52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #19 ~ John Wanner

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's Challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. (click on the icon in the sidebar for details at Amy's blog)

Once again deviating from my plan of going in order through Jacob Zaugg Sr's children I am going backwards to post about Lizzie Zaugg's husband, John Wanner. [Lizzie is the oldest of the Zaugg children and I wrote about her previously.] However, I found a wonderful obituary/article about John when I was in Indianapolis this past weekend and it deserves to be showcased here.


 First just the facts:
Name: John Wanner
Born: 12-Aug-1820, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland
Married: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Zaugg, 25-Apr-1845, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland
Died: 28-Oct-1916, Adams Co, Indiana [Find-A-Grave memorial]




This article had so many wonderful leads to pursue as well as giving me an understanding of where others might have gotten some of their information.

First, I've seen several places that Lizzie and John had "seven children who died in infancy" but I had never known where that supposed "fact" had originated.

However it still doesn't clear up the mystery of those children.  I was able to find two children, born in Indiana, who disappeared after being recorded in the 1860 census  - Frederick, age 7 and Mary Ann, age 4.  In the 1870 census the only children listed are Emmanuel, age 6 (as show in the Zaugg book) and also Isaac, age 8.

The Zaugg book mysteriously shows three infants who did not live. What I don't know is if those three children had been born in Switzerland.  Lizzie and John had been married for 8 years at the time they came to the US and only two young children came with them.  It's certainly possibly that Lizzie had actually given birth to 5 children in those 8 years. 

Finally there are the two girls born in Switzerland who did accompany their parents here - Anna and Elizabeth.  Anna is accounted for in this obituary and it would appear that Elizabeth is as well.  However John and his second wife also had a child named Elizabeth.  The 1900 census shows the family as this:
         John Warner 79
         Mary Warner 47
         Elizabeth Warner 6
         Emma Roth 19
         Ida Roth 10

This household makes sense as clearly Mary brought children from her first marriage.  Both the Roth girls are listed as stepdaughters while Elizabeth is a daughter.

I'd noticed this second Elizabeth before and now this obituary, while I guess not actually clearing this up for me, has given me something else to pursue regarding his daughter "Elizabeth Ehrhart."

Also, the face that the son Isaac is listed as being in California makes me understand why he possibly wasn't listed in the Zaugg book.  It also makes me give more credence to an un-sourced death date listed as taking place in California.  I was skeptical before, but now I think I'll try to obtain that death cert. 

It also It's interesting to me that the article uses the term "died in infancy" when, if I've identified some of these children correctly, Frederick would have been at least 7.  If indeed the first Elizabeth also did not live to adulthood, she would have been at least 10.

 As with each post - I seem to have more questions than answers, but that's what makes this so interesting.