Biography of JOSEPH MALEK

Bohemia has furnished a very large quota to the substantial citizenship of Howard county.  Among those born in that land and now living in Paris township is JOSEPH MALEK ,  who makes his home in Schley,  while owning a tract of land on section 13.  He was born in Bohemia,  Oct 17, 1841, and there spent the first twelve years of his life,  coming to the United States in 1853 in company of his parents,  Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Malek.  The father settling in Cleveland,  Ohio, worked in a stone quarry there for a brief period,  after which he left that city and removed to Winneshiek county, Iowa,  where he purchased land and began farming.  Year after year he carefully tilled the soil and continued the work of improving his farm property,  on which he resided to the time of his death in 1870,  after which the farm was divided among his sons, while John was to take care of the mother.  He afterward turned over the home farm to his brother Michael Malek,  who later sold the property.

His wife,  Mrs. Sophronia Malek,  was born in Bohemia,  where her parents were farming people. Mr. Malek has served as school director for seven years and in politics  has always been a democrat since age conferred upon him the right of franchise.  He belongs to the Catholic Church of Protivin and is widely and favorably known throughout Howard County.  At present he is living retired,  making his home in Schley, Iowa.   Throughout a long period he was an active factor in the agricultural development of the community and succeeded in bringing his fields under a high state of cultivation.  He ever carried his work diligently forward and he never had occasion to regret the determination of the family to come to the new world,  for he here found business opportunities which he had sought and the their utilization made for himself a place among the men of affluence in his community.

 

 

History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties,
By Robert Herd Fairbairn (Published 1919 - Volume II)
S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois
Transcribed by Leonard Granger