The Span of Generations

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 It's as broad as 20th Century America (and Canada for our Canucks).


I want to give some perspective on the growth of family through the generations starting with Jan Vokoun, Anna Bechyne and Josefa Sazima's eight children born between 1858 and 1876 who came to Chicago. Here is the tree with spouses (I hope as this goes along that I will be able to add photos):


The second generation, i.e. the first cousins, numbered nineteen which is less than you might guess. Both John William Vokoun and Joseph Edward Vokoun had no children. They were born over a 23 year span from 1878 (Francis James Vokoun, son of Frank) to 1901 (Edward Matthew Vokoun Sr, son of Rudolph).

The third generation, i.e. the second cousins, numbered twenty-eight with birth years ranging from 1901 (James William Vokoun, son of Francis James Vokoun) to 1942 (Edward Matthew Vokoun Jr, son of Edward Matthew Vokoun, Sr).

A shout out to my dad, Edward Matthew Vokoun Jr, the youngest of the second cousins. He is from the Rudolph Vokoun branch. You might wonder how does the tree proceed from second oldest brother to the youngest branch. Here's how. Rudolph was 41 years old when Edward Matthew Vokoun Sr was born in 1901. Edward Sr then repeated the pattern and was also 41 when Edward Jr was born. So the youngest (by a whole lot) followed the youngest (by a whole lot).

The fourth generation, i.e the third cousins, numbers fifty-seven by my best current count. There are still some missing people so it might ultimately be even larger. Their birth years ranged from 1925 (George Francis Hlavacka) to 1980 (Rachel Maria Vokoun and one other), a whopping 55 years. From the Greatest Generation to Gen X,  flapper girls to disco queens, Coolidge to Carter, radio to the personal computer, the Great Depression to Reaganomics, and every war from WWII to Afghanistan, the third cousins cover the broad middle of the 20th century in this country.

The scale is too large to see individuals which is fine in keeping with my privacy policy for the blog as plenty of us are living. Here is a list of the 4th generation families which I hope helps any readers to place themselves within the larger context.

Frank Vokoun descendants

    James Vokoun's of Illinois

    Smith's of Illinois

    Lilly's of Illinois

    Hlavacka's of Florida

    Wachowski's of Illinois

    Placek's of Montana

Rudolph Vokoun descendants

    Pearl's of Oregon

    Joe Vokoun's of California

    Rudy Vokoun's of California

    Bob Vokoun's of Oklahoma

    Ed Vokoun's of Missouri

Louis Vokoun descendants

    Zehm's of Minnesota

    Babcock's of Minnesota

    Davidson's of Washington

Charles Vokoun descendants

    Richard Vokoun's of Illinois

    Jandak's of Illinois

    Sukula's of New Jersey

    Patzka's of Illinois

    Kopriva's of Illinois

Vincent Vokoun descendants

    Fowler's of Illinois

    Nordstrom's of New Mexico

That is my current best estimate of the families. If I have missed someone, please let me know. I have made an effort to contact at least one member of each in hopes of getting their perspective on the Vokoun family. I sent out nearly twenty letters in the past week trying to contact relatives. I should add that the 5th generation, 4th cousins, starts in 1951 and extends at least to 2016. I haven't even tried to track all of them down.

My intention is to start by writing a profile of each of the eight siblings over the next couple months. Hopefully, through records, old newspapers, and passed down family stories, we can create an accurate picture of that person's life. Along the way I will be writing about Czech and Bohemian culture and character. Afterwards, I would like to write about interesting people in the tree until the ideas run out. Please help me out if you have ideas or stories to share. This is also my plea for old photos that you might have stored away and would like to share. 

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