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Francis J. Swehla was born in Albrechtice, Bohemia, November 5, 1845, and died in Kansas City, Mo., at the home of his daughter Anna, August 10, 1921, aged 75 years, 9 months and 5 day.

He immigrated to America in 1854 to the state of Iowa where he resided until the Civil war. He enlisted in 1863, in the 6th Iowa Cavalry regiment and served most of his time in campaigning against the Indians in the Indian Territory. The Confederate government armed and equipped the Indians to kill and burn the homes of the Union men in Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota; and a number of western regiments of cavalry and infantry was kept to protect the frontier from 1861 to 1865.

After being discharged in 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Kuchta. To this union thirteen children came to gladden the home, three of them passed beyond many years ago. The surviving children are as follows: Clara, Victor, Frank, Romeo, Anna, Leon, Elizabeth, George, Charles and Benjamin. He also leaves many grandchildren, all of whom regret his loss. [sic]

Francis J. Swehla with his family came to Wilson, Kansas, May 5, 1874, and settled on a homestead near Wilson, where he resided for many years. After his wife passed away in the year of 1912, he spent his remaining years among his children. Francis J. Swehla was one of the first settlers in Wilson, Kansas. Here he formed a colony which proved to grow in the most successful argicultural [sic] farming in the state of Kansas. The whole community regret the loss of Francis J. Swehla for if it had not been for him this surrounding country would not have succeeded as a farming settlement at that time forty-seven years ago. Francis J. Swehla was the most honest, loving, husband, father and neighbor and one of the most leading advisors among the czchsCzechs [sic] in the early days. He was a man of sterling character whose high moral purposes were respected by all who knew him and to the surviving children the deepest sympathy of the community is extended in the death of their beloved father.