Family History and Notoriety

One Tuesday evening during a "Hovel Hangout" started in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, a family member asked what I found notable in family history. I provided a couple answers:  Joseph Hovel (b. 1808) my great great grandfather who at age 60 emigrated to the US, and Fr Joseph Reiner, SJ, my great uncle.  But, that got me to think about what was usual or unusual in family history, and what makes something notable. As I thought more about the question, many instances of what is notable came to mind.  It is not like our ancestors were famous persons, but each in their own way made a contribution to society.  History is a compilation of stories and often the more "mundane" stories fall by the way side, or are never told, but that does not mean they lack value. Our family has the good and the bad, some of which I have blogged about before.  Most of the time their work and deeds were usual and common.  This blog post is meant to take a stab at some interesting stories or occurrences of our ancestors that got us to this point.  As everyone is aware, a family tree expands as it goes back in time, I have two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen great great grandparents. That does not even include cousin, aunt or uncle relationships. That is a large number of people.  I have more information on some families than others, which limits what I am able to write.  What I find is that times of transition are often notable.  Why? Because they represent a time of change, a change of direction.  In some cases the change was unexpected (death or accident), at others it was conscious, for example marriage or emigration to the US.

Part of Dolni Chrastany Plat Map

Our ancestors were common men and women who went about their daily tasks to eek out a living for themselves and their families. Yet, as is common, they looked to improve their situation and lives of their children. They were also persons of deep religious faith and conviction. They were everyday folks who went about their life and engaged in varied occupations and deeds.  One could say they were a microcosm formed and altered by national and world events.  Even with differences they tend to more similar.  Let us take a step back in time in an attempt to point out notable characteristics of our ancestors.  Emigration for Europe, for example was not simple.  It involved arduous and monotonous hours on often overcrowded ships with little to read, no movies, and no cellphone.  They were taking a risk, hoping the reward outweighed the issues of trans-Atlantic crossing, and finding a new community.

Ratiborova Lhota Plat Map, 1825-1835

First, let me examine the origin of the family surname of Havel. For that we need to go way back in time to about 590, even before surnames came into use.  (Surnames in Bohemia started in the middle ages, but were not stable.  They changed based on occupation and other factors; surname stability is thought to have started in the 1700's.) The surname was Anglified to Hovel sometime after 1905 by Martin, his children, his brother John's descendants (John died in a tragic farm accident in 1905), and his sisters.  Martin's two younger brothers would keep the old country spelling, one choosing the Bohemian Havel, and the other, the youngest, using the German Hawel. (Maybe it is related to the event in 1907, which you can read here, but that is pure speculation.) The Bohemian derivation for Havel comes from the first name Gallus.  Gallus, in turn, comes from the monk we now know as St Gaul, who was Irish, and traveled  from Ireland to mainland Europe in about 590 as one of the companions of St Columbanus. Their goal was to reestablish learning, and monasteries on the continent following the downfall of the Roman Empire and the sacks and vandalism that occurred by varied migrating tribes.  For example, one such tribe known as the Vandals, gives us the word vandalism.  A shipwreck on way to the continent left only five survivors: Columbanus, Gaul and three other monks.  The surname Havel is a recognition of the contributions of St Gaul to Western Civilization. What is interesting is that near 1,400 years later this would come full circle when Mary Jeanne Sweeney, whose paternal parents hailed from Ireland, married Roy Bernard Hovel.  Roy had a surname recognizing the contributions of St Gaul to the central region of Europe.  An additional coincidence, the two were married at St Columbanus Church in Chicago, a church named after St Gall's boss.

Sacramental Record Marriage of Simon Hawel and Elizabeth Pesek (1735)

With that story complete, let us move ahead to the main object of this post.  We travel ahead several hundred years to 1735 where we find ourselves on a rural road in southern Bohemia, which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Farming was the reason for the existence for the small villages in this part of Bohemia.  In Bohemia, there was a pattern in which the farmland radiated out from the village like spokes on a bicycle rim.  The pattern was a result of the manor system.  Barn and home were often one structure.  There were three classes of farms, the third class consisted of large farmers who tilled perhaps up to 25 acres, second was a small farmer who tilled about 5 to 10  acres, and the first class, who were day laborers either working the land and/or providing a skill.  The road we are on is in a small farm community known as Ratiborova Lhota, where my sixth great grandfather Simon Hawel (Havel in Czech) is living.  If we were there on 8 July 1735 we may have seen Simon marry Elizabeth Pesek who hailed from the village of Vrbice.  In at least one birth record of a child, Simon is listed as a tenant and a weaver, so he is of the first class.  The home at 15 Ratiborova Lhota is more than likely the ancestral home for the Hovel family. What is significant is that our 5th great grandfather Mathous Hovel, Simon's son, was a farmer, not a weaver.  Simon's great grandson Frantisek, would make a move to Dolni Chrastany.

Baltimore Ship Log page with Hawel Family

Frantisek Hawel, a great grandson of Simon and our third great grandfather, would move from Lhota to Dolni Chrastany which today is about a 13 minute car ride using an eleven mile circuitous route from the ancestral village. Frantisek would grow his farming operation so much that the cadastral maps produced from 1825 to 1835 show him having owned several parcels, some radiating out from the town, others portions of a radial arm. It could be a long distance to the far end of a field, if you could get to it because a marsh or other feature may make that difficult.  I am not certain of the acreage he owned. Land holdings in Bohemia would stretch back in long fingers from the village.  Land, when it was divided was not done so in "40's", but rather divided down the middle, leading to long narrow parcels. This method was felt more equal to the parties.  It would also not be unusual for generations of paternal and maternal families to share a living quarters.  What is critical to know is that farms were generally passed down, by law, to male descendants.  That changed in the 1860's and now farms could be passed down to all family members.  This change, and Prussian movement into parts of Bohemia may have helped spur Frantisek's son, Josef, to emigrate to the United States.

Havel Home at 18 Dolni Chrastany, Bohemia
Source:  Mary B Hovel

Josef, my gg grandfather  had nine children, but son Jakob died in 1854 at 6 months of age, which would leave the family split between four boys and four girls.  At the age of 60, with his wife and eight children, the youngest being only 6 months of age, the family would embark on the quest to emigrate to the United States.  They would travel over 780 miles, from Dolni Chrastany to Bremen Germany where they would board the steamship SS Baltimore.  This immigrant ship would then journey almost 4,400 miles to Baltimore, MD. From Maryland they made their way to Wisconsin likely using rail, as steamship lines partnered with railroads.  They would settle in Jefferson County, an area heavy in German and Landskroner settlers.  Catherine Popp, a daughter of Josef and Anna Hawel, commented that the journey took 17 weeks. In this vein, the youngest child when he disembarked, was nine months of age and had spent a third of his life in this migration. Nearby Watertown was one of the largest settlements in the state in 1868.  What is called the Watertown and Waterloo Landskroner and German Settlement Areas would stretch as far west as Sun Prairie, WI.

Sacramental Record Josef Dusek Birth and Baptism

Josef and Anna's second oldest son, Martin, would marry Amelia Duscheck in East Bristol in 1877.  You can read about their marriage and early life here.  Amelia was born in the Town of Milford, Jefferson County on the last day of the year in 1859.  Amelia was the daughter of Josef Dusek and his second wife Rosalie Belenka; they were married in 1851.  Josef and family arrived in North America through the port of Quebec in what is thought to be August 1854. From there he came to Wisconsin and signed his Intention to become a Citizen of the United States; which he did on March 10, 1858 in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Eventually he signed the Petition to become a Citizen on February 21, 1860.  While from Bohemia, Josef and Rosalie are thought to be of German heritage and their ancestors had settled in what is termed the Landskroner region of Bohemia. During WWII when Roy Hovel, my father, was with the 83rd infantry division near Neuss and Dusseldorf, he wrote home: “had been at Neuss as you probably learned from the papers. Just across the river from Dusseldorf where Daddy’s relation from his mother’s side are from.”  I am not sure what they knew about the history of the Duscheck side coming from Bohemia as both Josef and Rosalie were born in Bohemia.  Perhaps other relatives still lived in Germany.

Part Dolni Chrastany Plat Map
Just north of Stream is some of Franz Havel (Habel) land

What is notable about Josef Duscheck, between children sired by two wives, by looking at his descendants it seems that near one half of Sun Prairie back in 1960 could trace relation to him.  Having departed from Horni Houtevec (Czech name, German name is Hertersdorf), they moved to Sun Prairie from the Town of Milford in Jefferson County sometime in 1867, or early 1868.  Rosalie, was perhaps the last representative of a pioneer family of the Sun Prairie area.  She left a major mark on the small village upon her death in 1921, as is telling from this article:

Last Friday morning, Oct. 14, 1921, the tolling of the church bell marked the passing of one of our pioneer women, the second oldest person in our village. Although her many friends knew she could not be with us long, at the last her going was very sudden. Grandma Duscheck, as she was known to her many grandchildren and a large circle of friends has left a void not easily filled. Had she lived until Feb. 3, 1922 she would have been ninety-three years old.

Rosalia Belenka was born in Hertersdorf, Austria, in 1829. She spent her girlhood days there till when was married in 1851 to Joseph Duscheck.

Three years later they came to America. They were nine weeks on the ocean in a sailing vessel and their oldest son, Rudolph, was born a day before landing at Quebec. They went first to Watertown, where they lived on a farm till 1867, when they moved to the farm in Bristol Township, which was to be the family home for many years.

 In 1877 Joseph Duscheck died, leaving his widow with six of the nine children who had been born to them and five step-children, which were Mr. Duscheck's children by a former marriage. Mrs. Duscheck showed her courage and business ability in managing the farm and looking after her children, three of whom were very young when their father died. In 1891 she moved to this village with her son, Edward, with whom she has made her home ever since. 

Mrs. Duscheck endured the hard work and privations of a pioneer woman with unfailing courage and cheerfulness. She was not only a devoted wife and mother but a true friend, beloved by a great circle of friends. She was a most devout Christian finding her great pleasure in attending mass; for nearly thirty years she scarcely missed a day, starting out every morning in spite of the most severe storms until three years ago when she became confined to the house and a little later to her bed. Her greatest lament was that she could no longer attend service.

In Rosalie's eyes the last gift she was given was when her children hauled in her a wheel chair to the newly completed Sacred Hearts Church in Sun Prairie, "where she found a great joy in praying at the altar.

"

Grandma Duscheck with daughter Anne
and grandchild Marion

The immigration of the Duscheck and the Hovel families was part of a chain migration as the whole family departed and found settlement in German-Czech settlements in Wisconsin.  In effect they were not uprooted as much as transplanted as the community to which they moved held many of the same traditions as the places from which they had come.  In the case of the Hovel side, at least one resident of Dolni Chrastany, Jacob Fitzl (who arrived in Baltimore in Nov 1866 and made his way to Wisconsin), was already in Jefferson County, and he would marry their oldest daughter, Anna.  The Duscheck's would find commonality from their community with names like Suchomel, Langer, Motl, Benish, Huebel, Mautz and Blaska (to name a few) that hail from the Landskroner region.  As we see the Hovel side was involved in chain migration.  What about the Sweeney side?

Rosalie Belenka Duscheck Sacramental Baptismal and Birth Record

I lack evidence of whether John and Mary O'Connor Sweeney were part of a chain migration to the United States, but they left at a time not uncommon for movement to the United States, although it was probably after the potato famine.  John and Mary Sweeney, (my great great grandparents on my mother's side) were from Ireland, and it is believed they and whatever children (Including my great grandfather John C) they had at that point emigrated to the United States.  Their migration is thought to have occurred when their son John Charles was about nine years old, so about 1856.  They were not farmers, but had other trades.  One of our relatives, Great Aunt Dora, indicates that John was a stone mason and then she relates him to an architect today so he was likely a master stone mason.  John Charles, was involved in a much different operation in the United States.  He was mining coal in the underground mines near Arnot, PA in 1880.

1880 Census Showing John C Sweeney Occupation as a Miner

It appears that Sweeney family perhaps mined, ran a hotel for a short while and then returned to mining in Arnot, PA where my grandfather Leo F Sweeney, Sr was born. It is here that a strike occurred and they decided that new employment was needed.  Due to the coal mine strike the oldest son, John was sent to Chicago to gain employment and provide information on job opportunities.  John was about 12 years of age and he would live with his Aunt Nora (his mother Bridget's sister) and her husband Martin Roche.  John found work at a meat packing house, and sent back a message that the rest of the family should move to Chicago.  His father, John Charles would also take up work at a meat packing house and did so until about 1908 (per death record).  The last seven or so years as a foreman.  While many deride the meat packing houses of Chicago, the conditions of which were popularized by Upton Sinclair in his novel The Jungle, maybe the conditions of the meat packing house were better than those in the coal mines of Pennsylvania.  The meat packing industry provided a fresh start for the John C Sweeney family. Grandpa Leo Sweeney's oldest brother would become a meat broker.  Leo worked for John at one time, although John laid him off on Christmas Eve during the depression.

Sweeney Family Photo, Circa 1900
John C is in front row kneeling, Bridget is is front row, 2nd from right
Grandfather Leo is to right of John C.  John Sweeney is back row right

John Charles would see his grandchildren of his youngest son Leo all go on to graduate from college.  Not only that, they would attend Catholic boarding secondary schools in Prairie du Chien, WI.  What makes this important, was that my mother was a classmate with my Dad's sister at St Mary's Academy in Prairie du Chien.  My mother's aunt, Sister Constance taught grades 7 and 8 at Sacred Hearts school from 1937 to 1941, and we know Mom and her siblings would visit their aunt during the summers.  It may have been on one of those visits, or later in time when Anita, whose home parish was Sacred Hearts, met up with her school friend and took her to family home on County N.  As lore goes, my Mom saw my Dad working in the fields, shirtless on a tractor. Well, you get the rest. So the story goes.  We do know our parents met because of the St Mary's connection. 

Stefan Eireiner in Duetschland Ship Log, 1871
3rd from top

Stephen Eireiner, my Mom's grandfather, was a lone-wolf arrival in the United States.  He traveled by himself on the long journey from Germany to his arrival in NY NY on Oct 9, 1871 aboard the Duestchland. He was just shy of 23 years of age. He then had to travel from New York to Chicago.  It is possible he may have had some relation in Chicago, but more research is needed.  Stephen first took up his occupation as a bootmaker, ie cobbler.  My mother's maternal grandparents would meet in Chicago and Stephen Eireiner would marry Franziska Leidenheimer on June 3, 1877.

Great Grandmother Franziska Eireiner with Children
Grandma Amanda is in front row

Franziska likely arrived in the US about 1872.  When they married Stephen was still a cobbler, but during their marriage he became a grocer, and then at the time of his death was a tavern owner.  Their union produced seven children during a marriage that lasted just under 16 years as Stephen died in 1894.  What is highly notable here is that Franziska by necessity would need to take full care and earnings for a family that had seven children, with the oldest being 14 and the youngest, my grandmother, having just turned two.  It is not like she had social security to assist.  This would be a major challenge to any man or woman today, but think about supporting and raising seven children by yourself in the later part of the 19th century. Franziska was a women with a deep religious faith and a member of the third order of Franciscans.  Two daughters and one son would find their calling in a religious life.

Franziska Leidenheimer Reiner

In this blog post, I have identified several notable stories among my ancestors. Most involved a change, a time of transition or alteration of direction.  In many cases the change was due to immigration or marriage, but others like the case of Franziska Eireiner (Reiner) was due to the death of her husband.  What is important is our ancestors faced economic challenges, pandemics, food shortages, diseases and personal health challenges.  They persevered.  They survived. They took advantage of opportunities to find a better life for  themselves and/or for their children.  They passed down critical values of faith, and hard work.  That is what is most notable about our ancestors.

Images from family archives and online databases