Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Esch, John 1919
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Pat Blood pat.blood@gmail.com April 10, 2010, 11:33 am

Portland Observer – Thursday, 20 November 1919
With particles of his face eaten away by hogs and his features badly 
disfigured, John Esch, an aged German, was found dead in an orchard on the 
William Ray farm, three miles northwest of Eagle, last Friday morning by 
George Huffman, a son-in-law, with whom the old gentleman made his home.  He 
had been missing since Wednesday morning, but after a search for him proved 
futile it was thought that he had come to his home in Portland, as he 
frequently did, so the relatives were not greatly alarmed over his absence 
until they came to Portland and found that he was not here.  Mr. Esch had been 
troubled with heart disease for several years and it was this, beyond a doubt, 
that caused his death.  He was also badly crippled with rheumatism, having 
been obliged to walk with a cane for many years.  His cane laid beside him 
when his body was found.  Soon after he fell the hogs in the orchard attacked 
his body and they had eaten away so much of his flesh that his features were 
hardly recognizable.  A coroner’s jury was impaneled at Eagle for the purpose 
of inquiring into the cause of the man’s death, but the jurors decided that 
his demise had been due to natural causes.  The body was then removed to the 
home of Joseph Miller, a son-in-law in Portland and funeral services were held 
at St. Patrick’s church here Saturday morning, Rev. Fr. John A. Koelzer 
officiating.  Mr. Esch was 75 years old and had lived in the vicinity of 
Portland for many years.  Before coming to the village he occupied a farm a 
half mile south of Manning’s corners, in Eagle.  In recent years he acquired 
the Alonzo Barrett house in Culvertown and lived there alone until last spring 
when he went to make his home with his daughter, Mrs. Huffman.  Besides the 
two daughters, Mrs. Huffman and Mrs. Miller, Mr. Esch is survived by a 
brother, Hubbard Esch of Portland, three half-brothers, Matt Esch of Portland, 
Theodore Esch of St. Johns, and Christopher Esch of Maple Rapids, and three 
half-sisters, Mrs. Gertrude Comer, of St. Johns, Mrs. May Davis and Mrs. N. B. 
Barnes, of Portland.



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