Jurji Panian

Theresa Kuchenmeister's father, from Stari Trg ob Kolpi in Slovenia (then Austria). His father bled to death from a wound in 1856, when he was five, and he was "reared by his mother and his step-father, Michael Perse." He left home in 1866, worked in Germany and came to America on the Germania in 1871. The county history of 1922 tells the crossing from his own account: "He was robbed of 100 Napoleons aboard ship, and landed in New York with no money but a gold piece which he had secreted in his shoe." Offered six cents' change for his railway ticket, "he did not dare pick it up from the ticket ledge, as he was afraid that it was a trick to test his honesty," and at Fulton, Iowa, "He was laughed at when he attempted to buy bread with his three cents." That September he set out from Sugar Creek, Iowa, with "a pack of goods weighing about 190 pounds," peddled until 1875, and with $2,800 saved opened a store at Westphalia, Iowa (source).

He married Anna Maria (Mary) Haberkorn at Dubuque on 12 April 1875. After Westphalia and a stay in Cherokee County, Iowa, he clerked a year at Royalton, Minnesota, and then went to Zell, Dakota Territory, where "The postoffice was kept in his store, and he was made the postmaster": Polk's gazetteer of 1888-89 has "Zell. Population, 100. George Panian, postmaster," and the Official Register lists him there in 1885 and 1895 (source). His wife's sister Juliana's husband, William Banwarth, had the wagon shop.

At Almena, Wisconsin, from 1896 he kept the store, succeeded the founder S. W. Sparlin as postmaster until June 1908, and was one of the four who organized the Almena State Bank that October. The county history calls him "pioneer merchant and one of the founders of Almena ... His advice was often sought on important matters, his influence was far reaching." He died in 1921, and "one of the great desires of Mr. Panian's heart was to have a great grand child": a great-grandchild was born on the day he was buried. Nine children, as the 1922 book lists them: Theresa, George J., Rosa, Julia, Joseph, Anna, John, Mary (deceased) and Frank (deceased). The archive's Frank Joseph (b. 1886) is probably that book's Joseph, and the infant Gregory Frank (1890) its Frank.

Research: Patricia Hatten's maternal line: Kuchenmeister, Borrell, Panian, Mihelič, Haberkorn, Lang.

In the records the tree attaches (not checked here):

• 1870. Arrival (record)
• 1871. Arrival (record) (record)
• 1875. MARR; 12 Apr 1875; Dubuque, Iowa
• 1880. Westphalia, Shelby, Iowa; Occupation: Farmer; marital status: Married; relation: Self (record) (record)
• 1885. Range 66 & 67, Faulk, Dakota Territory (record)
• 1887. 1 Jul 1887; Faulk, Dakota Territory (record)
• 1898. 22 Mar 1898; Almena, Barron, Wisconsin (record)
• 1900. Almena, Barron, Wisconsin; Occupation: Merchant; marital status: Married; relation: Head (record)
• 1905. 1 Jun 1905; Almena, Barron, Wisconsin; relation: Head; marital status: Married (record)
• 1910. Almena, Barron, Wisconsin; Occupation: Farmer; marital status: Married; relation: Head (record)
• 1920. Almena, Barron, Wisconsin; marital status: Married; relation: Head (record)

Other records the tree attaches: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918; U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. These three cannot be his: men born before 1873 did not register in 1917-18, the Social Security index began in 1936, after his death (an entry naming him as a father, probably), and the transport lists are more likely his son George J. Panian's.

The tree enters Julianna (1888) and Anna Catherine (1892) twice, as Julia and Anna; they have one page each here.