JOHN PELZL & ROSALIA CHEPA FAMILY

History Sent by Margaret Ellen Tisdel Burnstad

John Pelzl was born in house number 5 at Alt, Moletein, Austria, to parents Anna (Sonntag) and Joseph Pelzl on September 6, 1857.

At the age of 19 years John came to America with his parents, two brothers Aloysius and Frank and three sisters, Annie, Josepha and Francisca. They landed in the Port of New York in October of 1876. They left Europe during the reign of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria.

Traveling westward, probably by rail, they homesteaded on a farm west of Prairie Junction, Minnesota, later renamed Miloma.

Rosalia Chepa was born in Austria or Hungary, June 16, 1863 to parents Anna (Wolf) and Frank Chepa. At the age of 12 she came with her parents to America where they homesteaded near Fulda, Minnesota.

John Pelzl and Rosalia Chepa were married in 1881 in the Parish House of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Heron Lake, Minnesota. They farmed near Heron Lake until 1905 when they moved their family to a farmstead northeast of Barney in Antelope Township (Dale and Mary Erbes now live there).

In 1904 John and Rosalia purchased a 160 acre farm northeast of Barney in Antelope Township (Township 133N, Range 50W, Section 4 SE Qtr.

The three oldest of their children, William, Mathilda and Henry came ahead of the family to plant the crops and ready the farm for the family.

In 1905, by immigrant train leaving from Maloma, Minnesota, John and Rosalia loaded a box car with their furniture and personal possessions in one half and their livestock in the other. The parents and children traveled in a passenger car. They traveled to Wahpeton, North Dakota or Breckenridge, Minnesota where they transferred to a train traveling to Barney.

They farmed their land with 18 horses. In 1908 the family built an addition to the house and an additional barn. Besides the farm house, the site had a small barn, hen house and hog house when they first moved there. The couple farmed the land until about 1920. They moved to the village of Barney when their daughter Martha and her husband Frank Rink took over the farm. John also ran a machinery business in Barney for a few years.

Rosalia served as a midwife for the entire community. According to family members, she would leave at all hours of the day or night to go to a family’s house. Some of the families she delivered babies for were: Busch’s, Grover Thompson’s, Langseth’s, Haberman’s, Erbes’, Rehmet’s and Hager’s.

John and Rosalia were members of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Mooreton. Rosalia was a Christian Mothers member.

John and Rosalia raised 11 children, 3 died in infancy. William Frederick, born May 16, 1883, Mathilda, born February 11, 1886, Henry, born July 14, 1889, Carl, born February 8, 1890, Frank John, born June 13, 1893, Martha Amelia, born February 22, 1895, Mary Katherine, born February 23, 1897, Metta Frances, born January 25, 1899, Regina, born March 11, 1901, Herman, born August 20, 1903, and Raymond, born June 6, 1906. All were born on the farm near Heron Lake, Minnesota except Raymond who was born on the farm near Barney.

Rosalia and John both died in their home at Barney. John died of a lung aneurism on September 5, 1921 and Rosalia died from complications of a stroke on March 30, 1930. They are both buried at the St. Anthony’s Catholic Cemetery west of Mooreton, North Dakota.