Mary Besch (born 1867) is a mystery. Family oral history changed her sex to male and said that she was the second of three sons born in Albany, New York to Johann Besch (born June 1820) and Rose Keller Besch. Johann and Rose had emigrated from Baden Wertenburg, Germany in 1852. The older brother was Henry Besch (6 Jan 1862 to 28 Oct 1944) and the younger brother was Joseph (28 April 1870 to 30 June 1943). As mentioned above, according to family lore, Mary was a boy, but no one knew his name. The story was that he run away with a circus at the age of 13. He was supposedly last heard from around the turn on the century in California when he wrote saying that he was marrying a nurse from Australia and moving there. A letter to all Besches in Australia with telephones found no connection. Much or all of this may not be true however, because the 1880 census records for Albany county, NY list her as a female by the name of Mary who was living at home. No further information in subsequent census records could be found. What did she do that made the family forget her name and change her sex? Maybe she did run away with the circus and the family decided that it would be better to say that a son had done this than a daughter. In any case, information about Miss Mary Besch would be greatly appreciated. Please respond to directly to [email protected] Thank you. Cordially, Eric [email protected] 3016 Bidle Road (301) 371-3717 Middletown, MD 21769 (888) 264-6644 pager