Surnames: MATOUSEK SEBESTA SKALNIK SHORT SCHMIDTKE HOLUB MATALAS VARUBA HARDY KARLOVSKY KOTTY HONZIK MEISENHEIMER VIZER SATAVA DIVOSKY KORANDA WALKER

Matousek Family

Frank Matousek the First was born in Czechoslovakia in the year of 1846, and ,as the story goes, was orphaned.  It is not know if there were any brothers and sisters.  He grew to manhood there and was married to a girl named Mary, who also was an orphan and was raised by a family named Sebesta.  To this union were born three sons: namely, Frank, who was born in Sudol, Bohemia, March 28, 1876, Vaclav, who was born Sept. 14, 1881, and Louis, who was born Oct. 3, 1884.  They also had an adopted sister who married and lived in Chicago.  Frank and Mary were saloon keepers.  Their son Frank, as a young man, served for five eyars in the cavalry of the German army under Kaiser Wilhelm.  He also learned the carpentry trade and, being the oldest, came to the United States to seek employment and earn enough money to return to Czechoslovakia to bring the rest of the family to America.  He worked a few years in Baltimore, Maryland, then in Ohio and Chicago.  The family arrived in the United States in the year 1906.

On April 25, 1908, Frank the First and Mary’s son, Frank, was married to Marie Skalnik of Chicago.  To them four children were born.  Frank the Third, their first son, was born Feb. 6, 1909, in Chicago.  They then moved to Wisconsin and were renting the house in Levis (where Louie lived until he passed away).  It was here their second son, Louis, was born Sept. 21, 1910, while Frank was building the barn and house on their newly purchased farm (which in later years was known as the Tichy farm).  Their third son, Joe, was born while they were living here in 1912, and died in infancy.  After this they made several moves, going to Illinois where they lived at Half Day, Westmont, Diamond Lake, and Chicago, where Frank the Second built many houses.  They came back to Wisconsin again and purchased land in the Washburn community, where they built all the buildings and lived in the granary until their house was finished.  Here, their daughter Lillian was born June 27, 1916.  They lived on Court Street in Neillsville for a while and later bought another farm in Shortville, one-half mile south of the Shortville Store.  The children all attended Shortville, and Frank donated an acre of land for the Levis Community Hall, which he and other built with lumber from an old schoolhouse in Humbird.  The Levis Hall became an enjoyable recreation center for both young and old, where dancing, wedding and anniversary parties and Bohemian meetings were held for tremendous crowds.  Hot sandwiches were made and sold by women volunteers.  There was nothing better than one of their hot sandwiches and a bottle of soda.

Frank the Second bought the same farm in Shortville which he had owned in 1916.  During this time his son Louis was married to Helen Short of Shortville ON Jan. 30, 1934.  To them two children were born: a daughter, Donna Marie and a son, Duane Louis, both reside in Texas at this time, and each have two daughters and one son.  Louie and Helen live in Lewisville, Texas since 1972, when Louie retired from Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee, after working there 27 years.  Before Allis Chalmers, Louie was employed at Coast to Coast Stores in Neillsville and Baudette, Minn.  With the arrival of World War II, Louie worked as a welder in the shipyards at Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

Frank Jr. was married to Lucille Schmidtke of Thorp July 30, 1934.  They farmed for a while on the home place, and then Frank purchased a milk route, which he maintained for several years.  They had four children. Frank the Fourth, Robert, Beverly and Larry, who all reside in Milwaukee, Wis. with the exception of Robert, who was killed in an automobile accident April 6, 1964.  Frank the Fourth and his wife Bernie have two daughters and a son.

Larry and his wife Dianna have two sons and live in Kansasville, Wis.  Frank and Larry are both construction engineers.  Beverly is employed at Schweister Ford.  Their father, Frank, worked for Clark County many years and was forced to retire due to heart trouble.  Frank and Lucille resided in Neillsville when he passed away suddenly Dec. 6, 1972.  Lucille then sold their home on Court Street and moved to the north side, where she purchased a new home.  She recently retired from Nefco Filter Plant.

Lillian Matousek was married June 1, 1935 to George Holub.  They had no children.  They farmed in Shortville for a time, then sold the farm and George worked on the road construction crew until they decided to go into the tavern business.  They owned one in Humbird and later one in Alma Center.  They were divorced and she later married Tony Matalas and they now reside on a farm near Merrillan, Wis.

Frank and Mary Matousek (grandpa & grandma) lived for a time with their son and his wife on the Tichy farm.  Grandma, being a midwife, helped bring many babies into the world.  Their three sons built them a little house on the corner lot next to Jim, where the old cheese factory once stood.  Grandpa was a great fisherman, and could be seen walking to and from the Dells Dam area most every day.  They lived in their little house until Grandpa passed away in his sleep at the age of 90 in 1936.  Grandma passed away 2 years later at the age of 92.  Their son Frank of Washburn passed away in the Neillsville Hospital Jan. 21, 1937 after several weeks illness.  At age 61, his widow Marie remarried in 1965 to Charles Mackeprang.  She passed away April 18, 1954 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wis. after a long illness.

Vaclav (Jim) Matousek, on arriving in the United States, also located in Chicago and was married to Eva Varuba Feb. 14, 1906.  They moved to Clark County and settle on a farm in Levis, which he operated for 63 years.  For thirty years he and his sons hauled milk, and he also served as town road foreman.  He passed away at age 87, Jan. 21, 1969, leaving his widow Eva and seven children.  Eva was born Dec. 24, 1882 and passed away in Dec. of 1972, at the age of 91 and, as I recall, was buried on or near her 92^nd birthday.  Jim and Eva celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in the Levis Community Hall which Frank the Second helped build, in Feb. of 1956, with all their children in attendance.  .  they were blessed with seven children, namely: Mary, Anna, James, Rose, Charles, Ladd and Frances.  Mary was married to Charles Hardy and they had a son and a daughter, Lucy.  The little boy drowned at an early age.  Lucy lives and works in Chicago.  Anna was married to John Karlovsky in Chicago and to them were born two daughters, Mary Ann and Rosalie.  Their father passed away while they were quite young.  They are both teachers and live with their mother in Riverside, Ill.  James never married, but farmed in levis for many years and is a great fisherman.  He and Mary live in their parents home across the road from the Levis Hall site.  Rose was married in Illinois to George Kotty and they have two sons, Robert and George.  George is married and Robert lives at home with his parents in Cicero, Ill.  Charles, who married Libby Honzik, farmed and also worked at Nelson Muffler Plant in Neillsville, until he retired.  His wife took acre of the farm in his absence.  They still reside on their farm on Highway 10, east of Neillsville.  They have a son, Charles, who is a teacher in Illinois.  Ladd Married Alverna Davis Meisenheimer in the year 1951.  He worked for a while at Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee.  He was also employed on a farm in Union Grove, Wis. and worked for Nelson Muffler Plant for many years, residing on his property known as the John Johnson place.  His wife collected antiques until her health failed and she was unable to continue.  She passed away a couple of years ago.  Surviving her was her husband, Ladd, daughter Mary Meisenheimer White and grandchildren.  Ladd remarried May 25, 1980 to Dorothy Vizer of Stanley, Wis.  Frances, the youngest daughter of Vaclav and Eva, is married and also live in Chicago.  She has no children and sells real estate.

Louis Matousek, the youngest of the three brothers, bought a farm also and resided in Levis all of his life.  He was married to the former Barbara Satava in 1911.  To them was born one son, Aug. 8, 1914, whom they named Louis, but everyone knew him as "Little Louie".  Barbara passed away in 1933 after a lingering illness and surgery and is buried in the Neillsville Cemetery.  Louis remarried in 1935 to Ruzena Divosky from Chicago.  She also had one son from her first marriage, namely Jerry Koranda.  Little Louie was called into military service in the Army in World War II.  After one of his buddies was killed, Louis had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for awhile.  He then joined the Merchant Marines.  He wrote a few times to relatives, but no one has heard from him since, and they tried in vain to locate him.  He seemed to have vanished.  Jerry Koranda and wife Rhetta Walker Koranda moved onto the Matousek farm and Louis and Ruzena, now of retirement age, moved into the house they purchased adjoining that farm.  They lived here the remainder of their lives.  Ruzena, being helplessly crippled from arthritis, spent some time in Memorial Nursing Home in Neillsville, where she passed away in March of 1973.  Louis passed away the following Sept. 4, 1973 in the Memorial Nursing Home, having spent a month there prior to his death.  He and Ruzena were both buried in the Dells Dam Cemetery.  Louis’ stepson, Jerry Koranda, and his wife still live on the old farm.

The Levis people were a jolly good group of people and, with the Good times and Hard times, the Happiness and Sorrow which was endured, it is no surprise that Levis still exists… and long may it live with all the memories.