The first wife...

To conclude these posts about Frederick Arthur Munhall, we must go back to his upbringing in Chicago.

He first appeared on the 1900 Census for Tazewell, Pekin Ward 04, Illinois. Pekin is a county seat of Tazewell Illinois, located mid-state.   He was the youngest of 3 sons, only 9 years old then. His father, Samuel A. Munhall, was a "car inspector." I wonder if that meant automobiles, or train cars!  His mother's name was Clara, and they were 43 and 41 respectively. The family lived on South 8th St.

His 2 older brothers, Samuel J. (12)  and Julius B. Munhall (11) had been born in Nebraska.  So the family moved to Pekin, IL sometime between 11 and 9 years earlier, since Fred was born in Illinois. His father's parents were born in Pennsylvania, while his mother's parents were from New York and Massachusetts.  (I'm thrilled at all the information there is on a census report!)

The next record I have is the 1910 Census for Chicago Ward 14, Cook County, IL.  Father Samuel A. Munhall has died, and Clara B. is widowed head of household. Sons (Julius) Bliss (21) and Fred (18) are living with her.  Bliss must have been Julius' middle name.  Clara isn't working, but both Bliss and Fred are clerks in dry-goods stores. They lived in a rented house on Emerson Ave.

On June 5, 1917 Fred registered for the draft, giving his address as 3151 Argyle Ave, Chicago IL.  This hand written card gives us more information as to his appearance. It also gives a birthdate of Nov 2, 1892.  Later there are records saying his birth was Nov. 22. He was tall and slender, with blue eyes and brown hair, not bald. He worked as a sales correspondent for Beekley-Ralston Co. He signed his name Fred Arthur Munhall.

On June 22, 1918, Fred A. Munhall married Bonnie Sellergren who apparently was Ida Wilhelmenia Sellergren.  He was 25 and she was 21. There are 2 records of this marriage in Cook County IL.

Next record is the 1920 Census for McAlester Ward 1, Pittsburg, Oklahoma, for Fred A. and Bonnie Munhall.  He is occupied as a manager of sales of auto parts hardware.

No record is available (at this time) regarding a divorce.  But Bonnie lived on. (I'll catch up with her in a minute.

The next records we find of Fred A. Munhall are several notations of marriage to Mozelle M. Webb, either about in 1921 or 1924, in San Antonio, TX.  There aren't official records that I have found however.  These dates come from other Ancestry trees, and must be approximate.

He is listed in the city directory of San Antonio TX in 1926, living at 115 Davis Court with wife, Mozelle. His occupation is District Manager. My mother's grandmother (Eugenia Booth Miller) lived at that address for many years, with her husband and 4 daughters who married (or not.)

115 Davis Court, San Antonio, TX

And when Fred Munhall died on Feb. 12, 1927 he was just 35 and 3 months old. Something apparently ruptured (I can't read the doctor's writing) due to Cardio Renal Disease.  There is a death certificate as well as obituaries.  These show that he was a member of Masons and a Shriner.

San Antonio Light, Feb 14, 1927

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Just to continue with my curiosity, let's look at Bonnie's life...aka Ida Wilhelmenia Sellergren Munhall. 

Her parents were from Sweeden, and she was baptized in the Swedish Austin Messiah Lutheran Church in 1897 in Chicago, IL.  She had 3 siblings and her father died when she was 7. So the 1910 census has her being 13 years old, living with her widowed mother, older brother who is a cabinet maker in a shipyard, her sister and 2 boarders. 

The next record is her marriage to Fred Munhall. And then in 1920 census they are living in Pittsburg, OK.  

By 1935 (did she even know that Fred had married again, then died?) she is married again to Jethro E. Keiser living at the Stonehinge Hotel 6319 Keenwood Avenue, in Chicago...as the 1940 census records. (That census asked if people had lived in that place in 1935 as well as their present address.) Her husband is a salesman in retail clothing, and she is a clerk in a hotel (perhaps where they live?)  There are no children listed in the family.

Bonnie (Sellergren) Keiser and Jimmie Sellergren, 1940 or 42

I have no idea who Jimmie belonged to...perhaps a nephew, though I haven't found one listed in my first scan through her brother's family (since Jimmie had the Sellergren name.) He had 1 daughter and 5 or 6 sons, several of whom coud have had a son in the late 30s or early 40s.

I have no record of her marriage to Jethro Keiser, but he died in 1955. She remarried in 1963 in Dade County, FL to Ray Baughman, which is recorded in Florida Marriage Collection on Ancestry.

She died in 1985 and is buried as Bonnie Baughman in Broward County, FL.

OK, enough of non-family investigating for now.  I've got a birthday of my real grandmother coming on June 20.

Step-grandfather

Frederick Arthur Munhall, a step-father, 

Ever just go looking out of curiosity at someone's family member who you aren't really directly related to?  I was looking at some new "hints" about Fred Munhall, and found another wife from before his marriage to my grandmother!

At first I thought there were 2 Fred Munhalls, but then there was a census with both of the couple's names together.  Oh my.

So he must have been quite gallant.  I didn't see any record of a divorce, but his first wife continued living, and even married 2 more times in her very long life!

I'll go into these new details tomorrow (I promise, for anyone else who is curious.) But first let's review the data that I already shared...

The post from Friday, November 1, 2013

So many of my ancestors were raised by step fathers, or step mothers, I want to try to include them as well as those who were blood relations.  A bit of nurture as well as nature!

Birth: 1 November 1890 in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois
Death: Feb. 12, 1927 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

You might notice that my mother's album pictures have dates, which aren't at all correct, though she had some cute editing.  The picture above, which says it was in 1925, was taken on or about the same day as the one following, which she marked as 1924.  She's wearing the same dress, and is the same size...and the lighting is even the same.  I lean towards the earlier date.

My mom had a stepfather probably just for a few years, until she was almost age 10.  There are 2 records of his marriage to Mozelle Booth Miller Webb, my grandmother.  The first is in 1921.  The second has an actual date of March 22, 1924.  Neither record has a citation as to where the information came from.  Pictures with my mother indicate he was part of her life when she was younger than 10, at least by looking at her size. (She was born in March of 1917.)

Fred Munhall was listed in the San Antonio City Directory of 1926 as a District Manager.  I wonder what he sold.  Oh, at least I found through his obit what the company was named, A. C. Sparks Co.  When I tried a search, it indicated a spark plug company...and since it's been in existance since 1900, that sounds likely to me.

He was a Shriner, as shown by the funeral notice.  I believe he was also a Mason.

I just realized how much "Uncle Jack" looks like his brother, Fred.  I think I might just do a search on Ancestry for him. (Julius Bliss Munhall also lived in San Antonio at the time of his brother's death.  The other brother, Sam, lived in the Chicago area.)

I have no DNA from Fredrick Munhall, but my mother kept his name all through school, until she married my father.  So did her mother the rest of her life, and he is buried in the Miller Family plot also.

Cemetery Record: born 1 Nov 1890 in Illinois to S. A. Munhall died 12 Feb 1927 in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas. 

Informant: Mrs. C. H. Miller (Mrs. Charles Herman Miller, Eugenia Booth Miller, his mother-in-law)

Located in: Mission Burial Park, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas 

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