A photo of John Krocker with his children, Eddie Sr., Gertrude and
Louie, taken at their home in Wainwright, behind the coal shed.
John spelled his name Johann Kraker when he came to Wainwright. He and
his wife, the former Helena Kraker, were natives of the Gottschee area
of Austria and were married in Sharon, Pa. A priest wrote on their
marriage certificate, “These two young people have the same last name,
but are not related.”
They lived in Pennsylvania and Bridgeport, Ohio, before moving to
Wainwright in a railroad boxcar with members of the Swaldo and Perko
families. The men all began working in the coal mines at Wainwright.
The couple’s other children were Emma, John, Mary and Edith.