Veronika (Winnie) (Verna) Elles

GEDCOM Note

DepartureJun 1896 • Bremen, GermanyIn 1896, Steve and Veronika Ellis set sail on the F. Missler Bremen ship (SS Havel) with Joe, Steve, Stephania, and baby Veronika.

Journey on SS Havel - foodJun 1896 SS HavelThey only had milk from a goat and bread to eat.

Arrival9 Jun 1896 SS HavelShe was only 4 (or maybe 8) months old. She was a sick baby. They thought she died and was carrying her on a pillow and used a feather to see if she was still breathing. 1896 - Ellis Island Their name Eles was changed to Ellis and/or Elles – perhaps since they arrive on Ellis Island!

Arrival at GalvestonAbt. 20 Jul 1896 • Galveston, Galveston, Texas, USAThey arrived at Ellis Island and after being processed, they took another boat to Galveston. Train to Temple Jul 1896 They then took a Santa Fe train to Temple, Texas. Verna's father had a brother living in Temple at the time. They all stayed with him until they found a place of their own.

Working for Mrs. Clark1909 • Waco, McLennan, Texas, USAVerna and her sisters were sent to different places to work. Verna was sent to Waco to work as a nanny/housekeeper for a family with the last name of Clark. Mrs. Clark would pick up a broom and showed Verna what ever room she wanted her to sweep, It would be a different room every day. She didn't want all the rooms to be swept at once. She would grab Verna's arm and pulled her to where she wanted her.

Mrs. Clark would grab Verna's arm and pulled her to where she wanted her. If she wanted her to start a meal, she was drugged into the kitchen. If laundry needed to be done, she was drugged by her arm to where the dirty clothes were.

When the shopping needed to be done, Mrs. Clark would write the list and Verna would walk to the market . The owner's son, Andy, would take the list and show Verna what each word meant. That's how she learned to speak English.

She sent the money back home to her dad. 25 cents a week. Once in awhile, she would keep a penny to buy a ribbon for her hair.

Verna didn’t know English and sickly lady of the house would write the grocery list so Verna could shop. Verna learned English by standing behind the sickly lady as she read the comics from the newspaper to her kids.

How Verna and Ed Kucera metAbt. 1929Verna was staying with her sister Abina (Bennie) and her husband (Ed Krcha) and helping on the farm when she met Ed Kucera working on the neighboring farm. Probably picking cotton.

Never had a headache in her life. She never took aspirin. She had an ulcer on her leg that didn’t want to heal for 10+ years. Finally, Dr. Thompson got it to heal.

· Namesake: · She was named after her mother, but she hated her name Veronika, so she went by Verna or Winnie. She didn't like the name Veronika because there's something similar in Czech that means "Calf coming out of a pigeon box." ·

· Cause of DeathHeart attack.