V. Mashek, a native of Bohemia, came to this country in 1861 as private secretary to County Malinowski, of the Russian Imperial Emigration Commission, and as correspondent for several Bohemian papers. He settled in Racine, Wis., where he edited and published the first Bohemian paper in America, and, in 1864, removed to Kevaunee, Wis., where he has since been interested in various mercantile and lumber enterprises, as president of the Mashek Company, engaged in mercantile business; the Kewaunee Milling Company; Mashek & Arnold engaged in wood and lumber business, and the Bank of Kewaunee, which he organized and of which he was president from many years. He was elected the first mayor of Kewaunee upon its organization as a city. For the past several years he has spent his winters in Southern California and the last two years has occupied his own residence at Redlands.
(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 47.
