Rudy

One hundred thirty-five years ago, on July 21 1887, my paternal grandfather Rudolph J Hovel was born. He lacked a birth certificate, but later had affidavits attesting to his birth date filed by two persons, his brother Ed, and cousin Andrew Scheuerell. His father, Martin, was an immigrant from Bohemia, arriving in the US in July 1868, and his mother, Amelia (Duscheck), was a first generation American born to parents, Josef and Rosalie, who emigrated from Bohemia with half siblings and a full sibling in August 1854. Rudy was small of stature, but his worn hands, and leathered face from years of hard work in the sun attested to his occupation. His small stature, which belied his strength, contrasted with the size of his son and many of his grandsons. Rudy's life is a microcosm of the journey of the United States, from an immigrant nation to a industrial and knowledge power house. 

Martin Hovel Family, Rudy to left
Source: David Dixon

Rudolph James Hovel was born into a farm family, in a non-descript wooden frame farm house, ten years after his father broke the deep prairie sod on the north central Iowa prairie. The only buildings among the rail lines that converged in nascent Manly,  which was platted in 1877, when Martin and Amelia Hovel arrived were the train depot and a general store. They were pioneers to this part of the nation. Rudy's mom would do the laundry of other people in order to afford postage to send letters to her family members in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Washing other peoples underwear could not have been a pleasant task. The first known photograph of the Martin Hovel family was taken about 1896 or 1897, and Rudy and his next older brother Ed were in suits made by his mom.  Rudy and Ed's suits were made of wool which Amelia prepared (carded) the wool and spun the yarn on her home spinning wheel. Amelia was a true Land Girl. Rudy's oldest sibling, Joe, wore his first store bought suit, which set the family back $8.00.  Store bought suit, and a family photo--it was a big day for the Martin Hovel family. 

Rudy Hovel Farm, Section 34, 1913 Plat Map

As a young boy Rudy worked on the family farm, and attended school. He had interest in music, playing the guitar and fiddle. As a young man he and his brother Ed would play at barn dances and  house parties with Rudy on the guitar and Ed on the fiddle. He likely would have attended the one room school house only about a third of a mile west of the farmhouse in which he grew up. He would obtain a tenth grade education. The railroad line to Manly went through a the eastern corner of the farm, so I doubt he hooked a ride on the railroad.

Passport Photo
Source: Family archives

By the time Rudy married Ida Pitzenberger in 1913 Rudy was recognized, in a news article on the wedding announcement as "needing no introduction to the Manly people as he has grown to manhood on his father's farm about one mile south of town. He is one of Worth County's most prosperous young farmers." Ida and Rudy were married by Fr Rubley on Tuesday, 4 Feb 1913, at St Mary's Church in Festina, IA, Ida's home church. Ida was attended by her sister, Tilly, while Rudy, wearing the conventional black, was attended by Emil Witty. 

Wedding Photo
Source: Family archives

Their first date would show how important the two of them viewed their Catholic faith. Grandpa first saw the woman he would marry, Ida Pitzenberger, when visiting the Pitzenberger Brothers store, which was owned by some of her brothers and where she clerked. Or, perhaps at church. One day, while at the store, he asked her to go with him to Vespers at church later in the week. That would be their first date. 

Anita, Rudy and Roy
Source: Family archives

One of the reasons Rudy and Ida moved to Sun Prairie was for their two children, Roy Bernard, and Anita Agatha, to attend Catholic Schools.  Elementary school at Sacred Hearts in Sun Prairie, and then both attended Catholic secondary boarding schools in Prairie du Chien, WI. Rudy saw to it that both his children at least obtained a bachelors degree. Rudy and Ida recognized the importance of a good education. I suspect he saw how the world was changing with mechanization likely to affect farming as a livelihood. Her certainly knew that diversification in occupations was growing. I view that move to Sun Prairie as critical move for Rudy's descendants.

Rudy and Ida with son Roy 
at High School Graduation
Source: Madalyn Conklin

Sun Prairie was also the home of his mother's family. Other factors may have played into the move to Wisconsin. For example, the KKK was active in parts of Iowa persecuting Catholics, Jews and Blacks, which may have been part of push factor for migration. My brother Joe recalls Ed and Rudy discussing KKK activity and the burning of Catholic Churches in Iowa. The KKK, according to a friend of mine who has researched his family, was present in Cottage Grove, but, in contrast, Sun Prairie had deep Catholic roots--many set by the Duscheck family, and KKK activity may not have been as prevalent. Rudy was active in the Church and in 1942 was elected president of the Holy Name Society for his Sun Prairie parish. Rudy and Ida were regulars on the parish festival circuit, visiting and eating dinner at the varied parish festivals that were held every summer; my brother John was a regular attendee with them. Years earlier,  in 1933, Ida was the person in charge of the dinner held on both Sunday and Monday in late November for the Sacred Hearts fall festival. Regarding his faith, Rudy was a man ahead of his time. He loved, and respected his church, but at times questioned the arrogance, pride and clericalism of some priests. He was known to have said, "The walls of hell are lined with the souls of priests." As events in the Church unfolded after his death, he turned out to be rather prescient in this observation. My mom used to say that Rudy had done only the required minimum farm chores on Sunday, well observing the commandment--keep holy the sabbath. 

50th Wedding Anniversary
Source: Family archives

A generally quiet man, who I recall often said little. But, he was a man of action. He was a committee member of the Catholic Peace Committee formed in 1939 to protest the growing desire for war. War, of course, would come at the end of 1941, and he would support the effort, with his only son serving with distinction and receiving the bronze star. Support of the war effort of course, involved growing food, cutting down on use of fuel, and certain metals, and reusing and recycling. He served on the town board, and as a County Conservation Commissioner.  As a farmer, Rudy was important to the overall well-being of the country. He did his share for family, faith, and town. 

1955 Air Photo of Sun Prairie Farm
Source: dcimap

Rudy would farm the family homestead in Iowa at a time when farming was the major occupation in the nation. He had a smaller farm operation in 1915 compared to his older brothers, and made $458 per the 1915 Iowa census. That same record reports a debt of $4,500 with a total farm value of $15,600. We do know that he was mainly milking cows (eleven milk cows), but also had a few swine, and 160 poultry. His proclivity for milking cows would be similar to the prime farm activity in Wisconsin, so perhaps that played a roll in his 1929 move to Wisconsin. In the 1915 Iowa census he did not have sheep, although we know he had sheep later in his operation. Given the importance of horse power for farming in 1915 he had five horses at two plus years of age and one colt. He would operate a more mechanized farm operation upon taking on 160 acres in Sun Prairie, WI in 1929. Even with the Great Depression, which started a few months after he bought the Sun Prairie farm, he paid off the farm debt in 1936. In May of 1937 he had a lien from International Harvester Company of America for a tractor, and the note was paid off in December of the same year. Perhaps that was the same tractor that my brother Joe drove. One day a young Joe was putting Grandpa's F-20 tractor in the shed and his leg was to short to fully disengage the clutch so the front of the tractor hit the shed wall. Nothing was said, as Grandpa drove Joe home. The next day Grandpa asked Joe to get the tractor out of the shed and Joe tried to decline, but Grandpa said that "you can do it." Getting on the tractor Joe noticed that Grandpa had "bolted a 2” thick wood block on the clutch and had a piece of tire fastened to that", Joe, further noted that "I have that tractor here and think of that incident every time I see the bolt holes in the pedal." Joe learned important values from helping Rudy on the farm--hard work, perseverance, and I would add, ingenuity with home-made solutions to problems.

1915 IA Census Comparison of the Rudy and his brothers
1910 census information is in first rows
Compilation by Author

By the time of Rudy's death farming was decreasing as an occupation in the nation. Human power has been supplanted by technology and equipment innovations that continue to make it possible to farm more land with fewer persons. Of course, this all adds to equipment cost, meaning that large corporate farms and their economies of scale would have a leg up on smaller farm operations. In 1915 Rudy, probably just a few years into farming on his own, operated a diversified farm operation similar to his brothers. It may have meant more work and equipment, but he had the ability to offset a decrease in price or infestation of a crop or animal herd, through having other crops and animals available. Rudy made investments in his farming operations by purchase of varied pieces of equipment. 

Dinner on the Queen Mary--1956
Source: Madalyn Conklin

Diversification also appeared in his stock holdings, favoring companies that were growing in the middle part of the last century, investing in some during the war years. Rudy purchased stocks in national companies such as Sears, Maytag, International Harvester, General Motors, and Standard Oil. He invested in what he bought and saw the then nation's appetite for convenience appliances, farm equipment, motor vehicles and gasoline. He also bought local stocks, Cerro Gordo Building Company (Iowa), Anchor Savings and Loan, Oscar Mayer. We have Amazon to order and deliver goods, he had Sears from which he could place a catalog order and have the goods delivered. 

Rudy at his Florida Home
Source: Family archives

He owned and operated a standard 160 acre farm, but his hard work allowed him to have some prosperity, beating the odds as Agricultural Historian John Shrover has said that farming was not a very  profitable enterprise. I think Rudy's hard work, and ingenuity made it profitable for him and his family. His diversification in farming and in stocks allowed he and Ida to purchase a home in Hollywood, FL in 1965, joining the growing trend of snowbirds. When farming Grandpa did most of the outdoor farm work himself, apparently not desiring his wife to perform as many farm chores as his Land Girl mother. He likely even tended the chickens, which was generally work left to the woman, according to Shrover. Ida did not drive and Rudy would make his way back from the fields to take Ida to a church meeting, such as the St Ann's Guild, or some other meeting she may have needed to attend. They were a one car family, which would be an oddity in today's world. He treated his wife like a queen. I treat my wife like a Land Girl.

Playing Croquet on his 90th Birthday
Source: Family archives

A heart attack would take his long-time spouse, of 57 years, and leave him to attend to life's trials and journey as a single man. Just after Grandma died in 1970, Grandpa and my aunt were searching for a dress for her to wear in her casket, when he came upon one he had not seen. It was a dress she had bought anticipating his funeral when he was very ill at one point. Rudy would live to the end of the decade, living almost nine years without his cherished spouse. He would continue to enjoy life. Given that there are more elderly ladies than men, I suspect he enjoyed the attention of the older women. 

Grandson Steve and Rudy
Source: Family archives

What Grandpa Hovel did like to do, and was still capable at age 90, was play lawn games. He was quite good at croquet, and bocce and other games. I am not sure if I got my killer croquet instinct from him, but it is sure possible. Most impressive was his ability to still blow out all ninety candles on his birthday cake in one breath. He did not leave a candle for any girlfriend, as the old tale goes. We all cherished our Sunday visits to the farm, just north of Sun Prairie. As the Angell Park race cars began time trials, we would be eating ice cream in the home's summer kitchen. As the older adults talked we kids would explore the house and the barns--so much to see and do with secret passages and hidden rooms. The parlor, at the street front of the house, with its pocket doors, was the one room seemingly off-limits. Peaking into the parlor seemed to be a step back in time, although much of the house was like that. Houses and barns are not constructed the same way today, and so young children miss the adventures an old house and farm outbuildings provided. 

90th Birthday Party Family Photo
Source: Family archives

Grandpa Rudy was a man of his time, with traits, values, foibles, and lifestyle common to many citizens and farmers of the time. It was a time when people not only attended Church, but dressed up, men usually wearing a tie. He persevered at trying times, working hard to limit debt, sending his two children to private schools, and was able to own two houses. A lasting memory of Rudy is his strong, worn, thick calloused hands dealing cards in playing euchre, or wielding a croquet mallet. He was a man of his times, and we are all better for having known him. Grandpa lived through changing times, born when horse and steam power were prevalent, he departed life with gas and electric motors, nuclear power, and a variety of convenience appliances not thought about in 1887. He lived an honorable and meaningful life of which we should be cognizant; his story is part of the full American story.