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A Had/Hadd Family Story Through the Mist of Time Our vision begins to emerge from the mist of history on the rolling plain of Bohemia, 100 km south of Prague, in the Sobeslav district (county?), in the farm village of Mlyny. At that place our first view of the Had family appears with the birth in ca 1770 of one Jakob Had. Thirty years thereafter (ca 1800) Jan Had, his son, was born in Mlyny. Our view begins to sharpen with the birth in Mlyny in 1829 of Jan’s son, Franz (Frank) Joseph Had. Franz Joseph married Barbara Selekova of Horovitza, Bohemia; the couple had five sons- Vaclav (Jim) born in 1860; Philip Jacob born in 1863; Joseph born in1867; Frank J. born in 1870; and John born in1876. Franz Joseph was a farmer, soldier and thatcher. A some point Franz Joseph became part of the Austrian army [historical note: when the Hapsburgs needed extra personnel for their armies, a common practice was to sweep rural villages and dragoon men and impress them into the army].[Note per Bob Brenner? F. J. was in the Austrian army in the battle of Sadowa (Koniggratz) which occurred in 1866 vs the Prussians and was blinded for life.] [note per Frank Had (son of Philip) conversation with Tom Hadd ca 1972, F.J. was captured and a prisoner of war; the practice was to blind prisoners so they could not fight again and release them to return home. Frank Had referred to battles on the Italian front-(Italy/Austria at war 1858-1860)]. In the event, Franz and Barbara raised five sons to maturity, and lived to 76 years and 78 years respectively. [per Bob Brenner: Franz and Barbara are buried in the Catholic churchyard in Mlyny (He found the grave in1978). They “over-bury”; you may find the markers against the church wall.]
