William Francis Vadnais was born on December 30, 1884 to William and Jenny Vadnais.  I assume that in part he was named after his father.  At the time of his birth, his father William was 21 years old, his mother Jenny 18 years old and his older brother Joseph (Joe) Albert was just 18 months old.  Some documents record William’s birth year as 1885.  The strongest evidence against it being 1885, is the 1885 Minnesota census.  It enumerates William in the family household on May 1, 1885 which means that he could not have been born on December 30, 1885. 

Shown below are William’s delayed birth certificate application and his baptismal record.  Both show 1885 as his birth year.  The birth year being wrong on the delayed birth certificate is forgivable since William applied for it 59 years after his birth.  The baptismal record being wrong is a bit more difficult to accept since he would have been baptized within days of his birth.  However, if William was baptized within the first few days of the new year, maybe the priest was so focused on the new year that he used 1885 for William’s birth year instead of 1884.

William applied for a delayed birth certificate in 1943.²  In order to prove eligibility for a Social Security pension, many people born around his time had to apply for a delayed birth certificate because their original birth record could not be found or the birth had possibly not even been recorded.

I found the information on William’s delayed birth certificate interesting.  His father William’s birth location is not correct, as he was born in Centerville, Minnesota.  The parents’ ages at the time of his birth are also incorrect.  His father William is shown as being a fireman when William was born, and if so, he would have been working for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad.  I find it almost laughable that on the third page a Wisconsin Fishing license is listed as a part of the supporting evidence; I can’t imagine that as acceptable proof today.  Since his mother signed the document, she must have gone with him when he applied for it.  Also, I believe that Jenny used the name Johanna shown on William’s baptismal record (Johanna is Jenny in Latin) because of it being used as supporting evidence.

William was given the following copy of his delayed birth certificate.

The exact date when William was baptized is not known, but it was probably early in January of 1885.  The original baptismal record is as follows.³

Over the next 8 years William witnessed the birth of 4 more brothers: Edmund, Harvey, Adlore (my grandfather) and Amis, as well as one sister, Alma.  His brother Amis is the only sibling that did not survive to adulthood.

William first attended school with his brothers Joseph (Joe) and Edmund at the West Side School located along Murray Avenue at Second Street in White Bear.  Originally built as a one-story wood structure, a second story was added in 1878.  The year of the class picture shown below, 1895, was the last year the school was used.

During his time at Westside School, William was a part of a school vaccination program.  His vaccination card does not state which disease he was vaccinated against, but I suspect that he was given the rabies vaccine to prevent him from getting rabies.  The vaccine had been developed in 1885 by Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux.  Up until then, if a person was bit by a dog or bat that had rabies they were almost certain to die.  Having read White Bear court records from the time, I can attest to the fact that there were many unrestrained dogs, so I’m sure that the vaccine for rabies would have been welcomed. 

The 1900 U. S. census lists William at 15 years old as being a farm laborer.  It also shows that he had not attended school during that last year.⁵

An interesting piece of Victorian social etiquette, a calling card, belonging to William has survived the test of time.  It had more than likely been given to his future wife Rachel when he made a formal visit to her.

“Before the age of the telephone, the calling card (or carte de visite in French) had a significant role as a social tool.  In the days when ladies might receive visitors during hours they were known to be “at home,” the calling card served to announce a visitor to the house…  Different corners of the card would be turned down to indicate the visitor came in person, or that the call was intended to express congratulations or condolence…  Traditional calling cards are always engraved, using only black ink, the finest paper stock, and one of a small selection of conservative typefaces.  Interestingly, the ornate social codes of American Society developed standard sizes to denote sex and marital status.⁶”  The practice of using a calling card fell out of favor in the early 1900s.

William is enumerated on the 1905 Minnesota census as living with his mother Jenny and siblings Joe, Edmund, Harvey, Adlore and Alma.  Their father has abandoned the family, all the boys are working (William as a farm laborer), and youngest sister Alma is still in school.  William is 20 years old.⁷

Here are a few more photographs of a young William.

The 1910 U. S. census shows 25 year old William residing with his mother Jenny, my grandparents Adlore and Ellen and their oldest son George.  They are all living in Jenny’s home on Murray Avenue.  William’s occupation is listed as well digging.⁹

William is the only relative I know of with correspondence between him and his future wife, Rachel Hauser.  However, he was not the only Vadnais that was interested in Rachel; William’s younger brother Harvey, who never married, was exchanging correspondence with Rachel shortly before William.  I have to wonder if Rachel broke Harvey’s heart or if the long distance relationship had simply run its course. 

The letters from Harvey to Rachel date from December 20, 1909 to March 1910.  During that time Harvey is in Little Falls and Brainerd, Minnesota working for the railroad.  He was 21 years old and Rachel was 16 years old.

December 20, 1909 Harvey wrote: “Hello Kid… I wish you were here with me, we could have a good time.  This town beats White Bear all to the dickens there are two theaters here… so goodbye from your fellow you know who, Harvey.”

December 29, 1909 Harvey wrote: “Dear Kid… Well that was a dandy little present you sent me, I never expected any thing from any body so I am awful glad that some body thought some thing of me, but I never thought that you cared… Well sweet sixteen I never sent you a present, but don’t feel sore about it kid… Next time I see you I will tell you why I didn’t send you a present then you will understand.  I got stung once and I didn’t want to get stung again, so if I would have known that you were going to send me one I would have sent you one… Yours truly with a nice big hug and a kiss… nuffsaid.”

January 6, 1910 Harvey wrote: “…send me a nice letter won’t you kid, and I will give you a nice little love pat… good bye kid with a big hug and a — you know…  from your sweetheart way up in the wilderness.”

January 14, 1910 Harvey wrote: “I am going to try and get off for about a week then I will be true to you kid, we will have a date for every night, won’t we sweet-heart… I remain your true friend you know.”

February 13, 1910 Harvey wrote: “I’ll I bet you have a date for every night don’t you kid, well I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you did, it must be awful lonesome down there, say you kid do you ever show any of my letters to any of those fellows if you do and I find out, I will never forgive you.  Say you said you wanted me to burn all of your letters but you keep mine tho don’t you, but that ain’t fair now sweet-heart, say I’ll tell you what I’ll do if you want to, when I lay off I’ll be with you every night and then we can read all our letters together, won’t that be fun… if you love me the way you say you do why you will meet me then like the true sweetheart I think you are… I heard that McCarthy is going with you again if he is you are a dandy but I’ll be true to you the same as ever kid… well good bye sweetheart, when you read this just remember that I have been thinking a whole lot of you, yours truly, a couple of kisses and a hug, you know the kind.”

March 4, 1910 Harvey wrote: “I heard you had another guy so I thought I wasn’t in it any more, but if I have a chance why I will be right there all the time.  Say kid how many fellows you been out with since I’ve been gone I know of one that took you home and you kissed him good night too, wait till I see you again I make up for it you see if I don’t.  Well kid I don’t blame you if you did I suppose you were a little love sick and wanted some one to make a fuss over you… do you love me yet kid do you even think of me any more like you used to… P. S. Send me a kiss kid on your letter.  I am sending you one in mine just think that you have got it when you read it and maybe you can get the real one when I see you.

The next correspondence that occurs is from William to Rachel on April 27, 1910.

Here’s a set of pictures of William that I suspect are the proofs he refers to on the postcard.

I can only assume that William told Harvey that he was seeing Rachel, because on May 4, 1910 Harvey sent a postcard to William saying, “Say Bill you want to get one of them pictures of her for me, just something to remember her.” 

Harvey sent Rachel a postcard on June 7, 1910.  It is not signed, but the postmark shows that it was sent from Brainerd; it had to have been sent by Harvey.  In a not so subtle fashion, I think that he was prodding Rachel to tell him it was over.

I’m sure Harvey knew that it was over, but I don’t think that Rachel had yet to tell him.  Harvey sent Rachel one final postcard on June 24, 1910.

To be continued…

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy

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Footnotes for William Francis Vadnais (Part 1) post