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Ancestors of Bernard Yahna

Ancestors of Kathryn Grun

Descendants of Yahna-Grun

History of Bohemia and Wisconsin

Links to Czech Republic, Bohemia, and Wisconsin

 

Bernard Yahna was born in Bohemia, now Czech Republic, in 1858.  He immigrated as a boy with his family to Watertown, Wisconsin in 1867.  When in his early 20's he decided to go west, coming to Fisher's Landing (Fisher, Minnesota) where he worked on a farm one Summer and a brewery that Winter.  In the Spring he followed the railroad west to Arvilla, in Dakota Territory, about 1880.  At first he worked as a hired man on the large Hersey farm near Arvilla, "taking care of horses," according to James B. McCabe.  Then he claimed a homestead in Logan Township, "west of school almost 3 miles" (3 miles west of Fergus, which is now Logan Center) in 1882 or so.  He "batched" there in a sod hut until Spring of 1889, when his sister Annie came out to clean house for him.  After Annie's marriage (to Thomas Mooney) in 1891, Barney made a trip back to Watertown to marry Kathryn Grun in 1892.  They lived the rest of their lives in North Dakota, turning the homestead into a prosperous farm and raising a family.     

Married March 1, 1892, Watertown WI.

Bernard's parents, Ignatz and Theresia Jahna about 1895.

Bernard's sisters: Mary, Theresa, Ida, Millie, Tillie, and Anna, about 1899.