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William Austin Vanderford (5168)

Father: John Austin Vanderford (4146)
Mother: Samantha Wilmina "Mattie" Bruner

b. April 13, 1884 in Green Mountain, Iowa [CharlieV]

d. August 25, 1965 in Merrill, Wisconsin, buried in Lakewood Memorial Park, Elgin, Illinois [IAobits]

m. July 4, 1907 in Melrose Park, Illinois, Rose Ernestine Miller, b. April 30, 1890 in Shiller Park, Illinois, daughter of Frederick William and Ernestine Amelia Miller (name was changed from Mueller) [CharlieV], d. Aug. 5, 1974 in Elgin, Illinois [aa]

Issue: [CharlieV]

Violet Rose (6087), b. Aug. 23, 1908, d. Sept. 2, 1980

Elsie Elizabeth, b. Jan. 17, 1910 in Conrad, Iowa, d. Oct. 14, 2001 in Elgin, IL, buried at Bluff City Cemetery, Elgin, IL

m. Feb. 12, 1955 in Elgin, IL, Loren Dolby, b. Dec. 18, 1899, d. 1985 [IAobits]
information: Elsie worked as a bookkeeper at Modern Dairy in Elgin for 42 years. [CharlieV]

Hazel Lucille, b. July 13, 1911 in Conrad, Iowa, d. Nov. 20, 1998 buried in Lakewood Memorial Park, Elgin, IL

m. Nov. 16, 1935 in Dundee, Il, Raymond Eddy Wagner , b. Sept. 6, 1906, d. April 21, 1984[IAobits]
issue: [CharlieV]
Patricia Lynn, b. March 1, 1943
  m. Sept 3, 1965, John Allen Sunderlage

Lurae Emma, b. June 26, 1913 in Gladbrook, Iowa, d. Oct. 12, 1998 in South Elgin, IL, buried in Lakewood Memorial Park, Elgin, IL.

m. Oct. 2, 1937, Sidney E. Tucker, b. Aug. 12, 1903, d. May 26, 1981[IAobits]
issue: [CharlieV]
William E., b. Jan. 11, 1941
Robert D., b. Oct. 19, 1944
David L., b. May 7, 1946

Austin John (6088), b. Jan. 26, 1915, d. June 29, 1988 [aa]

Charles Homer (6089), b. Jan. 15, 1917, d. May 1982 [aa]

Wilbur Lavern (6090), b. Aug. 4, 1921

Information:

1910:
Bill was a house painter and they lived in Conrad Town, Clay Township, Grundy County, Iowa [census-Iowa]

1912:
Bill and his family moved to Gladbrook, Iowa. He was a carpenter craftsman and contractor. [CharlieV]

Bill was always building useful and novel articles. His first real success was taking a 1914 Model T Ford chassis and building a very neat station wagon on it. [CharlieV]

1920:
Bill was a carpenter and the family lived on West Main Street, Gladbrook, Spring Creek Township, Tama County, Iowa. [census-Iowa]

1921 or 1922:
Bill visited with the Wright Brothers and brought home in his mind plans and designs for building a small plane. "Vanderford's airplane" was built in the downstaris back room in the house in which Mrs. Edith Broeker lives and the Modern Beauty Shop is located.
Bill used an old 2-cylinder Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine as well other parts for his airplane. He whittled the propeller out of a hickory timber and bound it with strips of brass. The wing trusses were wood, glued together and covered with unshrunk canvas which was soaked and allowed to shrink. It then had seveal applications of shellac and varnish.
Early one spring, with frost still on the ground, Bill partly took his shed apart and brought out his plane. He tightened the wire trusses and started it up. The airplane spun around in the street and started for the Fred Wrage home. It ran over one of the small trees and almost ran onto the porch.
All summer Bill tried to gat a Henderson 4-cylinder motorcycle engine but couldn't. In the fall, Bill removed the wing and stored it. He removed the wheels and put runenrs on the body and made a snow sled. [CharlieV]

1927:
Bill and his oldest daughter, Violet went to Elgin, IL to find work. Bill got a full time job for $1/hour at Rhineheimer Woodworking as a cabinet maker and Violet secured a job witht he phone company. Bill returned to Iowa and moved Rose and their six other children to Elgin on Labor Day weekend. They lived in a small house on Hendee Street. [CharlieV]

1930:
Bill and his family were living at 663 Grand Avenue, Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. Bill was a carpenter, his daughter Violet was a waitress at a private school, Elsie was a bookkeeper for a dairy and Hazel was a telephone operator. [census-Ill]

August 25, 1965:
Bill died at the home of his daughter, Violet Burgener, in Merrill, Wisconsin. [CharlieV]

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