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Family tree▼ Facts and Events
Children
- Laura was married to William Frederick Hafft, Senior, on 3 February 1914, by Reverand George A Scheer, minister of St Mark's Reformed Church, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. (Scheer had also married Hermina Hafft, and Pauline Hafft.) William Frederick Hafft was born on 28 June 1891, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, to George and Wilhelmina Hafft. He was a machinist, perhaps at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
- They had two children: William Frederick Hafft, Junior (born 5 June 1914), and Mabel Hafft (born 10 December 1917).
- On 5 June 1917, they were living at 827 East Hilton Street. William Hafft was a machinist and acting leadingman at the US Navy Yard. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weight 168 pounds, and had brown eyes and black hair.
- William Frederick Hafft Senior died in the influenza pandemic at the end of World War One, on 3 October 1918, in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He died of bronchopneumonia, with influenza as a secondary cause.
- "In the last month of the war the horrors of wholesale death moved from the remote battlefields of Europe to the streets and houses of Philadelphia. The worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918 struck particularly hard at the city. Schools, theaters, movies, and saloons were closed for nearly four weeks during October in an attempt to hold back the spread of the infectious germs. Few measures seemed to have any effect; at its peak the flu claimed more than 700 lives each day. Corpses accumulated faster than they could be buried. Mass interment took place on city land at Second and Luzerne. The city government eventually guaranteed to pay funeral expenses up to seventy-five dollars to ensure prompt burial. Before the epidemic had run its course in early November it had claimed many more Philadelphia lives than the guns of World War I." (Lloyd M Abernathy, 'Progressivism 1905-1919', in Russell F Weigley, ed., Philadelphia: a 300-year history, pp.524565, at page 561 (New York: W W Norton & Co., 1982)
- He was buried in Greenmount Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, on 8 October 1918. He and Laura were still living at 827 East Hilton Street when he died.
References
- Marriage license application, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, number 307815, 2 February 1914, William H Hafft and Laura Kennedy.
William F Hafft, machinist, b. Philadelphia, 28 June 1891, 827 E Hilton St Philadelphia, parents William and Hermina Hafft, father dead, mother in Mont Co Pa, both b. Philadelphia
- Marriage certificate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, number 307815, William H Hafft and Laura Kennedy.
William F Hafft m. Laura Kennedy on 3 Feb 1914 by Geo A Scheer of St Mark's Ref Church
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