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| Statue of St Joseph, still displayed in the wall of #42, Schamers, Bohemia |
It's still hard to believe that we were in Schamers less than two weeks ago, on the street where they lived. The family link between Heschs and Binders is one marriage many years ago (before 1850), but Heinz' involvement these last 3-4 years has been invaluable to our research....not to mention the accommodations and delightful guided tour he arranged while we were there.
Besides all that, the Binder houses in Schamers allowed us to go into the courtyard, to see up close how our families lived in Bohemia. With a few steps between houses, we made the transition from a street in town to a farm pasture / cropland, and from 2014 back to 1869.
Then, because of Heinz' involvment, we heard from Su, in England, regarding her husband's grandfather, which led to his great great grandfather, a Binder relative who was the village Master Miller, in Niederschlagles at that time. Su's added so much here, including a better understanding of what Heinz was trying to tell me. This time, the genealogical brick wall took human form in me. Sigh.
Su sent this photo from Heinz of three Binder brothers, (Franz, Ferdinand and Heinrich) with family members in about 1914, in front of the new house. They were sitting exactly where Marion and Heinz stood one hundred years later.
So, what does this house, below left, have to do with all this? It was the Karl Wanek house, at #40, Su's husband's family. Heinz said that Libor Rostik, the Neuhaus restaurant owner, is a Wanek relative too. He's restoring it, making it into a lovely guest house in the country.
The houses along here were built and lived in by families named Schnell, Binder, Wanek and Hirsch, among others, up to May 1945, when all ethnic Austrian/Germans were forcibly removed from Czech lands.
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The houses along here were built and lived in by families named Schnell, Binder, Wanek and Hirsch, among others, up to May 1945, when all ethnic Austrian/Germans were forcibly removed from Czech lands.
Here's how the houses line up, how they've been for probably 300 years, built and torn down and replaced on the same spot. That's what happened to the two houses above right. The green house was built about 1842, and the tall ornate house was built by Binder siblings on the site of an earlier house, to insure they had a nice place to retire to, in the village they loved.
It's is 51 by 33 feet, and was finished in 1896.
Su provided a translation of the description Fr. Josef Binder wrote in his book Heimatskunde Des Marktes Schamers (pub 1908)
which might have been written during his visits home...
"The new house No. 42"(This is the tall ornate-roofed building that's attached to the green-house-with-the-statue, ok?)
"The living rooms of the old farmhouse was demolished in the spring of 1896 and the construction of a new home soon begun. This new building is 17 meters long and 10 meters wide. [51 x 33 feet] The plan for this was manufactured the architect Hnevkovsky in Prague III. The three siblings living in Prague: Franz Binder, Joseph Binder, then deputy director, and Katherina Binder nee Eifinger, quickly contributed all the expenses of the building the cost of 10,000 florins which merely insured the right to build"
(and to live there later, probably). "The entire ground floor space is owned by the respective homeowners to administer the peasant economy/farm business(?) The entrance into this new house is made from the court-yard. A large cellar and a laundry room was built. On the ground floor has two living rooms with the landlord, including a kitchen pantry. Opposite the entrance of the stairs to the living space is on the 1st upper floor/story, where, five living rooms, including kitchen and food vaults. This new house, the beginning of October, was completed in 1896, has been produced by the builder Johann Kocatz [of] Neuhaus. 140,000 bricks and 4 wagons of lime were used. The whole ceiling was wood from the forestry Klenau - purchased - that was there for five years [seasoned for five years].
The wood for the roof structure was purchased from the parish priest in Kardasch-Řečic. The whole house is built throughout solid and dry".
PS: Su said:
"We know from Josef's records of houses and their past owners that there has been a house called No 42 for a very long time:
Nr. 42. ("Schnell.") Christof Schnel 1580, Hans Schnell 1654, Kasper Charwat-Schnell 1666 bis/to 1716, Kollmann Charwat-Schnell seit/since 1716, Anton Schnell seit/since 1779. Jetzt/now: Ferdinand Binder".
Wow, huh?
A HUGE THANK YOU to Su and Heinz! ☺
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