Bio: Perovsek, Frank & Mary

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Perovsek, Blatnik, Trunkel

----Source: Family Scrapbook

Born in Ponova Vas Sentjury Parish in 1881, near Grosuplje near Ljublana Frank came to America in 1898. His wife Mary, maiden name Blatnick, born in Malih Lasc in Parish of Zuzemberk in Dolenjske, came to America in 1902. They were married in 1905 at St. Georges Catholic church in South Chicago, Illinois.

Born to them were four daughters and one son. Rose, Racine, Wisconsin; Mary, deceased; Mollie, Tempe, Arizona and Josephine farms the home farm at Willard. Son Frank is an electrician in Greenwood.

Mr. Perovsek worked in South Chicago for nine years. In September of 1908 he purchased land and came to Willard. He helped to organize and build the Willard Coop Dairy about 1914, as well as North Hendren Co-op Dairy in 1923, Holy Family Catholic Church and North Willard School. He was representative of various Slovenian newspapers.

They purchased 40 acres of woodland at around fif. teen dollars per acre and immediately began to clear !he brush and stumps. They built a one-room log cabin with the railroad ties from the tracks on their land as the train had discontinued at that time. Also they made a small log barn which housed the first cow they purchased. They sold milk to local neighbors who had arrived the following years. They were able to buy a milk separator with a hand crank. Some butter was sold locally, but at times Mr. Perovsek would strap to his back a half-full can of cream and carry it two miles to the Willard depot to ship it to Greenwood where there was a butter factory. About two years later the Willard Co-operative Dairy was established. The pioneers worked with teams of horses and by hand to erect buildings.

The maple stumps rotted slowly and the first several years the grass had to be cut between the stumps with a hand scythe so they procured feed for the cows for the winter.

Cucumbers were planted between the stumps and nourished with the virgin soil, thrived and grew long vines which climbed over the stumps and yielded abundantly. They were picked by the willing hands of the pioneers and hauled to the railroad station where they were weighed and shipped by train to Libby, McNeill and Libby, Chicago. They brought five cents per pound in 1913.

These small farms in Willard belonged to the Town of Eaton until 1912, when the Town of Hendren originated.

The property tax on 40 acres with valuation of six- hundred dollars for 1910 was eight dollars and fifty-seven cents.

After having their endurance tested and their patience honed by lean years in the wilderness the Willard farmers were faced with another challenge — the drought of 1934.

Already in June the pastures had browned, the bare ground showed through in frequent spots on the hay fields, the shriveling corn stood ankle high and here and there could be heard the plaintive moo of hungry cattle. Many farmers sprinkled oats by hand early in the Spring on the bare spots so that oats hay was about the only cattle feed produced that year.

In the low-lying lands marsh grass grew. Some of this land was bought by the farmers for back tax and shared for a small sum with neighbors. All the cutting, gathering and loading was done by hand in the hundred degree heat. Early those mornings of July and August the farmers equipped with these hand tools, a few sandwiches and several jugs of water, drove their teams and wagons into the rough marsh land. Several pairs of strong hands could make a load by evening when tired, but grateful they returned to their barns.  However the marsh grass and oats hay was undesirable feed for work horses and without timothy hay they became weak.

The farmers who were fortunate enough to have low spots and valleys in their hay fields were able to get some timothy hay which they compassionately but sparingly shared with neighbors for horse feed.

Cattle were driven to woods where they would eat all the leaves they could reach, then a leafy large tree would be cut to be used for wood the following winter. At the sound of the tree crashing to the ground the livestock came running and in a short time stripped bare the limbs of leaves.

The following years were better for farmers and in the forties the milk prices climbed so the hard-working farmers who persevered became prosperous, bought more land and raised more cattle. Today some of these farms with their personal property and inflation considered are worth a million dollars.

Submitted By Josephine Trunkel