| Marker Text |
About 1865, newly arrived Czechoslovakian immigrants settled in this vicinity, named Sublime by earlier Irish immigrants. The Czech settlers began calling the community "Vsetin" in remembrance of the area in Austria from which they came. After working as sharecroppers for several years, most earned enough money to purchase their own farms. The settlers soon established a Czech Moravian Bretheren Church congregation and constructed a school here. The favorable reports the settlers sent back to Austria inspired a group of their relatives to immigrate in 1880. The Vsetin Cemetery was founded ten years later. It originated as a private cemetery for the Mikush family, who had arrived with the second migration. The first burial, that of six-week-old Valentine, the infant son of Martin and Veronica (Stasny) Mikush, took place in 1890 when this property was part of a farm owned by Martin and Katerina Sralla. The graveyard later evolved into a community burial ground, and in 1927 the Vsetin Cemetery Association was established to maintain it. The Vsetin Cemetery continues to serve as a tangible reminder of the area's early permanent settlers. |
