Schaghticoke, NY WW I Veterans: 3 happier stories: Haner, Hansen, and Harrigan

Frederick Raymond Haner

Frederick was born in the area, perhaps in Rock City Falls, in 1894. He was the eldest child of Frederick Cornelius Haner (1871-1950) and Augusta MacDonald (b 1878). The first time I could find the family in the census was in 1910, when they lived in Milton, where Fred was a farmer. Fred and “Gussie” had been married for sixteen years. By the 1915 NY Census, the family was in Waterford, where Fred, now 42, was a laborer on the barge canal. Our future soldier, Frederick, now 20, worked on the canal with his father, as did the next younger child, Thomas, 18. The family also included son Donald, 16, a fireman (on the railroad), a daughter, Helen, 14; son Harold, 7; and daughter Miriam, 4. This completed the family.

Fred didn’t wait for the draft for World War I. He enlisted in the Navy in Albany on May 25, 1917, aged 22 years 7 months. He lived on Glen Avenue in Troy at the time. He was home until June 25, when he reported to the Naval Training Station at Newport, R.I. After a few weeks there, listed as a Seaman, 2^nd Class, he went to the training station at Portsmouth, N.H. After a few more weeks of training, he reported to the “U.S.S. Wyoming” on September 8, 1917. He served on the ship until Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, then went to a receiving ship in New York Harbor, where he was discharged as a 3^rd class Gunners Mate.

The “U.S.S. Wyoming” was a dreadnought battleship, the biggest, constructed between 1910-1912. The ship was attached to the British Grand Fleet, the 6^th Battle Squadron. She patrolled the North Sea, and escorted convoys to Norway. This was quite an adventure for an inland boy from upstate New York. His ship was present at the surrender of the German fleet at the end of the war, one of just six US ships present.

Fred returned home and was back living with his family by the 1920 US census. They had moved to Troy, where Fred, Sr., 46, was an engineer at a bleachery. Fred and his brother Thomas both worked as coffee and tea salesmen. The family made another change soon. By the 1925 NY Census, they were farming in Brunswick. Fred and his brother Harold were both listed as farmers with their dad.

Fred, Jr. married Jessie Morrison (b. 1901) about 1927. There was a large Morrison family in Brunswick. By the 1930 US census, Fred, now 35, and Jessie, 30, lived in Brunswick with children Fred, 2, and Margaret, 1 ½. Fred continued farming. He was in Saratoga County in 1935, but had moved to Easton by the 1940 US Census. He and Jessie had three children: Fred, Jr.; Margaret; and Robert, born in 1931.

Tombstone of Fred Haner at Elmwood Cemetery

Fred and Jessie stayed in Easton, where they were involved in the Easton Grange and the Methodist church. Jessie died at age 50, in 1951. At that point, son Fred, Jr. was in the Air Force in San Antonio, Texas. In the 1960’s, Fred retired to Biloxi, Mississippi, I don’t know why. He died there in 1969.  His obituary mentioned his World War I service. His body was returned for burial with Jessie in Elmwood Cemetery in Schaghticoke. Bearers at his funeral included his brothers Harold and Robert, George Morrison, and grandsons Larry and David Herrington.  Daughter Margaret married Kenneth Herrington, of Johnsonville, so the many local Herringtons, including David, are Fred’s grandchildren.

Julius Hansen

Dagmar Juhl (1872-1949) and John Christian Hansen (1871-1968) supposedly met on the boat on the way to America in 1893 (Troy Times Record June 10, 1966). I think that’s probably an exaggeration, but they came to the U.S. from Denmark about that time in their early 20’s, met and married in 1894. Eldest son Julius (Jute) was born on September 20, 1895. He was the first of eleven children. Chris worked on a few farms elsewhere in the county, then in Schaghticoke, buying the farm of about 150 acres on what became Hansen Road about 1905. They lived there the rest of their long lives.

⇒ Read the entire article on the History of the Town of Schaghticoke website here:

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