Memorials › Anna Migl Jakubik

Anna Migl Jakubik

16 Apr 1853 – 30 Jun 1946

Birth16 Apr 1853
Death30 Jun 1946
CemeterySaint Joseph Cemetery
Yoakum , Lavaca County , Texas , USA
Added byDuwain Pingenot on 20 Jan 2022
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53396714

Bio

Anna Migl Jakubik Anna Migl was the second child of Frantisek and Johanna Jezek Migl. She was born on 13 April 1853 at #8 Dubenec, Bohemia. Anna came to Texas in 1871 with the financial help of her older sister, Marie, who came to Texas a year earlier. Anna was a passenger on the ship Frankfurt that departed Bremen, Germany on 8 October 1871 and arrived in New Orleans on 31 October 1871. From there she traveled to Mulberry (later renamed Praha), Texas. Anna and Marie were employed by families in the area, and through hard work were able to aid in the immigration of three siblings a year later, and their parents and remaining five siblings a year after that. Anna Migl married Frank Jakubik on 26 October 1875 in St. Mary's Church at Praha. Their story is recorded in another family history. The family bought a farm and moved to Yoakum, Texas, in late 1884. They were active members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Frank Jakubik helped organize Society #13 of the K.J.T. (Czech Catholic Union of Texas) in 1892 at Yoakum and served as its first President. The Czech Catholic women of the parish also searched for a better way of life for their families, and discussed the benefits provided by mutual aid societies. In April 1894, Anna Jakubik and Marie Yurek met with Father Francis Just and informed him of their interest. He gave them encouragement and agreed to write to the Union of Catholic Women of America in Chicago, Illinois, to request a copy of their By-Laws. The ladies studied these papers and soon they began to seek potential members. In September 1894, the first society of the Czech Catholic Women of Texas was formed with ten women including Anna and her older sister, Marie Migl Jares. Anna Jakubik was elected President. Anna continued to serve as President of the growing Mutual Aid Society until September 1897. In 1895, Frank Jakubik purchased a press that had been publishing the journal Obzor in Hallettsville. A few years later, plans were made to move the family to Hallettsville where Frank published the Novy Domov, a Czech Catholic newspaper. In August 1897, it was announced that a Czech Catholic Women of Texas society would be organized in Hallettsville. This was due to Anna's zealous work and the encouragement of her husband, Frank Jakubik, and Father Just. Father C. J. Benes, Pastor of the Hallettsville Parish, had advised the members of the first society not to join the Catholic Central Union of the Women of America and he worked to help them organize an independent union. This would now be possible with the establishment of the second mutual aid society. Anna Jakubik worked diligently in forming the new society. She transferred her membership from Society #1, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Yoakum, Texas, to Society #2, The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Hallettsville, Texas. Immediately, plans were made for the convention that was to be held on 21 November 1897 in Yoakum. Four delegates would be chosen from each society to attend the meeting. T he name selected for the new organization was "Cesko Rimska Katolicka Podporujici Jednota Zen Texaskych" – Union of Czech Roman Catholic Women of Texas, later known as the K.J.Z.T. The brief Constitution and By-laws stressed morality, fraternalism, mutual aid, perseverance in the Catholic faith and preservation of the Czech language. The elected officers were Mrs. Anna Jakubik, President; Mrs. Anastazie Peter, Vice-President; Mrs. Magdalena Prajer, Secretary; and Mrs. Marie Smykal (daughter of Anna Jakubik), Treasurer. Reverend M. Vaculik was elected Chaplain. Anna served in her office for seven years, 1897-1905. The organization has prospered and grown. The name became Union of Czech-Catholic Women of Texas, better known as the K.J.Z.T. and today is known as the Catholic Family Fraternal of Texas – K.J.Z.T. with the headquarters in Austin, Texas. The organization of 149 local societies serves not only women but also families. Some of my grandchildren are now of the sixth generation, from Anna, who are members of the K.J.Z.T. I can only wonder if Anna ever dreamed she was founding a society that would endure for so long, changing and continuing to meet the needs of women, their families, and their communities. Anna Jakubik was a leader and a professional at a time when a woman's role was mostly as a housewife. After the death of her husband Frank in 1904, Anna assumed the responsibilities for publishing the Novy Domov. In 1906, she sold the paper and moved the family back to Yoakum. Anna spoke only the Czech language so the younger grandchildren and great-grandchildren could not understand her personal stories; however, others have remembered some stories. Anastasia Smykal Sweeney, a granddaughter, told about the death of Karl Jakubik, son of Frank and Anna. He was only 9 years old when he was told not to ride one of the farm horses. Anna was away from the house when one of her children ran to tell her Karl had tried to ride the horse. He had fallen off becoming tangled in a rope and the horse had dragged him across the field. Anna immediately ran to where Karl lay. As she cradled his broken head and body in her lap he begged her forgiveness and asked that she not be angry with him. He died there in her arms. She had suffered the loss of another son before Karl was born and at least two other children died at an early age. Janie, one of the younger daughters, suffered the loss of one eye in an accident and wore a glass prosthetic eye for the remainder of her life. Anna also endured the early deaths of two other sons, Adolph at the age of 46 in 1934, and Frank Louis at the age of 53 in 1939. How hard it must have been for her after also suffering the loss of her husband, Frank in 1904. How very strong in spirit and faith she must have been. Joseph Jakubik Jr. wrote, "Anna continued to live on the farm at Yoakum, and after her children had all moved away, she rented the farm but continued to live in one room of the house and the renters would provide her meals. She led an active life, and I can remember when I was small and we would go to see her, we would sometimes find her with a hoe in her hands working in the garden, even though she was well into her eighties at the time." As a child I remember going through the gate of the Jakubik farm and up a narrow rutted road through plowed fields to a white home on a small hill. The yard had several large trees that provided nice shade. This was during the time Anna resided with a tenant family who worked the farm and helped care for her. Our family was not able to visit in Yoakum often but when we did Anna seemed to be happy to see us and would kiss us on both cheeks, a custom from Europe. Everyone posed for a photo and before we left Anna would give a small coin or two to each child. That seemed to be a family custom at the time. In her later years Anna fell and broke a hip leaving her more or less bed-ridden. She moved to the home of Mary and L. W. Smykal, her daughter and son-in-law, where she had a bright cheerful room upstairs. She could no longer move about easily so she ate her meals in her room served by Mary on an attractive tray. The grandchildren were cautioned not to make a lot of noise when playing on the stairway so as not to disturb her. The last two months of her life were spent in Victoria where she lived with Vic and Janie Pribyl, her daughter and son-in-law. She died at the age of 93 on 30 June 1946 in Victoria, Texas. She was buried on 3 July in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Yoakum following a Requiem High Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Following the death of Anna her youngest son, Joseph Jakubik, purchased the farm. The Jakubik farm was located on the southwest edge of the city of Yoakum, on both sides of the current U.S. Highway 77 Business Route. It was across the road from the site later developed by Tex-Tan where leather goods were produced. Upon the later sale of the property, the Jakubik home was moved a short distance to Migl Street, a new street through the farm that was named for Anna and her parents. Josephine (Janda) Jakubik, widow of Joseph Jakubik, lived there for a number of years. I am fortunate to have a few keepsakes from Anna. The first was a gold pocket watch that I remember first seeing in a china cabinet at my grandmother's home after the death of Anna. Later I was given a marble top dresser with mirror that was from the family home. One of my prized possessions is an early K.J.Z.T. convention badge. I do not know the date for it but that is not as important as what it represents to me – the courage of one special Czech woman who traveled alone to a strange new country with the hope of finding a better future. This she found with her husband who encouraged her to reach out to others. Anna became a leader in the Czech community, a midwife who delivered over 100 babies, but most importantly a successful wife and mother of ten children who grew to adulthood. Submitted by Cecilia Pingenot Forrest, great-granddaughter Mrs. Anna Jakubik Dies at Victoria Mrs. Anna Jakubik, whose husband founded the present Czech semiweekly Novy Domov of Hallettsville, passed away quietly at Victoria Sunday evening. She was staying there for the last two months with her daughter, Mrs. V. F. Pribyl, becoming seriously ill last Wednesday. The funeral follows at Yoakum Wednesday from the St. Joseph Catholic Church. Rosary will be said at the Beck-Prasek Funeral Home Tuesday evening. She was born at Dubenec in Bohemia in 1853, one of ten children of Frank Migl coming to this country in 1871. Four years later she married Frank Jakubik and farmed near Praha, then at St. Mary's, until in 1884 they moved to a large farm near Yoakum. Eleven years later they bought a Czech paper at Hallettsville, giving it it's present name. After the death of her husband she continued publishing the paper, until it was sold to Joseph Kopecky, who in 1930 sold it to it's present publishers, Malec Publishing Company. The late Mrs. Jakubik was one of the foundresses of the KJZT society and it's first president for seven years. Anna lived a very active life for many years. She was a midwife and delivered over 100 babies. She remained in Yoakum for the rest of her life except for a brief time when she lived with her daughter, Janie Pribyl, in Victoria, Texas, where she died on 30 June 1946 at the age of 93. She is buried in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in Yoakum with Frank, whose remains were moved from the original burial site in Hallettsville. She was the mother of fifteen children, eight of them mourning her death: Mrs. L. W. (Mary) Smykal and Joseph Jakubik of Yoakum, Sister Aloysious and Mrs. V. F. (Johanka) [Janie] Pribyl of Victoria, Mrs. L. W. (Rose) Jelinek of Galveston, Mrs. Bessie Drozd of Houston, Mrs. Henry (Mathilda) Janecek and Mrs. John (Veronica) Redik. Living also are two sisters, Mrs. A. J. (Terese) Kallus of Wied, Mrs. John Hybner of Shiner: two brothers, Frank Migl of Shiner and Joseph Migl of Praha.

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