Eleven children were born to William and Anna (Boxdorfer) Sandler according to our German Family Tree. Louis Karl Sandler, today’s birthday boy, was the 11th and last one. He was born on October 2, 1893, making today his 130th birthday. All of the Sandler children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. A transcription of Louis’s baptism record is pictured here. I suspect that he was named after his two male sponsors, Louis Doerr and Karl Kramp.

Louis is found in the 1900 census at the age of 6. His father was a farmer in the Central Township.

Louis was a teenager when the 1910 census was taken. His father had died in 1908, and it looks like the Sandler’s had moved into Perryville. Only his older brother, Gilbert, had an occupation. He was a farm hand, working out.

In 1913, Louis enlisted in the U.S. Navy. The form shown below indicates that he served as a seaman from 1913 until being discharged in April of 1917.

Louis had his World War I draft registration completed in June of 1917. He was still single and living in Perryville. His occupation is given as barber, but it says he was unemployed at the time. It also says he had been a seaman in the Navy for 4 years.

I am just speculating, but perhaps Louis learned the trade of barbering while in the Navy, was discharged, and in June of 1917, had yet to find a job as a barber in Perryville. I am going to speculate once again. I think Louis may have moved to the area around Litchfield, Illinois because he found a job there. I say that because it appears that he got married not long after the above WWI draft registration was completed and their first child was born in 1918.

Let’s take a look at the woman who would become Louis’s wife. I had a little trouble determining her surname, since a few family trees on Ancestry.com disagreed. I now think her name was Lois Clark. I admit that when I look at this name, my mind wanders to Superman, giggling as I notice that this name is an interesting combination of Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Lois Clark was the daughter of Laveda and Addie (Sexton) Clark. She was born on April 27, 1900. When Lois shows up in the 1900 census at the age of 2 months, her mother was already a widow, so Laveda must have died right after Lois was born. Addie was living with her mother, also a widow, in Mattoon, Illinois.

Addie Clark married again. Her second husband was Charles Purl. It is the Purl surname that is shown on several Ancestry.com family trees for Lois, not Clark. The 1910 census shows a collection of Purl’s and Clark’s. Lois’s stepfather was a farmer in Litchfield, Illinois.

One family tree says that Louis Sandler married Lois Clark on July 15, 1917, but I found no evidence for that. If that is correct, Louis must have gotten married just after completing his WWI draft registration in June of that year. A daughter named Dorothea was born in Illinois in 1918, but it must have been shortly after that when not only Louis and Lois moved to San Diego, California, but also Charles Purl’s family. We see this collection of Purl’s and Sandler’s in the 1920 census. Charles Purl was a laborer in a rubber factory, and Louis was a barber. There seems to be a mistake here. Lois is called Louis’s daughter, even though she was only 7 years younger that Louis, and the daughter, Dorothy, is not included in the household.

San Diego is where a Naval base was located. Since later information says Louis participated in World War I, maybe they moved to California because Louis had signed up to serve in the Navy toward the end of that war. In a 1926 city directory, it indicates that Louis was with the USN.

The 1930 census shows the Sandler’s with 3 children, including Dorothy, the missing girl from the previous census. Louis was called a barber in the U.S. Navy.

I located a U.S. Navy muster roll that includes Louis Sandler, and it says he enlisted in the Navy again on January 4, 1940. Then, in the 1940 census, we find the Sandler’s living in Lake Ballinger, Washington, which is part of the Seattle metropolitan area. Louis is called an aviation merchant for the U.S. Navy.

As early as October 31, 1940, Louis is found in a U.S. Navy muster roll for the Naval Air Station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This is one of the documents stating that he enlisted on January 4, 1940.

In August of 1941, we find Lois and two children on the passenger list of the Matsonia, which sailed from Los Angeles to Honolulu. They must have been joining Louis in Hawaii.

I located another muster roll including Louis for September of 1941.

All the evidence points to the fact that Louis, Lois, and 2 children were living in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack took place on December 7, 1941. Louis made it through the attack because I found another muster roll with his name that is dated December 31, 1941, in which he is still stationed at Pearl Harbor Naval Station.

A later form that I will display says Louis was discharged from the Navy in 1946. Then, in the 1950 census, we find the Sandler’s living in El Cajon, California, which is found in the San Diego area. Their daughters, Juanita and Dorothy, were living with them. Juanita was divorced with a child, and Dorothy’s husband was also in the household. Louis is called retired from the U.S. Navy.

Louis Sandler died in 1960 at the age of 67; Lois Sandler died in 1962 at the age of 62. A National Cemetery Interment Form was completed for Louis that is shown here. This form says Louis was a veteran of both World War I and World War II. It is also the document that gives his discharge date after WWII.

Louis was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. Lois Sandler is also buried there. I find it interesting that Louis happened to die the day after Pearl Harbor Day in 1960.

I find this story interesting in so many ways, but I have yet to mention the fact that you have already likely noticed. That is the fact that a Louis married a Lois. That’s the kind of alliteration that I enjoy.