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The confirmation record for Johann Adam references a birthplace of "Plasicapolje,"[1] while both Johann's and his wife Margaretha Muth's Petitions for Naturalization record his birthplace as "Blasic-Bolje."[2][3] Current maps of Croatia show no such village. However, there is a reference to a geographical place name "Plaško Polje" in the Gazetteer of the Republic of Croatia,[4] which identifies its location as +45° 3' 40.503"N and +15° 23' 22.4988"E.[5] There is a modern town very close to this spot called "Plaški," and as it is a two- to three-days' walking journey from Kapetanovo Polje ("New Captain's Field"), where Johann was confirmed, it seems plausible that this may be the place he was born.
Johann first came to the US from Kapetanovo Polje, Croatia either in 1905 on the S.S. Cassel, arriving in the port of Baltimore in May of that year (according to his Petition for Naturalization),[2] or in 1906 (according to the 1920 US Census).[6] Interestingly, a search of the passenger list of the Cassel, docking in Baltimore on May 25, 1905, shows only the arrival of Johann's younger brother Heinrich.[7]
He returned to Croatia, married Margaretha in November 1911 in Kapetanovo Polje,[3]and brought his new wife to the US in 1912.[8]
They eventually settled in Catawba, WI, where he was a farmer for a few years before becoming a barber, and where they raised eight children.[6][9][10]
The family bought a building in town, in which Johann set up a saloon, pool hall and soda shop, and where out-of-towners could lodge upstairs during hunting season.[11] He received the first liquor license issued in Catawba after the repeal of Prohibition.[12]
From son Henry's autobiography, Recollections and Reflections, in which he relates how his mother packed all the family's belongings, and the family, into a horse-drawn cart and met their father walking back to the farm from town:[12]
It was one of those rare times when all 5'3" of my Mother was resolutely in charge. "You have one of two choices. You can join us or you can return to the farm." As he stood there in utter disbelief, she directed the driver to continue and the team moved on. We had moved several hundred feet when he decided to follow, silently walking beside us as we continued our journey to our new home.
Mother had secretly appropriated the barn-building stash for the acquired first and last month's payment to lease a saloon with attached residence in Catawba. |
From the 1976 pamphlet Memories of Catawba:[11]
Across the street [from Baders Store, a general store in Catawba], Jerry and Shirley Kuchera have the J. Music Company; this building was originally a livery stable. Charlie [Olsen] used to stable his livery horses there. [ . . . ] John and Margaret Adams bought this building and remodeled it and made it into a home and barber shop which he operated for many years. They raised a large family: John, Kathryn, Henry, George, Betty, Aggie and Evie. He also had the upstairs fixed into a couple of apartments which he rented out. |
In the summer of 1955, six years after the death of his wife, Johann sponsored the arrival of a refugee family from Yugoslavia: Heinrich Arndt, 39, a barber, and his wife Eva and three children.[13]
Johann died at home in 1965, at the age of 79.[14][15] He and Margaret are buried in Kennan Cemetery, Price County, Wisconsin.[16]
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Categories: Donauschwaben | Kapetanovo Polje, Hrvatska | Wisconsin | Kennan Cemetery, Kennan, Wisconsin