Moral: It may be in print but that doesn't make it complete...
Great Grand-Uncle Henry Hegwer's second wife was Flora C. (Wallace) Hegwer. I just found an obituary for her at
GenealogyBank from the
Denver Post of 7 February 1910, p.2, col. 6, thanks to the TechZone at
SCGS Jamboree!
I'm very happy to have this obituary because it shows that great-grand-uncle Henry, who had these children and married Flora, also used the name "Ferdinand." I was confident that they were the same person, but it's nice to have confirmation in print. I've
blogged before about Henry...it seems there is no end to his adventures.
Transcription, with slashes indicating paragraphs:
Wife of Prominent Politician is Dead / Early Sunday morning Mrs. Flora C. Hegwer, wife of Ferdinand H. Hegwer, and for years a prominent Republican political worker, died at her home, 4428 Elizabeth street. Mrs. Hegwer had been a resident of Denver for over twenty years, coming here from Francisco, Ind. She was 43 years old and her death was brought on by a complication of diseases. Besides her husband, Mrs. Hegwer is survived by five children, Harry H., Otto W., Lela, Leonard and Mrs. Clara Lowe, all of this city. The funeral services will be held from the family residence Tuesday afternoon. / Mrs. Hegwer is survived by her husband and five children, Harry H. Hegwer, Otto W Hegwer, Lela Hegwer, Leonard Hegwer and Mrs Clara Lowe, all of Denver. Two sons of Mrs. Hegwer died in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. They were Oscar W. Hegwer and Albert C. Hegwer. Both were members of the First Colorado regiment, Compay E. Harry H. Hegwer was also with the Colorado regiment in the Philippines. Ferdinand H. Hegwer, the husband, is a veteran of the civil war and is commander of the recently organized Indian War Veterans of Colorado. / The funeral of Mrs. Hegwer will be from the family residence tomorrow afternoon.
[Yes, the obituary repeats the names of the children and date of the services.]
Alternative Information
- "Henry" is much more commonly used as his first name. Early records, military, headstone, etc., are "Henry." He seems to have started using "Ferdinand" around the time of the boiler explosion scandal.
- Flora's first child, Otto, was born in Kansas in 1886 and the couple was definitely in Kansas in 1888 for court cases about the "Hegwer Houses" and at least one related lien on property Henry had in Flora's name. Yes, Flora was born in Indiana, but every indication is that they were in Kansas for at least a few years before Colorado. [ie, 1900 US Census, Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado]
- Clara, Albert, Oscar, and Harry were children by Henry's first wife, Kate Hornberger, who presumably died before 1885. [ie, 1880 US Census, Grant, Reno, Kansas]
- Albert died in San Francisco in a military hospital on the way to the Philippines; he was in Company I at the time. He is buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery. [ie, San Juan Prospector, 20 Aug 1898, p.1]
- Oscar attended to his brother all through his short illness in San Francisco and then continued on to the Philippines. He returned to Denver after serving about one year but was already ill when he arrived home. He died a few weeks later. [i.e., Denver Evening Post, 15 Oct 1899, p.6, col.D]
Conclusion
I had already accumulated a great deal of info on Henry when I found this obituary, so I knew it was inaccurate. I hope researchers for whom this obituary is their first great find about Henry have the good sense to keep looking.
Note
Full source citations gladly available upon request.
My mother would have been 93 years old today but I wouldn't be blogging about it if it hadn't been for today's obituary section of the Los Angeles Times. About 60% of Section B, page 6 is filled with the obituary of Patrick Macnee and includes a classic image from "The Avengers." I was surprised to see that he shared her birth year. He was one of mom's most favorite actors: she loved "The Avengers" with Macnee and Diana Rigg, but she would watch them no matter which female lead was present. I have very fond memories of watching the episodes in the 1960's with Mom. In later years, she was always ecstatic when she found reruns on TV.
