovice.
   • one child born in Bohemia (Josef Landa Dec 1866) - arrived US 1867 - age 9 months - aboard "Atlantic" (see below) - died Chicago 1892 (have cemetery records but cannot find death record and Denni Hlasatel index has no obituary)
     I suspect that both he was probably born at Vysoký Újezd.
   • arrived US 1867 - aboard "Atlantic" (see below) - widowed 1881 in Chicago - died 24 July 1925 at Cook County Infirmary (death record gives birth only as 1847 in Bohemia and Denni Hlasatel index has no obituary)

2. František/Frank Marek - born abt 1852 - arrived US 1871 with Josef aboard "Hayburg" (see below) - married in Chicago 1874 to Josephine Malik/Balik - died Chicago 1910 (death record and obituary do not give birthplace)
3. Kateřina Marek / Marková - born 25 Nov 1853 - arrived US 1880 - married in Chicago to Petr Koutecký - died 15 Nov 1945 in Chicago (death record gives birth 25 Nov 1853 in Czechoslovakia)
4. Josef Marek - born 2 Jul 1854 - arrived US 1871 with František aboard "Hayburg" (see below) - married in Chicago 1877 to Mary Kanak - died 1910 in Chicago (death record gives birth 2 Jul 1854 in Bohemia; obituary [see below] gives birthplace as Vysoký Újezd)
5. Františka Marek / Marková - born ??? - known only through mother's obituary where she is between Kateřina and Emilie - so probably born 1855-1861
6. Jan/John Marek - born Apr 1862 - arrived US 1880 - married in Chicago 1891 to Annie Tesinsky - alive in Chicago in 1920 but cannot find in 1930 (do not have death record)
7. Emilie/Emma Marek / Marková - born Apr 1864? (date from 1900 census) - arrived US c1880 - married in Chicago 1896 to George McLean - alive in Chicago in 1930 (do not have death record)
8. Klotilda Marek / Marková - born 26 Nov 1864? (date from death record) - arrived US c1880 - married in Chicago 1892 to Joseph Mikulecky - died 1962 in Chicago (death record gives birth 26 Nov 1864 in Czechoslovakia)
9. Emil Marek - born May 1869 - arrived US c1874 [age 5] per 1910 census / c1882 [age 13] per 1900 census - married in Chicago to Jennie Cerny - alive in Chicago in 1910 (do not have death record and Denni Hlasatel index has no obituary) -- NOTE that his sister Anna had already come to Chicago by the time that he was born.
10. Bertha Marek / Marková - born Jan 1872 (date calculated from age 18y 8m on cemetery records) - died Chicago 1890 unmarried (death record and cemetery record gives age 18y 10m born Bohemia [thus about Jan 1872] and Denni Hlasatel index has no obituary) -- NOTE that her sister Anna and brothers František and Josef had already come to Chicago by the time that she was born.

Emigration

• Anna was the first to leave, in 1867. She came with her husband and 9 month old son and apparently her husband's two brothers, one of whom was returning to the U. S.
• František and Josef left in 1871 to join Anna's family.
  They all lived on Liberty Street. In the 1880 Census, Anna and John Landa own their home at 78 Liberty. Josef Marek and family are renting next door at 80 Liberty. And František/Frank and family are renting across the street at 81 Liberty. František had earlier lived at 73 Liberty, where his daughter Anna was born 30 Oct 1874.
• Emil may have come in 1874, when he was only 5. But it seems more likely that he came with the rest of the family in 1880, since I have not found him in the 1880 census.
• The remaining members of the family all arrived in Chicago in 1880, too late to be recorded in the census.

Loose Ends

As noted above, there are a number of the children for whom I do not have death information. I do not have the Denni Hlasatel obituaries of any of the family, other than the ones posted below for mother Marie and son Josef.

František, Emil, and Františka have been especially challenging. I was not even aware of them until I saw their names on Marie's obituary.

• František - František was hard to find because he lived at 5712 Wabash, about 2.5 miles north of the rest of the family. He moved there about 1883, which is the earliest that any of the family are known to have moved to the South Side. His brother Josef moved near 71st and Cottage Grove by 1885. While I have František's death record and obituary, I know very little about what happened to his wife and children.

• Emil - I have managed to find more information on Emil but nothing after the 1910 census. And the Denni Hlasatel index has no obituary. He lived at 7623 Greenwood in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. This is near the rest of the family.

• Františka has been completely frustrating. The only daughters who were married when Marie died, based on the obituary, were Kateřina and Klotylda. And Františka does not appear in the households of any of the brothers or sisters I have found in the 1900 census. So she probably married or died sometime betweeh 1896 and 1900. I do not find, in FamilySearch, any Chicago death or marriage that matches her. So she is the loosest of the loose ends.

• Emma - the two widowed sisters Emma and Lottie (Klotilda) had a candy store together, but I cannot find a death record or obituary for Emma with the surname McLean.

• Voyage to America - There are many of the family for whom I have not been able to find, with reasonable certainty, their voyage to America.

Thanksgiving. We give this heartfelt thanks to all friends and acquaintances who attended [zúčastnili] the funeral of our dearly beloved mother, Marie Markova, and to accompany to her final resting place. Special thanks to our ?adopted nechť? Rev. Mr. Zdrůbek a moving speech in the house of mourning, and Mr. Peter Koutecky a speech at the cemetery, as well as Mrs. Stejskal for donating the beautiful wreath, and ?undertaker?, Mr. A. Linhart, dispatch the proper funeral. Finally, we thank all donors of beautiful flowers and wreaths, as well as those who in any way expressed condolences to us and tried to comfort us in our deep sorrow. SURVIVING CHILDREN. Notification of death. All friends and acquaintances to announce that inexorable death tore from us our dearly beloved mother, Marie Markova, on Monday, 27 April 11:30 PM at the age of 70 years. Birth was at Lužce, district of Prague in Bohemia. Funeral of the dear departed ?odbývati? will be on Wednesday, 29 April at 10 AM at the house of mourning 467 W 19th Street to the Bohemian National Cemetery. In silent sympathy asking František, Josef, Jan, Emil, sons. Anna, Kateřina, Františka, Emilie, Klotylda, daughters. Peter Kotecký, Joseph Mikulecký, Sons-in-law. Who would like to attend [zúčastniti], please ?leave the record [sign the register?]? in the house of mourning until 6 PM tonight.

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Death Notice died 5 Jan 1910 at 4AM, age 55 years 6 months, born at Vysoký Újezd - in America 42 years - funeral 7 Jan 1910 from house at 7729 Jackson [now Maryland] to Bohemian National Cemetery -- wife Marie Marek -- children: Josef, Emil, Vlastimil, Jaroslav, Marie, Vlasta Hejda, Libuše, Blažena -- brothers and sisters: František, Jan, Emil, Anna, Kateřina, Františka, Emma, Klotilda -- daughter-in-law: Karolina Marek -- brother-in-law: Petr Koutecký -- grand-children: Josef and Otto Marek, Evžen Hejda

Click on image for full size view.

1867 Sep 11 - Anna (Marek) & John Landa arrive aboard the "Atlantic" in New York from Bremen

Left page has ship information. Right page lists them:
John (26), Ann (20), Josef (9m), Franz (16), Wenzel (38), Caroline (34), Josef (9)
Note that this was a return trip for Vaclav/Wenzel, Caroline and Josef who first arrived in New York from Bremen 22 May 1865 aboard the "Hansa".

1871 Jul 26 - František (19) andJosef (17) Marek arrive aboard the "Hayburg" in New York from Bremen

Laborers - Destination: Chicago, Illinois