THE JONDLES

We are going to spend a little time learning about the Jondle family, because for good or bad, they are about to become a big part of Steve’s life.

The Bohemian Hall that we knew was built by Czech immigrants and their decendants, who settled in Elkhorn Township, southwest of Fort Dodge. Many had first settled in Johnson County, Iowa, but later moved to Webster County.  They included the Jondle Family.

Albert and Mary Jondle and their family came from the villages of Netolice and Hrbov in Southern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). They first came to an area of Johnson County, (Newport Township) located north of Iowa City, in 1869.  Michael Jondle (the father of my grandfather, Edward Jondle) was about a year old at the time the family immigrated to Iowa.

In the Czech language the Jondle name is written as Čondl. The letter Č is pronounced similar to "ch" or "j" so that is how the American version became Jondle.  If you ever meet a person with the last name Jondle, you can almost guarantee that they are descendents of Albert and Mary Jondle, and therefore a relative of our branch of the Miklo Family.

I am curious as to why the Jondles moved from north of Iowa City, where they had lived for about 12 years, to south of Fort Dodge. Michael (Betty’s grandfather) would have been about 13 years old at the time. My assumption is that the farmland was better in Webster County.

Here is a description of the settlers of Elkhorn Township, which is generally located along and south of Highway 20 and along and west of Highway 169: “Many of the first settlers in the central part of the township were people of Czech descent usually coming here from Wisconsin or Johnson County, Iowa. Many of these early Czech settlers lived in sod houses because of the shortage of timber….” (this quote is from Webster’s Prairies: the Township History of the County, published by the Webster County Bicentennial Commission, 1976. It also appeared in Slovo Magazine, a publication of the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library) I don’t know if the part about the sod houses applied to the Jondles.

Here is a photo of the Jondle Family (click on the photo to enlarge the image). In this photo Michael Jondle is in the insert on the right side. His image turned out blurry, so the photographer apparently inserted this image of him into the photo.   Michael was Betty Miklo’s grandfather.  His son was Edward, the father of Charles and Elizabeth (Betty).    This photo was probably taken in Fort Dodge some time around1900. The father Albert (his first name in Czech was Vojtech) died in 1899 - perhaps this photo  was taken at his funeral.  The others in the photo are Michael's brothers and sisters and his mother.     In the photo - back row:  Thomas, Joseph, John, James, Frank and Michael.  Front row: Kathryn (married Wencil Stanik), Albert, Jr., Mary (married Wencil Hotz) and Mary, their mother.