Was Paul really a stowaway?

(Larry and I've found that most of the family stories I've heard have a basis in truth, once we research them, but this one is tough!)

A persistent story among Heschs is that great grandpa Paul got onboard a ship leaving Europe by having himself sealed in an apple barrel.  He would certainly have had a confederate onboard to let him out, so he had to be noticed by the crew. 

While researching the possibility, we found that discovered stowaways (as well as births or deaths during the journey) were listed at the end of the passenger list, but that once a stowaway arrived, they were processed into America like everyone else.
One possible theory is that he arrived in Canada instead of NYC.  The first evidence we have of him after his birth in Oberschlagles (1846) is his marriage to Mary Otremba in Buckman (1874).  The legend says he was 21 when he left home to avoid the Austrian draft, so what was he doing for the missing seven years here in America?   It's probable that he "worked his way across the country", moving along when he had the money, but we have no evidence of that.

This one'll probably stay a mystery....

From today's St Cloud Times....

"St. Cloud Hospital will donate a statue of the Rev. Francis Pierz to the city named after him.
The hospital expects to deliver the statue to the city of Pierz in the next several weeks, according to a news release.
The St. Cloud diocese commissioned and paid for Italian sculptor Domenico Mastroianni to create the structure in 1952. It has stood in front of the hospital, along Sixth Avenue North since 1969.
With the current construction project, hospital officials thought about moving the statue. Discussion led to approaching Pierz with the idea of donating the statue to the community".

Interesting, huh?

I was noodling around my (huge) Pictures file, and this 1892 plat map of the east end of Buckman township caught my eye again, because of how densely it was settled there on the left, and not on the right. The yellow acreage is all railroad land, with much of the rest state or school land.

What's with that?

Well, the railroads were granted 24 miles of land on either side of the tracks--a really wide swath--and if you recall, there were train tracks from Royalton thru Genola and Hillman, on to Onamia, and Duluth.  (The link is a .pdf  map of the ATV trail that's there now).  See where Buckman is in relation to the tracks?  The yellow areas were simply railroad lands that hadn't sold to farmers yet.  Incredible, huh?

Another question is why whole sections (12 and 36) were SCHOOL land, but we haven't researched that yet...lol

After 25 years...

...aunt Fronie was pretty proud that she could still get into her wedding dress, even if it wouldn't/didn't close in the back. 

The veil she wore in 1947 was borrowed, but luckily she had a lace curtain to wear for pictures...lol

...so of course the liquor behind her on the cupboard wasn't totally responsible for all the laughing that night.







Still miss ya, Frone!

Ok, something current fer a change!

Josh says this spider probably isn't a Hesch, but it's ok if I post it anyway ☺.  He found her doin' lunch this morning in his back yard.  Yum, the caterpillar looks delicious, huh?   What a marvelous world we live in.  But, Ewwwww!

Thanks, son!

It's the 25th!

LOL...whenever I realize that today is the 25th of the month, I have to figure out how far past Christmas it is, and how much time till next Christmas (5/7 months ☺). 

In honor of this profound thought, here's a new feature on HH--Christmas photos!

Remember?  Pictures got developed when the whole roll of film was used, and this time

it was MAY before we took 24 pics.  Nice floor, mom! ☺

(BTW, I think this was the year the cat wouldn't leave the low hanging ornaments alone).

Something fun!

Remember the album cover to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?  Well, last week, Larry proposed the idea of doing that with HESCHs, and that's exactly what we've been doing.

Whew!

There are 101 faces here, with only a few shown more than once ☺.  Lots of people aren't included, but that's not cuz we didn't want them to be--the pictures I have are hit-and-miss, ya know?  Yes, we would  have included Anon, if only he'd sent the thing, and he's not even related....

Here's the key to the picture, so you don't fight over who's who.  I tried to think what'd be the easiest way to compare the list with the pic; I suppose, short of printing it out, you're stuck flipping back and forth once you biggify the color photo.  The date after each name is the year the photo was taken, ok?

☺ 

1.  Math Hesch-1901
2. Patty Janish-2009
3. Allan Hesch c 1985
4. Mary "Holka" (Tetiva) Hesch c 1958
5. Heinz Binder-2010
6. Joanie Dion-2009
7. John (Johnny Boy) Hesch c 1972
8. Eddie Hiemenz-2010
9. Frank Hesch-1901
10. Helen Hesch c 1990
11. Sue Chrastil-2009
12. Leo Karasch c 1950
13. Ruben Sufka c 1960
14. Marion Hesch-2005
15. Joan Suess c 1955
16. George Godfrey-1920
17. Sylvester Lewans c 1970
18. Tony Hesch c 1985
19. Rosie Hesch c 1936                                      
20. Ket Mueller (Hesch, Suess) 1927
21. Emily (Sebasky) Murphy 2009
22. Kathy Hesch-2005
23. Frank Hesch c 1913
24. Marlys (Hesch) Sebasky c 1953
25. Josh Sebasky-2009
26. Dolores (Hesch) Eben c 1990
27. Greg Hesch-2009
28. Ken Knutson-2010
29. Lois (Hesch) Messina c 1988
30. Carol ( Hesch) Harris-2010
31. Julie (Hesch) Posel-2009
32. Linda (Janson) Hesch c 1935
33. Agnes (Trachofsky) Hesch c 1915
34. Tim Janish-2009
35. Louise (Hesch) Desautel-2009
36. Melody Harris-2010
37. Henry Hesch c 1988
38. Jerry Janish-2009
39. Mike Hesch c 1946
40. Math Hesch c 1956
41. Judy Janish-2009
42. Fronie (Hesch) Karasch c 1988
43. Theo Hesch-1910
44. Matt Hesch c 1940
45. (possibly Fronie or Irene Hesch c 1946)
46. Dan Janish-2009
47. Mason Sebasky-2009
48. Lorie Harris-2010
49. Will Hesch (Bruggeman)-2009
50. John Knutson-2010
51. Eileen (Muyers) Hesch-2010
52. Gary Sufka-2009
53. Irene (Hesch) Kulig c 1947
54. Sherrie (Knutson) Messerschmidt-2010
55. Lizzy (Sand) Hesch c 1920
56. Mary (Hesch) Gottwalt c 1901
57. Mary (Sand) Lewans c 1960
58. Josie Murphy-2010
59. (unknown Communion "angel" from Buckman c 1923)
60. Fronie (Hesch) Karasch-1972
61. Ted "Tader" Hesch c 1940
62. Irene (Janish) Hesch-1951
63. Lena (Sand) Block-1910
64. Jerry Hesch-2009
65. Larry the Researcher-2008
66. Marlys (Hesch) Sebasky-2009
67. Millie (Rau) Hesch c 1988
68. Fronie as a kid c 1926
69. Bev (Hesch, Knutson) LeCourssiere c 1943
70. Lena (Sand) Block-1960
71. John Sand c 1898
72. Lucy (Hesch) Klein c 1917
73. Katie (Hesch) Sufka c 1936
74. Irene (Hesch) Kulig c 1990
75. Kendall Sebasky-2008
76. Idella (Janish) Hesch-1949
77. Eddie Janish-2008
78. Hannah Belmont-2009
79. Paul Vincent Doyle-1964
80. Laurel Hesch c 1884
81. Gene Block-2009
82. Mike Hines-2008
83. Bill Block-2009
84. John Hesch-2009
85. Shirley (Hesch) Melton-1955
86. Anne Sand (Sr Teresita) c 1958
87. Cece Huff (friend)
Front Row:
A--Anton August Hesch-1925
B--Mary (Hesch) Peterson c 1955
C--Theresa Hesch (Sr Laura) c 1966
D--Joyce Hesch-1960
E--Mike Sand-1898
F--Louisa (Rausch) Sand-1898
G--Judy Janish-1960
H--Paul Hesch c 1899
I--Mary (Otremba) Hesch c 1910
J--Jimmy Hesch c 1956
K--Matt Hesch-1946
L--Gary Sufka c 1956
M--Rosie (Hesch) Janish-1946
N--Ket (Mueller, Hesch) Suess c 1940
O--Rosalia (Dehler) Hesch-1920

More about Buckman Mercantile

An article from the end of 1930...was this the Mueller building that Hartmanns were renting, or was it the store they built after the 1927 fire?  LOL..we need to hear from Anon! 

(Any guesses about who found this article? ☺ )

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•THANKS, LARRY!!








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May 21st--Anon says "Herb Hartmann rented [Muellers] the summer and fall of 1927. By winter his store was completed and he was back in it. So, the robbery took place in the new store, later to be Britz Market, that is by 1947, when Herb's dad, John bought the place".
THANKS, Anon!! ☺

About those trade tokens....

Good lord, the internet and Larry are simply maaah-velous!!  Who knew there are catalogs of coins online?  The one Larry showed me last night is searchable by country, state and town--and Buckman--lil ol Buckman!--has 15 possible collectable trade tokens....and a few have dates the place was in business, too.  Looks like Tony Sitzman's bar lasted the longest (of the businesses who used trade tokens)--1934 to 1966.
Check it out!

The building across from the Hall....

......has always been a mystery to me.

 Anon says it was "Dengel General Merchandise store, built by them in 1903, operated until 1907, then traded for a 240 acre farm 2 miles south of Buckman".

It seemed to be a warehouse sort of building when we lived there, and still seems to be storage for someone.  It's been kept up, and seems to have fresh paint every now and then....c'mon, it's 107 years old, and has to be owned by someone!

Buckman grocery stores

Ah, Anon has been doing research! 

I have a natural interest in Zenner's Grocery store because we owned it for a few years in the 1970s.  It was an old building but I never found out HOW old, until now ☺.  What sparked my interest tho, was this excerpt from "A History of Morrison and Todd Counties", published in 1915 ◄

We know that the "Brandl Brothers, John and Joseph...carry harness goods and shoes, etc" was the same building that became Zenners later.  Kilian & Adela Zenner bought the business sometime in the '30s, so what happened to it between 1915 and 1930?

Here's what Anon found out about the building by perusing old issues of the Pierz Journal:

"Built in 1910, it quit as Brandl Harness in 1917, when they built the garage. By 1925 it was Alex S. Johns' Confectionery, adding groceries right after the Buckman Mercantile* fire of June 6, 1927; I found ads for his store dating through 1927..... and in one of the ads, it clearly states that groceries will be added to his line of confectionery items..."

"*Buckman Mercantile was owned / managed by Herb Hartmann, son of P. A. Hartmann, the real owner, from 1924-1942 -- got the ad that states John Schmolke selling out lock, stock and barrel in late 1924 -- Buckman Mercantile burned to the ground on 6/6/1927, taking with it the Post Office and Blake's Grocery.

Hartmann then rented part of P.A. Mueller's Store & former Saloon for his own operations while the other store was being rebuilt.....That's when A. S. Johns added groceries too".

So, Alex Johns owned it as a confectionery /grocery store from c. 1918 until Zenners bought it in the early 30s?  The building had an addition on the north side which Anon says were living quarters for Brandls (Charlie was born there), and it was a barbershop in the 1940s.  By the time we bought it, the addition was part of the grocery.

More than you ever wanted to know about a building that exsists only in memory, huh?

THANKS, ANON!! 

Genealogical Serendipity

Between Larry and me, there's a massive library of history about Hesch connections, Buckman, Pierz, Morrison county, Minnesota, Bohemia and Europe.  When we find something that's even vaguely related, we file it either on the computer or in tottering piles in our offices...lol

Those piles aren't the most efficient system, but once in awhile, we need to find a factlet, so one of the piles gets sorted again and then other stuff comes to light--stuff we read before, but didn't realize would connect, or stuff that now requires searching for online....

This morning, Larry said he'd been re-reading a booklet my other grandpa (Janson) published in 1947.  In it, Grandpa said the first school in Buckman was on the corner where Zenners store was later.  We have a photo of the gradeschool class in the next "new" school building in Buckman, which was 1887-88, or 4 years after Jansons arrived in Minnesota:

This school was where St Michaels church is now--if you could fly straight behind it from this angle, you'd find the Paul Hesch farm a mile or so away, and the Janson farm would have been the faint roof in the distance on the left.  The church at the time was across 25, where the brick school would be built eventually.

St Michaels Church, Buckman,  in 1887

Back to serendipity, tho:  Larry asked if I knew who named St Michaels?  The family story was that Mike Sand did, cuz he hauled the most rocks for the foundation of the new church ("six to eight foot thick walls")--a surprizing "fact" since the Sand farm WAS sand--where'd he find rocks? 

Turns out it was a much more prosaic event that bought Mike the right:

From a book called "The Spirit in Central Minnesota: Parishes, priests and people" by Vincent Arthur Yzermans --(1989)--

"Michael Oestreich and Michael Sand pooled their resourses to the amount of $75 and thus had the privilege of choosing the parish's patron saint".

 

The church we know now was built c. 1903, so what was this little white church called?  Oh--Sands arrived in Minnesota about 1859, but Michael and Louisa were married in 1876 and moved to Buckman sometime after that.  Ok, he could have helped build THIS church, then, and $75 was even more money--wow!

 

(Yeah, this really is typical of how we discover and make sense of our history...☺)

Oberschlagles today

Heinz just sent a link to this page on Google Earth.  His version is in German, of course, but you can move around the landscape by clicking and dragging.  BTW, see the "compound" sort of building, lower left?  When Johann & Marya lived there, most of the homes would have looked like that--a farmyard with house, barn and sheds enclosed by a wall.  Oh, and the new house next door was there in 2002, on the first map Google has for the area.  This► was taken in 2008, and the pic below this month, so they're not moving fast on taking the house down!

Ok, see the bridge at the top of the pic?  If you were standing on that bridge, looking toward house #2, you'd see this: 

You're completely oriented now, right? ☺

DANKE, Heinz!!

Paul & Mary Hesch

◄Here's a photo that was never actually taken--it's a combo of Paul's head on his son Anton's body (from his wedding pic) and Mary from her 'widow portrait'....still, it gives us a feel for how they would have looked, and it's pretty amazing that we can do stuff like this!

►This one was our first attempt, and in many ways, it's better.  Mary is a bit elongated, and Paul's body this time was his son John's...lol

And doesn't THAT sound weird!

They probably both need work, but I wanted to post them for the WOW factor ☺!

Two Vids for you from Larry

Even Great Genealogical Researchers have other interests, I understand.  Here's one of Larry's favorite groups from the 1940s, the Hoosier Hotshots:

The Hoosier Hot Shots were an American quartet of madcap musicians who entertained on stage, screen, radio, and records from the mid 1930s into the 1970s. The group initially consisted of players from the U. S. State of Indiana. Beginning on local Indiana radio in the early 1930s, the Hot Shots went on to a successful national radio career on National Barn Dance on WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois and a successful and prolific recording career, before moving to Hollywood to star in many feature-length western movies.

ENJOY!


It just so happens that he also likes THIS one.  It's a little more ON TOPIC (lol) and it's familiar from our childhood cuz it was one of the four records we owned in 1956 when we got a phonograph:


LOL--THANKS, Larry!! ☺

Remember County Extension?

Huh! When you think about it, calling someone an Extension Agent sounds weird--what did/do they extend?

The county agricultural extension agent was an advisor employed by the government to assist people in rural areas with methods of farming and home economics.

I know, I know...you're wondering if there was ever a magazine devoted to advising these advisors, and if there was, could you find it on Google?

Why, YES to both!  Larry found a bound volumn of

It was in a library, and no one had EVER checked it out...lol  Still, just browsing thru the pages gives a snapshot of farm life in 1921 and 22  from the extension agent's point of view--in other words, the answer to the question "HOW shall we assist people in rural areas with methods of farming and home economics?"

Here are a few ads and articles that caught my eye...click to enlarge:

 
About that time, movies were being produced to help tongue-tied agents get the word out, too.  So, now there were ads for MOVIES, and PROJECTORS...

What an obscure bit of history--but how interesting that such a magazine exsisted, with it's advice on how to introduce new products and methods to our folks.  Propaganda at it's finest?

WAS there another baby?

There's been much discussion in my family over the years about whether Grandma & Grandpa Hesch (AA and Lizzy) had a child named Louise who died as an infant.  One story goes that there was a baby before Mike, my dad.  Another says that the child was born later...but that yes, there was a lost baby in the AA Hesch family.

Today, Larry was trying the newest version of FamilySearch  and found birth/death records for TWO babies, one who wasn't even named (altho one story mentioned a baby named Stephen):

Name: Mary Louise Hesch
Gender: Female
Burial Date: 08 Jan 1912
Burial Place:
Death Date: 04 Jan 1912
Death Place: Buckman, Morrison, Minnesota
Age: 0
Birth Date: 14 Dec 1911
Birthplace: Minnesota
Occupation:
Race: White
Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Name:
Father's Name: Tony Hesch
Father's Birthplace: Minn
Mother's Name: Elisabeth Sand
Mother's Birthplace: Minn
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B02098-4
System Origin: Minnesota-EASy
Source Film Number: 2138520
Reference Number: 7094
Collection: Minnesota Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990

................................................

Name: Hesch
Gender: Male
Burial Date:
Burial Place:
Death Date: 16 Jun 1917
Death Place: Buckman, Morrison, Minnesota
Age: 0
Birth Date: 1917
Birthplace:
Occupation:
Race:
Marital Status:
Spouse's Name:
Father's Name: Anton A. Hesch
Father's Birthplace:
Mother's Name: Elizabeth Sand
Mother's Birthplace:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B02114-9
System Origin: Minnesota-EASy
Source Film Number: 2138947
Reference Number: 7726
Collection: Minnesota Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990
................................................
The kids in that family were born consistently 2 years apart,except for a gap between the twins (1915) and Fronie (1919)....well, and Tony at the end--he must have been a bit of a surprise ☺.  These dates fit the family, so I think the mystery is SOLVED, thanks to Larry, and the state of Minnesota!

House #2, Oberschlagles, Bohemia

I think the BEST part of our world today is the connections we make that would almost never have been possible even 10 years ago--for instance, our friend in Austria, Heinz Binder, found the blog by googling "Binder".  He emailed, and WOW!  It's been a lively correspondence so far ☺!

You'll recall that Heinz lives about 20 miles from the Hesch ancestral village of Oberschlag, and he graciously offered to go take pictures of the houses they lived in.  It turns out that a few are no longer standing, but the one where Johann and Marya Hesch lived, before they emmigrated, is still there.

THIS is #2, in Oberschlagles.  The way farms were set-up back then means this was probably the house part of the building, and the broken wall would have been part of the perimeter around the yard.  It would have enclosed the barn and other buildings, and this part was what was near the road.  The land Johann farmed for the landowner was most likely off the backside of the yard.

It's hard to tell from this side, but the house next door looks like part of #2 when it's not.  I think #2 is being renovated, since the next photo shows a flat bed truck out front.  I hope those are building supplies!

Funny--seeing the stream outside the front door makes me happy.  The last house they lived in before leaving Bohemia was a fairly pleasant location, except possibly in the spring if the creek rose.  I hope Paul, as a little boy, would have had adventures here with his brothers, and a few fond memories of his childhood in this verdant place.   Click the pictures to biggify 

MANY THANKS, HEINZ! 

Dehlers and Kelzenbergs

So many families were my parents' and grandparents' good friends, and I've neglected to mentioned them here, mostly because they were so familiar to us.  To distinguish between neighbor, relative and friend was practically impossible.  The Dehler family,  for instance.  In the 1900 Buckman census, August & Julia Dehler owned the next farm east of Paul & Mary Hesch.  Their families were about the same size and ages.  (Actually, it's odd that only one couple resulted from that kind of proximity-☺-Theo Hesch and Rosalia Dehler, married in 1920). 

◄ Here's the 1900 census page with Dehlers and Heschs.  Click to enlarge

You'll notice August & Julia (Seifert) Dehler had a son named August.  When dad spoke of "Gus Dehler", he meant that son, who was 27 years older than dad and so, one of the "old guys" in town ☺. 

Now, August & Julia also had a son named John, who married Margaret Zenner.  By 1920, John & Margaret had 10 children, two of whom are in the  photo up there--Olivia and Herb.  Herb was dad's good buddy.  We went to St Joe to visit "Herb'n'Edwina" pretty often when I was a kid.  And, once we bought the store in Buckman, Olivia (Dehler) and Henry Kelzenberg were our neighbors to the south.  (This is the Olivia who taught in the Weiling Schoolhouse). They were always fun, but it was never a short visit.  No matter what time of day, you HAD to eat something.

An interesting sidelight to that family was the daughter named Hildegard.  She entered the convent in St Joseph, Mn and became Sr. Herbert Dehler, sister to Herb Dehler who lived 2 blocks away...lol  No confusion there!

Remember?

The Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact was a Catholic comic book published by George A. Pflaum of Dayton, Ohio and provided to Catholic parochial school students between 1946 and 1972. A good part of them are digitized online at that link....wanna guess who found em?
I'm amazed that they weren't preachy or didactic--even the lives of saints were interesting in a "Did you know?" kind of way.  I'd completely forgotten about them, so flipping thru them now is....educational ☺...and fun.  OMG.

A little Royalton history

Larry found this photo of the C. W. Bouck hardware store in turn-of-the-last-century Royalton, Minnesota.  I didn't recognize it, but it was probably still standing when I was a kid. 

So, I set out to find where it was in town.  These next three photos are from a website that's sadly no longer online.

Ah, there it is, on Center Street, the main east/west road thru town.  If you followed this street, you'd  cross the Platte on the old iron bridge, and eventually you'd be in Little Rock.

Another view from closer to Front Street (highway 10).  Of the buildings in these photos, the only ones still standing are the nearest ones on the left and right in this ► photo.  Too bad!

◄ Interior of the store.  Just LOOK at all the wood stoves along the left wall.  Wow!




Thanks, Larry ☺ !!

Tarvia

Hmm! I remember asking dad for directions to Stang's Christmas tree farm near Sartell one year.  Part of the instruction were "once you get on the tarvey go about 5 miles and watch for a dirt road toward the river..."  I assumed "tar-vey" was a Germanized word, as in "tar way"....but this ad from the Farm Journal magazine in 1918 made me wonder.  Wow, there was an actual product called TARVIA.

Another childhood assumption shot to hell.

More photo IDs from Anon

Looking thru the photos at the Minnesota History Center, this "General store" was actually the Mischke Hardware store, in Buckman.  The man second from the left is Frank Mischke himself, according to our friend Anon.  Man, there was a LOT of merchandise in that place--cream separators, pots and pans, oil cans, galvanized tubs, and a lovely selection of wood cook stoves.  Wouldn't you love to wander around in there?

THIS building strikes me as really odd and innovative.  Anon said it was the Pierz Creamery.  So, McDonalds didn't invent the drive-thru after all. 

Wow--thanks AGAIN,  Anon! ☺

PS....Any ideas what company this poster was advertising?  This is a sharp as I can get it...and enlarging it only makes it a BIGGER blurry photo.

Don't forget about this on Tuesday!

I've waited almost a whole YEAR to post this picture, and I'm hoping each of you can make someone groan by using it creatively.  Tuesday is the 4th of May, or Star Wars Day, because of a really dumb pun:

Oh, gawd, I love it!!