You’re welcome. I mentioned it because people often want to know the meaning of their name. I wonder if the word is somehow related to the Slovak word bryndza, which is a soft cheese made out of sheep milk, but www.slex.sk/index.asp?key=bryndza also lists an expression “tahat niekoho z bryndze” which literally means “pull someone out of bryndza” but idiomatically “pull someone out of trouble”.

At any rate, I hope someone here can help you find out more about your relatives.

Greetings from South Africa, I have Czech ancestry and some knowledge of their records (which are in general well kept, very detailed and becoming digitized and more accessible from year to year).

However, you need to know the TOWN of birth in Bohemia of your ancestor, as European records, unlike England from 1837, have no nation wide, alphabetical index to births, marriages and deaths, records were kept on a local basis. I see him in the US Federal census from 1900 which of course, only furnish country of birth and of parents. Naturalization papers, passenger lists on arrival, tombstones, cemetery records, obituaries and of course birth, marriage and death certificates could give you a town of birth. If he was in the Austro Hungarian army, the surviving Czech records are excellent, alphabetically arranged, and which furnish year and town of birth, occupation, physical description and service record and other data, they are known as Grundbuchblatter and are at Familysearch and other sites. 

Good luck with research and if I can assist further let me know.

Kind regards from South Africa, Naartjie + them fur angel BEASTS.

Thank you!  Yes, that is definitely my Grandfather who died long before I was born in 1950.  His birthday and death day are exactly what the death certificate says.  The married twice thing is of course news to me but the name, Francis Kratochvik is interesting because every New Years day when I was a young child my parents would take me with them to visit a couple's home in St. Louis and the name sounded like Kratoville to me.  I don't have the name written anywhere just the memory but I wonder if the spelling and pronunciation mesh.  The name Joseph Brynda is correct too for my Great Grandfather as it is shown on Charles' death certificate. All I can say is thank you so much!