Kostroun family celebrates farming 100 years in Central Texas
Farming 100 years ago wasn’t easy.
After purchasing 445.5 acres of land on Sept. 21, 1921, Joseph and Anna Kostroun and their eight young children farmed in the Marak Community near Cameron.
In 1920 the typical size of a farm was 261 acres in Texas so the pressures of making a living to pay off the land was ever so present. Usually before dawn the Kostroun family would hook up one of their 12 sets of mules to pull their plows through the soil, plant seeds or harvest their crops.
When Joseph and Anna bought their land in 1921, they didn’t realize they bought their land at the onset of a Farm Depression before the country was gripped in the depths of the Great Depression that began in October 1929.
Farming in Texas 100 years ago
During the 1910’s farmers had enjoyed ‘The Golden Age of Agriculture’ receiving high prices for their crops during World War I (WWI) supplying Europe with needed food. Farming expanded across the U.S. but when the WWI ended in 1918 things changed quickly and a farm crisis swept across America. As Europe got back on its feet large surpluses caused farm prices to plummet and many farms who had borrowed heavily during the boom times went into foreclosure. Many farmers simply walked away from their land.
In 1920 cotton prices peaked at 42 cents a pound prompting Southern farmers to plant the largest crop in history. The resulting overproduction caused a collapse in prices, with cotton falling to less than 10 cents a pound by early 1921. Cotton farmers toiled in near-depression conditions throughout most of the 1920’s and 30’s.
The Kostroun story
Farming is always an unknown with weather and crop prices but so was living as new immigrants in America and in Texas. In order to escape the economic hardships of Europe, 12-year old Joseph Kostroun along with his parents, Anton and Amelia Kostroun, and siblings sailed to America from Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. After arriving by steamer in Indianola, (near present day Port Lavaca) Texas in 1890, the family walked to Central Texas.
Joseph’s main job was to carry the family bible on his back in a knapsack until they reached the North Elm Community near Cameron.
When Joseph was ready to marry, he sent for a Czech girl. As it was customary at the time for arranged marriages, the Kostrouns paid for Anna’s passage to America. Eighteen-year-old Anna Cerny set out on a journey to Texas and would never see her mother or siblings again. Since Anna only spoke Czech, an agent put a sign around her neck and told her not to remove it until she arrived in Galveston where Joseph was to meet her. Anna and Joseph married on July 1, 1905.
Years later in 1921, Joseph and Anna Kostroun purchased the old Yoe farm from Caroline Yoe, the widow of C.H. Yoe, with money borrowed from the Federal Land Bank of Dallas. The interest was high and payments at times were difficult to meet. Their main crop was cotton but they also raised corn and hay to feed their mules, cattle, chickens and hogs.
Compounding the stress of the farm depression, unpredictable weather and low commodity prices, Joseph unexpectedly died in 1926. Anna told her son, Jerry, that he could not marry until the farm was paid in full. Anna’s children farmed the land with their mother until the debt was paid off. After the farm was paid off, Anna divided the land and promised her five surviving children - Joe, Jerry, Emily, Bohumil and Mary Ann - a tract of the land.
Joseph and Anna’s
descendants carry on the farming tradition
Joe farmed and lived on the Kostroun property until his death at the age of 100. “My dad was progressive and was always looking for new equipment or new methods to farm,” said Thomas Kostroun, Joe’s youngest son. Joe farmed with his sons JD, Bill and Thomas and, later in life, he enjoyed raising cattle. Currently, Joe’s land is owned by his son Thomas and his spouse Rosalie. Thomas and his son, Kenny, now farm this tract of land.
Jerry married Gertrude Jistel in 1940 and kept the promise of not marrying until the farm was paid off. Along with their six children they farmed his tract of land throughout the years.
“My dad always felt he was the temporary curator of the land and you had to protect it,” said Jerry Sr.’s son Phillip. “He was an environmentalist in his own way. As farm chemicals were being introduced in the 1950’s and 60’s, my dad was concerned about contaminating the land. He didn’t want to use a resource like that unless he had to because he was always concerned about being a good steward of the land and passing it along to the next generation.”
Jerry Sr. and his son Bernard farmed his land until 2001, when oldest son Jerry Jr. took over the farming. After Jerry Jr.’s death his widow, Agnes, continued farming the land with their son Jerry, III. Currently, Jerry Sr.’s tract of land is owned by his children, Phillip Kostroun, Kathleen Kostroun Harborth, Jennifer Kostroun Dixon, and Agnes Kostroun, widow of Jerry Kostroun Jr.
Emily married Fred Lazek, II in 1940. In 2001, Emily and Fred’s children, sold her tract of land to their cousins – Jerry Kostroun Jr. and Phillip Kostroun and their spouses Agnes and Judy, respectively. Jerry Jr. farmed the “Lazek” tract until his death in 2018. His widow, Agnes and their son Jerry III took over the farming operation.
Bohumil never married and stayed on the farm. He farmed his tract of land with help from his brothers Joe and Joe’s sons, Jerry Sr., and his sister Mary Ann. His tract of land is now owned by his nephew, William (Bill) Kostroun.
Mary Ann also never married. She joined the military and received her honorable discharge after seven years. Mary Ann served in the diplomatic corps as an interpreter in Czechoslovakia. Upon her retirement from service, she returned to the farm and worked her tract of land alongside her brothers, Bohumil, Joe and Jerry Sr. Her tract of land is now owned by her nephew, Thomas Kostroun
Farming has been a way of life for the Kostroun family for 100 years. The traditions of the previous generations to be good stewards of the land are still practiced today by third and fourth generation Kostrouns.
State of Texas honors Kostroun Family with Family Land Heritage Award for 100 years of farming in Milam County
Two different tracks tracts of land of the original 445.5 acres bought by Joseph and Anna Kostroun in 1921 - Kostroun Family Farm at Marak and The Lazek Place - received the Family Land Heritage Award on Nov. 3 at a ceremony at the State Capitol of Texas.
The Family Land Heritage (FLH) program is a recognition program sponsored by the Texas Department of Agriculture that honors farms and ranches that have been in continuous agricultural operation by the same family for 100 years or more.
The Kostroun Family Farm at Marak is the homestead of Jerry and Gertrude Kostroun. The Lazek Place is the place that was inherited by Emily Kostroun Lazek and was purchased in 2001 by her nephews and spouses – Jerry and Agnes Kostroun, and Phillip and Judy Kostroun.
Phillip Kostroun and Kathleen Kostroun Harboth, children of Jerry and Gertrude Kostroun, will accept the 100-year award for the Kostroun Family Farm at Marak. Agnes Kostroun and her son, Jerry L. Kostroun, III, will accept the 100-year award for the Lazek Place.