HESCH HISTORY: Math the reporter

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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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Math the reporter

I think of great-uncle Math Hesch with affection. He was bigger than life when I was a kid because he looked like his brother "Big Grandpa" but he was way more tolerant of kids--he actually seemed to like us. He always had gum or a nickle for us, so why was mom so adamant about not talking to him?

As I skim the first five years of Pierz Journal issues (1909-1913), I realize two things: Math hadn't really developed his style yet, and there were many other moms who enforced that rule with their kids,too, way before I was born.

The range of Buckman residents mentioned in the Buckman News was limited to the west end, his own relatives, and what he could deduce by driving past a farm and recognizing the cars parked there. I think he loved the repercussions, too, when he told a joke with locals as characters...for instance: