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 The Blaskas - 100 Years of a farming family On August 28, 1987, Greg and Laura Blaska and family hosted the Centennial observance of the founding of the Blaska farm in rural Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, by John Peregrine and Anna Fiedler Blaska. These videos capture that event. John P.’s parents, Johan and Barbara Skalitzky Blaska, emigrated from a tiny village in German-speaking Bohemia to the United States in December 1852, with three daughters, one of whom died on the way or shortly thereafter. They bought 80 acres on the “Island” of Waterloo Township, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, in February 1854. John P. was born there in 1858. By 1860, they had settled between Amherst and Amherst Junction in Portage County. Family legend has it that the Immigrant was killed in a blacksmith shop accident in 1858, leaving 10-year-old John P. as the man of the family. By 1880, he is back in Waterloo Township. Four years later, he married Anna Fieldler at St. Wenceslaus, the “Island Church,” that was constructed in 1863. Her father built the pews. In 1887, they purchased the farm in the Town of Sun Prairie and brought 10 Blaskas into the world. The four videos showcase Aunt Burdette Blaska’s extensive genealogical research, which can be viewed in more detail on the Blaska family website: www.family.blaska.com/. There are interviews with Greg Blaska, son John, Aunt Dolly, Uncle Jerome, and snippets of Uncle Cy, Aunt Evelyn Blaska Owens, and second cousins Fran & Lauvonne Blaska, Jerry Fisher, Larry Libert, and the Blaschkas. Father Val Schuster, a cousin of Grandma Rose Schuster Blaska, celebrates a Catholic Mass on the farm. The event concluded with an old-fashioned barn dance. Each video is about 17 minutes. To view the videos, simply click on the links below. A video player, such as Windows Media Player or Apple QuickTime, is required to view the videos. These files are fairly large at between 47 and 81 MB each, so there may be some download time before the video starts. If you are unable to view the videos directly in your browser, you should first download them to your local computer. To do this, Right Click on the links below and then select, "Save link as..." Follow the prompts to save each file to your computer hard drive. Once you have successfully downloaded the files, you can then play them with any computer video program that can play an MP4 file. Blaska Farm Centennial
This site was last updated 07/31/13 |