HESCH HISTORY

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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Monday, April 11, 2011

A hundred and twenty-five years ago this Thursday, April 14th, a tornado swept thru St Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Rice and Buckman, Minnesota. The whole state mobilized to help, some towns sending cash, and other people sending lumber and building supplies, or boxes of blankets and clothing by train. Doctors came to help with the wounded at makeshift infirmaries and at the new, mostly empty, Benedictine sisters' hospital, St Raphaels. (Tornado victims were taken there out of desperation, and it jump-started the areas' trust in the St Cloud hospital).

The tornado struck on Wednesday, and three days later, this eloquent article was published. It's worth the read...