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, March 12, 2016

Who was P. J. Bollig?



I clipped this charming article from the Pierz Journal when we first realized the PJ was online, but then misplaced it for a couple years ☺.  It tickled me then (and still does) because I recognize the snark, but not the man, P J Bollig.
A little looking online fleshed him out some: FamilySearch and Find A Grave say Peter Joseph Bollig was born in Germany in 1860, and died in Morrison Co in August 1943, so in 1916 he was 56, old enough to sass like this in the paper.

It looks like PJ was fairly enterprising, too. There were years when it seemed like stud horses were the Next Big Thing--from about 1909 to 1915 or so. Here's the report of a group of locals who bought a percheron for $2,400, and also mentions who got cold feet and backed out.  It's interesting to see that it was the salesman who threatened to sue, not the other buyers. Wonder if deals like this were made under the influence...

But then, see, it looks like PJ was in on local jokes, too. He's not mentioned till the last sentence, but he IS the punch line ☺.

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