Andera, Charles and Barbara

ANDERA, DOSTAL, KVAPIL, TRISKA, FISHER, ZOULEK, AKRE, MOTT, BUNN, SINGER, WENZEL, KLIMESH

Posted By: Darla Doyle (email)
Date: 9/16/2006 at 09:20:43

Charles (Karel) Andera was born on 3 Sep 1851 to Frantishek and Katerina Cekal Andera in house #12 in Hrobska Zahradka, a small village near Tabor in southern Bohemia. His Andera roots go back to an Ondrej Andera who took over an abandoned propety which records identify as the Andera farm. It is not know if Andera was Ondrej's birth name or if, as then was common, he acquired it from the name of the property he lived on. A 1654 record names Pavel Andera as the farm's owner. In 1680, despondent because he was too frail to work in the fields any longer, Pavel abondoned it. Andera is not a Czech name. A legend in one brach of the family states that the first Andera was a Danish soldier who, wounded in the Thirty Years' War was left behind, married a Czech woman. Speculation is that the soldier may have been named Anders, that he was Pavel's father, and that the farm was name Andera after him.

At age 12, Charles came to America with his parents and several siblings. After a short stay in Toronto, they came to Winneshiek Co. There they settled on an acreage west of Spillville. Of his early life in Iowa, of his education or where and how he acquired his various skills, nothing is known.

On 19 Jan 1875, Charles married Barbara Dostal, the youngest daughter of John and Teresa Kvapil Dostal, who had migrated from Cermna u Kysperka in eastern Bohemia. She was born 13 Jun 1856 in Davenport, IA. Her parents had arrived there only a short time earlier after a discouraging journey which included the loss of all their belongings. In 1857, they came to Spillville where John set up a blacksmith shop and worked as a wagonmaker. Barbara had 5 brothers and a sister: Frank, John, Joseph, Leopold, Anton and Anna (Mrs Joseph Triska). Their initial shelter was a hastily erected, trapper style log lean to. Later they built a duplex type structure, part of which still exists. The Dostal family lived in one side and a married son in the other; in between was the wagon shop.

Charles and Barbara's first home was on the site of the present Spillville post office, where Charles also had a furniture store. In connection with this business, he worked as a carpenter, a cabinet and casket maker and as a photographer. His most lasting legacy is the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of unique, ornate cast iron cruciform grave markers which he designed. Charles carved the patterns from wood, then sent them to a foundry to be cast. These monuments are found in Czech cemeteries across the nation.

When the trustees of St Wenceslaus decided to have a clock installed atop the church, it was Charles who fitted it into the steeple. When renovation of the church was undertaken before the turn of the century, Charles was called in as a consultant and did much of the work. Examples of his cabinet making skills are evident in the scrollwork in the church. With his sons helping, Andera added to the main altars, built the side altars, built a number of decorative supports for the statues, and constructed the small outdoor chapels which were used annually during the Corpus Christi processions. The altars in St John's Church in Ft. Akinson and Holy Trinity in Protivin are also credited to him.

For many years, Charles was a church trustee. He was responsible for the establishment of a branch of the Catholic Workmen (a fraternal organization) in Spillville, the first in Iowa, and was one of the 8 charter memebers. In 1898, he was one of the founders of The Western Fraternal Bohemian Union, an insurance group.

In 1901, Charles sold his home and business and with his family moved to a farm in Tremont, MO, a crossroad near Bolivar. There he built a new home and helped build a church. Later the settlement came to be known as Karlin, after Karel, his name in Czech. After 3 years, longing to be closer to their friends and relatives, the Andera family moved back to Iowa, first to Ft. Atkinson and then to a new home in Spillville.

Charles and Barbara (Dostal) Andera were the parents of 10 children: Louise, Charles, Albert, Mary, Albert, Barbara, Anna, Emma, Charles and Martha. All were born in Spillville.

Louise Andera was born 3 Dec 1875. On 26 Sep 1899 she married Joseph Fisher, born 13 Nov 1876 to John and Anna (Zoulek) Fisher. They had 5 children. Martha,born 6 Mar 1901 in Duncan, Ia, married Leonard Akre. Anna, born 1902 in Lourdes, IA, married Louis Mott. Fred (known as Schnickelfritz), born 12 Jun 1904 in Lourdes, married Margie Bunn. Henrietta, born 11 Jun 1907 in Charles City, IA, married Alan Singer. Arnold, born 15 Feb 1911 in Garnavillo, married Marj Wenzel.

Charles Joseph Andera was born 17 Mar 1878; he died 1 Apr 1878.

Albert Andera was 26 Mar 1879; he died 15 Oct 1881.

Mary Elizabeth Andera was born 22 Jun 1881. On 24 Apr 1900 she married Robert A. Klimesh, born 27 Mar 1877 to John and Anna (Mikota)Klimesh. They had 8 children: Robert Charles, born 3 Aug 1901 in Karlin, MO, married Arzella Raezak. Charles Matthew, born 21 Apr 1903 in Karlin, married Anna Pavlovec. Otilia Mary, born 19 Feb 1905 in Protivin, married Mark Walsh. Sidonia Josephine, born 18 Mar 1909 in Protivin, married Alvin Klimesh. Celestine Francis, born 6 Mar 1911 in Protivin, married Helen Polansky. Emil Anthony, born 19 Jul 1914 in Spillville, married Marcella Herold. Cyril Methodius, born 20 Jan 1917 in Spillville, married Irene Dolan. Godfrey Martin, born 8 Nov 1919, married Regina Bily.

Albert Andera was born 13 Mar 1885. ON 3 Sep 1912 he married Frances Humpal, daughter of Frank and Veronica (Kerian) Humpal. They had 13 children: Edward, John, born 24 Jun 1913, married Helen Kacer. Adella Marie, born 17 Aug 1915, married Carl Peterson. Albert Frank, born 18 Aug 1916, married Grace Svoboda. Frances Angela, born 14 Apr 1918, married Leonard Hageman. Marcella Marie, born 23 Feb 1920, married Edward Hayek. Louis Joseph, born 27 Aug 1922, married Doris Zoulek. Frank Cyril, born 29 May 1923, married Georgina Klimesh. Methodius (Matt) Paul, born 20 Aug 1925, married Darlene Samec. Cyril Peter, born 20 Aug 1925, died 11 Dec 1925. Mary Martha, born 4 Aug 1928, married James Soukup. William Stanley, born 13 Oct 1930, married Mary Ann Fencl. Robert, born 17 Jun 1933, married Janet Havel. Lawrence, born 24 Apr 1935, remained single.

Barbara Andera, born 4 Jul 1887, never married. She worked as a house maid.

Ann Andera was born 14 Aug 1889. She too remained single and worked as a house maid.

Emma Andera was born 27 Oct 1891. A nun in the Order of St. Francis, she was known as Sister Mary Sidonia.

Charles Andera was born 26 Feb 1896. On 14 Jul 1925 he married Ida Kubesh. They had one son; Vincent, born 4 Jan 1927. Vincent married Patricia Mullin.

Matha Andera was born 30 Sept 1898. A nun in the Order of St. Francis, she was known as Sister Mary Milina.

Winneshiek County, Iowa
Biographies - 1996

St. Wenceslaus Cemetery gravestone
 

Winneshiek Biographies maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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