150 Years Ago--Hawel Family Migration

“Copy issued on 31 March 1868 in the matter of emigration to America" was a notation written 150 years ago on this date by the parish priest on the birth record of Joseph Hawel (aka Joseph Hovel), his wife Anna and their eight children. While the village of Dolni Chrastany had a small chapel, the main church serving the community was in Netolice, about 6.8 km (about 4.25 miles) distant to the north by today's road. Joseph would walk the dirt path into the church in order to take the first step in a long, and time consuming journey. The copy of the birth record was necessary for the family members to obtain the proper documents for travel to the United States. It is said to be an uncommon notation, but for us distant relations it is a great piece of information for which we should be thankful for the fastidious nature of the parish priest. In basic form it is only a date, but I see it as much more.  It is the beginning of the long family journey to the United States for this one family. A decision had been made to migrate and this is the first known record of action on that choice. Unfortunately, I lack specific information on why the family immigrated to the United States, or why they chose this period of time. Every individual or family would have had their own reasons to make such a journey, but research provides certain trends or commonalities among the population emigrating from Bohemia to the United States.

Anna Jodl Hawel Birth/Baptismal Record
The note on emigration is on the left side

What, according to research, were the primary reasons for immigration? Many commentators list low taxes, liberal residency requirements, inexpensive land, and a climate of political and religious freedom. However, less than four percent of Bohemian immigration to the United States was for religious reasons, so that was a very minor issue.  It would also not have been in play for this family. Economic reasons, not unlike today, may well have been the prime driver. I suspect the price of land, quality of land, and low taxes would play a large role.  I do not know what Josef and Anna thought, but the historic record may help inform us.

Hovel House, 18 Dolni Chrastany, MB Hovel Photo

Josef was the youngest son in the family of his seven siblings three others were male;  two of the males passed away before their first birthday. The other male, Martin, an older brother to Josef who was born in 1800 I have (so far) been unable to track since his birth record. An armchair genealogist, interestingly named Tom Havel (and no we don’t think we are related based on villages from which our ancestors hailed), on a Czech Facebook page commented that in Bohemia it was often the youngest son who inherited the farm. From the parish birth records Josef was the youngest son of Franz and his first wife Terezie. (When Terezie passed away Frantisek married Katherine Borowka, but I only locate one child  born from that marriage.)  1837 plat maps for Dolni Chrastany, and it shows that Franz Hawel owned a good deal of land in the area.  At this point in time I cannot read the land records of Dolni Chrastany which may shed some light on the situation, and suspect a professional is likely required. Franz may not have owned the most land in the area, but he certainly had a number of land holdings, some fairly distant from the home farm. What we do know is that most land holdings of small farmers in Bohemia were only about ten acres in size. Unfortunately, the 1837 map is digital and difficult to discern any likely scale from which to measure. A large, non-noble, land owner would likely have owned about 25 acres. Regardless, the size of the parcels in Bohemia would be dwarfed by what was available in the United States. In Bohemia, as land was divided and parcels created in a  linear fashion which was thought best to treat purchasers more equally.  One only needs to look at the plat map of 1837, and even today, to notice the long-lasting nature of land division on the landscape. This caused obvious farming issues for access, and travel distance. However, at the time of settlement, it was probably advantageous to be in a village rather than live alone in the hinterlands. Dolni Chrastany was a typical Bohemian Village, where the home acted as both house and barn, and the fields spread behind the home. This is quite different from the situation in the United States where a farm in the Midwest would typically have 160 acres and homes spaced along otherwise empty roads.

1837 Cadastral (Plat) Map of Dolni Chrastany

However, a few years before the family immigrated to the United States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, aka the Hapsburg Empire, not only lessened emigration restrictions, but they also eased inheritance rules which would allow land to be transferred to any family member. The ease of emigration restrictions set off the second large wave of Bohemian migration to the United States, which started in 1867.  Most of those immigrants are said to be from southern Bohemia. What I do not know is if Josef owned the land in Dolni Chrastany, or some other family member.  His land tenure situation, so far, is beyond my capability.  We do know that his father Frantisek died in 1847, when Josef was near forty and a year a few months after Josef married Anna. At the time of his death, Frantisek (Franz) is noted as living in the outer house (from death record) which means he was likely retired from farming and someone else was running the farm. If Josef inherited the land from Frantisek, the easing of land inheritance rules probably meant that each of the four living sons of Josef would have parcels too small to make a decent living; that is if he chose to allow four sons to have equal inheritance. What we do know is that the Hawel family would be part of a chain migration to the United States. Chain migration is under much debate today, but would it not be a preferred method of migration? Is not keeping the family whole a better option than a broken family? In this situation the whole immediate family migrated  and re-established themselves first near Jefferson, WI, and later near Manly, IA. What we also know is that Wisconsin had an immigration commissioner to attract Bohemians to Wisconsin.  One historian noted that the Bohemians were likely “attracted by the assiduous distribution of American propaganda in the Hapsburg lands. (1)" Wisconsin may have been attractive if politics were important to the immigrant since a male only needed to be age 21, and have lived in the state for one year in order to vote. They did not need to complete the full naturalization process to vote in Wisconsin. We know that Josef Hawel took the first step for naturalization, but I have found no record in the historical archives serving Jefferson County for him having taken the second step.

 

1837 Plat Map listing Habel, Franz (Frantisek Hawel)

The Hawel family, however, were probably not the first from Dolni Chrastany to arrive in Wisconsin.  Jakob Fitzl, who would marry Ann the oldest daughter of Josef and Anna,  would have the same note as did the Hawel’s on his birth certificate, but one written two years earlier, in March 1866.  The Hawel’s fit the proto-type of a chain migration from Bohemia.   They were rural, the whole immediate family moved, and the first generation tended to marry within their same ethnic group. We see this in many of the Josef and Anna Hawel children who all appeared to have married on American soil. They were married to either those who were born overseas, or whose parents had been born in the old country. Anna married Jacob Fitzl, John may first have married Mary Popp (Bohemian), Joseph D. married Ottelia Popp, Catherine married Emil (aka Henry) Popp. I am not sure of the origination of Kachel (Rose), or Ulrich (Wenzel) but Hofmeister (Mary) seems German. Germany was often at odds with the Hapsburg Empire, and the militarism of Germany at the time of migration may be one reason for aiding migration to the United States. Jefferson County was a known location for German immigrants, and to this day the city of Jefferson has an annual German celebration.   Even if they did not like each other in the old country, they would have still shared traits. For example, Martin Hawel would marry Amelia Duscheck, who was born in the US, and while her father, Josef, was born in Boehmia it was in an area said to be settled by ethnic Germans, otherwise known as the German Landskroner settlement area.  Josef Duscheck may have been an ethnic German.  Dolni Chrastany is about 100 km directly east of Regensburg, Germany (meaning it is only about 20 km more distant from Regensburg as it is from Prague).  This means that it is highly likely that inter-mixture with German heritage could not be denied. Culture tends not to know specific boundaries.  Dolni Chrastany is only about 30 km east of the nearest part of the current Czech-German border.  Being in the Hapsburg Empire, the Bohemians were taught and knew German. The strength of a shared linguistic tongue was likely too much to pass, even with perhaps ethnic differences from the old country.

Joseph Havel (Hawel) Declaration of Citizenship
Source;  Historical Society Archives, UW-Whitewater

In the end, however, we may never know the personal reasons why the Hawel family migrated and first set roots near Jefferson, Wisconsin. Clearly, Jakob Fitzl and perhaps others from the old country  village had already made the excursion. While we can only speculate, I suspect the reasons was the availability of plentiful land for the children to establish their own farm operations. The nation would continue to settle its great prairies which began with the Homestead Act of 1862.  The Civil War likely put a dent in western migration for part of this period. It did not matter to the government that the land had once belonged to someone else, the government decided it was free to tame and settle.

Jacob Fitzl Birth/Baptismal Record 

The United States, in 1868, was in a tumultuous time. Reconstruction policies of the Republican controlled congress aimed to give more rights to African Americans, but those actions were constantly thwarted by President Andrew Johnson. The election of US Grant in late 1968 would set the nation forward on equal rights and protection of the African Americans who had been guaranteed citizenship as a result of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution recognized in July 1868. It was a time of major change and the country was dependent upon immigrant labor to man its factories, farm its fields, and further its western settlement. It was into this situation that the Hawel family would arrive on the shores of Baltimore in the middle of the summer in 1868. It would be a journey of 18 weeks. They would need to travel about 500 or more miles from Dolni Chrastany to the port in Bremen, where they would depart for the United States. For what follows next, you will have to await for part 2 of 150 Years Ago—Hawel Family Migration, which will occur at a later date.

(1)  Bicha, Karel, 1970 “The Czechs in Wisconsin History”, The Wisconsin Magazine of History, V 53, No. 3