The Baby of the Family

This is Joseph Franz Kresha at age 12 in 1988.

    Joseph followed his older brothers and sisters to the United States in 1891 in the company of his parents, Theodor and Cecilia Kressa.  Joseph's first job, at age 15, was with farmers in Merrick County, Nebraska, where his sister Anna Kuhnel and Amelia Karges lived with their husbands.

Joe and Laura Reed Kresha

    Joe met Laura Reed, the daughter of an area farmer, John Reed.  Joe and Laura were married at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Silver Creek, Nebraska.  The couple moved to Cozad, NE where they worked on a farm.  Two children were born to the couple before Laura became ill and died from cancer on May 1, 1909 at the age of 25.  She is buried in the Cozad cemetery.

    The children were:

  Irene Lerinda Kresha

1. Irene Lerinda Kresha, born March 31, 1903 in Silver Creek, NE.  She married Charles 'Jack' Frye on September 25, 1921.  She died in Homedale, Idaho on November 26, 1978.  There are many Kressa descendants in the Homedale, Idaho area.

  John Kresha

2. John Kresha, born September 16, 1904.

    A couple of years later, Joseph remarried.  His new bride was Ruth Eastman, whom he married on January 1, 1911.  They lived in Cozad for a while and then moved north to Pennington, South Dakota.

Joseph and Ruth Kresha


The children born to this marriage were:

   Glen Kresha

1. Glen Kresha, in 1912


  Ruth Kresha


2.  Ruth Kresha Mullins, in 1914



    Joseph died at the age of 69 in 1945 after spending his last few years with his daughter, Irene Lerinda Frye.  He is buried in Martinez, CA.

My thanks to Wilbur Frye, Castro Valley, CA who is Joseph's grandson.  He notified me that the ID of Ruth and Irene had been switched back in the 1988 publication.  They are changed here