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 28, 2012

The family with the most vocations wins

My sibs and I may have been one of the last generations to be badgered about joining the convent. Bruth was the only son dad had, so I think they left him alone, but spare sons and multiple daughters were always fair game.
  Evidently, someone got to the Frank Kapsner Sr. family of Morrison co. Four Benedictines and a priest?  Wow.  
We haven't done real research into this particular family, but the Kapsner name's familiar, for sure.  Again, it's from the Pictorial Atlas books.
   According to the 1880 Federal census, Frank and Theresia Kapsner were born in Germany in 1830 and 1834.  Their children were 
John (1857), Mary (1859), Anna (1862), August (1865), Eduard (1867), 
Johanna (1868), Karl (1870), Joseph (1871), Theresia (1873), 
Gertrude (1875) and Conrad (1879).  
If that's Conrad down front, then this photo was taken about 1900-1905.  Eldest son John would have been 43 or so by then, and papa would have been 70.  It fits.
I'd bet it was 1901, tho, cuz daughter Mary (Sr Cecilia Kapsner) became prioress at St Benedicts in 1901.  That would  account for the satisfied look on her mother's face ☺.  [BTW, I'm pretty sure we've found info about a son who became a priest. It's here somewhere. I'll add it when we find it again, ok?]
(January 2016--here it is ☺):
But look! We managed to find photos of all four Kapsner sisters at Minnesota Reflections.  If you're interested in more, click the link and search for "Kapsner".  There are lots more pics.
Sr Cecilia Kapsner
Sr Auxila Kapsner
Sr Bonaventure Kapsner,
1885

Sr Loyola Kapsner

Amazing how familiar and frightening this sorta 'look' is to me, 
still, almost 50 years later...shiver...

"But Sister, mongooses really ARE natural enemies of snakes!  
My sister P.T. read it in Colliers last night. Ya can ask her!"

9 comments:

  1. Re: mongooses: You SOOO obviously are not from Perham or Windom.

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  2. And ha ha ha Kath - I got the first comment!

    Love -

    Emmet

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  3. shallow though it may be..................

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  4. Shallow, maybe, but DAMN! How's she manage to comment @ 9:14? I didn't POST it till 10:02--wow!

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  5. There are commenters and then there are commenters. What can I tell you? When you're hot, you're hot. Shallow, ya sure, but hot.
    Love - Emmet

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  6. Do you know exactly where about the Frank Kapsner came from in Germany?
    I do have relatives of the same name and they come from the hamlet "Kaps" (see http://goo.gl/maps/MUNhi ) in Lower Bavaria.
    Essentially the "Kapsners" are the people from Kaps.

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  7. Hi, Hans! We haven't done any research into the Kapsner name, no. Our emphasis is mostly on Austrians who lived in Bohemia before emigration. Kapsner is a familiar name, that's all--sorry.
    But about the idea that a hamlet called Kaps might be their place of origin, does that apply to the family named Kappes, also? Both families were large and well known in the Buckman-Pierz area.

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  8. Did a little research last night and found that the name Kappes (Cup-as)comes from Luxembourg.

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    Replies
    1. According to the Kapsner family tree book, Friedrich Kapsner imigrated into Silesia (Schlesian), Germany, about 1820. It is presumed he came from the northwest section of Austria bordering on Bavaria.

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