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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Friday, September 4, 2009

Ah-HA moments

A while ago, Larry asked what my top "Ah-HA!" moments were since we started researching the Hesch family...and wow, there are so many, I don't know where to start.

A biggie was finding Johann Hesch in the on-line church books in Oberschlagles, Horni Pena, Bohemia, and the amazing coincidence that they were being digitized JUST when we needed them. I think we waited 8 months for the H parishes, but by then we were pretty good at figuring out Suetterlin script, and we "knew our way around Bohemia" too...lol

Another was realizing that Paul Hesch had brothers. When we started looking, I knew only his name, but then, a trip to the Minnesota History Museum in St Paul got us the info that Paul died of a broken back in August of 1900, and that his father was John. Woohoo! This was the beginning of realizing how redundant given names were in German families.

Oh! Discovering my grandfathers' siblings' families was a thrill. Of 11 kids born to Paul and Mary, 5 had died before I was born, and two of them had families.

LOL...darn! To be continued--this 'working' thing cuts into my HH time something awful!
Posted by Marlys Hesch Sebasky at 8:15 AM

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