Anthony Kohanek was born 30 May 1852 in Oppeln, Germany and immigrated to America in May 1879. At different times of his life he referred to his birthplace as ‘Prussia’ and ‘Poland’. His two brothers, Frank and Edward, immigrated to America within the next two years, while his sister Maria Kohanek Sepurek remained in Poland with her husband and children; at least three of Maria’s children immigrated to America between 1892 and 1895.

Anthony immigrated in 1879 from Germany through the ‘Port of New York,’. He may have come through Castle Clinton, the port used from 1855 to 1889 before Ellis Island became the official immigration center. Anthony became a farmer, and he and Rosalie Buhl were given a license to marry by the District Court in Buffalo, MN. This license was signed and dated “this 24 day of April 1882”, but no marriage license signed by clergy exists in the Wright County archives. Anthony was naturalized in 1888.

Their first child was born in May 1883 in Waverly, MN. Two years later we find them in the 1885 Census in Dakota Territory (later to become Steele County, ND) with their second son Theodore born. Two years after that, in 1887, they were living back in Minnesota, and less than 10 years after immigrating to the United States, they now owned a farm two miles south of Waverly. Here they settled on a homestead of 80 acres worth $2000–his was land only; no buildings.

By 1894 the family owned two plots of 40 acres each–one plot had a structure and was valued at $443 for the land and $190 for the structure. The other 40-acre parcel, which joined the first piece at the tip of one corner as one black checkerboard square touches one red checkerboard square, was non-structured land valued at $289. The family was counted in the Census of 1900, but it seems the entire family was missed in the census of 1910, although there is no indication they lived anywhere else but on the Waverly farm. Since the Census of 1890 was destroyed, there is no telling where they lived, but chances are it was still Waverly. According to plat (land) maps, Anthony and Rose owned land until 1915, the year Anthony died, and Rose owned land until 1931 under her own name, even though Rose had moved to Minneapolis in 1917 with her children.

On June 18, 1915, at the age of 63, Anthony died of lockjaw in Waverly, MN and was buried three days later at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Waverly.

(Note: The only other Kohanek to be found in the 1885 census was Anthony’s youngest brother Frank, a ‘boarder’ in Cass County, Dakota Territory, an employed laborer for the Great Northern Railroad.)

TIMELINE:
1853 Born
1879 Immigrated
1882 Married Rosalie Buel
1883 William James born (Waverly, Wright County, MN)
1885 Thomas Edward born in Dakota Territory (ND) (per 1885 Census)
1885 CENSUS – Steele County,Dakota Territory (ND)
1887 (?) Moved to farmland two miles south of Waverly, 80 acres, $2000, no buildings [Leslie Frank Kohanek]. Home eventually sold to a family named Borrell, whom Auralea used to visit with her family.
1887 Marie Rose, Waverly, MN
1888 Naturalized
1889 Anna Helen born (Waverly, MN)
1891 John (Jack) George born (Waverly, MN)
1894 Listed on Plat Map – Woodland Township, Wright County, 80 acres.
1894 Joseph Theadore born (Waverly, MN)
1896 Paul (Bob) Anthony born (Waverly, MN)
1897 Citizenship
1898 Elizabeth born (Waverly, MN)
1900 Michael Leo born (Waverly, MN)
1900 CENSUS – MN, Wright County, Woodland Township
1901 Listed on Plat Map – Woodland Township, Wright County, same 40 acres
1903 Edward Joseph born (Waverly, MN)
1905 Helen Florence born (Waverly, MN)
1905 Sponsor at nephew Charles Henry Kohanek’s baptism
1909 Death of son Michael Leo
1910 CENSUS – MN, Wright County, Marysville Township
1915 Listed on Plat Map – Woodland Township, Wright County, different property 42.16 acres, on Carrigan Lake, acreage previously owned by Francis Buhl (1901) and J.F. Buhl (1894).
1915 Death from lockjaw (a.k.a. tetanus)
1919 Wife Rose moved to Minneapolis (per Rose’s obituary)
1931 Plat Map – Woodland Township, Wright County, same 42.16 acreage, now in the name of Rose ‘Hokanck’.

(updated 10-9-2009)