HESCH HISTORY: Waumandee, Wisconsin 2008

This branch of the Austrian Hesch family is descended from Johann Hesch and his wife Marya (Schlinz) Hesch, who came to America from Oberschlagles, Bohemia with three sons: Paul, Mathias, and Anton. +++Johann & Marya settled in Buffalo County, Wisconsin but moved to Pierz, Mn in about 1885. .+++Mathias settled in Waumandee, Wisconsin and moved to Pierz in 1911. +++Anton never married but farmed with his dad in Agram Township, where he died in 1911.+++And Paul, my great grandfather, settled five miles away, in Buckman, Minnesota. He died there in 1900.

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Saturday, June 20, 2009

Waumandee, Wisconsin 2008

Last spring, Kathy and I drove over to Waumandee to see where Mathias had lived. This was my first impression: a little town on flat land between major hills:

We went to the cemetery because at the time, we thought maybe Johann and Maria were there...but no, they're buried in Pierz, which was as much "home" as Waumandee to them.
Rudy and Lucille are here, but we couldn't find Valentine and Lena. Last week, their grandson Roger told me that the other side of Rudy's headstone has their inscription. We never looked.