CHARLES & MARY KOKESH
Charles Joseph Kokesh was born in Bohemia March 2, 1851 and died at Beulah November 10, 1915. He received a first class education, being able to speak six different languages. His parents’ desire was to make him a priest. With this in mind he studied several years, but then left college and joined the army. He served his country almost three years and saw active service for several months when they were fighting Germany.
As soon as the war was over, he left for America, believing it to be the land of the free. He arrived in Iowa in 1868, remaining there for about five years. He came west to the Black Hills in 1873, but was forced to leave on account of the activities of the Indians. He returned in 1876 and spent ten years in mining around the Black Hills.
In 1881 he married Mary Shober at Sturgis. Five years later they moved to Wyoming and took up a homestead on Williams Divide, where they prospered for 24 years, raising a large family of 5 boys and 3 girls – Hugh (married Louise Moller), Ed (married Lillie Kokesh, his first cousin), Bill, Frank (married Flora Dalton), Fred, Clara (married Henry Reinecke), Bertha (married Dick Cleveland), & Mae). The children walked four miles to attend school at the Manhattan School. Their family doctor was Dr. Kanode, from Sundance. The family endured many of the hardships and happy times typical of families of that time – neighborhood dances & card parties, turkey shoots, hard winters & droughts. According to Charles’ obituary, “he saw some good in everybody and was ready to help them develop it. His door was always open, his table always free to the stranger and the wayfaring man. He had a sunny disposition, always smiling and joking.”
William and Mae are buried here with their parents – Mae died at the age of 20 of pneumonia.
Clara (Reinecke) & Bertha (Cleveland) are also buried here in Beulah Cemetery.
Ed & Lillie are buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Sundance.
Frank & Flora buried in Green Mountain Cemetery in Sundance.
Fred buried in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Hugh & Louise are buried in Pine Slope Cemetery in Belle Fourche.
Hugh bought the home place from his parents when he was a young man and, during the 1920s and 1930s bought adjoining lands from brother Frank and other homesteaders. He married Louise Moller & they had ten children (James, Charles, Creta, Bertha, Julia, Winona, Arthur, Margaret, Joe and Fred). He carried on the trade of curing meat, which he learned from his father – once the cellar was full of cured meat for the family, he seemed always to have the old smoke house going “full tilt” for a friend or neighbor. Picture in Sundance Times in 2016 – three Kokesh sisters, daughters of Hugh and Louise Moller Kokesh, celebrated their birthdays together recently 00 Margaret Kokesh Ellsbury of Aladdin age 87, Julia Kokesh England of California age 93, and Creta Kokesh Minor of Nisland, SD age 97
Charles Joseph Kokesh was born in Bohemia March 2, 1851 and died at Beulah November 10, 1915. He received a first class education, being able to speak six different languages. His parents’ desire was to make him a priest. With this in mind he studied several years, but then left college and joined the army. He served his country almost three years and saw active service for several months when they were fighting Germany.
As soon as the war was over, he left for America, believing it to be the land of the free. He arrived in Iowa in 1868, remaining there for about five years. He came west to the Black Hills in 1873, but was forced to leave on account of the activities of the Indians. He returned in 1876 and spent ten years in mining around the Black Hills.
In 1881 he married Mary Shober at Sturgis. Five years later they moved to Wyoming and took up a homestead on Williams Divide, where they prospered for 24 years, raising a large family of 5 boys and 3 girls – Hugh (married Louise Moller), Ed (married Lillie Kokesh, his first cousin), Bill, Frank (married Flora Dalton), Fred, Clara (married Henry Reinecke), Bertha (married Dick Cleveland), & Mae). The children walked four miles to attend school at the Manhattan School. Their family doctor was Dr. Kanode, from Sundance. The family endured many of the hardships and happy times typical of families of that time – neighborhood dances & card parties, turkey shoots, hard winters & droughts. According to Charles’ obituary, “he saw some good in everybody and was ready to help them develop it. His door was always open, his table always free to the stranger and the wayfaring man. He had a sunny disposition, always smiling and joking.”
William and Mae are buried here with their parents – Mae died at the age of 20 of pneumonia.
Clara (Reinecke) & Bertha (Cleveland) are also buried here in Beulah Cemetery.
Ed & Lillie are buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Sundance.
Frank & Flora buried in Green Mountain Cemetery in Sundance.
Fred buried in Kirkwood, Missouri.
Hugh & Louise are buried in Pine Slope Cemetery in Belle Fourche.
Hugh bought the home place from his parents when he was a young man and, during the 1920s and 1930s bought adjoining lands from brother Frank and other homesteaders. He married Louise Moller & they had ten children (James, Charles, Creta, Bertha, Julia, Winona, Arthur, Margaret, Joe and Fred). He carried on the trade of curing meat, which he learned from his father – once the cellar was full of cured meat for the family, he seemed always to have the old smoke house going “full tilt” for a friend or neighbor. Picture in Sundance Times in 2016 – three Kokesh sisters, daughters of Hugh and Louise Moller Kokesh, celebrated their birthdays together recently 00 Margaret Kokesh Ellsbury of Aladdin age 87, Julia Kokesh England of California age 93, and Creta Kokesh Minor of Nisland, SD age 97