In Cemeteries, Only the Best

Bored? Looking for a good read?

There was a magazine published at the turn of the century called Park and Cemetery. Unfathomably and to the dismay of mausoleum enthusiasts, it didn't catch on as it was and folded after 5 years. That didn't stop a more macabre-sounding successor American Cemetery and Cremation from launching. Apparently this magazine was far more readable and relevant because it's been around for 90 years. I work at a hospital. I was thinking I ought to order some copies for our waiting area. The administration is really struggling to address staffing problems and, like any good employee, I am always trying to find ways to be helpful.

Bohemian National Cemetery

I have no idea if the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago was ever featured in either magazine but it is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Nearly 120,000 people have been buried there. You take a virtual tour here. (I'm going to include some photos in this post so that you can get a sense of the grounds). It also is a place with much significance to the Vokoun family.

Tomb of Anton Cermak. First Czech mayor of Chicago

The Mother Sculpture

The BNC was founded in 1877 by Bohemia Freethinkers. According to the website:

At a mass meeting of the more than 20 Czech benevolent, fraternal, workingman's, gymnastic, and freethinkers societies on January 7th, 1877, Frantisek Zdrubek called on all Chicago societies to come together and create a "free national cemetery, where any Czech could be buried without regard to religion."

This is very interesting. Barbara, one of the third cousins, who is from the Vincent Vokoun branch, asked me about the Catholic faith with regards to the Vokoun's. She mentioned that the faith was not passed on to the family by Vincent. The Vokoun's were definitely Catholic but the fact that so many were buried at the BNC, as opposed to a Catholic cemetery, perhaps suggests that their attachment to the faith was less strong than might be imagined. I will write a future post about the Freethinkers because you can't understand Bohemian emigration and life in Chicago at that time without discussing this movement.

As an aside, clearly Chicago Cubs fandom is a Vokoun family legacy. I'm sure my forebears took in a few games at Wrigley. However, in the spirit of Freethinking, I declare that we, the Vokoun's of St. Louis, have abandoned the faith and will go to our graves as St. Louis Cardinal fans!

Beyond the Vines for all the Cub fans who died waiting for that World Series title

I visited in 2017 on the 100th anniversary of my great grandmothers burial. Other than that tenement on Forquer Street which no longer exists (either the street or the building) and the Kralovice village near Prague, no other physical place anchors the family like the BNC. I found it chaotic and charming in a way that newer cemeteries with their more sterilized (for lack of a better word) appearance cannot replicate. As you get a sense, there are dozens of mausoleums, statues, and memorials throughout. 

Masaryk Memorial Mausoleum constructed to honor Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of the Republic of Czechoslovakia

I was unable to find a tomb marker or headstone for Jan, Josefa, Rudolph, or his wife Lydia. Their section no longer exists. Sadly, the oldest sections of the cemetery were sold off and the bodies moved. That section is now a parking lot at Northeastern Illinois University which sits adjacent to the cemetery. I don't know if that applies to other Vokoun's because at the time of my visit I didn't know how many others there were.

The caretaker in the office explained that many of these sections were a 'potter's field' filled with the bodies of the poor. If the full grave fee was paid within a certain period, usually about 10 years, then the grave site was moved to another section. Of course, I was curious to where the bodies had been moved. The caretaker, who looked old enough to have buried some of our family, said he didn't know. There were no records. So the final resting place is unknown. In any event, if you send a child to school at Northeastern Illinois University and he/she gets spooked by a ghost around midnight outside the library, just be reassured it might be one of the family.

The roster of our family (in bold) buried there is below. There are more and I will update as I discover them:

1884 Barbara Chlup - mother-in-law of Frank Vokoun

1887 Joseph Otradovec - father-in-law of Rudolph Vokoun

1891 Karel Sazima - brother of Josefa Vokoun

1893 Jennie/Bessie Vokoun  - 2 year old daughter of Rudolph Vokoun

1895 Josefa Vokoun 

1898 Frantiska Otradovec - mother-in-law of Rudolph Vokoun

1900 Charles Vokoun

1902 Jan Vokoun

1903 Rudolph Vokoun 

1911 Alois Vokoun  - son of Rudolph Vokoun

1914 Vaclav 'James' Placek - son-in-law of Frank Vokoun

1915 Julie Vokoun Halama - daughter of Frank Vokoun

1915 Marie Vokoun Novotny - sister of Jan Vokoun

1917 Lydia Otradovec Vokoun - wife of Rudolph Vokoun

1920 Henry L Novotny - brother-in-law of Jan Vokoun

1927 Mary Podelsak Vokoun - wife of Charles Vokoun

1928 Alexander Novotny - nephew of Jan Vokoun

1933 Anna Vokoun Placek - daughter of Frank Vokoun

1950 Rudolph James Halama - son-in-law of Frank Vokoun

1956 Josepha Chlup Vokoun Bohdan - wife of Frank Vokoun

1959 Ellen Finter Halama - third wife of Rudolph James Halama

1978 Frank J "Bullets" Budilovsky - grandson-in-law of Charles Vokoun

1981 Harriet Kopriva Budilovsky - granddaughter of Charles Vokoun

2009 William "Bill" Jandak - great grandson of Charles Vokoun

Montrose Cemetery (across the street from BNC):

1911 Frank Vokoun

1992 Rose Krause Vokoun - daughter-in-law of Charles Vokoun

Now for a historical gem that will be of a particular interest to the Frank Vokoun branch. Below is a photo of a recent posted on Ancestry. Initially it was thought to be for a Frank Wokoin and written in Polish. 

It is actually Frank J Vokoun and written in Czech. The purchase was in 1883. $5 for the lot 19, block 4, section K and $28 to dig the grave (so much for the 'free' cemetery). That happens to be the burial site of Barbara Chlup, his mother-in-law, who died in January 1884. Frank died in 1911 and his wife, Josepha Chlup Vokoun Bohdan remarried and lived until 1956 but the receipt ended up in the possession of her daughter Anna. Clearly it meant enough to her to keep it throughout her life.

 

I have cast some doubt on the location of the actual grave sites. However, Jan and Josepha Vokoun, Karel Sazima  Rudolph and Lydia Vokoun and some of their children are buried in Section E, Block 6. Here is a Vokoun headstone in Section E, Block 6 with no other identifying names or dates. Could this be the family marker?

 

 

Finally, as far as those cemetery magazines, you really should pick up a copy. If, unlike our deceased family, an urban historical landmark is not your idea of the sort of place for your bodily remains to turn to dust, I would check out the American Cemetery and Cremation's Annual Cemetery Excellence Award for a final resting place. My attitude is only the best for this bucket o' bones!

Admin note: I have the initial Czech genealogist report. It shows birth records for the siblings and the ancestral village with Google map links. I sent it out to many separately by email. If you would like a copy, please provide me an email address in the comments.