Anna Filipek
Anna Filipek was born January 17th, 1853 at the Filipek Family Farm at No. 16, Kolence in Bohemia. She was Anton's and Katerina's second child. On February 18, 1873 at age 20, she married Frantisek Sokolik age 40, a farmer who lived a few farms down the road at Farm No. 9.

Frantisek Sokolik
Frantisek Sokolik was born on November 29, 1832 at Farm No. 9. His father was Jan Kadlec, alias Sokolik, and his mother was Anna Palecek. It is believed Jan Kadlec assumed the Sokolik surname upon taking over the Sokolik farm. The background of how this happened can only be guessed at this point. One needs to assume that Farm No. 9 had been a Sokolik farm for many years and that Jan Kadlec bought it from previous Sokolik owners. However, this hypothesis is challenged by the possible passage of that farm from Palecek to Sokolik to Palecek as noted in The Frantisek and Mary Palecek Story.

Frantisek and Anna Sokolik
The Sokolik and Filipek Farms were very near each other and Frantisek and Anna must have known each other for years. After their marriage, Frantisek and Anna had three children. The first, Frantisek, was born December 30, 1873. A few years later Jan, known as John, and later JK, was born on February 4, 1876. Both of these births were confirmed via birth records to have been in Kolence and probably at Farm No. 9.

There was a third child, Theodore who is thought to have been born either on either January 10, 1879 in Bohemia or 1880 in Minnesota. Most evidence points toward a birth in Bohemia, probably in Kolence, but when Terry Nelson searched for the Kolence records along with those for Frantisek and Jan, Theodore's could not be found.

Leaving for Minnesota
In 1879, for unknown reasons, the Sokoliks decided to sell the farm and settle in Minnesota. Frantisek was 46 and Anna 26. They did know that Anna's brother Jan was living in Minnesota so there would be relatives to help them along. The area they would settle, Montgomery and New Prague Minnesota had a strong Bohemian presence so it is likely they had heard good news from others and perhaps already had friends there.

So on the 26 March 1879, they sold their farm to Anna's older sister Mary and her husband, Frantisek Palecek, packed their possessions and took a train to Hamburg where they boarded the German Lessing for the voyage to the United States. On 7 May 1879, the Sokoliks arrived in New York. They were listed on the Lessing Manifest as Franz, Anna, Franz, and Johann, and a 3 month old whose name is hard to read, but it appears to be Theodore.

Minnesota
The first evidence of the Sokoliks in Minnesota was found in the 1880 Census. On June 10, 1880, Frank, Anna, Frank, John and Theodore are shown living in Montgomery, Minnesota. In the same household are Frank and Kate Jana along with their 6 month-old daughter, Kate. Anna and her sister Kate are housekeepers, Frank Sokolik is a farmer and Frank Jana a laborer. Theodore Sokolik is shown as one year old.

The Sokoliks were next found in the 1885 Minnesota State Census. On May 1, 1885 Frank, Anna, Frank, John, and Theodore are living in Rush City. Theodore is listed as age 6 and born in Bohemia. The Janas were also found living nearby.

When the Sokoliks and Janas arrived in Minnesota, one of the towns they settled was Montgomery, Minnesota. Montgomery is in LeSuer County. Montgomery is the same Bohemian farming community that Katerina's brother Jan had settled in ten years earlier. The small farming village of Montgomery is about 10 miles south of New Prague and is about 60 miles south of St. Paul. By 1885, the Sokoliks and Janas (spelled Gunia in the 1885 Census) had moved to Rush City, while their brother, Jan Filipek, continued to stay in Montgomery area.

Rush City is in Chisago County and is about 50 miles north of St. Paul. What prompted the Sokolik and Jana moves north and one that was over 100 miles away is unclear. Perhaps there was a good deal on a farm, or perhaps they had other friends that were moving there. Unfortunately the decision to move had disastrous consequences for both families.

The Sokoliks early history in Minnesota is described in Theodore Sokolik's My Life as I Lived It. In his story, Theodore describes their rural life, his father's wanderings and family moves, and ultimately the loss of his mother during the summer he was seven years old. He describes being taken to St. Paul with his brother from New Prague to see his mother, but arrives too late. After his mother's death, Theodore says he went to stay with his mother's sister. Shortly thereafter, his mother's sister, Katerina Jana died and Theodore and John moved to Chicago to be with their Uncle Vaclav. Theodore states that after his mother's death, he never saw his father or brother again. What a loss for a small boy. Not only does he lose his mother but also contact with his father and older brother, and then he loses his aunt who had known him since birth.

If Theodore was seven when his mother died, then his mother, Anna must have died around the summer of 1886 or 1887. She would have been about 33 or 34, far too young to die, especially with young children. It is strange how the father disappeared completely. It is logical that Theodore and John being young needed a home and a mother, and it is likely that Frank Sokolik made arrangements with his wife's sister, Katerina, who also had young children to care for his younger boys. The Sokoliks and Janas appear to have come to America together and followed each other around Minnesota so having Katerina care for the young boys makes a lot of sense.

Theodore states in his story that the family moved around a lot as his father worked building the railroads. So it's possible his father continued to travel to where the work was and took the older son, about age 13 at the time with him. Perhaps with the early death of Katerina Jana, it is possible that Frank Sokolik could not later find the link back to where his children were after the boys went to live in Chicago with their Uncle Vaclav.

Theodore and John looked for their father and older brother for many years but were never able to find them. John was said to have paid a genealogist to search for his brother but to no avail. This all remains a mystery and there is always hope that offspring of John and Theodore's older brother are somewhere and a link will be found someday so that the other half of the story can be filled in.

Author's Note
Some additional information about the Sokoliks can also be found in My Life as I Lived It, The Frantisek and Katerina Jana Family Story, and The James and Katerina Filipek Story.