#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.

#52Ancestors: Favorite Name-Week 6: Graybrook Lake

For the Favorite Name prompt, I decided to write about the lake that my great-grandfather, Sam Gray, built that was named Graybrook Lake. 

(or sometimes called Lake Graybrook!) Sam moved to Owen County, Indiana from Terre Haute in about 1935.  He had began buying property there in about 1921. In 1932, he had created the Grayland Corporation and wanted to build a lake there. He applied to the WPA for the project.  According to The Early History of Lake Graybrook:

"Because he (Sam) was a staunch Republican, his offer was not accepted.  However, the government had a problem finding projects for the WPA in Owen County.  The WPA reconsidered and agreed to build the dam, providing that Sam would match every dollar to be spent by the government." 

 The work began on the dam and was completed around 1938.  The lake filled up within six months. It is approximately 36 acres.  Because the project was government funded it was required to be available to the public for fifty years, but the Corporation could determine how it was available.  Sam built a boathouse with boats to rent.  However, there was a locked gate that was the only access to the boathouse area.  Meanwhile, before lots were offered to the public, Sam gave his three living children their choice of land on the lake.  My grandmother chose a five acre lot on the lake and in 1940, Sam built a small one room cabin for her and her family.

My grandmother, Lotta Nye Gray Adamson, lived in Peoria, Illinois with her husband and children by that time, so it was a long day's drive for them to get to their beloved cabin. (It's a four hour drive now).  My grandmother and my father spent their summers there, with my grandfather driving down on the weekends.  Sam and his wife still lived down there, too.

After my father married my mother, our family trips began to that small cabin.  It had electricity, but no running water.  We slept on Army cots and used the outhouse.  And for young kids, it was heaven!  The old cabin remained even after my parents built a new "cabin" there in 1976.  The new cabin was originally one bedroom and one bathroom, but my parents added two more bedrooms and another full bath soon after.

Then when I married, my family began spending weekends down there with our children.  It was a great vacation destination and we spent many wonderful weeks over the years vacationing with friends there.  And as our children grew up and married, we spent weekends there with our children and grandchildren.

Now my sister and her husband hope to retire there in the next few years!

So, eighty years later, Lake Graybrook is still part of our family and has been the source of endless enjoyment for countless others!  Well-done, Sam! 

#52Ancestors-Week 5 In the Census

For Week 5 of #52Ancestors the prompt is "In the Census".  This could apply to many things, but what came to mind first was the 1850 Census for Allen Adamson and his family that remained elusive to me for a long time.

Allen Adamson was my third great-uncle, brother to my great-great grandfather, Aaron Adamson.  Allen and Aaron had both married in Edwards County, Illinois in 1835. Allen and his family were still listed in Edwards County, Illinois in the 1840 Census, but were not found in the 1850 Census.  I found him in the 1860 Census in Crittenden County, Kentucky living with his father.

As I continued to research his family, I learned that from 1842 through 1857 his children were born in Missouri.  His wife's parents had moved from Edwards County, Illinois to Texas County, Missouri sometime between 1840 and 1850. Allen's wife, Elizabeth, died around 1857 in Missouri. Estate records for Elizabeth's death and Guardian records for her children were located in Texas County, Missouri, and were recorded in 1858.

But I could not find the family in the 1850 Census records.  I searched manually, page by page through the 1850 Texas County Missouri Census records.  Nothing.  Eventually, I learned that one of Allen and Elizabeth's daughters was born in 1852 in Crawford County, Missouri.

I searched and searched the 1850 Census in Crawford County and couldn't find the family.  Eventually, I again did a page by page search and finally found the following:

Name: A Adsun
Age: 45
Birth Year: abt 1805
Birthplace: Tennessee
Home in 1850: District 24, Crawford, Missouri, USA
Gender: Male
Family Number: 765
Household Members

Name	Age
A Adsun	45
E Adsun	36
T Adsun	14
N J Adsun	12
William Adsun	10
S A Adsun	8
A Adsun	6
J W Adsun	5
J Adsun	4
R Adsun	3

So, "Adsun" was the name listed for "Adamson".  Close enough, huh? Believe me, it was a matter of high celebration in this household when I finally located this family in their 1850 household! I wish that I could learn more about why they were in Crawford County, and when they made the move to Texas County!

#52Ancestors-Week 4 Invite to Dinner

Week 4's challenge is to write about who you would "Invite to Dinner". It's a difficult choice to consider.  There are my beloved grandparents, my parents,  and my two brothers to consider. How wonderful it would be to sit down with any of them for a meal again.  And then there are those ancestors who I never knew that I have some brick walls that would be wonderful to solve.  But the one person who keeps coming to mind for me that I would like to invite to dinner is my Aunt Gen.

Genevieve Elizabeth Murphy was my great-aunt, sister to my grandfather.  And

keeper of the family secrets.  As I got to be an adult, we often had long phone conversations late at night, when my baby was sleeping and my husband was working second shift.  She shared many, many family stories.  Of course, at the time, while I found them interesting, I didn't record them.

Aunt Gen was born in 1903 in Peoria, Illinois.  She lived with her parents until she married in 1952 at the age of 48.  So living with her parents all those years meant that Genevieve knew well all the Murphy history.  And she was a great (interesting) gossip who always seemed to know everything about everyone. That's why I would chose to invite Aunt Gen to dinner one more time.  I have to admit, I would also love to see her and spend an evening with her.

We would have a grand time going over all the old Murphy stories and she could answer so many questions about the family that I can't seem to solve.  Why, why didn't I ask the questions?

#52Ancestors-Week 3 Longevity

Longevity is defined as "long life".  My great-grandmother, Ingrid "Ida" Olauson Seeber, lived to one hundred and one years old.  I am awarding the title of "Longevity" to her! 

I don't know for certain where her longevity came from.  Her parents died at ages fifty-four (her mother) and seventy-five (her father). Although, I guess for the time (1925) after living in North Dakota for years perhaps seventy-five was considered a life of longevity.  And as I look at Ingrid's grandparents, Ingrid's paternal grandfather lived until age seventy-six (died in 1900).  So I am going to make a reasonable guess that Ingrid's longevity came from her father's side of the family.

Ingrid's sister, Elise, lived to age ninety-four. None of her other four siblings lived past age seventy-three.

However, Ingrid's children lived to ages ninety-seven, eighty, eighty-one, eighty, ninety-four, and fifty-three.

An interesting pattern for the family is that it seems to always be the oldest child that lives the longest.  Ingrid's father was the eldest, Ingrid was the eldest and Ingrid's child who lived longest was also the eldest.

Below is a picture of Ingrid and her sister Elise taken on Ingrid's one hundredth birthday! Ingrid is on the left.

#52Ancestors-Favorite Photo-Week2

This was both an easy and a hard choice.  With all my ancestors, my siblings, my children and my grandchildren, I have many special photos.  But the one photo that stands out for me is an interesting choice.  It's a photo of myself at the age of one year old.  That seems rather self-centered, I know, but the reason it is my favorite photo is because it is a photo that my grandmother displayed prominently all of my life, right up to her death in 1986.  When she died, my mom let me have the photo and so I have it in its' original frame on my desk in my bedroom.  Every morning when I see it, I think of how much I was loved.  What a gift a grandmother's love is. 

#52Ancestors: Rosa Kerrott Smyth-the Starter

For Starters I decided to write about my 3rd great-grandmother, Rosa Kerrott Smyth.  Rosa was the first of my grandmothers from this line to come to the United States, thus she was the "starter".

Rosa was born on the 14th of October in 1814 in County Down, Ireland to John Carrott and Catherine Fegan.  John Carrott was a farmer.  At this time, I have identified two siblings for Rosa: William Kerrott, born in 1810, and Edward Kerrott, born about 1813.  In 1833, Rosa married Patrick Smyth, the son of a neighboring farmer.  At the time of their marriage, Rosa was 18 years old, and Patrick was 23 years old.

It appears that Rosa was the first of her family to leave Ireland.  Patrick and Rosa left for the United States the day after their wedding!  They landed in Albany, New York.  Rosa's brother William emigrated to Canada in 1835 and her other brother, Edward, emigrated to Canada around 1845.  After about 20 years in Canada, William moved to Minnesota and lived there until his death in 1897.  Edward remained in Canada and died in 1888.  It is interesting to wonder if Rosa ever saw her brothers after she left Ireland.

Patrick and Rosa stayed in Albany for 13 months, and then went to Trumansburg in Tompkins County, New York.  There Patrick worked as a laborer.  Their first son, Francis, was born in New York in 1835 and the following year, their daughter Mary was born.  Sadly, little Francis died in 1837. The next year Patrick, Rosa, and Mary left New York and came to Kickapoo, Illinois, and in the fall of 1838, they purchased their first home. Their daughter Catherine was born that year.  Another daughter, Anna, was born in 1839.  Again, sadness struck when little Catherine died in the fall of 1839. Following the death of Catherine, Patrick and Rosa went on to have 11 more children, for a total of 15 children born to them.

Rosa and Patrick's last child was born in 1858 and three years later, Patrick died.  When he died, he and Rosa owned about 284 acres.  Rosa was 46 years old when Patrick died.  The 1860 Census shows that 12 of their children were living with Rosa and Patrick.  When Patrick died the following year, his sons Frank and Jack were ages 21 and 19, so they probably managed/ran the farm for Rosa.  Patrick did not live to see any of his children married.

In 1870, seven of Rosa's children were living with her on the farm.  And by 1880, 4 of their children were listed in the census with her, along with 1 grandson.

Rosa Kerrott Smyth died on the 14th of April in 1882 and is buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Kickapoo.  She was 67 years old when she died.  She had lived 21 years past her husband's death.  She must have been a force to reckon with to have raised all those children and managed the farm!  She had 66 grandchildren.  She saw 3 children of her own die before her (Mary died in 1879).

I consider Rosa a starter because she was the mother of my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Smyth.  Elizabeth married William H. Murphy, which was the start of my direct line to the Murphy family!

Tombstone of Patrick and Rosa Kerrott Smyth in Kickapoo, Illinois.