Today’s tale may or may not have a birthday boy, but certainly has a man who died on December 9th. The highlighted character was a man named William George Hansen. There is a debate about his date of birth. There are actually two contested issues. He may have been born on December 9th, or he may have been born on December 18th. Also, if he was born on December 9th, then he was born in 1896, but if he was born on December 18th, then he was born in either 1896 or 1898. I will be displaying documents that give credence to each of these birthdays.

William George Hansen was the son of Lars Peter and Sophia (Poehner) Hansen. The marriage of William’s parents is not a typical one for this blog. Sophia was certainly the typical German Lutheran bride, but Lars Peter was born in Denmark. That couple has 13 children listed in our German Family Tree, and all of them were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. William was the last of those 13 children. Since the books of Immanuel, Perryville are now found on Ancestry.com, I am able to display an image of William’s actual baptism record. You can see that his date of birth was definitely December 9, 1896 on this document, and it also says he was baptized on March 27, 1897. His baptism record is included with several others written down in 1897.

William is found in his first census in 1900, and he is given the age of 3. That year’s census had columns for the month and year of someone’s birth, and William was reportedly born in December of 1896. William’s father was a farmer in the Bois Brule Township. You can see that this Hansen household was quite large.

In the 1910 census, William was 13 years old and helping his father on his farm.

We can see the Hansen land on the plat map shown below that was produced in 1915.

William had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. This document gives his date of birth as December 18, 1896. His age of 21 on this form also supports his birth being in 1896, not 1898.

William did get drafted into military service during that war. His military record can be seen on the image pictured here. It does not appear that he was sent overseas for combat duty. His birthday is given as December 18, 1896.

After his military duty was complete, William returned to his family in Perry County. His mother had died in 1918. The 1920 census says his widowed father and an older brother were doing the farming. William is not given an occupation. He was given the age of 23 in this entry.

I was unable to locate William in the 1930 census. Perhaps he had moved to the Farmington area because that is where he would find his bride. We will now take a look at her early life.

Vesta M. Wills was born on June 3, 1916, so she must have been about 10 years younger than William. Vesta was the daughter of Robert and Nellie (Kirkendall) Wills. She was born in the vicinity of Farmington, Missouri. In the 1920 census, Vesta’s age in this entry is difficult to read. Ancestry.com says she was 8 years old, but I do not think that is correct. Vesta’s father was a motorman for the railroad.

Vesta’s father died in 1925, and her mother then married a man named Norman Peters. So, in the 1930 census, Vests is called a 13 year-old stepdaughter. Her stepfather was a house painter.

According to information found on Family Search, William Hansen married Vesta Wills on December 16, 1932 in Fredericktown, Missouri, but there is no actual documentation for it, and I was unsuccessful at finding it either. If that date is correct, then Vesta must have been just 16 years old when she got married. It appears that Willaim and Vesta had one child, a girl named Doris. In the 1940 census, the trio of William, Vesta, and Doris were living in the Central Township of Perry County. William is not given an occupation.

William had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. On this document, it says William was born on December 16, 1898.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. The 3 Hansen’s were living in Perryville, and both William and Vesta were working at the shoe factory.

William Hansen died in 1973 at the age of 74 (or if he was born on December 9, 1896, he would have died on his 77th birthday). Right now, the death certificates for Missouri are available for the public to view all the way up to 1973, so we are able to view the one for William. This document gives him a birthday of December 18, 1898, not 1896. One thing is sure, though, and that is that William died on December 9th. This form also states that William was a shoe worker.

After her husband’s death, Vesta married another widower named Milbert Schirmer. Much later in her life, this photograph was taken of Vesta.

Vesta died in 2011 at the age of 95. There is a bit of debate about Vesta’s burial site. In the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville, we find this gravestone for both William and Vesta. However, Vesta’s date of death is not indicated on this stone. One might ask whether this is indeed where she was buried. And, by the way, this is yet another place where we see William’s birthday as December 18, 1898.

There is also a plaque recognizing William’s military service to his country at this gravesite.

Probably the biggest thing I question about William’s date of birth is how the year, 1898, came about. I just cannot justify him being born in 1898 when his baptism record is found among several others which were recorded in 1897. On the other hand, did the pastor get the day of birth wrong. Was he actually born on December 18th in 1896 instead of December 9th? Anyway, as for me, I think William was either born on December 9th or December 18th in 1896. You can decide for yourself. Regardless, I do know that he died on this date 51 years ago.

Before I quit, I feel obligated to mention that today, December 9, 2024 is also the 185th anniversary of the opening of the Log Cabin College in 1839. That school eventually become known as Concordia Seminary, which is now located in St. Louis and still uses December 9, 1839 as the day when that school was established. I took my annual trek out behind our barn this morning to take a few pictures at the monument that was placed on the spot where the Log Cabin College was built. Here is one of them. So, today, we also wish Concordia Seminary a Happy 185th Birthday.