Heritage

When I was growing up, I, and perhaps most if not all of my siblings, thought of our ancestry in relation to our grandparents and their parents. From this we discerned our nationalities. All of my grandparents were born in the United States, two in rural parts of Iowa, and two in Chicago. Of my 8 great grandparents, only one was born in the United States (Amelia Duscheck in Jefferson Co, WI), two born in Ireland, and two known to be born in Germany (mother's maternal line) and the other four (Hovel side) we always thought were born in Germany. Hence, we always concluded that we were 75% German and 25% Irish. However, nationality, or perhaps heritage, or ancestry, is not what we always think it is.

223 and Me Relational spread

Later, when a sister and a brother started to take a deep dive into Hovel family origins it was realized that our paternal grandfather's family, (Hovel line) was from Bohemia, what is now the Czech Republic. There were guesses as to where my paternal grandmother's father (Mathias Pitzenberger) was from, generally thought to be Germany, which was emphasized by a letter my Dad wrote while in WWII in which he stated he was across from Dusseldorf, where "mother had some relations." My brother and sister would discover that our paternal grandmother's mother (Teresia Kamen) was from Bohemia, and as it turns out not too distant from where the Hovel family lived prior to emigration to the US. My Dad always thought, until that discovery, that the Hovel family was from Germany. Culturally, that may have been, but jurisdictionally that was not the case, as can be shown by DNA. Ethnically, the situation may be murky unless I can find and test DNA of my grandfather. 

My Ancestry--23 and Me 

It was in June several years ago that I took a swab of my DNA as part of 23 and Me. I had been given the DNA test as a Father's Day gift. The results were somewhat surprising given what I had known of my heritage at the time, Mostly German, part Czech, and 25% Irish. DNA is being used to help solve crimes, but to also free some that had been convicted. It also leads to connections of people with surnames I have never heard of, which shows the breadth of how interconnected the world really is. There is caution in use of DNA, however. First, the database becomes more accurate the more persons are in the database. Second, there was the case in the early use of DNA where triplets each took a DNA test and results came back with marked differences in ancestry. DNA is complicated and of the strands only 1% is generally unique to the person. This video can help explain. Enjoy the Irish accent.

My DNA, going on the assumption that it is rather accurate, shows that I am 83.8% French--German (German), 10.3% Britain and Irish, so much for that 25%. That leaves about 5.45 for Eastern European (Czech). With a bit undefined. Genetically, the German heritage is strongest, leaving the others to pull up the back end. This leaves the thought, how can this be?  

First, let me tackle my mother's father. He and his wife were both born in Ireland, but Irish records are scant and difficult to trace, and hence I only know who my 2nd great grandparents were, but only based on family lore, and in one case the birth record of my great grandmother. It is odd that only 10% is Ireland (County Clare, which is correct), which makes me wonder what happened to the other 15%? Could it be related to the database, a quirk in the DNA (recombinant) or perhaps, the Sweeney, O'Connor's, Cleary's and others had varied German influence from centuries back? I may never know. I do know that one sister is a big celebrant of St Patrick's Day, showing that culturally her Irish surpasses her German genetics in that case. Although, she clearly has Germanic traits that show up in her personality. St Patrick himself was not Irish but from Wales born in the fifth century as Maewyn Succat, proving that you do not need to have Irish ancestry.

I think it is pretty much a given, that my mom's maternal side is German, and while I have her Reiner side only back to the second great grandfather in Bavaria, I do have the Leidenheimer side back several generations, due to work of a common ancestor. 

My Grandma Hovel's father, I found out a few years ago, came from Austria, and here again I lose records before about 1800, and have yet to find a nearby church that may have their records. Austria was part of the Anschluss of WWII, with Hitler of Austrian ancestry, claiming it as part of Germany. 

1930 Czech Regions of German Speakers
Commonly known as the Sudetenland

Now, for the long explanation of Germans and Czechs. The explanation for the German genetics with so many Bohemian relations can best be explained by history. This issue is related to the infamous Sudetenland. The Sudetenland results from settlement of parts of border regions of the Kingdom of Bohemia with Germany being settled by Ethnic Germans as far back as the 12th century. These settlements were on virgin land and new communities were created. Dolni Chrastany, where my 2nd great grandparents lived prior to emigration was part of the Sudetenland. Hlavatce, where my 2nd great grandmother, Anna Jodl, was from was even further east, in Hlavatce, but her family originated from an area west of Dolni Chrastany known as Laistka which was part of the Sudetendland. They moved to Hlavatce in 1720.  Genealogy is complicated as each generation doubles as you go back in time (2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, and on and on).  Hence, a few generations back you are talking a good number of people, who in this borderland may or may not have been ethnic German. Interestingly, the Hovel (Havel) family is traced back to about 1585 or so, with the known ancestral village as Ratiborova Lhota, which although closer to the German border, but was not part of the Sudetenland. Josef Havel,  my second great grandfather was the first known in this ancestral line able to read and write. It appears that he knew German. Things are complicated in terms of language not only by where a person was from, but that Bohemia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire where German was the official language. Dolni Chrastany is only about 25 miles from the border with Germany, but although the Hovel ancestral village (back to 1585) is a few miles closer to Germany it was not a significant settlement for Germans, according to detailed studies, and not part of the Sudetenland.

Dolni Chrastany and Ratiborova Lhota 
in relation to Sudetenland border
Courtesy of Richard D' Amelio

Then there is Teresia Kamen Pitzenberger, my paternal grandmothers mother. She was born in Ujezd, Bohemia, and spoke Czech, but also likely knew a bit of German. Ujzed appears out of the Sudetenland, but as with the Hovel and Jodl families, her ancestors came from varied locales in the region. In fact her paternal line hails from Prestice, Bohemia, moving to Ujezd in the mid 1700's. Prestice is about 45 miles north of Ujezd.

Kamen, US immigration arrival form

My Dad's maternal grandmother, Amelia Duscheck was part of the German-Bohemian migration, with the known relations being from northeastern Bohemia. Much work has been done on the this area referred to as Landskron and their immigration to the US, with significant settlement pockets in Jefferson County to Dane County, WI. When I look back at many of the surnames you find in Sun Prairie, they are related to the Landskroners--Motl, Skalicky, Blaska, Schuster, Langer, Benisch, Suchomel, and many others.

Jacob Fitzl arrival immigration form

The Hovel family emigrated from Bohemia in 1868 and first settled between Jefferson and Fort Atkinson. Jacob Fitzl, who hailed from Dolni Chrastany arrived in 1866 with his immigration record clearly listing "Bohem" as country of origin (no nationality listed) and Milwaukee as destination. He would marry the oldest daughter of my second great grandparents, Josef and Anna (nee Jodl) Havel at St John's Church in Jefferson. Josef Havel's 1868 arrival form also identifies Bohemia as place of origin and has nationality as Bohemia. Given Jacob's arrival in the US, this likely represents what is known a chain migration. Teresia Kamen, who proudly had Ujezd Bohemia on her death prayer card had, noted on her arrival form as being from Germany with Germany listed as her nationality. 

Josef Hawel, US arrival immigration form

What I can conclude is that the area of the Hovel and Kamen ancestors had an intermixing, a melting pot, if you will between Germans and Czechs. Some parts of Czechia would have seen similar melting pots, such as between Poles Czechs, Hungarians and Czechs or Austrians and Czechs, not to mention Slovaks and Czechs. There are even Ukrainians and Czechs. There was not only intermarriage between the ethnicities, but also internal migration occurred over time, sometimes much greater distances than I would have thought. The Jodl family moved a current road distance of over 26 miles from Lazistka to Hlavatce. People did what they had to do to find livelihood on a farm, and that involves movement for those not lucky to inherit the family farm. Most all were farmers and farm land was difficult to come by, as the youngest son generally purchased the farm, leaving other sons to find a farm. Some found it through marriage, like Frantisek Havel, and others by taking on abandoned claims, like the Jodl's.

Google Maps, Shows German-Czech broder
Dolni Chrastany is teardrop and about 25 mi from border
Ratiborova Lhota is southwest of Dolni Chrastany and is shown as a heart. 
Hlavatce is northeast of Dolni Chrastany.

With different ethnicities come different cultural traits. Many cultural traits were likely shared, such as religious values. Some other traits likely endured from each culture, others perhaps modified, with some dropped in favor of one over another. Places where they lived, would also have informed cultural, with those living in more German communities as being more German, and vice versa for those Czech. Frantisek Havel (my third great grandfather) moved from Ratiborova Lhota to Dolni Chrastany in 1796 to marry Teresia Jiral from Dolni Chrastany and took over her family's farm in that community. Dolni Chrastany was within the Sudetenland, and hence more German in culture than Ratiborova Lhota. A more German community, in the Sudetenland, may have represented some change for him in cultural identify. Yet, as a peasant farmer, he likely simply struggled to make ends meet, and ethic differences were less important than earning a living. Recall, from prior blogs, that to be a farmer, one had to have a spouse, otherwise the holding could be taken away from them. This is why, when a spouse died and there were children, remarriage occurred within a few months if not weeks. 

The melting pot, or assimilation of cultures, however, has taken a few times in history a back seat to ethnicity. We saw it when Hitler was handed by British Prime Minister Chamberlain the Sudetenland, without any input from the Czechs. He later took all of Czechoslovakia. But, it also happened at the end of WWII, when the Czech government undertook a forced migration, an almost ethnic cleansing, of Sudetenland areas by requiring German ethnic groups to move out. Dolni Chrastany was part of this. Jodl family members were living at 18 Dolni Chrastany in the early 1900's, but they may not have been subject to the forced migration. In the early 1990's my sister and dad visited the old country, stopping in Dolni Chrastany, and a distant relation still lived at #18. For varied reasons I see parallels between this and the Ukraine situation, where ethnic Russians dominate in east Ukraine, as Germans dominated in the Sudetenland starting in the 11th and 12th centuries. There is also the other major conflict, with forced migration is being discussed to create the Riviera of the Mideast in Gaza.

Some people do a deep dive in ancestors, such as finding relatives to a person in their tree that they are not even related to. I tend to stick to direct lines and rather than finding just a persons birth, death and marriage, I try to look at what was happening at the time, what conditions were like and other such things. This has caused me to download a number of papers. Of course, none of this is specific to my ancestors, but it does give an idea of what the general situation of their life may have been like as mainly peasant farmers. This knowledge helps inform me of not just the lifestyle of my ancestors, but major decisions they made, such as moving to the US. 

The US is truly a melting pot of nationalities, and every successive generation seems to be more so. The melting pot is on a much greater scale than that known to my ancestors in Bohemia (who were German or Czech). We are a product of our past, and the intermixing can make for a new set of values and traits. I am more an American than German. Germans don't change their underwear everyday like I do. However, my punctuality may be informed by my German heritage. 

The funny thing is as the world is more globalized than ever, and communication and travel have shortened time to travel markedly, the world has become more focused on ethnicities. You see it in Europe where countries have broken up (Former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia, and the velvet break up of Slovakia and Czechia) all based on ethnicity. Globalization, it seems, has many populations desirous to know their roots, and in some cases act on that. My DNA tells me I am more German, but jurisdictionally from place of origin, I am as much Czech as German, and perhaps more so depending upon how Austria is counted. The infamous Sudeten Germans are clearly at play in my DNA. Good luck with me trying to find my heritage back to the 11 or 12th centuries when I have trouble finding 18th century records.