In 1892, Frantisek “Frank” Placek, Sr. decided to bring his wife and children, including his infant son Frank, Jr. from the small village of Jevisovice in the south of Bohemia to the United States. Family legend has it that Frank, Sr. and family were headed west toward Nebraska when they discovered in Milwaukee that they had lost the address of the location they were headed to. Befriended by local Czech immigrants, the family stayed in Milwaukee. To this day it is unknown whether they were meeting friends or family in Nebraska. My research has so far been unable to discover any previous family immigration to Nebraska.

Frank Placek, Sr. – Age 90

Frank, Sr. is said to have never really learned English, but was quite capable of making himself understood in Czech! He would smoke little cigars everyday, letting them burn all the way down to his fingers, where apparently he had lost feeling.