Recently my former supervisor, who is working on some of the archival materials in our library before her upcoming retirement at the end of August (after 45 years!), asked for some help in writing a biographical sketch about a woman whose manuscript collection we have. Her name was Louise Cheney Auer and we didn't know much more about her beyond the information in a newspaper clipping, which said she had attended Trinity University and Baylor University.
Here is what I was able to find out about Louise Cheney Auer in about two hours:
She was born Emma Louise Cheney on 8 January 1905 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, to William Cheney and Susie Roberts, per Louise’s death certificate.
1 Her 11-years-older sister Angeline Cheney McDonald (1893-1976) was the informant, so the information should be accurate.
By 9 May 1910, the William Cheney family was living in Hamilton County, Texas, as I found them on the 1910 Census there.
2 William M., age 42, was born in Texas of parents who were born in Georgia. He is a bank cashier. Wife Susie M., age 37, was born in Texas of parents who were born in Texas. She has given birth to three children at this point, but only two are living: 16-year-old Angeline, born in Texas, and 5-year-old Louise, also born in Texas.
On 9 January 1920, they are living in Hico in Hamilton County, and William is now a bank vice-president, according to the 1920 Census.
3 Angeline is not in the household – she would be about 26 by now and I imagine she has married. (I have not had any luck finding her, though.)
Our awesome archives assistant contacted Trinity University and they sent her the link to the photo above. At that time (1924), Trinity University was located in Waxahachie, Texas, south of Dallas - it's now in San Antonio. Louise was identified by name and pictured with other members of the Class of 1927, but apparently she does not appear named in any other Trinity yearbook, and Baylor has no record of her attending. The photo above is very similar to one of her in the newspaper article.
Perhaps Louise never graduated because she got married on 5 August 1926, to John George Auer in Hill County, Texas, the same day they got the license,
4 by the pastor of Liberty Temple in Hillsboro, (a picture of the now-gone Liberty Temple is here -
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=495393207265723&story_fbid=517281368410240).
John Auer’s September 1918 World War I draft registration card
5 shows him living in Honey Grove in Fannin County, Texas, and working as an auto mechanic for a tire repair company on 6th Street. His nearest relative is a John Danenbauer who also lives in Honey Grove. John Auer’s mother (according to his death certificate) was a Marie Dannenbauer.
On the 1920 Census,
6 taken on January 7, John was a roomer in Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas, and working as a gin mechanic. The 1920 Census also indicates he was born in Germany, was an alien, and immigrated in 1913.
I also found various naturalization documents for John in Ancestry.com that provide some of their addresses over the years (and verify things such as dates of birth, etc., for John and Louise). John was born 9 January 1899 in Obermosbach, Germany. He left via Bremen and arrived in Galveston on 10 October 1913. When he first filed his Declaration of Intent, on 3 January 1923, he was living in Paris, Lamar County, Texas. He (and Louise) had lived in Harris County, Texas, since 3 October 1927. As of 9 April 1931, they were living at 2909 Jackson Street in Houston. On his Petition for Naturalization dated 14 November 1933, they were living at 4018 Almeda Road in Houston, and they had no children. He took the oath of allegiance on 7 November 1934.
Via Ancestry.com, I found them in the 1932 Houston City Directory, on page 232, listed as John G. and Emma L. Auer residing at 4018 Almeda Rd. He was a manager with Southern United Ice Company.
On the Portal to Texas History,
7 I found Louise listed as Louise C. Auer, a new member of the Southwestern Historical Association in the
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 58, page 445 (January 1955 issue). She had a La Porte, Texas post office box address.
We have her original typewritten manuscripts, but images of some of her articles from
Desert Magazine of the Southwest as printed can be found online:
“Indian Emily’s Tragedy” – vol. 24, no. 10, October 1961, page 17, at
http://mydesertmagazine.com/files/196110-DesertMagazine-1961-October.pdf
“Nellie Cashman and Her Lost Gold” – vol. 26, no. 10, October 1963, pages 24-26, at
https://archive.org/stream/Desert-Magazine-1963-10#page/n23/mode/2up/search/auer
Louise's husband John died 11 July 1970 in Pasadena, Texas. At the time of his death, they were living at 303 Crescent View in La Porte. She was the informant on his death certificate.
8 It also states he was to be buried at the La Porte City Cemetery, but there is
a marker for him at the West End Cemetery in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas.
Louise's death certificate shows that she died in the Stephenville Hospital on 1 June 1976. She'd been living in Stephenville for five years, most recently at 1485 Mulberry. It appears she moved to Stephenville not long after John died, perhaps to be near her older sister Angeline Cheney McDonald.
She’s buried at the West End Cemetery according to the death certificate, but there is no marker. I am guessing that is because Louise had no children, and her sister Angeline died less than three months later,
according to her marker in the cemetery.
I couldn't locate a birth certificate for Louise, but Texas did not start requiring them until 1903, and compliance with the law was spotty until around 1910. Louise's parents William M. and Susie Roberts Cheney were still in Hico on the 1930 Census,
9 but Susie died in Stephenville on March 7, 1937, where she had been living for two months, according to her death certificate.
10
William returned to Hico and was a lodger in the
Midland Hotel in Hico on the 1940 Census.
11 He died at the Austin State Hospital in Austin, Travis County, Texas, on June 22, 1943. He had only been there ten days; Erath County was indicated at his home, and the death certificate
12 said he would be buried in Stephenville. However, he was
buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, McClennan County, Texas,
next to his wife Susie.
Sources:
1 "Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-25173-93497-37?cc=1983324 : accessed 30 June 2015), Death certificates > 1976 > Vol 133-138, certificates 066101-069500, Sep, Comanche-Harris counties > image 1349 of 3515; State Registrar Office, Austin.
2 "United States Census, 1910," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11673-147807-77?cc=1727033 : accessed 30 June 2015), Texas > Hamilton > Justice Precinct 8 > 0073 > image 39 of 41; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3 "United States Census, 1920," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11577-71581-61?cc=1488411 : accessed 30 June 2015), Texas > Hamilton > Hico > 0095 > image 14 of 33; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4 "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1977," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-20820-21125-36?cc=1803985 : accessed 30 June 2015), 004820615 > image 738 of 890; county clerk offices, Texas.
5 "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25130-67521-69?cc=1968530 : accessed 30 June 2015), Texas > Fannin County; A-B > image 309 of 1397; citing NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY2-SFML
6 "United States Census, 1920," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11610-131553-99?cc=1488411 : accessed 30 June 2015), Texas > Fannin > Honey Grove > 0055 > image 9 of 28; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7 Texas State Historical Association.
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955, H. Bailey Carroll, editor, Journal/Magazine/Newsletter, 1955; (
http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/ : accessed July 03, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas.
8 "Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," Database with images, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25180-28385-87?cc=1983324 : accessed 30 June 2015), Death certificates > 1970 > Vol 099-106, certificates 049200-052600, Jul, Harris-Taylor counties > image 871 of 3492; State Registrar Office, Austin.
