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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Sunday, January 3, 2016

Fire! Fire!!

Scrolling thru old Pierz Journal and Little Falls Herald newspaper clippings this morning, I realize there are stories we haven't obsessively covered yet.  Can you believe it?
For instance, How Did Pierz and Buckman Deal With Fires?  Many people couldn't afford and didn't have insurance, or if they did, the amount was small.  Even in a time when a house might have been worth $450, it might be insured for only $50.  (We think most insurance was thru "secret societies" like the Improved Red Men or the Knights of Columbus...otherwise, you just didn't have any insurance).
My curiosity about grandpa and grandma's house fire in 1916 started it all.  It looks like they had some insurance, and they rebuilt in two months with some financial help from St Michael's parishioners.  (The Dixville header was probably because their farm would have been closer to Dixville than Buckman).


I assume both the Heschs and Schlegels were helped  to rebuild by family and neighbors.  There were other fires reported in those years, of course, but this one seemed especially kind, don't you think?

April 16, 1914

 (No, the Schlegel family isn't related as far as I know...☺)


Another fire, this time in the barn behind a Pierz saloon.  It sounds pretty awful.

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