Jakub Kroska – Larned Cemetery, Larned

The headline from The Tiller and Toiler (Larned, Kansas) 5 Nov 1909 p. 1

“ANOTHER DEATH FROM TYPHOID”

“Jakub Kroske Leaves a Wife and Eleven Young Children Almost Destitute”

“Jakub Kroske was born in Poland in 1867. At 2, Jakub, his parents, and several siblings arrived in New York City and made their way to Minnesota.

While living there, Jakub met and married Nastasia Malak. She was also born in Poland in 1869 but came to America as an infant. Their wedding date was November 15, 1890.

Their eleven children, five boys and six girls were all born in Minnesota. Jakub suffered from consumption, and moving west to a drier climate was prescribed.

The family came to Larned in September 1909. Unfortunately, shortly after their arrival, Jakub became ill with typhoid malaria fever. He died two months later, leaving his wife destitute with eleven children aged seventeen to seventeen months. Nastasia spoke no English, but the oldest daughter was able to translate.

Kroske leaves a wife and eleven children, the oldest only about 17 years of age. He was a laboring man, and his last long illness cost the family all of their means. The widow and children were left in such destitute circumstances that they had to call on the county to conduct the funeral, and they will probably have to remain public charges for a time at least. The case is a sorrowful one, and one deserving of investigation by the charitable and benevolent people and societies of the community.”1

Pawnee County did pay transportation costs to Kansas City, where the family boarded a train headed to Minnesota.

The rest of the story: I was able to locate the headstones of six of their children but not Nastasia. However, family trees have her passing away in Minnesota in 1941. In my research, the name Kroske has been spelled several ways, including Krzoska on the headstone.

1The Tiller and Toiler (Larned, Kansas) 5 Nov 1909 p. 1