Too Little, Too Late and WAY Too Far Away

Ahh, once you get the history bug, you'll find stuff to research EVERYWHERE ☺.  
The other night, Larry and I were chatting about my great-greats and the land they claimed in the wilderness of Minnesota.  How they needed to clear land and build a house and barn for themselves plus building a school and church and deal with the occasional Indian..  As always, when we have this conversation, he very considerately mentions my claiming that my house is on land that was awarded by Abe Lincoln to a local Indian for his service in the war.  Ha!  It was finally time to go get the deed.  I've kept it in a zip-lock bag in my freezer for more than 25 years.  A little warmth was over due...lol


But look--beginning with the 120 acres that my lot is part of...in June 1861 Abraham Lincoln signed the order that opened western territories for settlers.
If you recall your Civil War era history, Lincoln was desperately trying to populate the middle of the country with NON-slave holders, so legislation was  enacted in 1861 to help attract European farmers.  BTW, Minnesota had only become a state 3 years earlier, in 1858.
But, that first entry didn't mean Martin Fiedler cleared or settled this land, it simply explains how he got it, right?
"Whereas, in pursuance of the Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1885, entitled "An Act in addition to certain Acts granting Bounty Land to certain Officers and Soldiers who have been engaged in the Military Service of the United States", there has been deposited in the General Land office, Warrant No. 95855 for 120 acres in favor of Istar-Lojar, widow of Sater-kar-kee-, Warrior, Captain Kayley's Company, Creek Volunteers Seminole War, said Warrant having been assigned to Martin Fiedler, Senior".


Wait, aren't the Seminole Indians from the south somewhere--like Florida?  WHEN was this "Seminole War", and where was it fought?
Geesh, there was a series of Seminole Wars, all efforts to remove natives from land in Florida that we wanted, of course.
  
But DAMN, to "grant" land as a reward to the widow of a Creek man...land that was about 2,000 miles north in a place she'd certainly never go, forty three years later, in 1885...do you even wonder what "assigning it to" meant?

"Relative" Strangers

Looking for Johann and Maria Hesch in Minnesota in 1885, we found them in 'Little Falls' (Agram, really), but Maria's husband was listed as "Charles", and their children were 40, 30 and 10 years old...whew. How could that be?

Now, you have to realize that I tend to believe the printed word. I assume fact-checking (WHY??), and being proven wrong...well, I don't prefer it.

Still, I'd never heard of a Charles Hesch, and the age range of their kids was amazing if I took it at face value...lol

I asked a genealogist friend, Jean Marthaler, what she thought. Jean suggested that Paul and Rosalia were visiting that day, and perhaps no one would talk to the enumerator except 10 year old Rosalia, who in any case was probably the most proficient in English among 'em.....?

Jean suggested I look to see if Paul (40) and Rosalia (10) might have been listed elsewhere in their OWN family. They were...

Well, then I wondered why this enumerator didn't have a feel for German--he had such confident handwriting, and most often, enumerators around there had German names (each page is signed at the top). HA! J. D. LaChance signed these pages. NOT a good German boy.

At the time we were puzzling over this, I'd never heard of J.D. before, but since then we've found his name in Little Falls society columns of the day, and in history books from...well, 1881, for instance:

LOL...can you imagine that little episode?

A buggy pulls into the yard, and a man in a suit gets out with a large book under his arm. It's early June, probably a hot, sunny day, and the man looks frazzled.

"Another German family--why me??", he thinks.

And John says, winking, " Rose, Sie gehen sprechen mit ihm, wir sind beschäftigt. Sagen Sie ihm, dass wir Englisch nicht sprechen....Vermutung wenn haben Sie dazu! "

("Rose, you go talk to him, we are busy. Tell him we don't speak English.... Guess if you have to!")

Damn, this is FUN!!