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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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A West Coast Directory from 1888

Ok, I admit I like old line-drawings that might help illustrate posts here on HH and on Janson.  To that end, I use search terms like "Northern Pacific" at Internet Archives, and see what happens ☺.   
 I found this wonderful directory from 1888...and wow, it made me realize something AGAIN:  America was settled by Europeans over a 300 year time span, east to west.  In other words, the east coast has many more years of public records than Minnesota does, and Minnesota has way more years of records than Washington, Oregon and California have, verstehen?   So, the towns in this directory were pretty new--who knew if they'd last?   

Can you imagine how huge the book would be today if "San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Albany, Albina, Astoria, Ashland, Central Point, Corvallis, East Portland, Eugene City, Hillsboro, Independence, Jacksonville, Lebanon, Medford, McMinnville, Newport, Old Tacoma, Portland, Salem, Seattle,  Vancouver and Yaquina"...were all in the same directory?  Whew!

(I think of the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" to remember when the Gold Rush started in California and Oregon: "Dwelt a miner, fourty-niner..." who COULDA had a daughter named Suzanna, too, for all we know ☺), so most of these towns were less than 40 years old when this book was printed.
  
Also, remember, the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869, only 20 years earlier.  It had been largely built by Chinese labor on the western end, labor that was welcomed until the railroad was finished. 
I was reminded of that by the separate listing of Chinese businesses, at the very end.

2 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing how things change over time? Your O Suzanna talks about a forty-niner. For me it's O My Darling Clementine. I guess that's because you're older. And I'm not. (Insert appropriate duck comment here.)

    Love - PT

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  2. LOL...good gawd...ok, I fixed it.

    (I probably did it purposely to see if you're paying attention, and YAY, you are ☺)
    Thanks, PT!

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