THE NEW IMMIGRANTS (continuation)

From Belgium they received some money and, in a way still unknown, the Brazilian government granted them a piece of virgin land. Upon arrival, after five years, they began to produce and cultivate the land that became theirs. That is how the story began. The forest was cleared and crops were planted. After the stipulated period, their first coffee harvest was completely destroyed by frost. After this event, everything had to start again, and agriculture developed year after year.

At the beginning of the 1900s, Joannes, his wife and some children returned permanently to Belgium. Part of the family remained in Brazil. We know that Petrus (Pedro) and Theophilo (Teófilo) continued farming the land. Joannes died on October 13, 1908. According to the account of Dona Irene M. Herman de Oliveira (01/03/1983), presented by Adauto Herman, we learned the following:

In 1801, they traveled on muleback to Livoreira. They settled in a community called Fazenda, in the Felipes area, dedicating themselves to coffee cultivation. In 1901, the Herman family purchased land in “Guaiquica” (the name of the region that gave rise to the name of the farm acquired by the family). They cleared the forest (300 alqueires) for coffee cultivation and built the first house, establishing the farm and coffee production, all in wood.

After their marriage, Jan Frans and Mathilde returned to Belgium, taking their daughter Celeste with them. Vana and Clotilde remained in Brazil. After the death of Krobcky (Henriqueta Krobcky) and Theophilo Herman (Teófilo), he and his wife Emma van de Velde took over the farm.

No complete genealogy of the Herman family was produced; only partial records received from Belgium through Evandro Francheschi were published. No document contains the names of the children of Joannes Franciscus Herman (Jan Frans), nor records of the families of Pedro and Teófilo Herman.

In 1914, Teófilo traveled to Belgium with his family for a holiday and to avoid military recruitment due to the outbreak of World War I. After the war, he established his own coffee roasting company in Erechim called Estrella Brasileira (later simplified to Estrella).

Pedro remained at Fazenda Guaiquica (later called São Pedro), where he produced and exported coffee to his homeland. Victor returned to Belgium, where he married Emma Hawn. In 1914, they returned to Fazenda Guaiquica and built a warehouse with two sheds to store coffee for the colony; this also served as the first classroom. In this area, on September 2, 1912, the Guaiquica Railway Station was inaugurated.

The other brothers followed different paths: Holiodor bought a farm in Cosmópolis, Léo acquired land in the region, and Ernesto returned to Belgium.