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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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Well, yes, but....

Remember how I said we'd told the de Vivaldi story, as much as we knew?  There was definitely a caveat about new old info showing up, because neither one of us can actually let something go, permanently.  Besides, once you're on the lookout for certain names and towns...well, hell, I'll just check all the names while I'm here....  

So, yes, as a matter of fact, the Master Researcher found another COOL newspaper article from February  1875  (YAY, LARRY!):

A MANHATTAN GIRL WINS A GOLD MEDAL.

The St Louis Republican has the following, under the caption of "A Kansas Girl's Success:"
"At the pre-holiday examination of students of the College of Brazil at Rio de Janerio, Miss Corrina de Vivaldi, an American girl, who claims the state of Kansas as her native heath, entered the list to compete for the gold medal which is every yeat awarded to such as have distinguished themselves during the course of studies prescribed.  She was successful; now that the school days are over, she bears the well won treasure as a souvenir of the days of her triumph.  Miss Vivaldi is the daughter of the publisher of the South American Mail, from which journal we get the above information.
Many of our citizens will remember Miss Corrina, who was born in Manhattan. Her father, Mr Vivaldi, started the Western Kansas Express in this place, the first paper published west of Topeka.  Its name was afterward changed to the Independent, then the Standard, and now the Nationalist.
Mr. Vivaldi was an educated whole souled Italian gentleman, who is kindly remembered by all the old residents, as is also his estimable wife.  In 1861, he was appointed consul to Santos, Brazil, we believe, by President Lincoln, and has resided in that country ever since.
He now publishes the South American Mail, and sometime since received the thanks of our government for his course in some matter in which the United States was interested. --Manhattan Nationalist
(From the Saline County Journal, 11 February, 1875, when Corinne was 16)


Fr Guido Sarducci
Now, of course a discussion took place about what actors we'd cast for each of the main parts of the de Vivaldi story when it's made into a movie.  (Charles) Francis has to be portrayed by a handsome charmer...someone who's able to snow Bishop Cretin, manage to get people to send him gobs of cash, romance a rich widow AND convince the world that giving up the priesthood for love is truly torture.

Mature Robert de Niro
No, the most obvious candidates aren't always the best.  (On the other hand, this is our movie, so we can nominate any actor at any age).  
BTW, Larry thinks a cameo by Anthony Hopkins as cranky Archbishop Blanc of New Orleans would be cool, and maybe Peter Lorre as Bishop Cretin?  I'd cast Robert de Niro, I think, for Francis partly because he was in the Godfather, so he's already got Italian street cred...lol



We're taking suggestions for all the parts, ok?

3 comments:

  1. I'm debating about Susan Sarandon or Glen Close (or the star of "Murder She Wrote"..?) in the Mary Meade part, depending on if we see her as canny and intelligent...which she must have been, I think.
    Hmm, it's to think about...

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  2. Do you mean Geraldine McEwan who played Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie series and who lived in St. Mary Meade? Loved that woman. No one like her since.

    I would have to say that we have gone quite far afield on the "Hesch History" website when reporting on such non-relatives/acquaintances/ connections as deVivaldi et al. However, it is a good chuckle! Thanks, Lois

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  3. Oh wow, she'd be a GREAT candidate to play Mary Meade. Can you imagine being married in Green Bay to an Italian ex-priest...who now wants to start a newspaper in freakin KANSAS? She had to be fairly strong minded by the time they got to Rio, cuz he lasted only a short while after his consular term was up before he abandoned her and Corinna. Still she had the gumption to marry again.
    lol....we loved researching that story, and it DOES have local links. The land in St Cloud they were litigating about is the 40 acres where the train depot is on the east side--in 1892, a VERY valuable piece of land--practically the whole of East St Cloud--and the disputed owner was Waite, of Waite Park fame. So, see?
    Thanks for the suggestion ☺

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