HESCH HISTORY: The Fourth of July, 1904 was "...one continuous round of pleasure"

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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Thursday, July 3, 2014

The Fourth of July, 1904 was "...one continuous round of pleasure"

There's more time for posting than I thought today, since the kids are stuck in traffic leaving the cities. Em called and said they were moving about 20 mph, along with thousands of others, going north on I-94...

That title quote comes from a letter published in the Little Falls Herald on June 24, 1904 (top left) encouraging area farmers to attend the festivities in town and even enter their teams in the parade. That particular year, the festivities featured Chippewa dancers from the Mille Lacs Reservation. People were urged to bring their kids to watch, as the tribe was about to be removed to White Earth.

Seven years later, the Pierz Journal promised "a Program the Like of Which Has Never Before Been Attempted in This Village"...Woohoo! The description of the festivities, beginning with a cannon blast at dawn, sounds fascinating. Don't you wonder what the Goddess of Liberty on that first float looked like?