CHERNEY, Emil J. 1877-1948

CHERNEY, HELM, MILLER, BERWALD, PETERMAN

Posted By: Diane Scott (email)
Date: 5/3/2010 at 12:00:01

#1:

FARMER DIES FROM GUN WOUND

Cedar Falls, Iowa -- Emil J. Cherney, who resided on a 60-acre farm a mile west of the Cedar Falls Gun club grounds five miles north of Cedar Falls on highway 218, was dead Thursday, the victim of a hunting accident.

He was fatally shot while crawling through a wire fence on his farm, according to Dr. Sidney D. Smith, Black Hawk county coroner, who was called to the scene of the tragedy late Wednesday. He reached the scene shortly before 5 p.m. which was believed to have been about two hours after Cherney died.

When Cherney's body was found by one of his neighbors, it was lying near the fence through which he had apparently come. In some manner not determined the gun had discharged, the bullet striking Cherney in the left breast, according to Coroner Smith.

Apparently Cherney had stumbled and fallen as he got through the fence. The gun was lying beneath the body, the coroner said. His investigation convinced him that Cherneys death was accidental.

Cherney was a retired railroad man. He had been an engineer on the Illinois Central system for 43 years and resided in Waterloo. He retired on pension in 1943 and purchased a small farm south of Janesville near the Washington township church in Black Hawk county in the neighborhood where his wife had lived as a girl. They moved onto the place soon after his retirement.

Mr. Cherney was born in Mitchell county, August 21, 1877, and married Arley Helm of Washington township January 28, 1905, at Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Surviving besides his wife, are three sons, Richard A.; Reinbeck; Milford S,, Charles City; Maj. Max R., stationed at March Field, California; two daughters, Mrs. Don D. Miller, St. Joseph, Michigan; Mrs. H. T. Berwald, Battle Creek, Michigan; one brother, Joseph, St. Ansgar, and a sister Mary Peterman, Lyle, Minnesota.

The body was taken to the Dahl Funeral Home in Cedar Falls.

[Waterloo Daily Courier, Thursday January 29, 1948]

Note: He was the son of Vaclav and Theresa Cherney

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#2: (Bio.)

Emil J. Cherney remained at home until he was 21 years of age, when he took a job as fireman on the Illinois Central Railroad. He was a fireman for two years and then became an Engineer until he retired in 1943. January 23, 1905, he married Arley Elaine Helm of Washington Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa. They married in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Emil and Arley had five children born to them: Vernelle Ora (12-27-1905); Victorine Laurel, (7-27-1909); Richard Arlie, (6-25-1912); Milford Stratton, (6-14-1914); Max Reuben, (4-11-1916). Milford and Victorine were born in Washington Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa while the others were all born in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa.

When the Sedlacek family moved to California, they stopped for a few days with Emil and Arley (Helm) Cherney. Later Emil Jr.told of the three week trip across country indulging in an exciting new food item - hamburgers.

Victorine Cherney was named for her aunt, Victorine McCulla Cherney. I remember when I was about 16 and my brother Milford was about 11 that we traveled to St. Ansgar from Waterloo on a pass provided us since our father was an Engineer of the Illinois Central. We visited Aunt "Vic" and Uncle Joe. When we arrived, they did not happen to be home so we sat on the front steps of their home. When we became hungry, we were afraid to leave our suitcases unprotected so we took turns walking down into town to eat while the other protected the cases. Later, we then went to visit "Uncle Fred and Aunt Anna" Zemanek. They were really not that relationship but cousins of Emil Cherney, our father. Milford remembers playing the organ and singing while there. The best of it all for me was that their daughter Freda and I are "twins" both of us being born July 27, 1909. We became best of friends and close until both went away to school and married. Only recently have we been reunited, by letters. Freda now lives in Florida with her retired husband.

Another highlight of a visit to St. Ansgar when I was a little girl was a wonderful night of seeing my first moving picture. All of the people assembled in the school hall and we sat through the movie of "Birth of a Nation". It was marvelously exciting especially when we were each given a green, red and white striped bag of candy to munch on during the movie. Those are experiences never to forget.

Emil Cherney spent 40 years with the Illinois Central Railroad. He was very proud of that relationship and I know that he enjoyed every minute of those years. But, he held St. Ansgar very dear to his heart and for years and years, he attended the reunion of the Spring Valley School. One of my brothers accompanied him and I feel badly that I was never available to spend the day with him at the reunion. After his retirement he and Arley moved from Waterloo to the farm in Washington Township where she had been born and he remained there until his death in 1948.

By Victorine Cherney Berwald

[MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, published 1989]

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#3:

Photo from MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, 1989.

Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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