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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Friday, March 2, 2012

Billy and Anna Meyer family photo

William "Billy" Meyer married Anna Otremba circa 1875.  Their first child, August, was born in 1876.  In the 1885 Minnesota census, the young couple lived with Katherina Otremba (Anton's widow) and some of Anna's sibs.  Anna was a sister to Mary (Otremba) Hesch, Paul's wife, and our great grandmother, ok?   To grandma Lizzy, they were Aunt Anna and Uncle Billy ☺.
Back to 1885: Billy and Anna had 5 kids by then: August, Mary, Katherine, Willy and Anna (different and unusual names, huh?)  Twenty years later, in the 1905 Minnesota census, the additional kids were Katie, Maggie, Joseph, Anton, Cecilia, Lizzy and Mathias.
So, trying to figure out what year the above photo was taken, would you say the youngest kid looks about 10?  Then this was about 1900.  Billy would have been 49, and Anna, 43.
There are two especially cool things about this: 
1) the photo I found in the Atlas was tiny--3 inches by 2 inches--but just look how clear it is.  We were meant to find it ☺! And
2) We first ID'd Billy Meyer and Anna Otremba on the right in this picture.  We figure it was summer, 1925.  By summer 1926, both John Hesch and Billy Meyer were gone...John in January and Billy in March of 1926.







Credit: Family Search and The Pictorial Atlas of Morrison County, Minnesota.

3 comments:

  1. Somehow I am related. My grandpa was August or gust b Meier. Along the way the name has changed to the spelling it is today. I have Anna and Wilhiem prayer cards

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    1. If you have more info I would love to talk to you. We know little about my grandpa's side of the family because the family was split up. Jacob.meier88@gmail.com

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    2. Hi, Jacob--I'm sorry but I have no more information than this. I saw the photo, realized they were related, and posted it. The rest is up to you ☺...

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