FRANK SOKOL, b 24 May 1810

SOKOL, MECHACKA, BEZBIECHECK, GRUBB

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 12/25/2004 at 21:03:39

Frank Sokol, living in retirement at Monmouth, is numbered among the oldest and most highly respected citizens of this county. His native place was on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Kingdom of Bohemia, and he was born May 24, 1810. There he spent his boyhood and youth, and after learning the trade of a locksmith, which he took at the age of fifteen years, he traveled as a journeyman over much of the country around his native place. At the age of twenty-nine he was married to Miss Josephine Mechacka, a native of his own country, and three years younger than himself, she having been born in 1813.

For a time before coming to America, Mr. Sokol was occupied in selling tobacco on commission in Austria. In 1854, he crossed the Atlantic, landing in the City of Quebec, Canada, June 17. Thence he came directly westward to this county, and entered 265 acres of land on sections 18 and 7, in Monmouth Township. His worldly possessions consisted of about $1,400 worth of cloth, which he had brought with him, and which he sold in due time to his neighbors. In the meantime he procured a team and engaged in the transportation of goods and merchandise to and from Dubuque; he also bought produce and game from the country merchants and sold it in the city. He was thus occupied until 1871, when he disposed of his land, and with his estimable wife removed to town, where they are still living, and are quite well advanced in years.

Only four of the thirteen children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sokol survive: Frank J. is engaged as a lumber merchant at Onslow; Josephine, is the wife of Wenzel Bezbiecheck, of Onslow; Joseph H., is a merchant at Baldwin, and George follows merchandising at Monmouth. Mr. Sokol gave to his children such education as the common schools afforded, and they are numbered among the best elements in the community. He has become thoroughly Americanized, and is in full accord with the institutions of his adopted country.

Mr. George Sokol, was born Nov. 3, 1857, and lived on the farm with his father until the fall of 1880. He was a bright and ambitious youth, and entered the school of telegraphy at Janesville, Wis. In March following, he repaired to Chicago, and worked as an operator during the summer, going in the fall to Mattoon, Ill. In June, 1882, he was called home on account of his father's health, but subsequently resumed telegraphing for three months at Valley Junction. He then gave up the business and purchased a stock of merchandise, established himself in Baldwin, where he conducted a general-store for three years, and sold out in January, 1885. The following September he purchased an interest in his father's business, and is now a member of the firm. He was married in November, 1885, to Miss Amanda Grubb.

Mrs. Amanda Sokol was born in Ohio, and is the daughter of Samuel Grubb. Of this union there are three children: Jessie, Ethel, and an infant son. Mr. Sokol, politically, is a Republican, and socially, a member of Lodge No. 60, K. of P. He has served as Township Clerk, and Postmaster at Baldwin, and is in all respects a praiseworthy citizen.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)