Mary Filipek was born August 30th, 1850 at the Filipek Family Farm. She was Anton and Katerina's first child. On June 6, 1871 at age 20 she married Frantisek Palecek. Frantisek was born August 22, 1848 and was 22 years old at the time of their marriage.

Frantisek and Mary had at 11 children and five immigrated to the United States. Their children were Frantisek (1868), Jan (1869), Vojtech (1871), Vaclav (1873), Josef (1875), Marie (1877), Tomas (1878), Maria (1880), Anna (1880), Rudolf (1881), and Rosalie (1883). Jan, Vojtech, Josef, Tomas, and Rudolf came to the United States.

The first three children (Frantisek, Jan, and Vojtech) were born before their marriage in 1871, but were then legitimized. After the marriage the Palecek Family appears to have moved to Ponedrazka No. 2 in the Parish of Bosilec where Vaclav, Joseph, and Maria were born. Then on March 26, 1879, Frantisek and Mary Palecek purchased the Frantisek and Anna Sokolik Farm No. 9 in Kolence. Mary and Anna were sisters and the Sokoliks were leaving for Minnesota and the Farm was just down the road from No. 16 where Mary was born and her parents still lived.

Mary's husband Frantisek died at age 35 on April 10, 1884. Mary must have stayed on the farm and later her son named Frantisek took over the Farm. Mary died on either September 16 or 26, 1899 at age 49 of typhus, which is an infectious disease, generally caused by fleas or mites.


Other Palecek Connections
Besides the marriage of Frantisek Palecek to Mary Filipek, there are a number of other Palecek connections of interest that should be mentioned.

For example, Frantisek Sokolik's mother was Anna Palecek. It is unknown how she relates if at all to Frantisek Palecek. However a useful lead may be to examine the passage of Farm No. 9. This farm passed from Frantisek Sokolik's parents of whom his mother was Anna Palecek to son Frantisek Sokolik and then to brother-in-law Frantisek Palecek. Could the old Sokolik Farm have originally been the Palecek Farm before the Sokoliks before it reverted to them in 1879?

Other connections with the Palecek families are that Frantisek and Mary Palecek's son John married Mary R. Filipek, a daughter of Jan and Franceska Filipek in Minnesota. In addition, in the 1885 Minnesota Census a Frantisek Palecek age 42 and an Anna Palecek age 13 were living with the Janas in Rush City, Minnesota.

Thus there appear to be a number of close cousin marriages and friendships among the Filipeks, Paleceks, Sokoliks over the years. Perhaps someday, others will unravel the ownership lineage of the Sokolik farm and the relation among all these people to each other and to Farm No. 9.