Amanuensis Monday - Louis Joseph Villers' Funeral

This funeral notice for Louis Villers was in a family scrapbook. No obituary, just the short and not so sweet funeral notice. I already have Louis down in my research calendar for an obit-pull when I go home to Wisconsin for Christmas. I'm hoping I'll find one that's a little more satisfying than this.

"Louis Villers - At Schauer and Schumacher Funeral Home after 6:30 tonight. Rosary, 8 tonight and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Daughters of Isabella. Funeral services, 9 a.m. Monday, Cathedral, the Rev. John Gehl. Allouez Cemetery. Mr. Villers died Thursday evening in a local hospital after a short illness. He was a lifelong resident of Green Bay and worked for the Green Bay Apostolate for 22 years." (handwritten July 7, 1960).

So who was Louis Villers? This funeral notice is pretty sparse. It doesn't tell us much and it's certainly not incredibly accurate.

Louis was not a lifelong resident of Green Bay. In the 1880 census he is listed with his parents, Martin Joseph and Octavia Villers nee Waguener, in Ahnapee, Kewaunee county, Wisconsin. In 1896 he was married in Lincoln, Kewaunee county and in the 1900 census he and his wife, Mary Frances, are in Algoma, Kewaunee county. It's not until the 1910 census that he is living in Green Bay.

As for if the rest of the information is accurate or not it's hard to tell...there's not a lot there. I was a bit surprised to see that it gave where he worked for 22 years, but not who he had been married to for over 50 years. Of course his wife predeceased him so perhaps this is why.

Aside from his parents (listed above) Louis Joseph Villers had four siblings: Florence, Mary Ann Octavia, Alta Ellen/Ella, and Agnes. He and his wife, Mary Frances, had one daughter, Eva. Louis Villers has a FindAGrave memorial I created a few years back. His wife, Mary Frances, is on the same stone. He is my husband's 2nd great uncle.