Frank & Mary (Jerina) Zalaznik

ZALAZNIK, JERINA, HEITZ, TUJETSCH

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 3/20/2020 at 15:45:24

Frank & Mary Zalaznik were newly married when they moved to Farley in 1913.

Frank Zalaznik was born in Polhov, Gradec, Slovenia, Yugoslavia in 1888. He came to the US in 1906 and worked in a wire factory in Waukegan, Illinois. He soon moved to the Worthington area and joined his twin brother as a farm hand. Eventually Frank and Matt rented a farm for themselves.

Mary Jerina was born in 1890 in Zaplano, Slovenia. In 1912 she booked passage on a ship making the maiden voyage to America but was “bumped” at the last minute because of an overflow crowd. The ship was the Titanic, which sank in the Atlantic after hitting an iceberg; Mary came to America on the next ship. She began working as a hired girl for her cousin near Delhi and soon met a young farmhand from Worthington, Frank Zalaznik.

Mary and Frank were married in Manchester in 1913. They rented a farm west of Farley at first. They rented various places, moving to Bankston, back to Farley, to Centralia to Epworth. In 1918 the Zalaznik’s were hit hard by the flu epidemic. Neighbors came in and fed the livestock and brought food, leaving it on their doorstep. Despite the severity of the flu, the young family survived.

When Frances, the oldest Zalaznik child, started first grade at Humke School near Epworth, she could not speak a word of English. She learned at school and taught her siblings at home.

Frank had learned some English as a farmhand and continued to teach himself with dictionaries and newspapers.

Frank and Mary continued to operate their farm near Farley and raised their children-Frances Heitz, Victor, Edward, Mary Tujetsch, Ernest and John Kenneth on that farm which remains in the Zalaznik family. Their son Ernest took over the farm in 1947, and frank and Mary moved to Farley.
Retirement meant frequent visits to the farm, enjoying their 39 grandchildren and playing cards with friend.

Frank died Nov. 1969 and Mary passed away in Jan. of 1972.

The History of Farley, Welu Publishing, Copyright 1996