Earle Houser

[Clive Maier]

Geoffrey, Canadawwi,

A Great War Brantford man has been baffling me for years.

Earle Houser is commemorated on my hometown memorial at Southborough. This is a small town in England, about 30 miles to the south east of London. The puzzling thing is that I have been unable to find anything to connect him to Southborough.

Earle was just 20 years old when he was killed serving with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. His service number was 7784 and he died on 23 September 1915. He lies in La Plus Douve Farm Cemetery, Comines-Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium at location IIC13. His army attestation papers show that he enlisted at Brantford, Ontario on 5 February 1915. He was born at Beamsville, Ontario on 19 January 1895. His father was Levi Houser of 176 Grey Street, Brantford, Ontario. Levi Houser later moved to 88 Huron Street in Brantford. That would have been about 1920 at a guess.

I have one other piece of information about Earle. On 21 November 1915, a memorial service was held at St. Peter's Church in Southborough for the men of the town who had fallen in the war up to that point. Trooper E Houser was among those listed.

But what connects him to Southborough? He was born in Canada, was resident there when he enlisted and was only 20 years old at that point anyway, and his father was resident in Canada. Earle was unmarried. The very short time between his enlistment and death make it unlikely that he could have spent much if any time in Southborough en route to the front.

Indeed, his death in Belgium came a mere 220 days after attesting in Canada. In that time he would have to be kitted out, get basic training, embarkation leave, travel to Europe – possibly via England, go to base camp, more training, advanced camp, reserves, front line. That’s if he was killed in the front line. I don’t know the circumstances of his death; it may not have come about in combat. But if it did, how could he possibly have been in any sort of battle readiness? It is heart rending to see the lad’s own signature on the attestation paper, effectively limiting his very young life to just seven more months.

I have appealed for clues about Earle on the Houser message board of RootsWeb but I have had no response at all. I also emailed the Brantford Expositor with the story and asked them to appeal to readers for information about Earle. I received no response whatsoever so I don’t know whether the letter was ever published.

If it is of any help to either project, I will gladly go back home to photograph Earle Houser’s inscription on the Southborough memorial. I am overdue to take some other photos there anyway. And if either of you can suggest any other lines of enquiry I can pursue in Brantford, I will be most grateful.

[christine liava'a]

Who was Earle's mother?

Perhaps Southborough was her home town? or Levi's?

Check for possible grandparents living in the town.

[Clive Maier]

Christine,

There is no mention of Earle’s mother in his attestation papers or his CWGC record. Possibly she died before him. One thing I still have to do is check local directories for Houser but it is not a ‘Southborough name’ and Levi and Earle are not English forenames. Having said that, I concede that Oscar Maier is not very English either.

I can’t believe that the presence of grandparents would have been sufficient in itself to put Earle on the memorial, unless he had lived with them for an appreciable time. A possible scenario is that his mother died when he was very young and his father could not manage alone, so he was brought up in Southborough by grandparents and returned to his homeland of Canada as a young man. Thanks for that possibility. I would not have thought of it by myself.

[chris.wight]

Clive, judging from my local Memorial, some of the men's links to my town are tenuous at best. I think if his grandparents were from Southborough, even if he never spent any time there, it would be enough to justify his being placed on the Memorial.

Ted Wigney's CEF Roll of Honour say he was killed in action.

Have you considered ordering his complete document file from the National Archives of Canada? There might be more information there.

[Guest Pete Wood]

Clive, according to the Church of Latter-Day Saints website http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

there is some additional information on your man.

He was Earl E. Houser born in Smithville, Lincoln, Ontario in 1894

Earl's mother was Georgia A. Huntsman (died 1896) who was the daughter of Daniel Huntsman and Malinda Roszel. The Father was Lee Houser.

Earl E Housman died in 1915.

Is this the right chap...?? The names are too close for a coincidence...??

If you look carefully, the records there show that Georgia was also known as Georgia Hunsman. The records do show her married to Levi Houser in 1891. Levi's parents were Joseph Houser and Lydia Grobb.

Edited 10 August , 2004 by Racing Teapots

[christine liava'a]

and Daniel Huntsman, Earle's grandfather was born in 1825 in Lincoln, Ontario.

He married Sarah Walts.

So you have

Daniel Huntsman m Sarah Walts- Lincoln,Ontario, Canada

daughter Georgia, born abt 1866, Lincoln Ontario

ethnic origin -German- Canadian census 1881

Georgia married Lee (Levi) Houser born abt 1866, Ontario, son of Joseph Houser; ethnic origin -German

They had Earle in 1894/95. Georgia died in 1896

Earle enlisted in 1915 and died in 1915

Both sides of his family seem to be of German ancestry, so no apparent connection with Britain.

So now I think you need to go laterally. Did Earle have a relative who lived in Southborough, possibly an aunt who had married to there?

Georgia Huntsman, acc to the 1881 Canadian census, and the IGI, had

older siblings

Elizabeth 1849-55

Phebe 1852-84

Emma 1853-87

George 1856-58

Electa 1858-94

I think Electa might be your best bet, and certainly the easiest to trace by name.

Was there an Electa ? living in Southborough in the 1881 or 1891 British census?

[Clive Maier]

Pete,

Thanks very much for that. I don't know if this is the same man. He certainly resembles my man in a number of ways. Maybe Lee could be a diminutive of Levi. The main difference is birthplace. Earle's attestation papers show Beamsville, Ontario.

If it is the right man, is your evidence indicating that maternal and paternal grandparents were living in Canada?

Best regards,

Clive

[Clive Maier]

Christine,

Many thanks. Your post crossed my reply to Pete and seems to answer the question I put to him. Both of you outclass me on genealogy; I will have to try to get up to speed.

I think Earle himself must have spent time in the town. I don't think he would have been accepted for the memorial simply on the grounds that he had a relative there. If he spent part of his boyhood there, he would have gone to St Peter's School, just as my father and I did. And that would be very likely to put him on the memorial because the long-serving headmaster WFA Cox was Hon. Sec. of the War Memorial committee.

[Clive Maier]

Clive, judging from my local Memorial, some of the men's links to my town are tenuous at best. I think if his grandparents were from Southborough, even if he never spent any time there, it would be enough to justify his being placed on the Memorial.

Ted Wigney's CEF Roll of Honour say he was killed in action.

Have you considered ordering his complete document file from the National Archives of Canada? There might be more information there.

Chris,

Yes, it is commonplace to find a few names that are difficult to link to a memorial, and to find lots more that apparently should on the memorial but are not. From what I know of the Southborough memorial, I think it quite unlikely that a grandson from another continent would be included, if he had not spent appreciable time in the town.

The complete file would be interesting but could I expect it to include anything about his pre-service life other than the basics that I know from his attestation paper?

[chris.wight]

Hi Clive,

Beamsville in Lincoln County is only 20 km from Smithville so it could be the same man (see R 26 on the Southern Ontario map, link).

Houser's service file won't give you anything more about his pre-service life. Where I think the service file could be of interest is from what it tells you he did during his active service.

The R122 form lists a man's promotions, reductions, transfers, casualties in his active service. It is possible something here could tie in with Southborough.

If there are no family ties, I can think of a couple possible scenarios.

Trooper Houser meets a Southborough girl, they fall for each other and get engaged. He goes to France, is killed and she puts forward his name for commemoration on the Memorial.

Or could he have done something noteworthy in the town such as rescue someone from death in some sort of accident, and was commemorated accordingly.

Clive, I hope you solve this one as I do enjoy mysteries but I like solved mysteries even more!

[christine liava'a]

Have you looked at the school roll?

[Clive Maier]

Off forum, Geoffrey has been beavering away in Brantford. He has already sent me a newspaper report of a memorial service held for Earle Houser, and photographs of the Brantford memorial. The memorial is very impressive.

Meanwhile, and with thanks for all the help I have been given, I am uncomfortably aware that my enquiry about Earle has taken over the thread.

Moderators: Would it be possible to extract the Houser content to form a new thread in Soldiers and thereby return this thread to the purpose intended by Geoffrey when he started it?

Regards,

Clive

[Kate Wills]

Glad to oblige, Clive. Is the topic title OK? If not, please advise.

[Clive Maier]

Perfect, Kate. Many thanks.

[chris.wight]

Clive, please let us know if the riddle is solved. Thanks.