Kressa's set out for the United States

    Four of Theodor and Cecila Kressa's children, Amelia, Aloisa, Anna, Adolf, and later, the youngest, Joseph Kresha took the train ride from then Austria to Hamburg, Germany.  It was followed by an ocean voyage to New York. 

    Amelia, Aloisa, Anna, and Adolf arrived in New York City on September 8, 1888.  The four had to go through a physical exam and two-week quarantine at Bedloe’s Island, now known as Liberty Island, the site of the Statue of Liberty. Not much is known of Aloisia Kressa, but it is believed she returned to Moravia.

    Amelia and her young son, Louis, got off the train in Schuyler to rejoin her husband, Adolf Kuhnel, who apparently came earlier to prepare a home.

  Adolf Kressa at age 15, before leaving home.

    Adolf and Anna continued to nearby Columbus, where big brother Theodore, Jr. had jobs waiting for them.

Anna married Martin Karges, a farmer whose first wife died in 1888.  Martin, 27 years her senior, lived 37 more years.  Anna died in Shelby, NE in 1957.

Adolf started working for John Schram in Platte County, but soon went to Polk County to work for another farmer, John Scholze, near the one-room school house known as School District #39, Valley Precinct. After work and chores, he would walk to the school to learn to read and write in English as well as take citizenship lessons.

Adolf and Sophie

    Adolf met his future wife at the school, and at age 20, he married Sophie Kropatsch, 19, at the nearby St. Andrew's Catholic Church on January 14, 1894. Sophie's parents, John and Anna (Kral) Kropatsch were also originally from Austria (Moravia?), and also spoke German.

    Adolf and Sophie's first child, Frank, was born nearly a year later on April 26, 1895. Frank was sickly and had an apparent heart condition and died 10 days later on May 6th, 1895. The young couple was heart-broken.  Adolf told his daughter, Lillian, later, "When Frank died, I went out to the middle of the yard, knelt down, and looked up into the heavens and asked God why He gave us such a beautiful son, only to take him away in such a short time.  Right then, I promised God I'd have as many babies as He saw fit to send us."  There were 20 more children to come.

    This was a difficult time for farming, with severe droughts in 1894 and again in 1897.  At this time, the young couple had to move in with Sophie's brother Frank Kropatsch when they bought 160 acres of land and had a house built on it. (NW Quarter of Section 11, Township 15, Range 2, Polk County, NE) Sophia Cecilia Kresha was born to them on June 13, 1897.

    On baby Sophie Cecilia's birthday, Adolf went across the road to tell his brother-in-law Oswald Kropatsch of the good news, saying "We have a baby girl and we named her Sophia Cecilia". Oswald smiled, saying "We had a baby girl, too. and we named her Eva." The two girls always called themselves the "twin cousins."

Adolf and Cecilia Kresha had ten children:

1. Frank Kresha, born April 26, 1895; died May 6, 1895, buried in Polk County, Nebraska

2. Sophia Cecilia Kresha, born June 13, 1897; died 2/24/1992

3. Leo Kresha, born April 11, 1900; died, August, 1984, St. Andrews, Polk Co. NE

4. Cecilia Kresha, born March 16, 1902;

5. John Kresha, born May 11, 1904; died October 1983, Columbus, NE

6. Adolph Kresha, born September 19, 1906;

7. Ann Kresha, born July 12, 1908;

8. George Kresha, born January 12, 1911;

9. Rose Kresha, born September 21, 1912; died 4/25/1992

10. Gerhart "Mike" Kresha, born May 27, 1914; died 1/4/1991, California

    In the summer of 1916, Adolf's wife Cecilia died from "blood poisoning."  She was buried in the new St. Andrew's Catholic Church cemetery.  Following her mother's death, the then 19-year-old Sophia helped her father raise the children until he remarried three years later.

The Second Family

    While visiting his sister, Anna Karges, at her home near Silver Creek, Adolf, 44, met Eva Frances Karges, 26, and began courting her.

    Eva was born December 12, 1892 to Martin Karges and Amelia Scholze on a farm west of Duncan, NE.  Eva's mother died of breast cancer in 1896, so her grandmother Scholze took her in.  Eva often like to 'run away' from home to the neighbors, where there were some playmates.  Eva went to school at St. Stanislaus Catholic School in Duncan, learning Polish, and wishing to become a nun someday.

    Eva's father, Martin Karges, married again, this time to Cecila Torczon, a widow with a son, Frank.  Seven children came to this second marriage.  Eva was in the fourth grade, when Martin told her she was needed at home and had to drop out of school.

    As a teenager, Eva lost one eye, reportedly after an unnamed child's errant throw of a fork at the dinner table.  Eva could not pass the physical to become a nun, and took a job in Duncan as a telephone switchboard operator.

Adolf and Eva

    Eva and Adolf Kresha were married in St. Stanislaus Church in Duncan on June 24, 1919. Their wedding night was back in Polk County at his home with his 9 children.

Adolf and Eva Kresha had 11 children:

1. Amelia Cecila Kresha, born July 9, 1920;

2, Martin Oswald Kresha, born April 9, 1922; died 6/25/2001, Columbus, NE

3. Lillian Veronica Kresha, born April 12, 1923;

4. Walter Kresha, born April 1, 1925; died summer 1927, buried St. Andrews, Polk County

5. Arthur Joseph Kresha, born April 1, 1925; died 8/9/95 California

6. Charles Raphael Kresha, born November 4, 1926;

7. Wilfred "Bill" Francis Kresha, born March 27, 1928;

8. Patricia Louise Kresha, born August 31, 1929;

9. Frances Mary Kresha, born September 24, 1930;

10.  Adrian Frederick Kresha, born October 1, 1921; died Feb. 1977 California

11. Rita Agnes Kresha, born March 7, 1934;

December 12, 1992.

Eva Kresha at age 90.