Final Picture of the Philipseks

Mary Agnes Charles Eva

John Caroline Anna

Freda: “Dad played for a lot of weddings all around the area, so he was gone a lot. In the
old country (Poland), weddings lasted for seven days. Here in Holdingford they might last three
days, and the bride had a dress for each day. Pete Philipsek strummed the guitar while my dad
(Charles) fiddled. Sometimes my sister, Lucy, would play the guitar. So many times a team of
horses would come down the driveway and someone would ask, ‘Charley, can you help us out
and play for our wedding?’ Dad would always say yes.”

1905 31 June Minnesota Territorial Census in Stearns County in Holding records:

Charles 29 b. Germany Farmer
Francis 27 b. Minn
Lucy 6 b. MN
Anton 3 b. MN
Julia (Freda) 3/12 b. MN
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Charles and others threshing grain in Holdingford

Charles (pitchfork in hand) is in the center of the picture on the hay wagon
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Logging in Holdingford c. 1908

Charles Philipsek saw this tornado coming back from St. Cloud, MN on May 1909

Freda: “I remember when my brother Louie was born (1907). When he was two, I was
around four or five years old. Up until that time I had been the baby of the family. My mother
was in bed with Louie, who was sick. She asked me for a glass of water. I got it and shoved it at
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her, because I was jealous of Louie. He was in my place. Now he was getting all the attention.
My mother said nothing, but I know she understood how heartbroken I was.”

Freda: “I also remember when I went to catechism one Saturday. Now

this was about 1912. Father Peter Brenny was quizzing us in Polish
about our lessons. Father asked a student in Polish, ‘How many gods are
there?’ The word for God in Polish is ‘Bog’, (long O), the plural (gods) in
his sentence would be ‘Boggy’. The student thought for a long time and
then he said, ‘Well, Vos has a buggy, and Porupski has a buggy…’
Everyone started laughing, even Father Brenny. The student, I forgot his
name, thought Father asked him how many people had ‘buggies’
(English) not how many Boggy (gods) there were.”

Freda: “We were on that farm until about 1912. I was in the first or
second grade when Dad sold it to Theador Wolney. The school was east
of the farm about a half a mile and we had to walk it every day.”
Chester Serafin said Stanley Brenny told him that when Charles
went to play pool, everyone went to watch. He was the best player in
town. Chester also played pool with Charles when Charles was older.
Even when Charles was 75 years old, he was a good pool player.
Freda Philipsek First
Communion age 7, 1912

Freda: “In 1913, my dad bought a general merchandise store in St. Wendel. We sold
clothes, shoes, harnesses, and groceries. There was also a saloon, a dance hall, and an ice

Map of Saint Wendel in 1912 and the store’s possible location outlined in red

house above the store. We lived in a house across the street. My dad would go to the house to
get something or to eat, and he would say to me, ‘Call me if someone comes in’. I was eight
years old and thought I was really helping. The house was close enough for him to hear me call
if a customer would come in. Things were going well for my dad. It was the first time we had
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money. Every other day, my dad would take butter and cream to St. Cloud, and return with
things like flour, sugar, and yeast.”

Freda: “My best friend in St. Wendel was Agnes Opatz. (Note from LDW: Check the 1912
Map. Agnes was probably the daughter of Stephen Opatz, who lived across the street from the store.) We were
both eight years old. We used to play in the store. We would snoop around, take candy, wear the
old-time glasses, talk in Polish, and giggle. One time she came to the store and asked for a pair of
stockings. So I gave her what she wanted, plus a bag of candy. She didn’t give me any money.
When I told Pa, he just smiled and patted me on my head.”

From the History of Stearns County 1913: “The store in St. Wendel was burned to the
ground July 2. The building was owned by the estate of the late P. J. Callahan, and the stock in
the store by Charles Philipsek, being valued at $4000, with insurance of $2000. A saloon in one
part of the building was also burned (Wm Mitchell).

STORE BURNED ST WENDEL HAS GOOD Fire at St. Wendall

AT ST. WENDEL SIZED FIRE
------ -------
CALLAHAN BUILDING Store and Saloon Burned Last
DESTROYED BY FIRE AT EARLY Night – No Fire Department
HOUR THIS MORNING or Equipment to Fight Fire.
------- ------
TOTAL LOSS OF BUILDINGS
AND STOCK WORTH ABOUT
$5000
------
A telephone message from the Times
correspondent at St. Wendel told of
the destruction by fire of the store at
that place at an early hour this
morning. It was known as the
Callahan store and was occupied by
Thomas Phillipsek, who did a
general merchandise business. The
fire broke out between two and three
o’clock and had gathered much
headway before it was discovered.
The building and adjoining
structures including an ice house
were burned to the ground.
The building was valued at $3000
and the stock of goods at
about$1500. The loss on both the
building and the stock of goods is
partially covered by insurance. The
origin of the fire is not known.
St. Cloud Daily Times July 2, 1913
Page 1
------
The Callahan building at St. Wendal
occupied by Chas. Philipsek as a
store and saloon, was burned to the
ground on the morning of July 2nd.
The building and stock was a total
The store at St. Wendel burned to the loss.
ground last night and a loss of over
The origins of the fire is unknown
$4000 was sustained. The fire began but there are some signs that it was
from some unknown reason and as
set, either for spite or for deviltry.
there was no fire department there The insurance will not nearly cover
the only thing that could be done
the loss.
was to prevent the fires from Mr. Philipsek will continue the
spreading to other buildings.
saloon at least until the license
The store was owned by Charles expires, but has not decided what to
Philipsek who had about $4000
do about the store.
worth of stock on hand. It was
covered by an insurance of $2000.
The building was owned by the
estate of the last P.J. Callahan and
will be almost a total loss. A saloon
that was run in one part of the
building was also burned down, as
well as an ice house nearby.
It was with great difficulty that the
fire was kept from spreading but
neighbors helped to quench the
flames with pails of water and what
other utensils they could get hold of.
St. Cloud Journal Press July 2, 1913 Holdingford Advertizer, July 4, 1913. Page 4
Page 5

Note for LDW: The Times got the first name wrong!
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Freda: “Then the store burned down. The fire started when it was nighttime, but close to
morning. I was sleeping and Mom woke me up. They took us out of the house. I could see the
fire. I went to sit on the porch steps and a little while later I got up and vomited over the railing.
I was so scared. I could hear the horses screaming. They can get real stupid during a fire.
Sometimes they are so scared, they won’t save themselves, and they get burned up. But they got
those horses out. The hay in the upper level was on fire now. It was a two-story building. We
watched the ice blocks melt from the heat and it made strange shapes like an hourglass; it was
like sculptured by the heat. They took us to Rooney’s, and they took all the furniture out of the
house just in case it might also catch fire, but it didn’t. The store, barn, and icehouse burned to
the ground. There was no fire department. We lost everything. There was no insurance. My
dad thought that maybe the mice started a fire. They were known to get into boxes of wood
matches and nibble on the tip, which would flare up and then start to burn. We were so poor!
Dad and Mom spent the rest of their lifetime trying to catch up.”

Lita Casalino and Melissa Serafin remember what Anton told them: “Tony saw a pair of
boots in the store that he really liked. The night before the fire, he took them, and hid them in his
bedroom. After the fire, Grandpa probably noticed when Tony wore the boots, but he didn’t say
anything.”

From the Holdingford Advertiser

7/17/1913 Chas Philipsek may put up a new store building soon.

7/17/1913 A little good time was put up by Chas Philipsek for the young folks on the 4th
(of July). Everyone reports a good time.
7/31/1913 Charles Philipsek may be starting his store and saloon business again in one
of Mr. Rooney’s buildings.
8/14/1913 Chas Philipsek, the storekeeper, has bought a nice farm west of H’ford
For $4,700. Nice level land.
8/28/1913 St. Wendel Charles Philipsek will move out on his farm next week.

On 30 August, 1913, Frances Philipsek purchased land (80 acres) from Thomas and Clara
Morgan for $5000. The land was located in the East half of the Southwest quarter of section 6 in
Holdingford (Book 146, page 36) .
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1912 Platt Map of Holdingford

Freda: “In 1913, we moved from St. Wendel to an 80-acre farm five miles northwest of
Holdingford. We had eight cows, some pigs, and chickens. We moved in a log house with a sod
roof while Dad built a barn and then another house with a carpenter by the name of Vandrosek.
In winter morning sometimes there would be snow on our blankets. In the winter, the water in
the house was frozen in the morning. It was so cold when we got up,we had to get dressed real
fast. Even though it was so cold, at night we wouldn’t know it, because we had these big thick
long feather quilts that we would lay in and then roll the bottom over our heads. Oh, it was so
warm in there!”

Charles Frances Louie Freda Anton c 1916 Anton Lucy Louie Freda

Note from LDW: About the upper left picture Freda said, “It was spring and we were picking wild violets
(Johnny-Jump-ups). The inside of the house was not finished yet and there were no trees, but look at the trees
now.” (See picture of house on page 34 below!).
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Charles on porch with dog and Louie Philipsek with dog

Anton, Lucy, Freda Frances Frances Charles

Louie
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Front Entrance Louie and Freda Welna (c. 1980’s)

(Freda said: The large porch had been torn down)

Freda: “You know how much you boys loved the porches on the farm. They were
designed to have a place we could go to cool off. We had to wash our clothes (boil them) and
heat the irons. Then also we would bake bread at the same time. It might be 110 degrees inside
and 90 degrees outside.”

Freda: “I think it was 1914 when I was about nine years old, Mr. Manka (Frank) came
over one Sunday morning with tears in his eyes, and he asked Dad if he would take his wife to
Dr. Kline in Anoka. Anoka was over 35 miles away! And the roads were not like the roads now.
She was very sick. There were no doctors in Holdingford. Dad got his fastest horse, Daisy, and
took her to the doctor. It must have helped because she didn’t die. I don’t know how long it took
Dad because he probably came home while we were sleeping. Can you imagine how tired Dad
and the horse were!”

Freda: “You know, my mom and dad never spanked us, and we never fought with each
other like lots of kids do today. We didn’t have any time for fooling around. We had chores to do
before and after school and then we had to do our homework after supper. In fact, I don’t
remember my parents ever yelling at us. Once while we were eating supper, Anton was acting
kind of funny, making strange noises. Dad just said his name, ‘Antek’ (‘Anton’ in Polish).
Anton looked at his plate and started to cry. His tears fell on his food. Anton was so
embarrassed that someone had to speak to him that way.”
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Freda: “When my brother, Louie, was in the second grade, this was about 1915 or 1916,
we were all skating on the pond near the school house. We didn’t have any skates, but were
pretending to be skating while wearing rubber boots. Well, I remember that the ice was what we
called ‘rubber ice’. The ice would sink a little under our weight but it didn’t break. It would
bend and wave up and down. Wouldn’t you know it, the ice did break and Louie fell in. I
crawled on my hands and knees to reach him and to pull him out. We took him to the one-room
schoolhouse. He had to take off all his clothes, and he sat in my coat until we dried out his wet
clothes. The teacher helped me. We put his shoes too close to the wood stove, they scorched
real bad so that when we picked them up the leather pulled off. We had to tie what was left of
his shoes with string so he could walk home”

Freda: “I remember one day when Dad went to St. Cloud. Mom stayed with us four kids.
That night we were waiting for Dad to come back, when the dogs started barking. Mom went
out to look and came back in. She said that there was something out there. She lit the lantern
(the one with the missing brass cap. That’s another story!), and went out to look again. She came
back in and said she thought there was a wolf out there. Lucy and Anton ran out to the barn and
got a pitchfork. Louie and I were crying. Lucy and Anton ran back to the house because they
said that the wolf was beating up on the dogs. Then the wolf ran away under the granary (it was
sitting on a foundation of rocks). Lucy and Anton poked the pitchfork under the granary and
killed the wolf. They pulled it out and laid it next to the outhouse. In the morning dad took a
look at it and it turned out to be our neighbor’s dog. We didn’t tell anybody.
Sometimes, as we walked to school, it was so cold and wet you thought you were going
to freeze to death. It was rare that we would get a ride. I mean, there were no cars, just horses,
and they were needed out in the field.”

Note from LDW: When I told Mom that we had named our daughter Emily, Mom remembered that on the way to
school they had to pass a graveyard and one of the headstones read: Emily Ward. Ward was my wife’s Judy’s
maiden name!

Freda: “Walking really wasn’t so bad. We played games and

sang songs. We always walked with the neighbor kids: Manka,
Porupski, and Janasik were some of the names. When we
walked in the fall and spring, the cattle were in the pasture. I
remember that Voytilla’s had a bull and he would always start
kicking up dirt and snorting when we came too close to the
fence. You should have seen us run! Sometimes in the winter,
we skied across the pastures. It was a short-cut, but that didn’t
happen very often.
When I was 11 or 12, Louie and I had a pet pig that Anton
called ‘Stugrin’. The name didn’t mean anything. He used to
often make up funny names for the animals. Louie and I loved
Freda in 1917, 12 years old that pig. We would call it by name and it would come running
to us. We would pet it. It would go with us into the woods. Well, one day we came home from
school, did our chores, and sat down to eat and there was roasted pig on the dinner table. Louie
and I started to cry. Living on the farm taught you that you shouldn’t make pets out of the
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animals. Even though I wasn’t supposed to do it, I still did. I don’t remember if I ate the pork or
not.”

Freda: “From 1913 until I finished eighth grade I spent it at my ‘dear’ Konsor
schoolhouse. We had to walk 2 1/2 miles each way. My dad was the clerk of the school district,
so he paid the teachers. He had to see
when to get wood for the school and do
repairs. I had to bring the teacher’s
checks. I remember the teachers were
getting $65.00 a month and out of that
they paid board and room. When I was
finished with school (eighth grade) the
teachers were getting $85.00. What a
salary! He also had to conduct meetings,
balance the books, purchase materials.
One year we had over 78 kids in our
school, and we didn’t have enough desks.
We only had double desks so I was
picked to sit three in a desk because I was
Freda at Konsor School c 1985 On either side you can smaller.”
still see where the doors that led to the outhouses were –
one for boys and one for girls.

Freda and Frances Philipsek

Freda: “Many of the kids couldn’t speak a word of English. What a job the teachers had!
Anyway, it was November. I remember in 1918, my Dad came to my school house (Konsor
School). It was cold and rainy. He came into the room and whispered something to our teacher,
Addie Johnson. She listened. Her eyes opened wide, and then she announced that the war
(World War 1) was over. My Dad said, ‘Let all the kids go home!’ We all cheered and got on our
coats. We had been studying about the war in our history lesson. I guess I was about 13 years
old at the time and was in the sixth or seventh grade.”
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Freda (second from left) hanging out with friends

Freda: “1918 was also the year that Lucy moved off the farm and moved into an
apartment in Holdingford.”

The Litchy House where Lucy rented and eventually Freda stayed

On 23 Nov 1920 Charles and Frances Philipsek sold 40 acres of the East 89.05 acres of
the South West quarter in section 6 to Anton Pyka for $5000.

Freda probably with Melissa Katzmarek ?

c.1923 and Vatch, the dog?
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Freda: “One day when it was time for milking, Anton told the dog, (his name was
‘Vatch’) to go fetch the cows. Vatch heard Anton, but he just went over to the side of the house
and laid down. Now when my dad told Vatch to go, he would take off and find the cows and
drive them to the barn for milking. Anton got mad and said, ‘OK, if you won’t go, I will beat the
hell out of you!’ I started yelling at Tony. ‘Don’t you dare, you son-of-a bitch! Anton stopped
and stared at me. I never talked that way, but I could never stand and watch someone beat an
animal. You just didn’t do that.”

Louie, Charles (?), Freda

Freda standing right Freda standing right

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Freda on right Lucy Katzmarek and Louis Philipsek confirmation? c1921?

Freda: “In the late 1920s, the pastor of St. Hedwig’s (Polish Church)
was Father Francis Bialka. He assessed each family $15.00 because he
wanted to build a bowling alley and make some money for the parish. Dad
said he couldn’t pay this “kicker”, i.e., extra money, in addition to the pew
rent which he came to pay in December. The priest told him that he would
have to pay. So Dad went right to the bank, took out a loan for the $15.00,
returned and gave the money to Father. Then he walked out and attended
St. Mary’s Church (German Church) until he died. Father Bialka was mad,
and there was some bad faith between the two of them. There was a lot of
talk in the town. But my dad knew he was right.”

Freda: “Starting in the 1920s Dad and many other farmers made a moonshine called
‘Minnesota 13’. The mash was named from a brand of corn called Minnesota 13 sold by the
DeKalb Seed Company. We had a 50-gallon copper still. Sometimes we made it in the basement.
One time the still exploded and started on fire. Dad had to go get Mom and pull her out through
the cellar window. You could smell the mash cooking (and it was against the law to make and
sell it), so Dad moved it out in the woods. When the wind was right you could get a whiff of the
mash. Dad’s Minnesota 13 was double-distilled. When we started to boil the alcohol off, we
would collect only the alcohol that boiled off above 175 degrees F (I think). When that was
finished, we cleaned everything and then poured it all back in and distilled it again. People said
that this moonshine was so smooth, and you didn’t get much of a hangover after drinking too
much of it. I never drank very much, so I really don’t know. We sold it to Al Capone in Chicago.
Although it was against the law to make, this moonshine money put a lot of food on the table and
clothes on our backs. If it wasn’t for the moonshine, many of the farmers would have lost their
farms and their livelihoods.”

Note from LDW: Anton Philipsek promised that after he died, he would give the still to me, Louis D.
Welna. Even after prohibition, the still was hidden. Tony died before he could tell us the location of the still. After
Tony’s death, Mom took me to Holdingford to find the still. She had an idea who had it. Well, we found Anton’s
friend, who admitted that he had hidden the still all those years. It was in an unfinished bedroom in the farmhouse.
When he got married, he moved the still out to the chicken coop. During a violent storm it got hit by lightning and
burned to the ground. Too bad!
 15

Freda: “So then Dad sold the farm to George Soltis. Dad didn’t want to farm in two
places. He got tired going back and forth. He said, ‘There just isn’t enough time in the day to
work two farms’. My Dad had a 49-acre farm he also worked. Years before, he bought it
fromTony Pyka. This farm was about a mile west of the previous farm. It was across the way
from Nick George’s place.”

Our first car, a Ford! Frank Pyka

Anton, Louie and Charles Philipsek

In 1934, July 2, Charles bought 40 acres from Ben Freicks for the sum of ‘one dollar and
other good and valuable consideration’. The land was located in the East ½ of the SW ¼ of
Section 6. NorthRange 30 West excepting reserving there from all the West forty (40) acres of
said tract (Book 210, page 228).

49.05 acre plot The last farm before retirement!

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