This is a page from the 1900 Federal census for Pierz township (immediately north of Buckman township and just east of Agram township), Minnesota.
If you enlarge the page, you'll see an entry for "Hesch Marthin", his wife Mathilda, and daughter Mary.
It says Marthin was born in Austria in October, 1857, that he and Mathilda had been married 13 years, and that he arrived in the USA 24 years ago, or 1876, when he was 19.
THIS is the man Larry and I wonder about--the first name MARTIN links him to Paul, Mathias and Anton because their grandfather was MARTIN, back in Bohemia/Austria...and because none of them had the name, know what I mean?
Later: There's also this from the Pierz parish books, where Mathilda is identified as a Nelles, from St Michael, Mn. It also says Martin was born in OBERSCHLAGLES, BOHEMIA. Wow.
OK, why do we think this Marthin isn't just a misprint or mis-spelling? Well, we have no other wives named Mathilda, so this is definitely a separate family, not a confusion of one we already know about.
(Depending on the year, census records asked for different info...1885 was pretty basic, and yes, it's the J D Lachance page, with more of the family listed. Martin is on the second page here).
Now, this Martin Hesch (in Pierz township) said he arrived in the US in 1876, but here's a ships list with a Martin Hesch from Neuhaus, Bohemia, leaving Hamburg in 1883, when he was 25.
Disclaimer--there certainly could be more than one Martin Hesch from the Neuhaus area who immigrated, but the romantic in me wants to find a Martin who's the 5th child of Marya and Johann...a so-far missing relative...and I'd like to know what became of him/them. Another thing to keep in mind is that just cuz someone asks your age doesn't mean you're honor bound to tell the truth.
Here's the 1895 census, so it's before daughter Mary was born to Martin and Mathilda. Martin says he's been in the state for 11 years, 4 months, which would work out to 1882-83. Hmm!
To be continued, I hope!
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