Bio: Snedic, John & Family

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Snedic, Tomsic, Perovsek, Kokaly, Petkovsek, Cesnik, Djubenski

----Source: Family Scrapbook

Looking back we shall try to remember some of the ex¬periences lived by our parents and the stories that were told to us as we were growing up.

Our father, John Snedic Senior, was born in Kranj, Jugoslavia into a family of seven children. As a very young boy most of his time was spent as a "Pastircek" (shepherd). As he grew older he worked in a gristmill, but always dreamed of how someday he would go to America. He worked in the mill until the age of 23 when he was inducted into the Austrian army. (At that time Slovenia was under Austrian rule) He served for three years. That was his gateway to America as he was able to save enough money for a ticket to America.

In August 1906, he left the port of Hamburg, Germans- Two weeks were spent on the water. When he landed in America, he set out for Rockdale, Illinois. In less than one week he found work in a wire mill. While in Rockdale he also was a coal distributor. The following year he had enough money put aside to send for our mother, Mary Krnicar, whom he had known before he left Europe.

Mother was born in Trzic, Jugoslavia into a family of six children. In our father's family, one brother and one sister came to America and in our mother's family two sisters came to this country.

Our parents were married on September 30, 1907 in Rockdale, Illinois. Two sons were born there, John and Paul. In 1914 they bought a farm in Willard and moved there. Dad purchased the farm from Joe Tomsic. It already had a log house and a log barn. Mr. Tomsic came to Willard from Joliet, Illinois and went back there after selling the farm.

We had a corner forty and our neighbors were the Perovseks, Kokalys, Petkovseks and Cesniks. Our parents had known the Cesniks in Joliet, as Rockdale borders Joliet. It was on this farm that four more children, Mary, Ann, Josephine and Angeline were born.

Life was hard, as it was for all pioneers. Money and food were scarce. The first year or so was not so bad, dad would tell us, but after his city savings and investments were gone, it became a bit rough. They had to start living from the land. The land was full of stumps and stones. Everything had to be grubbed by hand or with horses. Later on when they had a little more money they dynamited some of the stumps. Dads had some Indians remove brush, clear and burn some acres for pasture. He paid about $7.00 per acre for this.

For some years dad had a team of heavy white horses for deliveries. He already had a team which was a need in those days. At one time, there was a pickle factory in Willard and the farmers would plant a patch and sell the pickles. Our parents had such a patch. Mother would also pick black berries with the neighbor ladies and sell those. Dad would buy potatoes from whoever had more than they could use and ship them by railway car to Joliet where they were sold. Thus with a few cows and making cord-wood, the folks could see lights of improvement.

The sewing machine kept mother busy with making dresses for herself and the girls, shirts for dad and the boys. Gloves and caps were knitted, so really all we need¬ed were rubber shoes with leather tops and sheep-skin coats. The coats were too big the first year, fit well the se¬cond year, maybe even the third or fourth or were passed on down to the next child. Yes, at school we all wore overalls and hand-made shirts and the girls were in gingham or denim dresses.

Life had many simple joys in those days. There were large families and so no one lacked for a playmate. We invented our own games. Some were passed on from other generations. There were acres and acres of wild land to roam through so in spite of our poverty we had our share of work and pleasure. Some of the games we would play at school or in the neighborhood were: stealing eggs or duck on the rock. For these games we used fist-sized rocks or stones. Stones seemed to be plentiful then.

Sunday afternoons were spent playing baseball in some pasture or going swimming in the Eau Claire river. At harvest time the Sunday afternoons were spent roasting corn, picking wild hazel nuts and so on. The boys used to pick dry corn silk, roll it in newspaper and smoke until they got dizzy.

Vandalism was in a very light manner. During Halloween some outdoor toilets got tipped over, but that was about all. We knew little about policemen but we sure understood our parent’s commands.

In 1926 we bought our first Ford touring car but we could only use it in the summer, as in winter the roads were not plowed. In Spring the mud holes were so bad, they built wooden troughs to travel on. In 1939 we bought our first John Deere tractor. Things seemed a little easier by then.

In the wintertime we would be snowbound for months at a time. There was only one telephone in the neighborhood, which was used by all. If a doctor was needed he made a house-visit with horse and buggy.

Mom and dad are gone now and so is one brother. The rest of us with our families get together and reminisce about the old times and hope to pass on some of the life as it was lived by our parents and us.

Submitted by: John A. Snedic and Mary (Snedic) Djubenski