Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES:  HIEBECK, SCHROEDER,
A public official whose record has been such as to commend him heartily to his fellow-citizens is the Hon. J. M. Hoesch, justice of the peace of Gilroy Township and police judge of Gilroy. He was born near Erie, Penn., on January 5, 1860, the son of Conrad and Barbara (Hiebeck) Hoesch. The father was a native of Germany who preferred to accept the stern hospitality of the forests of Pennsyylvania to the harsh requirements of military service, with the result that he made his way across the ocean to the Keystone State and was soon clearing away stumps and trees and establishing a home, humble but comfortable. Mrs. Hoesch proved a devoted wife and mother; but such were the handicaps confronting the parents that from his twelfth year John was compelled to make his own way in the world.

In the spring of 1884, he pushed westward to Sulphur Springs Valley, in Arizona, and in time he made several trips into Old Mexico. In the fall he arrived in San Francisco and shortly after came down to Gilroy, where he found employment on a grain ranch, working for several seasons driving a header. He had a great desire to learn, and when he was twenty-seven to thirty years old he was attending the public school in Gilroy, and, encouraged by his friends, he made rapid progress and in 1886 was the presiding officer in a debating society. In 1889 he passed the teacher's examination, but never took up the profession. For several years he has read law, preparing to practice before the California Bar. For thirty years Mr. Hoesch was connected with the Gilroy fire department, first with the Eureka Hose Company and later with the Vigilant Engine Company, and twenty-two years of that time he was engineer of the department and had charge of all apparatus; five years of that time he was also collector for the municipal utilities, and nine years in addition he was superintendent of the water works and plumbing inspector. In national politics he is a Republican, but in local matters he is decidedly non-partisan. During the World War he supported all the allied drives to the best of his ability.

In 1905, at San Francisco, Mr. Hoesch was married to Miss Minnie L. Schroeder of Amador County, and they have a daughter, Catherine Marian Hoesch. Mr. Hoesch is a member of the Gilroy Lodge of Odd Fellows and is a past noble grand, and for twenty years has been a trustee of his lodge. It was in 1918, when Gilroy was enjoying a veritable boom. that Mr. Hoesch entered the race for the office of justice of the peace of Gilroy Township and he was the successful candidate of the seven aspirants. When he took the oath of office in January. 1919, he succeeded Judge Willey, who had filled that honored office for thirty-six years. The duties of the office keep him busy and his work is characterized by honesty, energy, efficiency and economy at all times. In meting out justice he is impartial, and it is interesting to note that in none of his decisions has he ever been reversed by the higher courts.

From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California,  published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 1149

    SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT

SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight