#52Ancestors-Where there's a Will: Week 9

I have written about various wills that I have uncovered over the years, so while my first thought for this week's topic was about wills, I gave it some more thought and decided to write about my great-great uncle, Will Hanauer. By all accounts, Will Hanauer was a quiet, unassuming man, who lived a quiet and uneventful life.  And that may be so, but though I did not know him, I never heard anything but wonderful things about him. He was my great-grandmother's brother and I often heard her, my grandmother and my mother talk about him very fondly. I wish that I would have known him.

William Henry Hanauer was born  on the 21st of August in 1886 in Abilene,
Kansas, the first son (third child) of Edward and Elisabetha Krondorfer Hanauer.  When William arrived, he was greeted by two older sisters, Ella and Kitty. A younger brother, Charles, came when Will was four years old.  By 1893, the family moved to Peoria, Illinois.  Will was six years old then.

When Will was thirteen years old, his father died (in 1899). Will was listed in the 1900 Peoria census living with his mother and three sisters.  Will was attending school. 

By 1908, Will married Margaret von Lingen.  Will was twenty-two years old and "Mag" was twenty-one years old. They started their family right away when Adalheid Mildred was born on the 17th of April in 1909.  She had been named for Aunt Mag's mother.

In 1910, Will and Margaret were listed in the Peoria census with their daughter Mildred.  Will worked as a fireman for the steam railroad.

When Will was twenty-nine years old, his son, William John, was born on the 15th of September in 1915.  Little William died on the 1st of September in 1916 right before his first birthday.

A year and a half later, a daughter was born to Will and Mag on the 15th of March in 1918.  She was named Dorothy "Dot" Elizabeth.  The 1920 census for Peoria shows Will, Mag and their two daughters. Will is listed as an engineer for the railroad.

A third daughter, Marjorie "Margie" Ann, arrived on the 18th of December in 1920.   Now Will's family was complete.

1925 brought the death of Will's sister, Ella.  Ella had lived in Peoria until after 1910 when she married.  In 1920, she lived in Oklahoma, and when she died, she was living in Arkansas.  She died at age forty-three, when Will was thirty-eight years old.

In 1928, both Will's mother and brother died.  Both were living in Peoria. His brother Charles was only thirty-seven years old when he died. 

The 1930 and 1940 Peoria census' show that Will and his family were living on Alice Avenue in Peoria.  Will was still listed as a railroad engineer. Will's daughter, Mildred, had married in 1933 and daughter, Dorothy, had married in 1937. However, Dorothy was living in Will's household in 1940 under her maiden name. Daughter Margie married after 1940.

(Picture to the right is from left to right: Margaret and Will Hanauer, Kitty and Edward Murphy)

Will was still listed in Peoria in 1952, age sixty-six and a railroad engineer. His beloved sister, Kitty, died in August of 1963. The only other record I have of Will after 1952 is of his death on the 18th of November in 1963 in Almeda, California.

I don't know when Will and Mag moved to California. I know that their daughter Mildred and her family lived in California right after WWII, so I am guessing that Will and Mag moved out there to be near her.

Aunt Mag remained in California following Will's death, and she died in 1986. She and Will had been married fifty-four years when he died.

An interesting side note to this family: my father's family lived on Alice Ave. in Peoria and Aunt Mag was friends with my paternal grandmother.  When my dad was stationed in San Francisco he would visit with Will and Mag's daughter Mildred.