JOHANNES HANNUSCH (Ignac, Josef)
Jan Hanus (Johannes Hannusch) was born May 17, 1823, in Skalitz, Bohemia (now Ceska Skalice, in the Czech Republic), the youngest son of Ignac and Theodora (Fendrych) Hanus. He was baptized at Franciscus Roman Catholic Church, and was raised to adolescence in Skalitz, Bohemia.
He received whatever formal education offered in the village and by the church. Under his father's guidance, at about the age of thirteen, Jan Hanus began as a tailor's apprentice in his father's or one of the local shops. This training-education extended nearly a decade before he could be considered an accomplished tailor.
Barbara Nemec, the famed Czech poet-authoress, according to her biographer, was a familiar sight in Franciscus Roman Catholic Church. The church being the center of the family entertainment in that day, Ignac Hanus most likely took his family to hear some of her lectures.
"Early in the 19th Century, Barbara Pankl (1820-1862) met and married Joseph Nemec, a man originally from the town Skalitz, Bohemia. She went to Prague with her husband and children in 1842, and, in her own right Barbara Nemec (Bozena Nemcova in the Czech), by the second half of the century had become a famed Bohemian writer. She started with Fairy Tales in the late 1840's, a folklorist in the early 1850's, and a novelist by the close of the decade. She traveled the length and breadth of Bohemia to appear before school and church audiences giving lectures while gathering information for her next writing labor." Writing from experience, her work dealt with the peasant and working class people of Bohemia, offering an excellent sketch of the common people and their way of life in that day. In the "Grandmother," one of her more noted works, she developed the life and occupations of the country housewife: her spinning wheel and her attendance at spinning gatherings, a young woman with a sickle mowing the grass, spreading the feed for the poultry; her white hair & few missing teeth, the rococo chest with painted flowers and birds; the clove colored skirt, the white starched bonnet on which is perched an ornamental dove; her bright colored ceremonial uniform with ribbons, kerchief, and bonnets embroidered with silver; and the rococo comb in her hair. She also provides a portrait of the miller in light gray coat, gray trousers, black fur cap with blue ribbons & polished boots with tassels. Entertainment, she explains, "was tied to the feasts of the Roman Catholic Church Calendar; saints day feasts celebrated by all. The Ceremonial panorama of Sunday: bright blue ribbons, kerchiefs, bonnets embroidered with silver, the rococo comb in the hair of an old man." Christmas Eve, she explains the custom," children fasted in order to see the golden sucklings on the wall, they watched for the flash of celestial light in which the angels descended from heaven to sing, and they waited for the sound of the bell announcing the arrival of the holy child with the Christmas tree. The village shepherd with his horn announced the Pastoral Nativity. The children went caroling and the three kings visited every cottage of the village." In her novels she expressed a dislike of the military and described a lad to be drafted into the Austrian Army as a dramatic event. "It meant 14 years of separation from homeland and family," she decried. "The works of Barbara Nemec have been translated into the English language, but copy of these works are not easy to come by."
Barbara Nemec Museum
It would appear, having noted the size of the village myself, that there wouldn't have been enough work for more than one or two small tailor shops in the town of Skalitz, Bohemia. Therefore that would seriously limit the number of craftsmen needed to keep them in business. Craft Guild seniority, as it does today, would have to count for something. That would often put the youngest tailors out of work. Jan Hanus probably fell under this situation as a newly advanced craftsman.
It would appear, from what is provided by the records, that in or prior to late 1851, Jan Hanus (Johannes Hannusch in Silesia) crossed the Eulengebirge (Eulen Mountain) and settled in the village of Buchau, Silesia.
BUCHAU: a village, or suburb, located on the outskirts of Neurode, Silesia. It was a small community, in the foothills of the mountains, whose industry and life were tied to the larger town. The local Catholic population was in membership, and is recorded in the Neurode Church books.
On April 18, 1853, Johannes Hannusch, stood before the alter of the Roman Catholic Church, at Neurode Silesia, and exchanged the vows of marriage with Josepha Meese, listed in that church entry as the daughter of F. Wilhelm and Elisabeth Meese. The couple settled down in Buchau, Silesian. Children: 1) Adelheide Hannusch, b. March 7, 1851; 2) Theobald Hannusch, b. September 28, l852; 3) Hugo Hannusch, b. October 12, 1854; 4) Waldberger Hannusch, b. December 1856.
NEURODE: (Nowa Ruda, Poland), Silesia, is found west of the City of Glätz, at the foot of the Eulen Mountains (Eulengebirge). The town was founded in about 1200. A mining and textile center, it is now an important link between the Czech Republic and Poland. It is here, in the Roman Catholic Church, that Johannes Hannusch and Josephine Meese were married and where Theobald Hannusch was christened.
With the spread of the "Industrial Revolution," more and more craftsmen found themselves searching out new approaches as well as locations to advance their career. It would appear that Johannes Hannusch was possibly on this course. As is suggested by the Hamburg Passenger List, on the word of his son Theobald, Johannes Hannusch family apparently removed a few miles to the east-southeast, to the tiny village of Louisenhein, Silesia.
The endless wars, political activities, and religious persecution of 18th Century Europe brought German settlers of all religions and beliefs to William Penn's refuge in America. By the early 19th Century pockets of political dissatisfaction had set in in Pennsylvania. New frontiers were being explored. Ohio and points west had became the main attraction. While a good many of the dissident groups headed west, there was a group from the German Mennonite community, in Pennsylvania, that ventured to Upper Canada's Grand River and followed it north into Waterloo County. Lutheran and Catholic dissidents, from the same location, soon followed. Here they laid the foundation to a group of communities that would welcome the next generation of German settlers, these immigrants coming directly from Europe. This included Johannes Hannusch and his sons.
When Germany finally united, in 1871, it set the pace for industrial supremacy. In addition to expanding its established industries, they took the lead in the development of chemicals and electricity. At the same time there was an expansion of exports in manufactured goods, but it did not to prove to be a sustained expansion.
Early in the 19th Century the first sewing machine appeared on the scene and patent after patent introduced new machines and improved ideas on these early models. By mid century these machines were popping up in America and across the continent. America, in the midst of Civil War, had provided some of these inventions, but other things slowed their advance. Meanwhile these machines added to the Industrial Revolution in Europe as machine replaced or reduced the work force. The world economy experienced a great depression in the early 1870's, but by the middle of the decade Germany was well on the way toward recovery. New machines and inventions, including the improved sewing machines, were being introduced. Suddenly another wave of tailors found themselves out of work.
During the mid 1870's there appears to have been a general exodus of weavers and tailors from Neurode and the surrounding communities in Silesia, most bound for America. In the late 1870's, with his son Hugo, Johannes Hannusch, leaving his wife and the balance of his children behind, put the "Old Country" behind him and set sail for America. Whatever arrangements made for the balance of the family to join them in Canada, of these plans we have no knowledge.
At this point in time there has been no record surface concerning ship and port of call. A Johann Hannsch arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1879, but the much older age recorded and no mention of a son, Hugo, suggests that this is probably another person.
Their voyage behind them, father and son settled into their new life in the village of Heidelberg, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. Here they reestablished themselves in the tailoring business. A short time later Johannes and Hugo Hannusch were join by son and brother, Theobald Hannusch.
On April 3, 1885, Johannes Hannusch died at Wellesley Township (Heidelberg) Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada. He was buried April 5, 1885, at St. Clement's Roman Catholic Cemetery, in the village of St. Clements, Ontario. The grave markings have been lost with the passage of time or in the later venture of moving the cemetery to its new location.
His widow, Josepha (Meese) Hannusch, never made the voyage to Canada, but lived out her days in Silesia. She died on January 6, 1896, at Neurode, Silesia, and was buried on a gentle hill, as recorded by her nephew. (Her name was spelled Josephe Hanisch, nee Meese, in the church death records).
Neurode, Silesia (Click For Larger Picture)
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