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Note: Julius August Sroka was born Kilbourne, Wisconsin. He was raised in the Catholic Church and went to a Catholic school. Ill feeling with a particular priest placed him at odds with the Catholic Church and he later attended a one-room public school. He did not remain Catholic during his adult life.
The one-room school house which Julius attended was built in 1854; was later moved onto Sroka land in 1871 and then onto the Briggsville farm in 1892 where it became a hog house.
When Julius August was child, he played with several old German steel etchings which soon became lost. They were of German battle scenes and are now only found in museum.
The boys used lamp black to polish their boots which had brass plates in front. When they didn't have stockings, they wrapped their feet with, rags.
Julius August left home as a young man and worked in lumber camps taking care of camps during the off-season. Julius was later a lumber grader; still later he worked in the retail lumber business.
Julius August Sroka and Kirsten Madsen were married on May 24, 1890. Their marriage license states the following.
This is to certify that: Julius Sroka of Hennepin and Kate Madsen of Hennepin were by me united in the bonds of marriage at Minneapolis according to the ordinance of God and the Laws of the State of Minnesota on the twenty fourth day of May AD 1890.
G. H. Trabert Witness Present: Mrs G. H. Trabert Charles L. Trabert G. H. Trabert They first lived in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin where Julius and his brother Charles had a restaurant in Chippwa Falls during the peak of the lumbering period in that area. Their son Lester and brother Charlie's son Chester were born in Chippewa Falls.
The family moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin when Lester was a baby. The other three boys were born in Eau Claire. The boys all grew up there.
Julius and Kirsten moved to Minneapolis about 1913 and lived there for a year returning to Eau Claire. They owned a lot at 4315 Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis upon which they built a house. Ben built a garage on the lot as well. Ben and Walter worked in Minneapolis, Octavius at Yellowstone Park, and Lester for Great Northern Railroad.
Julius and Katie retired to a small cottage which they had built with Ben on "the Land" near Boyd, Wisconsin. Julius and Ben always loved the place but Katie was not happy to sell their house and leave Minneapolis.
In his later life, Julius was a caretaker in the Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Both Julius and Katie are buried next to Octavius in the Lakewood cemetery in Minneapolis.
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