Didymus

The apostle Didymus, best known as Thomas, is front and center in the Gospel reading for the second Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. This reading has the most famous reference to Thomas, John 20: 19-31. This is a unique reading as it is one of the few Sundays in a year where the same Gospel is read in each of the three cycles. So, at Sunday mass it will be read every year in the Sunday after Easter. This shows the importance of Thomas to the Easter story. This Gospel is referred to as Doubting Thomas; missing when Christ first appeared to the Apostles after his resurrection on Easter Sunday night, Thomas wanted certainty or proof of Jesus, which het got the following Sunday. The opposite of doubt could well be certainty.

The 2024 movie Conclave is now drawing significant interest among the public. One of the more memorable quotes in that movie is when the dean of the college of Cardinals, Thomas Lawrence, yes, he is named Thomas, goes off-script during a homily at the opening mass for the upcoming conclave. He says:

My brothers and sisters, in the course of a long life in the service of our Mother the Church, let me tell you that the one sin I have come to fear more than any other is certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity. Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance. Even Christ was not certain at the end. 'Eli Eli, lama sabachtani?' He cried out in His agony at the ninth hour on the cross. 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty, and if there was no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.

Famous Caravaggio Painting
Source: Google images

I am not sure that Thomas was a doubter. Doubt means that you are not sure. Thomas actually seems more certain than doubtful, John's Gospel has Thomas saying:  “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” He does not say, "Well, I am not sure, but I sure would like to see his nail marks and put my dirty finger in his side." If he is anything, Thomas is inquisitive and wants proof. I have often been compared to St Thomas the Apostle, not because I am a twin, and Thomas means twin, but because I am viewed as skeptical, and at times contrarian. One commentator says Thomas did not doubt the resurrection, he rejected it until he had proof. Of course, earlier when Jesus was to head to Judea, after the Lazurus situation all the apostles but Thomas were hesitant (John 11:16). He boldly stated the need to follow Christ. Yet, Thomas has been hung with the moniker Doubting Thomas, and that will probably stick with him in a society that desires certainty.

The quote from Conclave is quite interesting simply because so many think that belief is certainty. Yet, all have doubts, and we would not be human if we did not. One of the greatest saints of modern times, Mother Teresa had doubts. Three months before her death she confided to her spiritual advisor: “Jesus has a very special love for you,” she assured her spiritual adviser Van der Peet. “[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see,–Listen and do not hear–the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak … I want you to pray for me–that I let Him have [a] free hand.” She had a crisis of faith, and she is not alone. There was St John of the Cross who talked about his "dark night of the soul." Cardinal Lawrence in the movie admitted to a crisis of faith. Doubt is a time that allows a person to grow, and experience new ideas, thoughts and feelings. Such doubts should not be avoided, but used for wisdom and guidance.

In our polarized world, there is something to be said for doubt. Certainty can pose issues, and not all good. Certainty can lead to hubris. Donald Trump was certain about his tariffs, until he wasn't. Or until he was again. In 2021 the Federal Reserve was certain that inflation was transitory. Until it wasn't. Doubt, or questioning may have been useful at those times in policy setting. If you are certain you do not have to engage in dialogue or collaborate. You can, as suggested in the movie, lack tolerance. In the world of faith it can make ones faith a spiritual sickness, as Pope Francis said early on in his pontificate: "We have to avoid the spiritual sickness of a self–referential church. It's true that when you get out into the street, as happens to every man and woman, there can be accidents. However, if the church remains closed in on itself, self–referential, it gets old." When one becomes too certain of oneself, you risk becoming closed into yourself, a know-it-all, and pedantic. Some like the idea of being self-referential, they see themselves as the vanguard of tradition and doctrine. But they miss that lives are not black and white, that bad things happen, that people have accidents that affect their lives. In being so certain of themselves, they are quick to judge and miss the basic merciful message of the Gospel. They are like the Pharisees that Jesus spoke against, with their attention to detail and every law getting in the way of the Gospel message.

Editorial Cartoon
Source: ncronline.org

There is a a good deal of irony in those that wish certainty in the Church. For example, those who profess so much certainty were against the Synod on Synodality. If their position is certain and correct, why would they have been against dialogue? Perhaps it is because they put themselves as the purveyor of what people do. There is a certain group in the Church that likes to judge others, and sometimes they judge people wrong. Or, think of unity. As Lawrence says, "Certainty is the great enemy of unity." Which is interesting, as the traditional (conservative) minded cardinals are now claiming a need for unity, after they themselves did all they could to undermine, ignore, and even worse, misrepresent what Francis had said and did. They did not desire unity, rather they sowed division. They now wish unity, which is code word for "reversal." Or, do what we want, and the way we want it. Rather hypocritical of them to have criticized, minimized, marginalized Francis, but now desire unity. It is like some people's version of compromise--as long as you do what they want. But, have they have now given free reign to persons being able to ignore, and criticize the magisterium?  

When Pope Francis first appeared on the balcony in St Peter's Square twelve years ago he asked people to pray for him. Criticism of him came strong and heavy during his pontificate, such that later when he asked people to pray for him, he added that it be in a positive manner for him, not against him. To those who claimed the Pope should always be listened to, they had a hard time then he was challenging certainty--and hence their disdain for him. Such vitriol and they call themselves Christians.

Poor doubting Thomas, for 2000 years he has often been viewed with negativity, when in essence he may have been the most honest of the apostles, being skeptical, being human. Being doubtful allows for debate and questioning, and if what ones think is truth cannot withstand debate and questioning, than perhaps there is something wrong. With certainty being an opposite of doubt, we have to wonder if  Thomas, being doubtful, was not the most honest of all gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem the week after Easter. Although, doubtful Didymus discovered his Lord and God with the proof of having touched the nail holes in Christ's appendages, and his hand in his side. We do not have that privilege, so we will go along and depend on the mystery of faith. And, if there is some doubt, we have the experience of Didymus to guide us.

Redhead?

A day or so after the birth of our second grandchild, Simon Anthony Hovel (b 2 Apr 2025), a doctor commented to his parents, my eldest son and his wife, that it looks like there may be a redhead in the family. Our daughter-in-law replied that it could be as his grandma is a redhead. That grandma, my wife, would be very happy to have a another redhead in the family. I don't think, however, she would put money on the child having red hair, even if he may at this early stage of life.

Redheads are rare, only about 4 to 5% of the population world wide, and the US tracks that amount with about 4% of our population as redheads. The thing is in my wife's family the redhead gene seems to skip a generation. Our children both have brown hair. None of her sister's children have red hair. Her sister does not have red hair, but her brother did, meaning two of the three children had red hair. Her red hair is darker in color, while her brother's was lighter. 

Simon Anthony Hovel

After I said goodbye to Simon Anthony on Tuesday, April 15, I stood a few feet from him, and saw what looked like red hair on his head. An earlier photo seem to show his red hair too, but being a skeptic, taking after my name sake, I wondered if it was the lighting for the picture. Of course, being a newborn, it could be that the pink color skin on his head causes the hair to look red. Only time will tell if the red hair will hold or not. Our oldest son was a blond for a year or two, and then turned brown.

Beyond the red hair, it is amazing how fast Simon changed and developed during our four day visit. His sleep at night started to increase, he was staying awake longer, his weight was up 15 ounces from his known low a few days after birth. He was moving his head quite a bit, and he may have been starting to lose what my wife calls the baby scrunch. That scrunch with the legs up to a fetal like position, which I guess is due to having been scrunched in the womb and the muscle needing to remove the memory of that position. Being in Minneapolis, we stayed at their house, so we saw and interacted with Simon a great deal. Even though his vision is only about 8" to 12" he seemed to want to make eye contact. Eye color takes 6 to 12 months. Adding to an already rare combination, blue eyed redheads are the rarest eye-hair color combination. It is said that the odds of a person having both of those recessive traits is around 0.17%. My wife refers to her eyes as blue-green, but perhaps mainly green. 

Being held by Grandma Hovel

Today, he is three weeks of age and has now made the move to cloth diapers. While infants show the fragility of life, they also show perseverance and resilience. While it seems that they mainly sleep, eat and poop, at the same time they are starting to take in their environment, and such intake will increase as they move on in life. 

Times have changed how we live. Simon's eighth great grandfather, Simon Havel, born about 1682 in rural Bohemia. There are marked differences between the eras in which they were born and how Simon A will live compared to his distant relation lived. This Simon will grow up in an era of artificial intelligence and vast use of computing power. As common today, he has a house with wi-fi and only cell phones with central heat and air conditioning. In the 17th century the house in which my 6th great grandfather (Simon's 8th) would have had an fireplace with a hearth for heat, and perhaps candles for light. Simon 1682 had a basic, rudimentary life in a village of about 16 homes. Simon Havel weaved linen, learning the trade from his father, before taking over his father's farm. I don't know what Simon 2025 will do, but with artificial intelligence, it is more difficult to predict what a job market will be in another twenty years. For Simon 1682 life was pretty much laid out, he farmed and had weaving as a side job. Yet, basic human values such as love, were and are important in the development of a child, and the world. That is a similarity between a Simon Havel1682 and Simon Hovel 2025. Several generations and massive change in life style separate them, but the core of human values remains the same. 

Simon 2025 may not have red hair, and it is still too early to tell if he will exhibit the restless energy of his grandmother, but, I do know that his life will be much different from the era in which I grew up. Technology is fast changing the world, at a seemingly greater pace than ever before. Simon will change and adapt to an ever changing world, and I look forward to seeing him grow and develop. In the meantime, my wife is still keeping her fingers crossed that he will have red hair.

Two Manufacturers

I was biking along part of the Luce Line Trail in Golden Valley, MN on a this past Sunday. The route was mainly suburban, but consisted of varied land use types including industrial development. As I biked through the industrial area, I came across an industrial user that is headquartered in the city in which I worked as city planner for over three decades. As a city planner, I dealt with a variety of land use types, from open space to high density housing to industrial. I wish I had written down my experiences, because some are relevant today in this era of tariffs and trade. That Golden Valley industry reminded me of a story of two different manufacturers I worked with in Fitchburg. The two were located near other, back yards kitty corner to each other. separated by a road one direction and a former rail line, now bike trail the other direction. This post has a specific interest to China after all the US now has tariffs of 145% on Chinese products, excepting some electronics. Two different manufacturers had different approaches to trade overseas.

In the world of trade there are winners and losers, and when it comes to the United States, our capitalist economy tends to work against national interest, as a consumer culture desires products at the lowest possible cost. I recall when HyVee was wanting to come into Fitchburg. A locally owned business , Steve's Liquor, was next to the proposed location and was concerned about Hy-Vees predatory practices. In my mind, they had a right to be. Hy-Vee had said there intent was to put a local Verona grocery store out of business. The then Mayor Shawn Pfaff referred to the possibility of such locally owned businesses going out of business as collateral damage. Essentially, he dismissed their concerns. For years, to obtain cheaper goods, the US has allowed national corporations to move overseas, with effects in creating what we now refer to as the nations Rust Belt. We also have allowed cheap goods to come into the US. 

China Trade to US is on Left of vertical date scale
US trade with China is to right. Colors represent different industries
Source: Axios

This has had other consequences for social order and cohesion. The Rust Belt became collateral damage to those companies moving overseas, and the predominance of cheap goods from overseas. To that end, China has become the world manufacturer. They lack the environmental regulations that the US has, and often are considered exempt from world rules or standards due to it being a "developing country." However, as one venture capitalist, who has interests in China, has said, they lie, cheat and steal. They demand intellectual property from many foreign firms, their court system favors the government. Trump seems to have a love hate relationship with China, continually giving the Congressionally passed ban on Tik Tok, an extension, even beyond the one allowed by the law. 

Axios reports that the US trade deficit with China has been over $200 billion dollars since 2005, and was $418 billion in the second year of Trump's first term. He placed some tariffs on China then, and those were continued with the Biden Administration. As to what we import from China, in 2022, according to Axios the main items were "electronics, machinery and appliances, toys and games, textiles and chemical products, per the Council on Foreign Relations." These imports likely contain forever chemicals. For example, nine out of 15 smart watch bands tested by the University of Notre Dame contained PFAS, a series of forever chemical, that cause various cancers. They get into the home, then the water and into the wastewater stream. PFAS are no longer manufactured in the US, but apparently can enter through trade. It is the ease, and low cost labor that has made China attractive to US manufacturers who apparently are willing to accept the risk. This leads us to this story of two manufacturers.

Manufacturer one constructed bike racks, spinning bikes (I called them stationary exercise bikes) and some other bike accessories. The then owner and CEO chose not to source parts from China, arguing, if you have a problem they are half a world away, and it becomes costly to solve, due to a variety of issues. He needed electronic parts for the high tech spinning bikes. When I was still working, we did a great deal of work with them for manufacturing and office expansion. It took a great deal of effort on his part to find mainly US manufacturers or North American manufacturers to supply some of his parts. After COVID, the company fell on hard times, due to falling sales as the high COVID sales could not be retained. They were sold to a venture capitalist.

The second firm, the one I saw with a plant in Golden Valley, at one time was planning a large expansion in Fitchburg, and even had most all necessary approvals, when they decided to change course. This was back in the late1990's or early half of the 2000's, and when I inquired what happened with their expansion, they stated "Everybody is in China, so we have to get a presence there." Hence, the jobs, investment and building expansion planned for Fitchburg was uprooted to China. They were following the leader. If one thing I realized from working with businesses is that many of them do not plan far ahead, and change plans abruptly. Foxconn is another perfect example, they manufacture for Apple, and was supposed to be the 8th wonder of the world in southeast Wisconsin, as promised in Trump's first term. It never materialized to its great promise. Maybe Apple now wishes they had proceeded with that plant. 

The funny thing is a couple years ago, I was talking to a financial guy and we got talking about trade with China. I mentioned these two businesses to him and their difference of opinion. He stated that the second business mentioned above had actually left China, due to the difficulties of doing business there. Apparently, China's actions and demands became just too much. He may have learned the lesson the first business did not wish to take. 

As I write this, as with most things in the current Administration, there is a great deal of change of mind. Some electronics may now, at least for a while, be excluded from tariffs. I phones and many other electronics will cost more. It is said, that Apple brought over a few plane loads of inventory in February in anticipation of the tariffs, and while they have some manufacturing in India, China is still by far the main producer of their laptops, I phones and I pads. The US has, since the 1980's prioritized globalization over resiliency and strength in its manufacturing base, according to The Hill. As it reports, China saw that the US was not prioritizing its electronics industry and was happy to fill the void. So, are the tariffs Trump is now imposing too late? History is replete with people who wish to back to the good old days, when those days are long past. Bringing manufacturing back to the US will require time. Perhaps, three or more years from when a decision is made. Will more businesses do what the second company in my example did and move back? 

There is something to be said for how a desire for less expensive goods externalizes costs. Mining is a good example, we argue against mines in the US, meanwhile cobalt, and other important minerals are mined in Africa with few or no environmental considerations and at times using child labor. All to fill our move to batteries for electric vehicles. Further, lack of appropriate production in the US leads to national security concerns over manufacturing of chips and other high end electronics. We saw this during COVID when cars made here could not get chips, but Japanese manufacturers had no such qualms as they apparently received the chips first from the foreign manufacturing base. Supply chain issues, it was said, led to the delay for the US big three automakers. Five years beyond COVID, I still hear of supply chain issues. While the US is a leader in chip engineering and design, it only manufactures 10% of total world chips. Many of our chips are processed in Taiwan. Time will only tell when China takes the heavy hand to claim Taiwan as part of China.

Writing in America Magazine online, a Jesuit economist argues that there are more tools than tariffs, such as exchange rates. He further notes, the problem is the low US savings rate. I am not sure how that works for trade, other than meaning we buy too much. This economist also points out that there have been too many economic crises over the past few decades, and makes an analogy to the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930's. Of course, China, like Hy-Vee is predatory and India has similar issues, although much smaller trade deficit, due to China dumping products. 

Tariffs will disrupt trade and cause a price increase, now whether or not it provokes a recession is yet to be seen. The US has become comfortable low cost items, even as such moves overseas led to damage on the home front--unemployment, distressed areas, reduced investment, social chaos, increase in drug use and other deviant behaviors for people not able to get a suitable job. The socio-economic fabric of industrial based communities was ripped to shreds. If these external costs had been attributed to the trade, our current trade deficits would be even greater. Yet, we are likely long-past getting much manufacturing back in the US. Except that, at some point China overplays its hands as it did for manufacturer two in my scenario and ends up driving them away.

Sluicing

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments he was greeted by a sight he did not expect. The people he led out of bondage in Egypt were worshipping a false idol--a golden calf crafted by his brother Aaron. What is striking about the whole story may not be the worshipping of the idol, after all they were human, but that a recently enslaved people had all the gold required to build the large calf. Until melted, it was mainly jewelry for those who had arrived from bondage in Egypt. Gold, I conclude, was more prevalent 3,500 years ago than it is today. Today, gold is mined with large machines that sluice the burden in which it is contained, the mats, which receive the gold, are cleaned and if fortunate, to find small flakes of the mineral. Gold nuggets are a rarity. Two television shows my wife and I have been watching show the power of gold--Yukon Gold, and Billion Dollar Wreck. Sluicing is how the first gets the gold, the second is an attempt to salvage gold coins from a shipwreck. Both shows involve people who are obsessed with getting gold.

Golden Calf, Ten Commandments movie

The obsession is created by the power and promise of gold, which translates into wealth. Gold is a sign of wealth, and recognition. There is the gold standard, gold records, a gold star. The gilded age, about 1865-1902, received its name due to gold gilding. Gold is a unique mineral on earth that has commanded attention for thousands of years. A large number of cultures recognize its importance. It showed up as a tooth filling on an Egyptian mummy about 4,500 years ago. One could say it is one of the defining characteristics of mankind, as it spans much of human history. Gold has become even more important as the "low-hanging fruit" of gold veins have been mined, making people search for what was left or new veins in far out lands. 

Some of the main protagonists in Yukon Gold

The Yukon Gold, television show tells the story of varied individual miners, who at times have crews from two to about eight. Large heavy machinery is involved which makes Caterpillar proud. Large dozers, excavators, some have the gigantic mining dump trucks with tires as tall as a man. Then most use large sluicing machines that vibrate and deposit the gold on mats that look like artificial turf. But, they also have in common is the rape of the land. Some are mining land previously mined during the Klondike gold rush era others try to find virgin ground missed or failed to excavate by long since past miners. The thing is gold is generally found along streams. The amount of water used to sluice is enormous, and the waste water produced is just as great. Pumped from holding ponds by damming up the creeks, it appears only one of the several groups focused on reuses the water by sending the sluice water to a detention pond and pulling it out again. This option has only been mentioned for this one operation. Only twice did the show mention environmental practices, the operation with the reuse water, and once on reclamation. To get an idea of the extent of the operations and environmental impact, you have to try and discern from fast panning video until they get to the next piece of heavy equipment that has broken down. The focus tends to be on equipment breakdowns how that is stopping them from sluicing. Imagine "sluicing" being said in a Canadian accent. "Gotta be sluicin'" A worker gets a severe injury, and they wail about how it has stopped them from sluicin'. A beaver dam stops their water supply, and they complain about the time it takes away from sluicin' to remove the dam. The whole story is about sluicin'.

With all the sluicin' going on, one thing I do not see is erosion control. Hence, the creek is not just dammed up, moved or relocated, but as it leaves the property it is probably full of sediments, even if they use holding ponds for the waste water.  Water is pumped a good distance from where the sluicing machine is located., sometimes more than a half mile by large 4 to 6" hoses or pipes. Headwater health is an important indicator of how an ecosystem will function, and there seems to be little care in the Yukon for this. Lack of erosion control can be seen in an air photo of the Yukon River, up and downstream of Dawson City. The water is brown for a reason--sediments.

Karl, in front of part of sluice plant built by his dad
Ken Foy's new sluice machine, built by a partner, weighs over 50 tons.

I did read that many of the other miners in the area are upset at the show because it fails to show how they try to be stewards of the land. Or, perhaps it shows how bad it really is. The local unit has seen complaints increase since the start of the show. My wife found that one miner focused on the show, Ken Foy, was fined over $140,000 for failing to properly reclaim a site, probably his Moose Creek site. Ken, like many of them, have wagered their life savings to get gold. He has, so far, been more in debt than successful. Yes, it is their obsession.

Ken Foy

That takes us to Martin Bayerle who has been on a quest to salvage gold from the sunken British wreck RMS (Royal Mail Ship)  Republic that sank in 1909 about 50 miles off Nantucket. He insists gold is with the wreck. He believes the ship had over $800,000 in gold for US Naval operations in the Mediterranean and Europe. And, a now billion dollars worth of gold double eaglets for the Russian Empire. He says he has followed the money trail. The thing is, an ill-fated attempt in 1987 led to him to spend most all he had on the expedition. This led his wife to divorce, meet another man, a man he would kill and serve only a few years on manslaughter charges. His son, now a lawyer, assists him. Currently, he is fundraising for a 2025 excursion. 

RMS Republic sinking at stern

On the first dive of the series we are watching, a diver loses air and comes up too quickly. He is actually lucky to be alive. The container he is in is dependent, as is the ship, on a generator that breaks down, and Martin complains how taking the several hour trip back to port is costing them diving time. When a person dives at a certain depth helium is added to the mix due to pressure helium can work. Helium may be more rare than gold and is more important as its uses in medicine such as cooling MRI machines. Yet, he has no gumption about using an increasingly rare substance to try and bring him fame and glory.

Martin Bayerle

Gold is just as much an obsession today as 3,500 years ago. It is a cultural phenomena from before the time of Moses until today. I am not sure priorities are right, but in both shows we see people giving up most everything, whether sluicing or diving to go to a shipwreck 270 feet deep in extreme conditions.  The idol of gold is still present today as it was 3500 years ago when Moses came down with the ten commandments to see the golden calf. Today, we have more modern and mechanized means of obtaining gold, whether by sluicing or deep sea diving. 

Images from Google

Inheritance

The sun was well below the horizon when the 35 year old man woke, dressed and went out to complete his morning farm chores in the cold brisk January air. He would soon depart his house in southwest Bohemia to go to the village in which he was born. At 35 years old, he moved to his current village of Dolni Chrastany, Bohemia, when he married his wife eight years earlier and took over her family's farm. He was going back to his home village of Ratiborova Lhota to sign as a witness on the purchase of his ancestral farm and homestead in Ratiborova Lhota by his youngest brother, Johann. Overtime, Frantisek, my third great grandfather, would benefit financially from the sale of the family farm to his younger brother, Johann, as payments were equally distributed among the family members. Johann would be taking over the farm which had been in the family since at least 1585, which is as far back as records that mention names go. The family was following long-held and established traditions regarding inheritance, or farm purchases.

Indication Sketch for Imperial Mapping, first part 19th century
Just one of Ratiborova Lhotka area  (In German known as Melhutka)
Notice disparate farm fields and arrangement of parcels, often long and narrow
https://ags.cuzk.gov.cz/archiv

Traditions held strong in this very rural area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nothing was very easy living and farming in the foothills of the Bohemian Mountains. Travel was difficult, one's livelihood was weather dependent, soils were poor, they lived on the edge of poverty, there was the strong hand of the manorial authorities (for Ratiborova Lhota, they were in the Krumlov domain), but community and family ties were strong.  They persevered. The story of the Havel family in Bohemia follows the course of history in Southwest Bohemia. History is comprised of many individual stories, of this is just one of the Havel family. 

Franz and Johann's father, Matheus, died on August 30, 1802, just eleven days shy of his 62nd birthday. Johann Havel was 27 years old at the time, and working on the family farm. Matheus was near an age when a farmer would have retired. When Matheus acquired the farm from his father in 1766 he was the youngest surviving male, he started making payments to his mom and three aunts and uncles in 1767. He made his final payment twenty years later on 29 March 1787. His debt in taking on the farm was the 154 Schock Meissen, but increased to or 161 when he decided to buy a cow and an old chest of "inferior condition." The thing is, value of the farm holding was generally consistent throughout time. Mathias was aided in payments, several years later, by a his wife's brother having married his sister. This allowed his wife's share of the inheritance to the sister being written off. 

Detail of Ratiborova Lhotka Village
Havel House is center of three farmsteads at bottom
At time of mapping, Johann Mika owned the farm, nephew of Johann Havel
https://ags.cuzk.gov.cz/archiv

This situation our ancestors experienced was more like a land contract of today. The buyer had an agreed to price, set by the village headman, often with stipulated payments. The payments were spread out many years. Payments were missed due to the circumstances of living, but no interest was paid. It is not unusual to see the holder, or payor, sibling and the sibling's spouse die with payments going to nieces and nephews. If the payor died before completing payment, the payments were taken over by the new holder of the farm. So he had that debt, plus the debt for his purchase. The payments were recorded  in the land registers. The land registers which are available, go back to about 1600 and provide a great deal of information for us who research in present time. (The records, in some cases, are so archaic and writing so difficult there are few persons who have the ability to understand and translate such documents.)

Inheritance was influenced by a number of factors, time of death, farm holding sale, and number of children who may have predeceased the farm owner. Death was a constant companion for our ancestors, and it would alter the timing of farm takeovers, and who received payments. While the farm often went to the youngest male, if there were males, payments was always made to other heirs. We can see this all the way back to the earliest land registers. Having the youngest male or child made sense since that child would be near or at the age of taking over the farm at the time of the father or stepfather's retirement. A single parent did not long last in this era as it was common that a farm required two to run, the man doing the field work and the required robot labor, while the spouse took care of the children, garden, and the smaller animals in the barnyard. This is why there are many second marriages within a few months when a spouse has died. The matchmakers were kept busy.

Signature page of 1804 agreement
Notice XXX's as signatures, due to them being illiterate
Trebon Archives, Land Register Ord 197 img 305

However, death of the farmer at an early age, could have affected heirs. This happened in the Havel family, and I will relate one example. While we lack vital records for much of the 17th century, Land Registers and Seigniorial Registers, although not primary source material, can help fill in some gaps. Havel, my 9th great grandfather died in 1618 to 1623, probably closer to 1618. Jakub, the oldest son took over the farm; Jakub's youngest brother (or step-brother) was, per the Land Register, only three years of age at the time of the handover. Anezka, Havel's spouse, may or may not be Jakub's mother, likely aided with the farm, but without vital records it is difficult to know if Jacob was married at the time of his takeover in 1623 or not. Things are complicated in this era by the 30 Years War (1618-1648), in which destruction and deprivation in many villages occurred. Alice Velkova reports that farmers frequently moved until the end of the 17th century which was caused by an unstable post-war situation (p. 330). In fact, when Jakub took over the farm its value was reduced due to the farm which had "stood vacant for some years." (This makes me think Havel died or was incapacitated closer to1618 and Jakub needed to come of age to take over the farm.) This was possibly due to Havel's death, but also the effects of war. The farm may have been occupied by soldiers as part of the value Jakub paid included "belongings and furnishings left by the soldiers."

Part of Land Reg Ord 50, img 20
Shows children of Havel. Jakub is listed first, identified as son and farm owner

Translation of the above portion of image 20, Ord 50

But, that is far in the past. I have not located any record that Mathias had a will stipulating who took over the farm. The sequence of events seem to suggest he did not. When Frantisek made his way to Ratiborova Lhota to meet his brother and a few others to appear before Adalbert Hauser the District court clerk in January 1804, to sign their XXX's, and to witness Johann sign with XXX's, as receiver of the farm, the property distribution and value had already been agreed upon on 21 Sept 1803, and is recorded in the land registers. Because all heirs agreed to the distribution, it seems that there was no will, as a will would have made such agreement unnecessary. The four month time lag may have been normal, or it may have been related to Johann needing to come up with the 70 florian Rhenish for down payment, and 19 florian Rhenish land tax for the current year. Our ancestors were not wealthy and would have spent time accumulating savings by being rather parsimonious in nature. A florian saved is a florian earned. The terms of the 1803 agreement required 7 Rhenish until fully paid off. Johann made his first payment in 1806. That agreement also stipulated taxes, in-kind contributions, and robot labor required of Johann.

Land Register, 1803 Inheritance Distribution agreement
Image of document and translation
Document image is from Ordinal 233 image 91, Trebon Archives
Translation by Richard D' Amelio 

There were changes occurring in inheritance distributions in the late 18th century. In 1787 a patent was issued stating that the eldest son of a farmer who died without a will was to inherit the farm. Although, it was not until after 1820, per Velkova, that the eldest sons were given clear preference (p. 330), with such requirement likely written by the first born son, or they simply followed lines of succession for a king. In southwest Bohemia traditions died hard, but as stated the tradition of the younger child inheriting the farm makes practical sense. Woman were granted the right to full ownership of farms in 1791. When Frantisek married Teresa Jiral in 1796 he paid a bride price and they became joint owners. 

The tradition of two persons, generally husband and wife, operating a farm was required, since a poorly managed farm could be taken away by the manorial authorities and given to someone else. They did not own the property outright, rather their tenancy functioned more as a long term lease. The estates were overbearing, and undertook functions of landlords and local governments. Having a holding taken away could quickly lead to a downward spiral for the family unit. Practical considerations outweighed legal rights in this inheritance practice.

The land register has an insert page which records the payments Johann made to family members. From that spreadsheet, names at the top and years along the X axis, we can see that Johann made payments of 7 RG in 1813 and 1815 to Frantisek, my third great grandfather, and a final payment to pay off his share of over 36 RG in 1818. Franz was made whole.

Payment log, Trebon Archives Land Register 
Ord 139 img 73

The Havel farm in Ratiborova Lhota was one below the average farm size and was noted as a 1/4 farm. While their holding totaled about 35 acres, when one deducts the woodlands, meadows and unclassified property, there remains about 20 acres of arable land. However, the arable land was farmed in a system of three, as a conservation method, where one-third of tillable land was fallow every year. Hence, every year about six or seven acres of production land was lost, meaning the farmer and family subsistence was based on about 13-14 acres. 

Many such small farmers often had secondary occupations, and for the Havel family that was the weaver craft. Records indicate that in 1656 Georg Havel, Johann's great grandfather, was "learning the weaver craft".  Records show that his son Simon and Simon's son Mathias, and Mathias' son Mathias (father of Johann) all learned the weaver craft. It is possible that Georg learned the craft from an extended family member. 

Melhutka Dwellings. Melhutka is German name 
for Ratiborova Lhota. Base map is final map produced from above Indication Sketch
Center Bottom is the Havel House, #15
Map compiled by Richard D'Amelio for author

The passing of the farm to the youngest son continued beyond 1804. My 2nd great grandfather, Josef Havel (born 1808) took over the Dolni Chrastany farm of his father Franz in 1846. Joseph and family immigrated to the US in 1868. While the Jefferson County farm Joseph bought did not go to a son, it did go to a daughter and her husband, although not the youngest as the one who purchased the farm was the only one to remain in Wisconsin, as all other family members moved to Iowa. When Martin Havel, my great grandfather, retired from farming in Manly, IA, the home farm was purchased by my grandfather, Rudy in Dec 1912. Rudy was the youngest of three sons, born to Martin and Amelia. He would later acquire future land purchased by is father, Martin. 

Martin Havel Family, Manly, IA c 1894
Youngest son Rudy is to left
Source: David Dixon

The idea of the youngest being able to take on a farm makes practical sense, the older son/daughter will need to generally be out on his own, while the youngest is generally ready when the father and mother look to retire from farming. Thus, we see that while farm locations varied, there were still ties to tradition. One could say traditions die hard, but I think it is more practical implications, in this instance Frantisek, Johann's older brother, already had a farm in Dolni Chrastany. If nothing else, the long line of farming ancestors were practical, which played into the inheritance of the farm.