Genealogy: Family Histories

Fryda Family

Transcribed by Michael R. Reilly

Last Revised 07/21/2008

Mike Fryda graduated from St. John's of Lannon grade school and was part of the Hamilton class of 1975 where he earned athletic letters in football and wrestling.

He married Penny Zubella from the Hamilton class of 1979 in 1995. They are raising two boys (Jessie, 6, and Mike Jr., 8) and two girls (Taylor, 5, and 6 month-old Jordan) besides many calves and cats.

Their Hillside Road farm is now 28 acres, but Mike works 350 rented acres, two 100 acres of corn, 125 acres of hay, 100 acres of soybeans and 25 acres of oats.

The corn, hay and oats will go through the cows to produce milk in the pail, and some cows and calves for the beef trade. The soybeans are a cash crop, usually sold at harvest time.

The herd is something of a rarity: Jersey cows, a registered purebred. These relatively small cows originally came to the United States in 1850 from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, according to the World Book Encyclopedia.

Although they are small in size, their milk is known for its high protein and cream levels, which tend to bring higher prices.

The Frydas are often kidded that Jersey cows are so small that one of the farm chores is to go out to the pasture and see that all the gopher holes are filled, or a Jersey cow might fall in and disappear. There's also the story that Jersey cows are so small that mother farm cats have often adopted them.

The reason the Fryda farm has Jersey cows is that its original owner in 1929, Hugo Siewert, had Jerseys, and the Fryda family has run with them ever since.

Jersey cows are gentle and friendly. There are few to no problems with the bulls, as they have a kinder side to them, too.

The Fryda farm is now in its 76th year, and the third and fourth generations are running it with help from the second, Bob and Betty.

Old Ernest Fryda was born in Prussia, Germany, on June 21, 1898, missing World War I service. He came to the United States in 1919 and worked in a Milwaukee foundry.

He married Viola Connell on June 20, 1925, a Colgate girl who went back to the early Colgate pioneers.

Ernest and Viola bought out the 80-acre Hugo Siewert farm in 1929 and raised three children there: Bob, Marge and Blaine. Marge lives in Louisiana and Blaine in Georgia.

Bob and his wife, Betty, took over the farm in 1963. Forty years later, they turned it over to their son Mike.

Old Ernest died May 20, 1982, at age 84. Viola died June 25, 1980, at age 80.

Parts of the original 80 acres became two homes across Hillside Road for the growing Fryda family, but today all the Frydas live in one humongous house on the west side of Hillside Road, after a massive remodeling in 1996.

Betty still does a lot of the milking and also baby-sits the grandchildren.

Of Bob and Betty's four children, Vicky still lives in Lisbon. Vicki was an outstanding member of the Sussex Robinettes, a baton, drum and color guard corps.

Betty served as the Lisbon town clerk for nearly 25 years. It was something of a family tradition, as her mother-in-law, Viola, also held that post.

Bob graduated from the two-year Sussex High School in 1945 and then Waukesha High in 1947. Betty was from Cedarburg High School, class of 1952. She spent time in her youth on a Cedarburg area farm, then married soon after graduation.

After the barn burned down in 1992, the farm was converted to milking parlors and loose housing. Milking starts at 6:30 a.m. and then again at 5:30 p.m. Milking of the 75 milkers takes 2-1/2 hours each time. Each cow's average production each day is 46 pounds of milk about 5-3/4 gallons.

Mike is reviving June Dairy Month's Father's Day on the Farm this year. It will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Sun day, June 19.
©Sussex Sun 2005

1. ?¹ FRYDA

Children of ? FRYDA are:

2. i. ERNEST ADAM² FRYDA, b. 21 Jun 1898, Prussia, Germany (Austria); d. 20 May 1982.

3. ii. GEORGE FRYDA, b. 1887, Austria.

4. iii. PAUL FRYDA, b. 25 Oct 1901, Austria; d. Jan 1973, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.