In a previous post, 200 Years Ago Today, I mentioned one of the brothers of my ancestor Francis Haussler named Andrew born 1823 in France. At the time the most recent document found for Andrew was the 1867 St. Louis, Missouri city directory, but I still lacked a date and place of death for him. Since then he was located in a series of newspaper advertisements in Macon County, Missouri that led to a probate record dated 24 May 1869 where a public administrator was assigned to the estate.1 On February 9th 1870 Andrew’s widow Louisa was granted $100 from the estate for her support.2
From there, Louisa promptly took her three daughters west to Elm Creek, Saline County, Kansas, a township north of Salina, Kansas.
I have no idea who Frederick is in this record. He isn’t the subject of this post. The focus is on the oldest known daughter of Andrew and Louisa, Fanny Haussler b. 24 Dec 1850 in NYC.3 Fanny’s obituary states that she married Sylvester Marshall on 24 Dec 1870.4
In 1870 Sylvester (b. Indiana) was living alone less than 10 miles away in Trippville, Ottawa County, Kansas.5
The happy couple settled down and started a family, apparently moving back and forth between Missouri and Kansas. There is a lot going on in this 1880 census.
Where did Willie Marshall come from? Taken at face value, Willie Marshall is the son of Sylvester and Fanny Marshall, born 1869. The tick mark in the middle of his record indicates he was blind. Willie was born in Missouri, his father was born in Indiana and his mother was born in New York, exactly where Sylvester and Fanny were born. If Willie was born in 1869 to this couple, then why isn’t he living with either one of them in 1870?
Willie was Fanny’s son but not Sylvester’s.
Poor little guy. Willie being blind was most likely a result of Fanny having contracted an STD from Mr. Will Sanders, who is portrayed as a womanizer, then Willie’s eyes were infected during childbirth. Untreated, that type of conjunctivitis could and did lead to blindness. Clearly the medicine Fanny was given for her son’s sore eyes wasn’t effective.
As so often happened, the out-of-wedlock infant was hidden from the 1870 census taker. I say good on Sylvester for marrying Fanny and apparently adopting Willie, who most likely did not live to adulthood. The 1900 census for Fanny indicates that three of her ten children were deceased.6 I hope his prematurely shortened life was a good one and that he felt loved and a part of the family.
- Macon County, Missouri Probate Records, 1847-1875, pg. 322, image 192, familysearch ↩︎
- Macon County, Missouri Probate Records, 1847-1875, pg. 412, image 237, familysearch ↩︎
- Obituary, The Cheyenne Star, Cheyenne, Oklahoma, 24 Jan 1929, pg. 1, newspapers.com ↩︎
- ibid. ↩︎
- 1870 Census, Trippville, Ottawa, Kansas, pg. 363A ↩︎
- 1900 Census, Berlin, Roger Mills, Oklahoma, ED 204, pg. 5 ↩︎
The Lazy Genealogist 