Looking for William B. Hanna b. 1841 Ireland d. 1914 in Olympia, WA?

Question

William B. David was born in Ireland and moved with his family to Eastern Canada during the mid to late 1840's. He then immigrated into the US where he bought property in Kansas and married his wife Mollie David. After a few years the family left for Olympia, WA hoping to make money buying land and selling it to the railroad. He died in Olympia in 1914 and is buried in the Odd Fellowes Cemetery in Tumwater, WA.

He was very wealthy having made his money making saw blades in Canada before coming to the US. Thus far I have not been able to locate any information on him other than off old records while residing in the US. Any help would be appreciated.

Shon

Comments

To help the person searching it would help to know what old records and what you found.

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US Census records reflect that he immigrated to the US between 1865-1867 and was originally from County Armaugh, Ireland. I've checked Canadian census records but there seems to be a conflict with the information I've found concerning his birth year which is either June 16, 1841 or 1847. His tombstone says 1841 so I'm assuming its correct but searches also turn up 1847. Another record which was extracted shows that he may have had a brother who followed him in the US by the name Hugh Hanna. Research on border crossings has been unsuccessful so it's confusing in that I cannot find immigration information on him to say he actually immigrated here or if it wasn't the year they immigrated from Ireland to Canada.

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Thought I'd add these particulars. Although I believe there's a tombstone dating conflict I also found a 1870 US census record from Kansas, Fort Scott, Ward 2, Bourbon KS that shows his name with a birth date of 1845 and from Ireland. My gr-grandfather, father of Williams wife, was a Major in the Civil War and was stationed at Fort Scott where he also homesteaded. William didn't marry my gr-grandmother until 1877. To add to the possible confusion is a Canadian census record showing a William Hanna living in St. Patricks Ward, West Toronto, Ontario, Canada who has a birth date of 1847, however it's difficult to track records from outside of the country. That's one reason why I attempted to look up border crossing records in hope of finding him but it was to no avail. Names coincide but dates do not. Perhaps more Kansas research is necessary to see exactly what drove him to travel from Canada to Kansas but I have a feeling he lived elsewhere before residing in KS.

I appreciate your help and look forward to hearing back from you should you find anything.

Thanks,

Shon

Answer 1

I am assuming that you checked 1870 and 1880 census for William B. Hanna. If you did not find him I would suggest that you try searching for Wm. Hanna. I found a census record for my greatgrand father by doing that. Some search engines will not search not for differences in spelling.

I'll see if I can find anything on him. The difference in date of birth did happen. It is sad but true that some people were not good in transcribing records. I have a marriage cert copy for a Teters that the person that indexed it read the name as Peters.

 Just keep looking. I'll get back to you if I find anything.