History

Even from oldest books, it is difficult to determine when exactly our mill - formerly also called Choteč Mill or Měchurov Mill - was built. It is probably so because it was built by suzerain from a peace of rock on their own land and therefore it wasn´t recorded separately.

Significant years:

At first the mill was run by suzerain and the millers used to serve there or rent it.

1666

First reference to the mill – “Miller/tenant Matouš Měchura left Small mill of Chejnice for Choteč mill“.

1737

The mill was sold as a private property for the first time, however just a „qualified“ one. Václav Váňa became the owner, but the suzerain of the decanal homestead Choteč and Zbuzany kept the right of first refusal as well as the right of decree to sell the mill or to appoint the successor.

1768

The mill was sold as a hereditary property for the first time. It was to Jan Dočkal and his wife Terezie for 1.000 rhenish gulden.

1774

Václav Michuda and his wife Anna bought the mill for 2.290 gulden.

1776

Václav I.Veselý and his wife Františka (née Neumanová from Slaný) bought the mill for 2.250 gulden. The mill consisted of two basic machinery configurations, a stamp mill and a small garden. There were also four small fields of altogether 10 strikes (1 strike = 0,285ha).

1794

Josef Veselý inherited the mill from his parents Václav and Františka. His first wife was Anna (née Horová, a daughter of the miller from Slivenec). In 1814 Marie (née Křížová, a daughter of the innkeeper from Sivenec) became his second wife.
In 1802 Josef’s oldest brother Jan bought Böhm’s Mill in Radotín, having moved from the mill in Bystřice. (He had passed on the mill to his son František who died in 1886. After his death the mill was sold.)

1825

Václav II.Veselý and Ludmila (née Čistecká, a daughter of the miller from No.27 Radotín) own the mill.
November 15th 1849 the “arrangement to be adhered for all times...was concluded by clerical authority of the homestead of Choteč and Zbuzany and Václav and Ludmila Veselý, the owners of the mill.” The arrangement enabled the owners to found a pond.

1861

Václav III. Veselý and Anna (née Jirátová, a daughter of a farmer from No.6 Zbuzany) managed the mill until 1870. Toleta (née Havlíková , a daughter of the miller from Dobřichovice) becomes Václav’s second wife in the same year.
Wanderbuch of master father Václav III. Veselý.

1910

The mill was owned by Rudolf Veselý and Marie (née Pánková, a daughter of a farmer from No.19 Třebotov).
in 1914 Rudolf left for the first world war and in the subsequent six years his wife Marie managed the mill on her own, having to raise three small children.
June 20th 1920 – Rudolf returned from the East front as a Russian legionary and a soldier of the Fifth Prague Rifle squad of T.G. Masaryk. On that very day he planted the linden by the mill.
The electrification of the Choteč village.
1931 - A bakery was built at the mill and bread started to be baked for the shops in the area.
1935 - The installation of an electromotor to empower the drive of the shafting
1936 – Sokol festival at the mill. People from neighbouring villages attend.
1939 – 1945 the hard time of the German occupation. Rudolf and his family help the people despite the danger of being disclosed. After the war they got many thankful letters 1, thankful letters 2, thankful letters 3 nebo thankful letters 4 as well as verbal thanks for this bravery.
1942 - The water wheel was replaced with a Francis turbine and in 1943 a dynamo was installed in order to use electricity to light to mill.
The Vocational certificate of master father Rudolf.

1947

Zdeněk I. Veselý and Libuše (née Sojková, a daughter of a farmer from No.18 Zbuzany)
After a short enthusiasm of the end of the war, Zdeněk I. and Libuše started the renovation of the mill technologies. But the course of events following was more than unfortunate…..
February 25th 1948 – The communist putsch and the beginning of the „Communist totality“
July 30th 1951 – Ban on milling and the end of all the milling activities
Zdeněk I. and Libuše began to pay back the credit for renovation of the mill from the employee wages. They did so until 1968. They had to feed two small children and also the old father Rudolf (b. 1883), who was not given a pension. The pension was granted to him in October 1960 in the amount of 190 CZK per month and he was getting the same amount until his death six years later.
(Moreover, in 1950 the communists evicted Libuše’s family from their family farm in Zbuzany, where her ancestry had farmed since 1763.)
Autumn 1975 – The demolition of the bakery for its critical condition.
The Vocational certificate of master father Zdeněk I.

1981

Zdeněk II. Veselý and Zdeňka (neé Hustá from Brno) manage the mill until 1996.
Jarmila (neé Greplová from Brodek u Konice) became his second wife in 2000.
November 17th 1989 – The fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia
The mill and we lived to see the freedom. The most difficult had been to keep of some communists from our mill pond.
October 1st 1991 – November 11th 1992 – a reconstruction of the structural part of the mill, a complete overhaul of the mill technologies including cleaning the mill pond.
November 17th 1992 – Milling wheat after more than forty years. We milled mostly for baking purposes.
In 1994 we stopped milling and the mill was occasionally used for tours.
March 3rd 2009 – the launch of electricity supply from our little water power plant into ČEZ power distribution
The certificate of Zdeněk II.