Mrs. Palmer E. Allen owned the plot according to cemetery records.

JOSEPH and EVA GORZALKA

by Helen Harbel and Mary Snyder

After working six long days in the coal mine Joe Gorzalka would walk 20 miles to his homestead on Dutch Creek near Wyarno to spend Sunday with his family.

Carrying groceries made the long walk even harder.

Later his brother was able to buy a wagon and team so they could make the trip to the mines much easier.

Joseph Theodore Gorzalka was born in Istebna, Poland on October 16, 1882. He and two brothers came to the United States in 1908. Joe settled in Carneyville, Wyoming so he could work in the coal mines.

Eva Barbara Kuzma was born in Poland on December 6, 1886. She came to the United States and met Joe Gorzalka who was boarding with her brother. On January 28, 1912, they were married.

Joe homesteaded on Dutch Creek where six of their children were born. As there was no doctor in the community the babies were born at home with Mrs. John Gorzalka, Joe's sister-in-law, acting as midwife. Mary was born on November 4, 1912; Helen on February 22, 1915; John, August 13, 1916; Paul, February 6, 1918; Annie, April 24, 1919, and Susie, January 5, 1921. Joe was proud of the U.S. citizenship papers he received on June 11, 1917.

The Gorzalka family moved to Jim Creek where they farmed for several years. While living there, Frank was born on April 19, 1923, and Stella Rose on July 31, 1926.

Joe often hunted game birds to keep the family supplied with meat. In later years he enjoyed deer hunting. While living on Jim Creek they bought their first car - a Maxwell!

The family also farmed on Murphy Gulch and then on Beaver Creek. They moved to the Home Ranch, three miles southeast of Sheridan, about 1933. Helen married Julius Winter and Mary was married to Jake Woods on January 5, 1936.

On November 1, 1935, when John was hunting ducks at a pond on the Home Ranch he broke through the ice and drowned. Paul and Frank served in the Civilian Conservation Corps before enlisting in the Army in 1944. Frank served in the European Theater where he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart. Paul served in the Philippines.

Helen Winter moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin about 1943 where she raised her daughters, Gladys and Nancy. Mary's husband, Jake Woods, passed away in 1950.

Mary and Jake had three children - Eva, Betty, and Joe. On May 26, 1951, Mary married Milas Snyder. Anna married Carl Hoaglon and they raised three children, Carol, Orval, and Marie. Susie married John Jolovich and had a son, John, and a daughter Gail. Frank, Stella, and Paul never married. Paul died on April 24, 1973.

Mary, Frank, and Stella live in the Sheridan area. Susie lives in Ranchester, and Annie in Story. Helen lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Joe and Eva, the parents of these eight children, moved to Sheridan where they built a home in the Brundage Addition. Joe kept busy at various jobs. At one time he worked on the Gallatin Ranch above Big Horn where he did gardening and odd jobs. Eva was busy with a garden, raising chickens, and raising strawberries to sell. Joe retired in 1952 and then passed away on Feb. 12, 1962. Eva remained in their home until 1968 when she was taken to Eventide, a Sheridan nursing home. She passed away on February 11, 1973.

(Story written by Helen Harbel and Mary Snyder as published in the Sheridan County Heritage Book published in 1983 with permission from the Sheridan County Extension Homemakers Council.)