Velcescu

The Commune of Cateasca , of Arges County, is located near the City of Pitesti, on the south bank of Arges River.
In this commune, in the 19th century, important families in the country’s history owned properties, families such as the Golescu family: the village chief Iordache Golescu and his descendents, also the learned politician Ion Ghica. At the time of the expropriation for the agrarian reform of 1921, in Cateasca the rich and well known Zamfirescu family owned extensive lands, about 800 hectares, on which there were mansions, woods and vineyards, agricultural lands and a riverside coppice on the Arges River alluvial plain etc.
In the Gruiu or Cacaletii de Jos commune, up to the end of the 19th century, the owner was the well known politician Dumitru Bratianu, brother of I.C. Bratianu. Extensive territorial properties were owned by the less known families from Gruiu village: Velcescu family, Ganciu family and by Mrs. Alexandrina Vioreanu from Bucharest.
On the basis of the agrarian reform of 1921, a few hundreds of hectares of these lands were expropriated, on which were impropriated only a few of the peasants from the villages Coseri, Popesti, Cateasca, Gruiu, Silistea and Ciresu, and also cattle runs for the peasants’ cow pastures were created on the basis of agrarian law, the village schools and churches were impropriated with allotments of up to five hectares etc.