Memorials › Karel "Charles" Andera

Karel "Charles" Andera

1851 – 1929

Birth	1851
Death	1929
Cemetery	Saint Wenceslaus Cemetery Spillville , Winneshiek County , Iowa , USA
Added by	Memento Mori on 21 Mar 2006
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13696591

Bio

Andera came to this country with his parents and several siblings in the early 1860s from Hrobska Zahradka (Garden of the Graves), a small village near Tabor, Bohemia. After a short stay in Toronto, Canada, the family settled on a farm near Spillville, in Winneshiek County, Iowa. He married Barbara Dostal Jan. 19, 1875. She was the daughter of Jan Dostal, a wagon maker and Catherine Kvapil. To this union seven children were born; Louis, Albert, Barbara, Anna, Charles, Mary, and Andera. Andera was a carpenter, wood carver, furniture maker, coffin maker, and photographer, as well as the manufacturer of the iron cross grave markers. He opened a furniture store next to his small house in Spillville. His work included the construction of the communion rail and other wooden appointments in Spillville's St. Wenceslaus Church and the bells of the clock he installed in its steeple sounded on the quarter hour and could be heard for miles. Commuting by bicycle, he crafted the alters in the Catholic churches in nearby Fort Atkinson and Protivin. Andera began making the crosses in 1875. Early crosses were fashioned out of wagon strapping. The crosses were first carved in wood; then a plaster form was made. Finally, they were sent to a foundry to be cast. They range in size from two feet to 10 feet tall. The smaller ones sold for between $15 and $22. Records indicate he shipped them across the United States. Andera's metal grave markers have been located in such diverse states as Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas, Michigan, and even Alaska. The primary features of his crosses are the skull and crossbones and the angel supporting the inscription plate.

Photos

Family

Parents

• Frantisek Andera 1804–1886
• Katerina Cekal Andera 1818–1884

Spouse

• Barbora Dostal Andera 1856–1956

Siblings

• Frank Andera Sr 1836–1931
• Vaclau Andera 1839–1912
• Josef Andera 1850–1904

Children

• Karel Joseph Andera 1878–1878
• Vojtech "Albert" Andera 1879–1881
• Mary Elizabeth Andera Klimesh 1881–1984
• Albert Andera 1885–1973
• Barbara Andera 1887–1981
• Anna Andera 1889–1955
• Sr Sidonia Andera 1892–1978
• Charles Joseph Andera 1896–1980
• Sr Milina Andera 1898–1976

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