Hmm, gotta back up here a bit--#14 above is Joseph Hesch, dad's uncle (Anton's brother, son of Paul the immigrant). Joe died in 1926, leaving a wife and 8 kids, the oldest of whom was supposedly adopted. THAT kid's name was Joseph, too. This second Joe lived in Minnesota, in Little Falls as far as we know. He married Gertrude Kurtzahn and had 6 kids, one of whom was (#12) Roger. Ok so far?
The question remains: How come #12 looks so much like #1 if his dad was NOT a Hesch? We can only speculate, but more than one elderly relative of mine told me that "adopted" kids were not always from the orphan trains--that pretty often in fact, the adoptee was some other relatives' child.
In fact, this 'adopted' Joe was b in 1907, and his parents married in 1912...when his dad was 27. Was he Joseph's natural son, simply born out of wedlock? It's entirely possible.
Anyway, after Joseph (#14) died, his widow and 6 of the kids moved to the west coast--Oregon and Washington--and the second oldest (#13) moved to Brainerd/Crosby. He owned a car dealership and played Paul Bunyan whenever he got the chance. (I included him cuz he looks like fun, which is also an inherited trait!)
(BTW, #3, #5,#10 and #14 were brothers, sons of #1.
#8 was the son, and #7 and #9 are the grandsons, of #10.
#13 is #12's uncle.
#11 is dad's brother and #2 is dad's son, and #6 is a nephew.
#4 is MY son ☺)
