Told by Joe Ziska's daughter, Mary Ziska Krysl.
The Leopold *{see note} Seger family also came in 1880 and settled south of the Elkhorn River five miles west of Atkinson. They had first lived in Chicago where they operated a brewery which burned in the Great Chicago Fire* {see note}. Journeying to Omaha, they built another brewery. When this business also burned (they suspected a rival of arson) they decided to respond.
The family traveled by train to the end of the railroad at West Point and proceeded from there in wagons. After many days, they came to a lone store located near the Elkhorn River, and Leopold sent young Paul to ask the way to Atkinson.
"Sonny, you're here!" responded the storekeeper.
Since the family had lived in Chicago and Omaha, it had not occurred to them that a townsite at the far reaches of the frontier might consist of a single building.
Atkinson did not begin to develop until the railroad came through the following year-1881-after which it mushroomed.
{NOTES from K.Davis:}
This should read Donat Seger family not Leopold Seger family.
It is family legend that there was a fire at a family owned brewery in Chicago. Also, that after relocating to Omaha they owned another brewery that burned under suspicious circumstances. The legend was that competitors caused the fires and that after the fire in Omaha Donat decided to go to Atkinson and claim a homestead.
There is evidence that Henry John Seger was born 31 Aug 1871 in Long Grove, Lake Co, Illinois. Max Joseph Seger also seems to have been born in Lake Grove, Lake Co on 16 Aug 1873. The Great Chicago Fire was in October 1871, therefore it would seem that the family had left Chicago sometime before the Great Fire.
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