The Proeger Family · Generation 3 — Earl's grandparents

William Harry Proeger

Paternal grandfather · 1911–1982

William Harry Proeger

PennsylvaniaConfirmed

Paternal grandfather · 1911–1982

Born
26 June 1911, Pennsylvania
Died
7 July 1982, Marin County, California
Married
Dorothy Susan Reid
Sources
7
Images
3

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1911
Born 26 June 1911, Pennsylvania
Social Security NUMIDENT, California-issued SSN S13. The day, the month and Pa. are corroborated in his own presence on the 1932 Ohio licence application S144. ⚠️ The year digit on that line is smeared and is not legible — the abt 1911 in Ancestry's index is derived from the age column, not read off the page.
Death1982
Died 7 July 1982, Marin County, California S13S12
Residence1932
Living at 4823 Summit Street, Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio in February–March 1932, occupation machinist S144
the first paper behind the family's memory of Ohio. Earl's own account has his grandfather travelling back to California from Ohio around the 1940 Utah wedding; until this pull, Ohio had nothing but the telling behind it.
Record1946
Listed in the 1946 Los Angeles County voter index at 1839½ Lake Shore Avenue, party “Declines to State” Probable confirm or correct → S351
Military1940
Registered for the draft 16 October 1940 at North Hollywood, Los Angeles County S12
which places him in the county in exactly the window a child born there in early 1941 would have been carried and delivered.
Photograph1937
🆕 Photograph, 10 February 1937 Confirmed (family testimony): he and Aileane Da Silva on the grass with a cat, three and a half years before their 1940 marriage. Their daughter Patricia (Proeger) Collins named them on 1 October 2026: “My father William Harry Proeger and my Mother Aileane Da Silva”. In Photos below.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Parents1876
Son of William Leonard Proeger (1876–1955) and Anna Blanche Roberts S12S14
and now in a document he swore to himself: the 1932 Ohio licence application gives his father as Wm. L. Proeger and his mother's maiden name as Anna B. Roberts S144.
Parents1955
🆕 Named as a son, “William H.”, in his father's 1955 death notice S1176.
Marriage1932
Married (1) Dorothy Susan Reid, 4 March 1932, Lucas County, Ohio
the county ledger, licence no. 97864, read at full resolution S144S12. Both are recorded not previously married, so this was his first and Aileane was his second. She was Dorothy Susan Reid, born in Indiana, daughter of Charles Reid and Bessie Craighead; she had turned 18 two days before the wedding S366 and her mother signed the consent line a week earlier. He gave his occupation as machinist and his address as 4823 Summit Street, Toledo — the same address the bride gave.
Marriage1940
Married (2) Aileane Marie Silva, 13 August 1940, Heber City, Wasatch County, Utah S12

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Open question
⚠️ What became of Dorothy Susan Reid is not known. Between 4 March 1932 and the August 1940 Utah wedding there was a divorce or a death, and no record here says which. Nothing has been looked for yet S144.

Photos & documents 2 photos · 1 document

Photos (2)
William Harry Proeger and Aileane (Da Silva) Proeger on the grass with a cat, 10 February 1937 — from the Patricia Collins collection
William Harry Proeger and Aileane (Da Silva) Proeger on the grass with a cat, 10 February 1937 — from the Patricia Collins collection 10 February 1937 Confirmed Download · → card
Enhanced (AI-assisted, non-generative): glare reduced, cleaned and upscaled. William Harry Proeger and Aileane (Da Silva) Proeger on the grass with a cat, 10 February 1937 — from the Patricia Collins collection
Enhanced (AI-assisted, non-generative): glare reduced, cleaned and upscaled. William Harry Proeger and Aileane (Da Silva) Proeger on the grass with a cat, 10 February 1937 — from the Patricia Collins collection 10 February 1937 AI-assisted enhancement of the original photo Download · Original photo · → card
Documents (1)

Documents · 1 page image all documents

Retrieved from the UNT Libraries' Portal to Texas History, or — for the University of Texas Cactus yearbooks — from Texas ScholarWorks. Each thumbnail opens the full page scan, which can also be downloaded. The quoted text is the OCR that ships with the scan, copied verbatim; the page image is the authority.

Page ledger p. 288, entry 97864 of Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 — Lucas County ledger p. 288, licence no. 97864, William H. Proeger and Dorothy Susan Reid, sworn 27 Feb 1932, solemnised 4 Mar 1932 (Ancestry coll. 61378, record 2472799; image TH-1-18858-23171-20; film 002169933) · full resolution 4818 × 3802 px, DeepZoom level 13, 80/80 tiles, 4 March 1932

Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 — Lucas County ledger p. 288, licence no. 97864, William H. Proeger and Dorothy Susan Reid, sworn 27 Feb 1932, solemnised 4 Mar 1932 (Ancestry coll. 61378, record 2472799; image TH-1-18858-23171-20; film 002169933) · full resolution 4818 × 3802 px, DeepZoom level 13, 80/80 tiles — page ledger p. 288, entry 97864

County marriage licence application and certificate · 4 March 1932

William Harry Proeger · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

7 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S12FamilySearch Tree public pages, no login required for deceased persons — William Harry Proeger KC1N-799, Aileane Marie Silva L9GZ-NDP, William Leonard Proeger L7GK-VBK, Queen Anne Proeger LHQW-W1L — ancestors.familysearch.org. User-contributed; event lists are treated as PROBABLE unless separately sourced.
  2. S13US Social Security NUMIDENT / Death Master File, republished verbatim — see S2. A government record; the parent-name fields come from the person's own SS-5 application.
  3. S14FindAGrave memorial 298908619, William Leonard Proeger (1878–1955), Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood — findagrave.com/memorial/298908619.
  4. S144Lucas County, Ohio marriage licence application and certificate no. 97864, 1932 — William H. Proeger and Dorothy Susan Reid. Ancestry collection 61378 (Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774–1993), record 2472799, image TH-1-18858-23171-20, film 002169933, ledger page 288. Read from the image at full resolution — 4818 × 3802 px, 80/80 DeepZoom tiles, 21 September 2026. The entry has two halves. The licence application, sworn 27 February 1932, gives the groom as William H. Proeger, 21 years of age on the 26 day of June, residence 4823 Summit St in Lucas Co., Ohio, born Pa., occupation Machinist, father Wm. L. Proeger, mother's maiden name Anna B. Roberts, not previously married; and the bride as Dorothy Susan Reid, 18 years of age on the 4 day of March, residence 4823 Summit, born Indiana, occupation none, father Charles Reid, mother's maiden name Bessie Craighead, not previously married, consent signed Mrs. Bessie M. Reid. The certificate beneath it returns: “on the 4 day of March, A.D. 1932, I solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wm. H. Proeger with M. Dorothy Susan Reid”, signed R. O. Stevens. A first marriage this site did not know existed. The card had carried “Married (1) 4 March 1932, Lucas County, Ohio — spouse not identified” as Probable on the strength of an index [S12]; the ledger now names her and settles it. Both parties are recorded not previously married, which makes Aileane Marie Silva his second wife, not his first. His parentage is now on a document he personally swore to — father Wm. L. Proeger, mother Anna B. Roberts — rather than inferred from censuses and index entries [S12][S14]. And it is the first paper behind the family's memory of Ohio: Earl's own account has his grandfather coming back to California from Ohio around the August 1940 Utah wedding, and this ledger puts him at 4823 Summit Street, Toledo, working as a machinist, in February–March 1932. ⚠ The year digit on the groom's age line is smeared and is not legible. The line reads “21 years of age on the 26 day of June 19—”. The day and month are clear and corroborate 26 June; the year on that line is not readable, and the abt 1911 in Ancestry's index is derived from the age column, not read off the page. ⚠ What became of Dorothy Susan Reid is not on this page. Between 4 March 1932 and 13 August 1940 there was a divorce or a death; the ledger says neither, and no such record has been looked for. An open question, not a finding. ⚠ Groom and bride give the same address, 4823 Summit — stated twice, explained neither time. ⚠ The bride was a minor at application: she turned 18 on 4 March 1932, the wedding day itself, and her mother Mrs. Bessie M. Reid signed the consent line on 27 February. ⚠ The officiant's initials are not certain — the certificate signature reads R. O. Stevens and the application's expected-officiant line carries the same surname with initials that could be read either way. ⚠ The frame is film-flagged “Smeared Ink” by the filmer, and Ohio licence ledgers of this period carry age, not birth date, on both sides.
  5. S351California, U.S., Voter Registrations — Los Angeles County 1946, City Precinct 1200. Ancestry record 31531908. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Probable “Proeger, William H, 1839½ Lake Shore av, DS” (Declines to State). Identity rests on the rare name, his 1940 LA County draft registration (S12) and his father being William L. The index's “183914” is 1839½.
  6. S366Indiana birth certificate no. 35542 — Dorothy Susan Boost, Indianapolis, 2 March 1914. Ancestry record 2237729. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Dorothy Susan Boost, born 2 March 1914 at 1120 East 13th Street, Indianapolis, daughter of Andy Boost, 28, of Logansport, a wagon cleaner, and Bessie Craighead, 27, of Peru, Indiana; the fourth of four living children. Her mother is the Bessie Craighead of the 1932 marriage licence (S144), where her father is given as Charles Reid. How she came to be a Reid is not yet known.
  7. S1176Los Angeles Times, 15 December 1955, page 61 — death notice, PROEGER, William Leonard. Newspapers.com image 380962183. Page read (OCR) 1 October 2026. Confirmed “PROEGER, William Leonard, late of 1540 Ewing Street, Los Angeles, loving father of Queen Anne Helgedalen, Richard F., William H. and Julius K. Proeger, brother of Carry Ross and Gertrude Murfin.” Services Friday, Utter-McKinley's Glendale mortuary. It names no wife, living or late.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear by name and relationship, with the year only: no full date of birth and no home town on any page that search engines index, and a living person’s own page is kept out of search engines. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

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