Sunday, June 18, 2017

Father's Day 2017 - Documenting Dad

Since it is Father's Day and my brother so eloquently wrote about our dad here, I thought I would share some of the details of his life.

Donald George Hansen was born on May 14, 1910 in Tooele, Tooele, Utah. His birth certificate is here.  His birth certificate tells us that his was a full term baby and was the second of two births for his parents.  I had always heard that dad was a preemie and weighed only 2 pounds at birth. The birth certificate does not show a birth weight but does show that he was not premature.

Donald does not appear in the 1910 Federal Census because the Tooele census was taken in April that year.

Since dad was born in Utah, I began my search for his Baptism in Utah. The Diocese of Tooele had no record for a baptism for him. I knew where his older sister Dorothy had been baptised so I checked those records. Nothing. Where to look now? There are 372 Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Then I remembered that the Catholic Church requires a copy of a baptismal record to get married in the Catholic Church.

I knew when and where my parents married so I wrote for a copy of their marriage record requesting that special attention be paid to all notations. It worked! The notation on the marriage record stated that Donald George Hansen son of Adolf Hansen and Henrietta Burbach was Baptized at Gesu Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 4, 1910. Sponsors were George Burbach (brother of Henrietta) and Anna Burbach, his wife. Gesu is the same church where Adolf and Henrietta were married in 1907. It is interesting that there is a notation added to his baptismal record about his marriage. The note gives name of bride, place and date of marriage.


FHL film 007856328 Baptisms, Gesu Catholic Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin/
volumn 2 page 27, image 717.

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