From: LOUISE48@aol.com
Received: from LOUISE48@aol.com


for ; Sat, 6 Jun 1998 00:47:17 -0400 (EDT)

Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 00:47:17 EDT
To: cestnik@montana.com


Subject: THE Cestniks

Hello again. I have been putting together some info and I think you will find what I am sending you very useful. My mother is getting ready to write some of her stories. We found the Grandparents marriage license and are digging for other pictures. You probably will be interested to know the when I was in Frankfurt, Germany 6 years ago, I was looking in a phone book and there is a Cestnik living in Frankfurt.
Irene

Great, Great Grandfather: John Cestnik

John was married to Ana (Anna) Petelinsek. Birthplace or where she died: unknown. She did not come to America. John, lived is a shack in the Coulee and was a coal miner, until there was a gun accident, and a bullet went thru his knee, crippling him. My mother was 2 years old at the time. He was unable to work in the mines after that, so he repaired shoes for a living. John said he wanted to live to the age of 105 as he had uncles that lived to that age. He died in 1921 at the age of 69 and is buried in the Bearcreek cemetery.
Ana and John had five children:

Vincent Cestnik: Married Elizabeth Mueller in 1915. He was 36 and 15 years older than Lisa. Her home was in Villach, Austria. There was lead mining there and Lisa worked in a mill there. She was 80 Years old on April 21, 1974. She died July 4, 1974, so her birthday must have been 1894. Vincent was 4 years older than his brother John. He was born in 1879. He died January, 1936 and is buried in the Bearcreek cemetery.

John Cestnik was born Dec. 21 1883 in Trefil Austria. John lived in the town of Cilje, Slovenia. Rose Gazewood was born August 2, 1889 In Novo Mesto Slovania. (Rudofeldt in German). Cilje is about 50 mile from the town of Novo Mesto. John an Rose met in America. They were married in Livingston Montana, June 6 1908. He was 24 and she was 18. They moved to Bearcreek in 1911 and homesteaded. He worked in the coal mines there until he retired in 1949 due to ill health. John died in 1953 at the age of 70. Rose died January 1 1961. They had seven children: Mary, Anne, John,Frank, Helen (Lench), Margaret, and Pauli.

There were three sisters, who were older than Vincent and John.

Gertrude was the oldest. She was married in Germany and her first Husband died. They had two children in Germany. She then married John Zamen in Germany. He lived in the Coulee (1917) for a while. He left and went back to Germany and brought Gertie back to the U.S., lived in New Mexico and then went to Cleveland Ohio. Her children never came to America. Gertie and Zamen did not have any children.

Amelia Verveja married in Slovania. When they came to America, they changed their name to Ragar. We don't know her husband's name. They had five children and lived in Pennsylvania. The oldest girl was accidentally shot. The second daughter, Margie, married Norman Stock, when my mother,Mary was 14. The third child's name was Ernest. Fourth-Gus, and last Sylvester, (Syl) age of Mary Horn lived in Westmoreland City in Pennsylvania.

The third sister, Maria, married and never came to America. Can't remember her married name. Her first husband went crazy. There is no information about the second marriage. She lived in Germany. She never wrote unless she needed money.

Other information about the family.

The Cestnik family moved to Germany when John was 14 and Vince was 18. John worked as a surveyor. John wa 18 years old when he came to America (1901). When he first came, he went to his sister's house in Pennsylvania. His brother, Vincent followed him to America.

Well, It's getting late, talk to you later.

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