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| Frank & Mary Preyer Betlach & Family William, Otto, Susanna, Elsie |
| Descendant Chart for Frank and Mary (coming soon) |
Frank was a talented, colorful and maybe even verged on being called a scoundrel at times. A great deal is known about him but much more is unknown. Frank didn't come to the United States with his family, instead he spent a number of years on ships with the Merchant Marine. In 1881 he married Jenny Litera and three children were born to them. Jess Fred and a son that died in childhood. During this time he lived with his wife and children in the Lower Bohemian Flats in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am sure life was hard living in this area as every spring the Mississippi River would flood causing many to lose their homes. The homes were nothing more than mere shanties that stood on the ground, I'm sure it was freezing cold in the winter and stiffling hot in the summer. The Minneapolis City Directory for the year 1883 lists Frank as living in the Lower Flats The 1885 Directory lists his occupation as Lather and his residence as 22 1/2 Lower Levee The same is listed for the 1886-1888 Directories The 1889 Directory now lists him as, Actor and the address is now 2415 24th Avenue South We now enter into 1890 Frank is not listed in the directory and the listing for Jenny reads: "Betlach, Jenny (wid Frank) Dressmaker, 717 Cedar Avenue South, residence: Same" 1891 There were no Betlach listings in the Directory In the 1892 Directory, Jenny is again listed as the widow of Frank, Dressmaker, with the same address as in 1890. 1890 may have been a busy year for Frank, family stories indicate he married for a second time. He was touring the Bohemian Settlements between Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska with his marionette show. He hand carved the puppets, wrote the scripts and did all the speaking parts for these shows. He came back to Minneapolis and asked Jenny for a divorce because he wanted to marry a woman from Chicago that he had hired to take tickets for him at his shows. He told Jenny that he loved this woman's little finger more than he loved Jenny or the children. In Chicago a marriage license was issued to Frederic F. Betlach, age 31 and Theresa Smolik, age 20 who were married January 3, 1890. All my Betlach research indicates there is no Frederic F. Betlach and especially not one fitting the criteria for this marriage license ....except.... Subtracting the age of the groom from the year of the marriage you get 1859, the exact year of Frank's birth, and the same year he disappeared from the city directories in Minneapolis, 1890. Also of interest, Frederic is the name of Frank's son. Perhaps he used his son's name with possibly his own name as a middle name to conceal his idenity when marrying Theresa. If this is the woman Frank was so madly in love with and wanted to marry what happened?? Where did the "love of his life" go and were there any children born to this marriage? When and where were they divorced? In 1897 Frank and his friend, John Rodd were suspected of passing counterfeit $10.00 Silver Certificates at Philip Schileiger's Drug Store in Grand Meadow, Minnesota. After leaving Grand Meadow they stopped in Wykoff, Minnesota and Deputy Marshall Hanson of the police department recognized John Rodd as matching the description of one of two of the counterfeiters from Grand Meadow. Frank was not with him at the time. Marshall Hanson arrested John and took him to jail. Frank tried to leave town after he couldn't find John but the officers found him, a scuffle ensued during which time Frank got a hold of the Marshall's gun and he tried to shoot him. He was finally arrested and $800.00 worth of counterfeit $10.00 bills were in his possession. On August 26, 1897 at the Winona, Minnesota jail, John, Frank and another inmate, Frank Wilson sawed the rivets in the iron ceiling in the jail corridor, sawed through the ceiling and roof, lowered themselves down from the roof by tying bedsheets together and escaped. When Frank was recaptured two years later, he was taken to jail at St. Paul, Minnesota and began acting so strange that he was transferred to the U.S. hospital in Washington D.C. for observation. Some people believe this was just the "Actor" in him. At his trial Frank was convicted and ordered to serve 5 years in Stillwater Prison in Stillwater, Minnesota and pay a $500.00 fine. He started serving his sentence on June 10, 1899. A newspaper article relates that Frank was a very wily man and it was said the he was one of the cleverest forgers in the country at the time. It is said that he hand made the dies for the Silver Certificates and got John to pass them. This makes sense since he hand carved the puppets he used in his shows. Prison admittance records for Frank indicate that he was a moderate drinker and smoker and that he had contracted a veneral disease 3 times in his life..... After his release from prison he married Mary Preyer, they settled in Marienthal, Kansas and became parents of four children: 1. William 2. Otto 3. Susanna 4. Elsie 1. William Bartel was born August 16, 1905 in Marienthal, Kansas. He died October 1948 in Marienthal at the age of 43. He married Helen Rose Kreitzer, daughter of Aloysius and Anna Dreher Kreitzer. They had six children: Juanita Connie Twila William (Billy Joe), Headstone He changed the spelling of Betlach to Betlock so it would be spelled like it sounded Ruth Yvonne William, Headstone Helen, Headstone Helen owned a Cafe after William's death. Cafe photo, July 2008 ************************************ 2. Otto was born September 9, 1906 in Kansas. He died November 1985 in Leoti, Kansas. He married Ruth Garnes They had two children: Jesse Carol *************************************** 3. Susanna Magdelane was born May 10, 1910 in Marienthal, Kansas **************************************** 4. Elsie F. was born June 17, 1913 She died February 1, 2003 in Corpus Christi, Texas Obituary She married (1) Frederick Wyman From this marriage a son was born: Frederick Betlach Wyman born December 7, 1944 in Texas He died on October 27, 1993 Obituary Elsie married (2) Werner A. Carby on September 14, 1969 in Texas. They divorced on October 2, 1984. Werner died February 1, 1986 Obituary *********************************************** Frank and Mary's homestead still stands today, sadly, very much in ruins. Photo #1 Photo #2 |
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| Many, many thanks to Brad Simon and his son for traveling to Marienthal and Leoti Kansas in July 2008 to take photos of: Frank and Mary's homestead and also photos of the headstones for: Frank and Mary William and Helen William (Billy Joe) and a photo of Helen's Cafe. Your generosity is very greatly appreciated ~Thank You!~ |
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| The home where Mary Preyer Betlach lived until her death. The post office in Marienthal, Kansas where Mary was Post Master. |