Dum

Continuing with the theme of the prior two posts about the life of my ancestors in 18th and 19th century Bohemia, this post will primarily be on house numbering, and their dum (Czech with a little o above the u), or house was like.  One thing is quite clear, these houses may look large, but much of the space was for the animals or farm equipment, not for people. From the varied surveys completed and air photos of today we can get an idea of the houses in which my ancestors lived. My 3rd great grandfather, Frantisek Hawel moved to Dolni Chrastany about the time of his marriage from Ratiborova Lhota, which for all intents and purposes is the ancestral village for the family that provides my surname.  

II Military Survey
Dolni Chrastany

House numbering is a great identifier for houses and associated lots. When I first started working at Fitchburg they had many records filed by parcel number, on the idea that parcel numbers don't change, but an address could. Low and behold, a few years after I started working there the county changed the parcel numbering system.  Luckily the planning and zoning records were filed by address. House numbers are vital to a variety of records today, and were vital to records back in the 18th and 19th century Bohemia. In the latter part of the 18th century we start to see records referring to house numbers. This often gives an easy clue when searching through records as the house number pops out more easily than does the name. I can read the number, but often have trouble reading the name, without in-depth study.

Dolni Chrastany Indication Map, ~1837

Empress Maria Theresia, who ruled from 1740 until her death in 1780, made many prominent reforms to benefit of the peasant class in the Austro-Hungarian empire. In February 1770 she issued a proclamation regarding house numbering. In Bohemia, and other areas of the empire, the system was started in fall of 1770 and completed within about one year. The first number, No. 1, was for a prominent building in the village, perhaps a manor house, or a monastery. The numbering then went counter clockwise. The numbering pattern was determined by an Imperial Committee.  If the village lacked an important house, the committee would probably choose which house would be given the first house number, No. 1.  Of course, there were different settlement patterns and so alterations, or adjustments occurred at the discretion of the committee.  Afterwards, when a new house was constructed the next sequential number was assigned from where the numbering had left off, regardless of position in the village. For example, peasant Joe was granted a right by his domain for control of property and was allowed to build a house in Ratiborova Lhota.  Let's further say the village had 20 house numbers assigned in 1771, and Joe, constructing his house in 1772, is the first to build a house since the numbering system went into effect in 1771.  He builds on a parcel between houses 12 and 13.  His house would be assigned number 21.  Hence a weird break not consistent with our sequential method of assigning addresses. 

Dolni Chrastany, present day house numbering

The following image is of a parish book which contains Ratiborova Lhota among other villages.  The left side of the image is for the last part of 1770 and the first part of 1771.  January 1771 is carried over the right side.  (The full page is not part of the image, but click here to see the full page. ) The prior page in the book did not have a space for a house number. One can see that in the latter part of 1770 the priest has provided a column on the far right side where he is anticipating the house number. In January 1771, on the right, some entries are now including house numbers.  

1770 to 1771 Parish Register 
In Jan. 1771 one can see some house numbers (right edge)
 are starting to be used

The Stable Cadastre Indication maps, discussed in a previous post, provide both parcel and address. In Ratiborova Lhota the Hawel house (see below image), which Frantisek left upon marriage to Teresia Jiral in 1769 was house #15. This seems to have been the Hawel house site back to the early 1600's, and was the house in which Frantisek was born.  As shown in the image below (house #15, parcel #70), this house and associated buildings had more of a J shape, and consequently an almost fully enclosed courtyard.  We know a house was present in 1771 as records indicate the family at the property in the early 17th century (1603). It was, however, the last numbered house in the village as just to its right is house #1 and to its left #14. One clear difference,  to Frantisek's house in Dolni Chrastany is that many of the outer buildings are wood rather than masonry buildings. The only masonry building shown in the stable cadastre is the front portion, a portion of which was probably the main dwelling. While the land associated with house #15 was not owned by a Hawel at the time of the Stable Cadastre that does not mean it was not a relative who owned the property.  

Ratiborova Lhota, Former Hawel House 
on parcel #70, Stable Cadastre Indication Map

Dolni Chrastany's map is easier to read than Ratiborova Lhota. House numbers for the village are in red, the black numbers are parcel numbers (which is funny since the outer lands the parcel numbers are red, and house numbers are black). Given that house 18 is between 17 and 19 we can discern that the house, or a version of the house, was present in 1771 when numbering was assigned. One can see a number of changes since the Stable Cadastre map to present day. The Stable Cadastre shows a long narrow building set to the left side of the lot with two additions or buildings forming an upside down L (as view with north at the top).  

Hawel House Cadastre Survey Final Map
The House is on Parcel #23

In Dolni Chrastany, the former Jiral house is an upside down L and is parcel #23.  Looking closely at the above image with the upside down L, you can see two different colors, one is red and the other yellow.  The red color indicates a brick building and yellow a wood building.  If you compare the 19th century stable cadastre to the present day map you see that a court yard is formed by #18 having built across the front of its property.  The remaining buildings appear to still remain, including the (what then, may not be today) wood upside down L shape remain. However, another masonry building exists to the right side. The 1965 to 1990 real estate map for Dolni Chrastany provides an indication of the buildings that are assigned to house #18 (parcel #23 in the below map).  Since at least the 19th century parcels numbers have not changed in Dolni Chrastany, unlike here in Dane County when they changed in the 1990's. 

Present day#18 (parcel #23)
Unlike Dane Co., WI these parcel numbers have
not changed since at least the 1830's.

Josef Hawel and his family departed Dolni Chrastany 31 years after the completion of the Stable Cadastre in 1837 for Dolni Chrastany.  The second military survey (completed from 1836- 1852) shows an arrangement similar to the 1837 map. Josef may have put the addition on the house, but perhaps it is more likely to have been completed by a later owner.  The addition, with the first narrow but deep house is what is prominent in the 1993 photo of the former family home. The house now spans side yard to side yard. This 1993 photo seems to show a home with a stucco coating. 

Hawel House 18 Dolni Chrastnay
Photo by MB Hovel, 1993
The house was not this wide in 1837

But, what about construction of the home, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries? Original Bohemian construction was of wood timbers, often square timbers. Square timber construction was particularly in use in the later part of the 17th century. These log homes, with white chinking, would have probably had a dirt floor, and open fire. Wood homes usually had thatched or grass roofs.  Thatch roofs in a cold climate requiring heat probably posed a major fire issue. The log home was built on a stone foundation.  However, at some point masonry construction, rock, stucco, or perhaps from adobe bricks, became the norm. The adobe bricks could have been homemade.  One commentator indicates that the move to masonry homes was by order of Maria Theresa. There is also a construction method  using wood forms and stamping clay down between the forms with mallets to form the walls.  The forms would be moved up the wall as the height of the wall advanced as the clay was compacted. Masonry homes generally had clay tile as the roofing material, but the interior support was most likely wood beams and joists. Whichever method of construction, the walls were probably much thicker than what we see in stick built homes of today.  With all the masonry there would have been good sound deadening capabilities. Windows were generally double pane, with one window flush with the inside wall, and the other flush with the outside wall, so no window sill. It may be possible that masonry, or stucco cladding occurred over the original timber construction. Dirt floors, common in early homes gradually gave way to wood plank or clay tile flooring.  Clay flooring was particularly in use in the kitchen due to the open fire or wood stove.  

Small Log Home in Slovakia
Image from Czech Genealogy for Beginners

Most houses had an interior courtyard, but that is not the case with the Hawel house as one side was partially open to the street.  An enclosed courtyard came to be in place sometime after the second military survey. Thus, the Hawel dum had an adaptation from the standard plan, which, looking at Dolni Chrastany was not untypical. The following floor plans show interior courtyards (of plans I am able to locate) and most closely resemble the Hawel house. Simply place some of the right-hand farm buildings to the left beyond the house, leave part of a right-hand building in place and you get close to the Hawel home. The wood structures may have been the three sided buildings with a roof, for storage and some animals. Orientation of the spaces is not necessarily as important as what is going on in the home. Further down in the post are two floor plans with the room designation in red.  

 Log House in 2016 in Rtyne, Bohemia
dates from about 1547-1548
For source and more information see this link

The living quarters was comprised of perhaps two to three rooms, with the living room serving as a bedroom. From looking at the "outbuildings" on Google maps I surmise that the Hawel house in Dolni Chrastany was probably 20 to 22 feet in width.  Depth of the living quarters is more difficult to contemplate. Mapping shows us that the length of the two main legs for the "out" buildings was nearly 200 feet. For many peasants the house was occupied by a great number of people--the family, usually extended family, and for some sedlacks, probably some workers and their families. Most peasant homes would only have one living room/bedroom. Not much space for privacy, and it is a wonder the families were so big. 

Plan 1

Plan 2
Plan 1 and 2 from: Czech Genealogy for Beginners.

Floor plan 2 is of interest, since we know that Frantisek Hawel, at the time of his death in 1847 was living in what was termed the outer house, which would be the ancillary dwelling unit, which in plan 2 is to the lower right, marked secondary dwelling.  They still would have joined the family for meals in the kitchen, or perhaps in the living room/bedroom. As today, the kitchen was the focal point of the house.

As the focal point of the house, where the cooking, cleaning and eating was usually done, the kitchen was the one room that had heat. Light for the kitchen would come from a large window.  The kitchen cooking, and the heating for the home would generally come from a kuchyne, or open fire. The floor around the open fire, originally of dirt would later become clay tile.  A wood beam would likely have existed at the ceiling, and a conical shaped chimney would have been at that point.  Clearly, the chance of fires was great, and that likely led to the proclamation for primarily masonry construction. Wood stoves did not start to appear in peasant homes in Bohemia until the first third of the 19th century, so say about 1800 to 1835. Frantisek would likely have spent most of his life in a home with an open fire.  Although, I have heard from others that some of their descendants from Eastern Europe had open fire until the 20th century. If the family, being sedlacks, changed from open to wood stove in about 1815, most of Josef's (born 1808) life would have been with an wood stove.  

Cross Section of a typical Bohemian Home
with Open Fire, see chimney and ceiling shape
(#'s 10 and 11)
Source: Vernacular Architecture in Czech Villages

Given that they were peasants in a climate not unlike that of Wisconsin, the house required heating, and the open fire or wood stove would have provided the method of heat.  What they used to heat with may have been wood, or soft coal, or perhaps a combination.  Frantisek died of lungenshut, often referred to as lung sickness. if he had TB, it probably would have been marked as consumption. However, another theory is that the burning of soft brown coal for heat may have been part of the issue. Brown coal was a common heat source in Eastern Europe. The breathing in of the toxic fumes may well have led to his lung disease.  

Ratiborova Lhota, Stable Cadastre Indication Map
(German name Melhutka) about 1837

As sedlack peasant farmers, the Hawel family in Dolni Chrastany could probably afford a stove earlier than peasants on the lower rungs of the socio-economic scale in Eastern Europe. The stove would have decreased the chances of fire, even in cases of masonry construction, and the ability to suffer from a lung disorder. As I write this, on a Monday, sitting in a house with forced air heat and is about 65 degrees, with an outdoor temperature below zero, I can only imagine what it have been like living in the cold rooms of Bohemia with little heat, but that produced from an open fire, and maybe later a stove.  I am sure they had a lot of blankets to keep them warm.  Perhaps the blankets muffled the sound of nocturnal marital activity. More important than the house and its construction are the activities of the family and residents of the dum (house), that lead to it being a domov (home). Making a dum a domov is on what a future blog post will focus.

Sources:

http://czechgenealogy.nase-koreny.cz/2015/08/houses-of-our-ancestors-part-i-farm.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263850065_Vernacular_architecture_in_Czech_villages

http://www.oxfordjctgenealogy.com/main/?page_id=208

Cadastre Survey (~1837)

II Military Survey