Franz and Anna (Richter) Langer

The Franz and Anna (Richter) Langer History –

From Nieder Johnsdorf to Pierce County in 1888

                In 1888, Franz Josef Langer (December 3, 1854 – February 27, 1922) and his wife, Anna Richter Langer (April 12, 1859 – October 13, 1942), began a voyage that would markedly change their lives and the lives of their descendants.  They had decided to leave Europe and travel to a new home in the New World.  They would leave the comfort of their home in Nieder Johnsdorf, Bohemia in the Austrian Empire and travel to Pierce County, Wisconsin in the United States of America. 

            Both Franz Langer and Anna Richter were from the village of Nieder Johnsdorf (the Czech name is Dolní Třešnovec) in the District of Landskron (the Czech name is Lanškroun), Kingdom of Bohemia, Empire of Austria.  Franz Langer was from house number 55 and Anna Richter was from house number 40.

Around 1200, the population of the Kingdom of Bohemia was overwhelmingly Czech and located in the central part of the kingdom.  The border areas were thinly populated primarily due to the fact that the border areas were not flat and were heavily wooded.  The King of Bohemia wanted to develop this border area and so he invited Germans to settle in these border areas.  It is believed that most of the German settlers came from the northern part of Bavaria (near Nuremburg).  It was because of this colonization that the Langer ancestors ended up in what is now the Czech Republic.

            The District of Landskron consisted of the Town of Landskron and about 40 villages. The town had about 5,000 inhabitants in the 1850s and was connected by rail to the rest of the Austrian Empire. The villages varied in size from a few hundred to more than one thousand inhabitants. They were connected by road to the Town of Landskron.  Three quarters of these villages were predominantly German and one quarter was predominantly Czech.  Both the Czechs and Germans were mostly Roman Catholic.  The Town and District of Landskron are about 80 miles south of present-day Wrocław (Breslau), Poland and about 115 miles north of the capital of the Austrian Empire, Wien (Vienna), in present-day Austria.

            Below is a current day map of Europe.  Letter D is where the District of Landskron is located.      

Map of Europe showing ancestral homelands

Map of the Landskron area.

            In the 1850s, the village of Nieder Johnsdorf had about 600 inhabitants almost all of whom were German-speakers. It consisted of 639 hectares, which is about 1,578 acres.  Although in each village there were a few people working as tradesmen, such as a carpenter, miller, blacksmith, storekeeper and innkeeper, the vast majority of the villagers were engaged in farming.  In 1939, there were about 19 farms with fewer than 5 acres, 24 farms with between 5 and 12 acres, 25 farms with between 12 and 50 acres and 12 farms with more than 50 acres. The average farm size was fewer than 20 acres, with over half the farms having less than 12 acres. In addition to these farms, there were 119 houses in the village. (Given the conservative nature of the inhabitants and legal restrictions, it is likely that distribution of farms by size would have been roughly the same in the 1880s.) So of the approximately 200 households in Nieder Johnsdorf, maybe one quarter were financially secure. Grain was taken by horse or oxcart the few miles to the town of Landskron for shipment by rail to the cities of the Austrian Empire. Those families that were not tradesmen or only had a few acres of land were in dire economic straits, eking out a very marginal existence.  They would work as day laborers for the farmers with the larger farms or perhaps in a factory in the Town of Landskron. There was no church in the village and only an elementary school.  For church services and any advanced schooling, the villagers traveled to the Town of Landskron, a distance of a few miles.

            In sharp contrast to farming in America where farmers lived on isolated farms, the farm buildings in Landskron were all located in the villages. They were located on both sides of the main road of the village with the farm fields stretching straight back from the buildings until they ran into the woods, an untillable hill or the farms of another village.   Generally, the farmer cultivated contiguous lands in these villages, not fields sprinkled around the area as occurs in other areas of Europe.  The distance from the farm buildings to the limits of the property could be considerable. 

            The farm buildings were also different in Nieder Johnsdorf.  Generally, the dwelling was physically connected with the farm buildings.  The more elaborate farmsteads were in a U-shape or formed a square with a courtyard in the middle.  The square form probably developed in an attempt to provide some protection against predators, thieves and foreign soldiers.

            The inhabitants of these villages, both Czech and German, were divided into three broad social groups – the “large farmers” (German: Bauer, Czech: sedláci), the “small farmers” (Feldgärtner or zahradnici) and the day laborers (Taglöhner or podruzi).  The “large farmers” generally had farms over ten hectares (a hectare is 2.471 acres).  They usually owned horses, cows and numerous smaller farm animals.  These farmers were engaging in commercial farming and were able to ship produce to market in nearby towns.  The “small farmers” had only a few hectares.  They usually had a few cows and a number of smaller farm animals.  The day laborers worked for small or large farmers as field laborers, stable hands and kitchen and house servants.  In addition, some worked as weavers, carpenters, coopers or blacksmiths.  Some of the day laborers, called “cottagers” (Häusler or chalupníci), owned a small house with enough land around it for a small garden and a few small farm animals such as goats.  Most of the area’s population consisted of day laborers scratching out a marginal subsistence.

            Increased population and frequent wars lead people like the Langers to consider emigration.  By the mid-1800s, improved food and sanitary conditions caused such population expansion that there were limited agricultural opportunities for the young people.  There was little virgin land in the area, and subdividing the existing farms would have made them unprofitable.  Further, the Austrian Empire was involved in frequent wars, which resulted in increased taxes and sending local sons to fight in distant locations.

            Until 1848, the people of the District of Landskron were subject to feudal restrictions which limited their ability to move and limited the free use of any land they owned.  In 1848, revolutions rocked much of Europe and people hoped for political and religious freedom, the end of feudal restrictions on property use and personal movement and for land reform. The Hapsburg Emperor of the Austrian Empire was able to quell the revolutions and keep his throne through the use of force and some concessions.  One concession was the end of feudal restrictions on land use and movement which meant that people could emigrate from the Empire.  Another concession was to establish an elected parliament. There was no land reform to distribute royal and church lands to the landless. 

            Starting in 1851, hundreds of people in the District of Landskron applied for passports to travel to America.  The earliest applicants were poor Czech Protestants who traveled as a group to Texas in 1851. They had heard that they could practice their Protestant religion in Texas and so they were emigrating primarily for religious freedom

            The second group to head to America was poor German Catholics.  They were not emigrating in order to be able to freely practice their religion.  Rather, they were emigrating to better their economic conditions.  Between 1852 and 1856, hundreds of people left the District of Landskron for America. Most of them settled in southern Wisconsin near the towns of Watertown and Waterloo in Dodge and Jefferson Counties.                                                                                                                                            

            Not all of these early emigrants stayed in southern Wisconsin.  Some of them headed west in search of cheaper land. One of these individuals was Franz Pirkel (Birkel) and his wife Theresa Bruksha (Brookshaw).  They emigrated to Wisconsin in 1852 and settled at first in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.  A few years later, they headed west and eventually bought land in El Paso Township, Pierce County, on September 28, 1856.

            Another family who followed a similar path westward was Franz Josef Langer’s uncle, Franz Heinz and his wife Barbara Schöberle. Franz worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker in the District of Landskron. In the European records, he is listed as a Häusler or cottager. He owned a house and a couple acres;  he did not own a farm.  He was not rich when he arrived in America.  Per the Pierce County’s Heritage Volume 8, they traveled from Landskron to Kenosha County in 1855 and arrived there on June 26.  Given his lack of wealth, it is unlikely that Franz could afford a farm in Kenosha County and so he looked for cheaper land further west. On April 1, 1857, Franz purchased 280 acres of land in El Paso Township, Pierce County, near the Franz Pirkel farm.

            For a decade, the Franz Heinz family and the Franz Pirkel were the only families from the District of Landskron who lived in Pierce County.  This isolation ended after the American Civil War was concluded.

On February 20, 1866, John Reynolds sold Section 20 of El Paso Township to John Prokscher (Bruksha, Brookshaw) (born in Triebitz), John Klecker (born in Ober Johnsdorf), Joseph Marek (born in Ober Johnsdorf), Johann Seifert (town of Landskron), Bernard Steiner (Kreis Landskron), Edward Steiner (District of Landskron), John Jung (Unknown origin) and Michael Jung (Unknown origin).  Section 20 of the Town of El Paso is close to the farms of Franz Heinz (in Section 17) and Franz Pirkel (in Section 18).  The land transaction was consummated in Dane County and so it is unlikely that any of these individuals had seen the land.  In fact, historic records indicate that most of these families were not even in America at the time of the purchase.

            It is likely that these individuals used an agent to purchase this land for them.  Per the Pierce County’s Heritage, Volume 8, Franz Pirkel’s son Joseph returned to Landskron several times.  On one of these trips he became engaged to Theresa Prokscher (Bruksha, Brookshaw), the sister of John Prokscher, who was from the Pirkel’s home village of Triebitz. It is likely that he was a middleman for the purchase of the land for his future brother-in-law and the other Landskroners.

            Other Landskron families followed these purchasers to Pierce County, Wisconsin including Anna Langer’s cousins Theresia Schmeiser (Mrs. Wenzel) Langer and Johann Schmeiser. Other Landskroners who settled in Pierce County before Franz Josef and Anna Richter Langer arrived were Karl Heinz (town of Landskron), Johann Janisch (Ober Johnsdorf), Barney Steiner (District of Landskron), Leopold Pelzl (Ober Johnsdorf), Josef and Anton Langer (Nieder Johnsdorf), Emil Richter (District of Landskron), Joseph Kabarle (Olbersdorf), Johann Katzer (Michelsdorf) and Franz Nagle (town of Landskron).

The Trip to America

            By 1887, Franz Josef Langer’s uncle, Franz Heinz, was a wealthy man compared to his compatriots in the District of Landskron.  Per the 1880, census he owned 160 acres of tillable land and 400 acres of forest.  This is about one-third of the total land in the village of Nieder Johnsdorf which had 600 people.  His farms were valued at $8,500 and his livestock at $800. His son owned 185 acres of land valued at $2,200.  As a wealthy man, he could afford to travel home to Landskron which is what he did in 1887.  He returned to America in 1888 on the Suevia which landed in New York on May 14, 1888.  Accompanying him were the following individuals:

Josef Langer                                        60        workman         Johnsdorf (Franz Heinz’s brother-in-law)

Franz Josef Langer                               33        workmen         Johnsdorf (Franz Heinz’s nephew)

Anna Langer                                         29        wife                 Johnsdorf

Eduard Langer                                    4                                  Johnsdorf

Emilie Langer                                      3                                  Johnsdorf

Anna Langer                                        ¾                                 Johnsdorf

Victor Janisch                                      16        workman         Landskron

Therese Pirkl                                       21                                Jokelsdorf

Anna Rossler                                       17                                Johnsdorf

Anna Janisch                                       23                                Johnsdorf

Rosalia Miller                                      57                                Michelsdorf

Justina Heinz                                       3                                  Wisconsin

It is likely that Victor Janisch, Therese Pirkl, Anna Rossler, Anna Janisch and Rosalia Miller were all traveling to Pierce County, Wisconsin to join relatives already there.

The little girl named Justina Heinz is a mystery.  Although she is listed as having been born in Wisconsin, it is extremely unlikely that Franz Heinz would have traveled from Pierce County to Landskron with a 2-year-old girl.  She was likely either an orphaned relative of Franz’s or the illegitimate child of one of the women who accompanied him to America.

            The ship records indicate that both Langers were workmen.  This corresponds with European records which state that Franz Josef Langer and Josef Langer were Häusler or cottagers.  As such, they may have owned a house and a couple acres.  They did not own farms.

            After arriving in Pierce County, Franz Josef Langer bought an 80-acre farm adjacent to his cousin Franz Heinz, Jr. on November 22, 1888. The farm cost $500, or $6.25 an acre. To purchase the farm, he obtained a mortgage for $400 at 7% interest.  He built a primitive dwelling on this property. Per Dorothy Langer Seifert, a granddaughter of Franz Josef Langer, the building consisted of a large room with a loft above.  Dorothy remembers older relatives talking about the snow getting into the sleeping loft.  The building was used as a shed on the farm until well into the 20^th century.

First Langer house in America, built in 1888.

In about 1893, Franz Josef erected a log cabin.  From the photo below, it appears it is substantially larger and probably had a number of rooms.

Second Langer house in America, built in 1893.

In 1915, Franz Josef built a brick house for his family. Upstairs there was one small bedroom, one big bedroom and a storage room.  Downstairs there was a kitchen, living room, bedroom and pantry. The house still is used as a residence.

Third Langer house in America, built in 1915.

On March 12, 1906, Franz bought another 80 acres for $800, or $10 an acre.

            The three houses tell a remarkable tale of the economic success of Franz Josef Langer.  In about 25 years he went from living in a primitive shack to a substantial brick house.  He went from a landless peasant in Bohemia to a prosperous Wisconsin farmer owning 160 acres of land.

            Overall, the lives of the Langers and their children were economically successful.  They were able to buy sizable farms which would provide in turn for their children.  However, the ability to buy these large farms was at a cost to their relations with their neighbors.  Farms in America were spread throughout the countryside and this must have made life lonely for the Langers in America, as they had been used to living side-by-side in a village and now their nearest countrymen were a quarter of a mile away.  On adjoining farms lived Irish or English families named Murphy, Catlin and Bowen who would not have been able to converse with the Langers.  Living in the area were also members of unfamiliar religions, such as Methodists and Lutherans.  They must have felt much more isolated and undoubtedly their opportunities for social interaction were much more limited in America, especially when they first settled there.

            The Langer relatives and neighbors who remained in Europe did not fare as well.  During World Wars I and II, numerous citizens of Nieder Johnsdorf fought and died in the armies of the Austrian Empire and the Nazi Third Reich.  After the fighting in World War II ended, the Czechs, with the assistance of the Russians, drove the German inhabitants of Nieder Johnsdorf and the surrounding area from their homes into present-day Germany.

            Today, there are no Germans left in Nieder Johnsdorf; it is a Czech village and is part of the Czech Republic.  The Langer and Richter relatives who had lived in the village through the Second World War are now spread throughout modern-day Germany much as the descendants of Franz Josef Langer and Anna Richter Langer have spread throughout the United States from their humble beginnings in Pierce County, Wisconsin.