John Jancik Biography

	This biography appears on pages 1039 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN JANCIK, a prosperous agriculturist of Yankton county, who is 
living near Lesterville, was born in Bohemia in 1848, a son of Frank 
Anthony Jancik. There was no event of special importance in his early 
youth to vary the routine of life for him, but after he had attained his 
majority he was married, in 1870, to Miss Tracy Nikodyn. Three years 
passed and in 1873 they bade adieu to friends and native land and sailed 
for the new world. They hoped to find in the land of freedom the 
business opportunities which were not so easily secured in the old 
country nor has Mr. Jancik been disappointed in this hope. Coming to 
South Dakota, he homesteaded two hundred acres and he still owns this 
property, all of which he himself farms. He lived here at the time when 
the grasshoppers descended upon the country in such great numbers, when 
they seemed in the air like an immense cloud. Settling upon the fields. 
they destroyed in a few hours the crops which it had taken months of 
labor and care to ripen. Other hardships and trials have been met by Mr. 
Jancik, but he has with courageous spirit borne all these difficulties 
and at length has triumphed over the obstacles in his path to success so 
that he is now a prosperous farmer of his community. Unto Mr. and Mrs. 
Jancik were born ten children: Louise, who is at home; Annie and Amelia, 
also under the parental roof; Rosie, the wife of Joe Rankin, a resident 
farmer of Yankton county; Sophia, who is employed in the city of 
Yankton; Tina, Mary, Minnie, Emil and Tillie, who are also at home.  

	Becoming a naturalized American citizen, Mr. Jancik, after 
informing himself concerning the political conditions of the country and 
the belief of the parties, allied his interests with the Republican 
party and has since supported its men and measures. He is a member of 
the Evangelical church and is a man of considerable force of character, 
having depended entirely upon his own exertions since an early age. 
While in Bohemia he mastered the tailor's trade and followed it there, 
but since coming to the new world he has carried on agricultural 
pursuits and his farming interests are now valuable. His life history 
proves how excellent are the business advantages afforded in the United 
States to young men of energy, whose labors are not hampered by social 
or caste conditions.