"a Bundle of Sticks"...the life and legacy of Joseph E. Dolezal

Family history (escpecially from the perspective of paternal history) has been an interest of mine for many years. So, today I have made the leap to take a writing journey to record and publish my interpretation and life experiences with my great-grandfather, Joseph Edward Dolezal.

Reflecting on what I know and the stories I heard growing up, land is a clear theme in our family history. Taking things further, property rights seem to have been the primary motivating factor for Jan & Helena Dolezal, Joseph's parents, to act with courage to leave their home in Dzbanov, Czechoslovakia to travel by converted slave ship for two months across the Atlantic Ocean and enter America (at Castle Gardens port in New York).

This would be the begining of Joseph's life and legacy we enjoy today.

So, you may be curious as to the title, "a Bundle of Sticks".

A "Bundle of Sticks" is a metaphor that relates to the set of legal rights associated with ownership of real property in the United States. The "Bundle" consists of five different rights or "Sticks" (right of possession, the right of control, the right of exclusion, the right of enjoyment, and the right of disposition). The "String" holding the "Bundle of Sticks" together is a legal deed.

This "Bundle of Sticks" metaphor seems to best explain the importance of "owning your own land" for Joseph, my grandfather George Washington Dolezal, my uncle Jack Dolezal, my father James R. Dolezal, me, and immediate family.

...to be continued onthis blog and on the "a Bundle of Sticks" page of this website