Walter F. Vilas (1857 - 1943)

Born 14 Feb 1857 in Colchester, Chittenden, Vermont, United States

Ancestors

Died 27 Mar 1943 at age 86 in Ojai, Ventura, California, United States

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Biography

Walter F. Vilas was born at Colchester, Vermont, on 14 Feb 1857, the son of Harrison Martin Vilas and Mary Jane (Hathaway) Vilas,^[1] with whom he was living at Colchester from 1860 through 1880.^[2][3][4] In 1900, he was living at Colchester with his widowed father and a niece, May L. (Thompson) Vilas, (incorrectly shown in the census as his sister).^[5]

There is no record that Walter F. Vilas ever married or fathered any children. He taught school in Nebraska for a time.^[6] By 1910, he had moved to California and was living in a boarding house at Oakland, working as a house carpenter.^[7] In 1916, the probate file of his father says that his son Walter was a resident of Berkeley, California.^[8] He was living in Los Angeles in 1930 and working in a lumberyard,^[9] and was still in Los Angeles in 1940, at the age of 83.^[10]

Walter F. Vilas was living at the home of his brother Frank H. Vilas when he died at Ojai, California, on 27 Mar 1943.^[6] The gravestone of Walter F. Vilas at the Nordhoff Cemetery in Ojai is inscribed with the dates 1857-1943.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ C. H. Vilas, Genealogy of the descendants of Peter Vilas (Madison, Wis., 1875), page 160
2. ↑ Walter F. Vilas, 3, in the H. M. Vilas family, family #1667, in United States Census, 1860, database with images, FamilySearch > Vermont > Chittenden > Colchester > image 43 of 77; citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
3. ↑ Walter F. Vilas, 13, in the Harrison M. Vilas family, family #232, in United States Census, 1870, database with images, FamilySearch > Vermont > Chittenden > Colchester > image 28 of 100; citing NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ Walter F. Vilas, 23, in the H. M. Vilas family, family #575, in United States Census, 1880, database with images, FamilySearch > Vermont > Chittenden > Colchester > ED 73 > image 64 of 64; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
5. ↑ Walter F. Vilas family, family #288, in United States Census, 1900, database with images, FamilySearch > Vermont > Chittenden > ED 74 Colchester town (excl. Winooshi village) > image 24 of 30; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Obituary of Walter F. Vilas, in The Burlington Free Press of Burlington, Vermont (subscription required), 29 Mar 1943, page 11. The obituary says that he died at "Ojar" in Ventura County, California.
7. ↑ Walter F. Vilas family, family #529, in United States Census, 1910, database with images, FamilySearch > California > Alameda > Oakland Ward 1 > ED 75 > image 52 of 54; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
8. ↑ Probate file of Harrison M. Vilas, in Vermont Probate Files, 1800-1921, database with images, FamilySearch > Chittenden County > V > Vilas, Harrison M. (1914, Box 53 File 9209) > image 9 of 10, citing Probate Court.
9. ↑ Walter F. Vilas, 73, lodger, in household #764, in United States Census, 1930, database with images, FamilySearch > California > Los Angeles > Los Angeles (Districts 0751-0795) > ED 751 > image 35 of 44; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).
10. ↑ Walter F. Vilas household, household #449, in United States Census, 1940, database with images, FamilySearch > California > Los Angeles > Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles, Councilmanic District 13 > 60-1119 Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles City Councilmanic District 13 (Tract 115 - part) in Assembly District 64 > image 38 of 60; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
11. ↑ Photo of gravestone of Walter F. Vilas (Find A Grave: Memorial #70843583)