Florence Hake and Jacob Willy

Jacob Willy was born in March or April 1879 in Pennsylvania, probably in or around West Hempfield in Lancaster County. He was the son of Mary Hess (or Helwig) and George Willy. Certainly by the time the 1880 Census was conducted, the family was living in West Hempfield. They were still there in 1884, had moved to Chickhies by 1890 and finally settled in Columbia. On 03 Mar 1891, "George Willy of West Hempfield Township" purchased a lot with a two-storey brick house on the west side of South Eighth Street, between Locust Street and Ridge Avenue. This was later to become known as 34 South Eighth Street.

Jacob served in Company C in the 4th Pennsylvania Infantry in the Spanish-American War in 1898, being discharged on 16 Nov 1898. Military life evidently agreed with him, because he re-enlisted at Philadelphia on 20 Feb 1899 in Company D of the 7th Cavalry. He was enumerated twice in the 1900 US Census, once at his parents' house in Columbia, PA, and once at the Columbia Barracks in Cuba. In between the corporals and privates are eight men listed by occupation rather than rank: two cooks, two trumpeters, a farrier, a blacksmith, a saddler and a wagoner. Jacob was the saddler. He was discharged at the Columbia Barracks on 19 Feb 1902 but re-enlisted five days later and continued to re-enlist in 1905, 1908 and 1911:

• 24 Feb 1902: Re-enlisted at Columbia Barracks, assigned to the 7th Cavalry, Company D. Discharged 23 Feb 1905 at Fort Myer, VA;
• 27 Feb 1905: Re-enlisted at Fort Myer, VA, assigned to the 7th Cavalry, Company D. Discharged 26 Feb 1908 at Fort Riley, KS, with the rank of sergeant;
• 25 Apr 1908: Re-enlisted at Fort Slocum, NY. Note that this time Jacob took a two-month break and during this period travelled from Kansas to New York. His father George had died in 1907. Jacob might reasonably have stopped in Pennsylvania to visit his widowed mother. Upon re-enlistment he was assigned to the 11th Cavalry, Company D. Discharged 24 Apr 1911 at San Antonio, TX; and
• 20 Jul 1911: Re-enlisted, again at Fort Slocum, NY, after a three-month break. Assigned to the 7th Cavalry, Company D. Discharged 22 Jul 1914 at Fort McDowell, CA.

Jacob's mother Mary died in 1912. George's will had given her the use of property at 34 South Eighth Street for the rest of her left, but on her death it went to their seven children. The oldest six children - including Jacob - decided to sell their shares to the youngest. The deed describes Jacob as "Jacob Willy single man now stationed at Military Plaza 1 Manilla Philippine Islands." After the deed made the rounds of four different counties in Pennsylvania, it was shipped out to the Phillipines for Jacob's signature. He signed it on 27 Mar 1913 in the "Philippine Islands, Subprovince of Benguet, Mountain Province, City of Baguio."

So we know that as of March 1913 Jacob was single and stationed in the Philippines. On 22 July 1914 he was discharged in California. What's interesting about this is that according to the US Social Security Death Index, his daughter Charlotte M Willy Kennedy was born 17 Jul 1914 in Washington, DC. However, according to the censuses conducted 1920 and 1930, she was born in Pennsylvania. The information collected on 09 Jan 1920 gives her age as four years, six months, suggesting that she was born in June or July 1915.

Charlotte's mother was Florence Hake, the daughter of Charlotte Jane Berkenheiser and William Henry Hake born in York County, Pennsylvania, in April 1894. Her father died 24 Mar 1897. Her mother remarried 18 Dec 1898, her second husband being David Oliver Ness. Charlotte had been William's second wife. His first marriage to Rachel Ann Nace apparently ended in divorce in the early or mid 1880s. Young Florence grew up with siblings, two sets of half-siblings - her father's children by his first wife and her mother's children by her second husband - and even what might be described as step-siblings, her father's first wife's children by her second husband, William Myers. Blended families are not a 21st century innovation or even a 20th century one.

As of 1900 and 1910, Florence was living with her mother and stepfather in Wrightsville, York County, directly across the Susquehanna River from Columbia in Lancaster County. Then in the 1920 census Florence disappeared, but Charlotte and David "Nace's" (Ness') granddaughter "Charlotte M Nace" was living with them, along with three of Florence's half-siblings. Meanwhile Jacob Willy was stationed with Troop B of the 2nd Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas. His marital status as of 02 Jan 1920 was married.

To make things more confusing, according to the 1930 census, Florence was 18 at the time of her first marriage. That would set it between April 1912 and April 1913. But Jacob said that he was 41 at the time of his first marriage, suggesting it took place between March or April 1920 and March or April 1921.

In or about 1922, Jacob left the Army and took a job as a guard at the United States National Museum in Washington, DC, under direction of the Smithsonian Institution. I wasn't able to find anything about Jacob's hiring in the museum's reports, but the report for the year ending 30 Jun 1922 notes the death of "Mr. A. L. Fant, lieutenant of the watch." It's possible that Mr Fant's death created a vacancy that Jacob was able to take advantage of in order to obtain a more settled job, more suitable for family life.

By 1930, Jacob, Florence and Charlotte were living at 814 22nd Street NW in Washington, DC. Jacob died eight years later. The museum's report for the year ending 30 Jun 1938 mentions the loss of "Jacob Willy, lieutenant of guard, on January 25, 1938, with 16 years of service."

The records for District of Columbia marriages include two records that may or may not be relevant to Jacob's and Florence's daughter, Charlotte M Willy. On 03 Aug 1933 Charlotte Marie Willy, age 19, married Thomas L Casey Jr, age 21. The groom may or may not be the Thomas L Casey Jr who was born in the Panama Canal Zone in April 1913 and who as of 1930 was livig in DC with his parents, Olla Lucy Robinson and Thomas Leo Casey. If I've got the right Thomas L Casey Jr, then he was remarried in 1943, this time to Grace Hope Miller.

Then on 09 Feb 1940 a second - or perhaps the same - Charlotte Marie Willy, age 25, married George Elbert Hollis, also age 25. If these two Charlotte Marie Willys are the same person, she was born between February and August 1914, which agrees with "our" Charlotte's birth date per her US SSDI, 17 Jul 1914.

The 1940 US Census records include a George and Charlotte Hollis living in Staunton Manor at 644 Massachusetts Ave NE. Both were 25 years old. Charlotte was born in Pennsylvania. George was an office clerk for a federal agency. His birthplace was enumerated as West Virginia. Actually, it was his father Lawrence Stewart Hollis who was born in WV. George's mother, Alice L Nash, was born in DC, as was George himself on 10 Jul 1914. I know that George died in DC in December 1972, but I haven't found any further records for Charlotte Marie Willy Hollis.

I also can't find Florence Hake Willy in the 1940 US Census. However when her brother Mervin Hake died in 1959, the York Gazette and Daily published 19 Oct 1959 referred to her as "Mrs. Florence Willey, 732 Jessop place," indicating that she was living in York. She was also living in York when her half-brother David Oliver Ness Jr died in 1973.

Florence herself died 19 Feb 1977 at the York Hospital. The York Daily Record