Willie Frank "Will" Kretschmar

Willie Frank "Will" Kretschmar

Confirmed

1890–1973

Born

18 October 1890

Died

20 November 1973

Married

Hattie Ladusch

Children

Lucille Lorine Kretschmar

Sources

10

Images

1

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1890

Born 18 October 1890; died 20 November 1973; buried Austin Memorial Park, plot 1-566-10

two plots from his daughter S34

Burial—

Named as Lucille's father in the NUMIDENT record, independently of the grave S33

Burial1851

His memorial records him as "s/o Franz and Lena Landrock Kretschmar"

Julius Franz Kretschmar (1851–1946) and Johanna Lina Landrock Kretschmar (1855–1902) Probable S34

Military1917

He served in the First World War

Private, Battery A, 345th Field Artillery, credited to Texas, Army serial number 2231722, enlisted 21 September 1917 and discharged 14 March 1918 S142

Burial1890

The two dates above now have a second independent source: the federal headstone application filed after his death carries 10/18/1890 and 11/20/73, beside the cemetery memorial S142 S34

Birth1917

🆕 He registered for the draft on 5 June 1917 as Will Kretchmar, signing Willie Kretschmar. The card says he was born 18 October 1890 in Travis County, lived at Del Valle, and was a labourer for H. Meyer at Elroy. He was single and claimed exemption for “Heart Trouble”, but he was in uniform by September S435. His son Raymond Willie Kretschmar was born in Travis County on 7 October 1929. The state birth index names Willie F. Kretschmar as the father and Liessi Ladusch as the mother S436. In 1954 he was a carpenter in the house at 1911 East First Street, Austin, with Liessi; his brother Max was at Del Valle S437. added 25 September 2026.

Death1973

🆕 His death notice, Austin American-Statesman, 21 November 1973: “Will F. Kretschmar, 83, of 4913 Ave. H died in a local hospital Tuesday”; survivors include his brother Max Kretschmar of Elroy and his sister Minnie Reininger of Austin S1196

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage1923

Married Hattie Ladusch in 1923 S34

Children1925

Father of Lucille Lorine Kretschmar: her 1925 Texas birth certificate names Willie F. Kretschmar, 34, born Travis County S264, and the 1930 Austin census has Willie 39, Liessi and Lucille 4 S251

Marriage1974

The application was made by Mrs. Liessi Kretschmar, relationship Wife, of 4913 Avenue H, Austin

Hattie Elizabeth "Liessi" Ladusch signing her own name, which corroborates the marriage independently of the grave. Ordered 15 March 1974; a flat granite marker with a Latin cross, consigned to Cook-Walden Funeral Home S142

Children1980

🆕 His son Raymond Will Kretschmar died on 9 July 1980 at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Beaumont, aged 50, a veteran and a Western Electric installer living at Nederland. The death certificate names the father as Will Kretschmar Confirmed S968. added 29 September 2026

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

Open question

⚠️ The service is under six months, and the form does not say why. His headstone application records an enlistment date and a discharge date with nothing between them

no decorations, no overseas service, no discharge type. The 345th Field Artillery belonged to the 90th Division, organised at Camp Travis in Texas, which would suit a Travis County man; that is context, not on the document, and is not claimed here S142

Photos & documents 0 photos · 1 document

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.

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U.S. Application for Headstone or Marker — Pvt. Willie Frank Kretschmar, Battery A, 345th Field Artillery, ASN 2231722; ordered 15 March 1974 for Austin Memorial Park, applicant Mrs. Liessi Kretschmar (wife) (Ancestry coll. 2375, record 3681966; image 2375_03_01017-01102) · full resolution 2407 × 1501 px, DeepZoom level 12, 15/15 tiles — page DD 1330

Military — headstone application (DD Form 1330) · 15 March 1974

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In the record Generation 4 — Kristin's great-grandparents

1. S33US Social Security NUMIDENT / Death Master File / VA-BIRLS, and the Texas Marriage and Divorce indexes — Caffey entries, republished verbatim at SortedByName.com. Government records. Supplies T.W. Caffey Jr's birth at "Salado Bell, Texas" and his parents Thomas W Caffey and Medie Stobaugh; Lucille's birth at "Austin Travi, Texas" and her parents Will Kretschmar and Liessi Ladusch; his Marine Corps service 1941–45; the shared Wimberley retirement ZIP; and the 1969 Caffey–Walker marriage and its 1980 dissolution. The Caffey pages 403'd on a second attempt the same day.
2. S34FindAGrave memorials, Caffey / Kretschmar / Ladusch — Thomas Alan Caffey 274110930, Thomas Walton Caffey Jr 39163436, Lucille Lorene Kretschmar Caffey 39163435, Thomas Walton Caffey Sr 62147776, Medie Caffey Stobaugh 62147759, Willie Frank Kretschmar 41405071, Hattie "Liessi" Ladusch Kretschmar 41405070. Grave inscriptions, plot numbers and dates are transcriptions of stones. Family links on FindAGrave are contributor-asserted, not records — they corroborate here and are never the basis. Memorial 62147776 additionally quotes Texas death certificate #16496, which is a record.
3. S142U.S. Application for Headstone or Marker (DD Form 1330) — Pvt. Willie Frank Kretschmar. Ancestry collection 2375, record 3681966, image 2375_03_01017-01102. Read from the image at full resolution — 2407 × 1501 px, 21 September 2026; read-only, nothing accepted, attached or edited. Box 1 KRETSCHMAR, WILLIE FRANK; box 2 service number ASN 2231722; boxes 4 and 5 enlisted 9/21/1917, discharged 3/14/1918; box 6 Texas; box 8 Pvt.; box 9 345th Field Artillery, Battery A; boxes 10 and 11 10/18/1890 and 11/20/73; box 13 a flat granite marker with a Latin cross; box 14 Austin Memorial Park, Austin, Texas; box 15 applicant Mrs. Liessi Kretschmar, relationship Wife, 4913 Avenue H, Austin, signed in her own hand Liessi Kretschmar; consignee Cook-Walden Funeral Home; ordered 15 March 1974, contractor Hillsboro Mon. Works, B/L Z-9247115. The WW I box is checked and a clerk has written Pvt · US Army · WWI across the foot. This is the first evidence of military service anywhere in the Kretschmar record. Neither the FindAGrave memorial [S34] nor thirty-odd Portal newspaper notices mention it. ⚠ The form gives an enlistment and a discharge and nothing between them — under six months, no decorations, no overseas service, no discharge type. The 345th Field Artillery belonged to the 90th Division, organised at Camp Travis in Texas, which sits conveniently beside a Travis County man, but that is context and not on this document; it is not asserted here. It also gives 18 October 1890 and 20 November 1973 a second independent custodian — a federal form filed by the widow and processed by the Veterans Administration, beside the cemetery memorial. And the applicant block is Hattie Elizabeth "Liessi" Ladusch calling herself his wife in her own signature, which corroborates the marriage independently of the grave. ⚠ No parents on this form, so the "s/o Franz and Lena Landrock Kretschmar" reading stays Probable on the memorial alone; no plot number, so 1-566-10 still rests on [S34]; no marriage date, so 1923 does too.
4. S2511930 United States Federal Census — Willie and Liessi Kretschmar household. Ancestry record 60683525; sh. 7B. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. 1930 census, Austin, Travis Co., sheet 7B: Willie Kretschmar 39 (City Playgrounds, WWI veteran), Liessi 32, Dorothy 9, Lucille 4, Raymond (infant), at 1911 East First Street.
5. S264Texas, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1903-1932 — Lucile Kretschmar. Ancestry record 1079872. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Texas birth certificate: Lucile Kretschmar, b. 25 Aug 1925, 3905 Ave. B, Austin; father Willie F. Kretschmar 34, carpenter, b. Travis Co.; mother Liessi Ladusch 27, b. New Ulm, Texas.
6. S435U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards — Will Kretchmar, Travis County, Texas, 5 June 1917. Ancestry record 18006513. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Registered 5 June 1917 at Austin as Will Kretchmar and signed Willie Kretschmar: age 26, born 18 October 1890, Travis County, Texas, natural-born citizen; home Del Valle, Route 2; a labourer for H. Meyer at Elroy; single; claimed exemption for heart trouble; tall, slender, grey eyes, brown hair. He claimed the exemption, but he still served from September 1917 (S142). The card does not explain his early discharge, and none is inferred here.
7. S436Texas Birth Index, 1929, p. 1031 — Raymond Willie Kretschmar, Travis County. Ancestry record 152366261. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed “KRETSCHMAR, RAYMOND WILLIE — county 227 [Travis] — Oct 07 — M — mother LADUSCH, LIESSI — father KRETSCHMAR, WILLIE F.” A state index, not the certificate itself. It gives Liessi's maiden name as Ladusch; the 1923 marriage licence calls her Mrs. Liessi Wolter.
8. S437Austin, Texas, City Directory, 1954, p. 370 — Kretschmar. Ancestry record 399805248. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed “--Will F (Liessi F) carp h1911 E 1st”: Will F. Kretschmar, carpenter, and his wife Liessi, householders at 1911 East First Street, the same address as the 1930 and 1940 censuses. Max W. Kretschmar is listed just above, at Del Valle. Fred (1901 E 1st) and Charlie F. (1903 E 1st) Kretschmar are next door on the same page. The directory does not say how they are related to Will. Ancestry indexes the number as 911.
9. S968Texas Certificate of Death, state file no. 55851 (Jefferson County) — Raymond Will Kretschmar, died 9 July 1980. Ancestry record 751473946. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed Raymond Will Kretschmar, white male, born 7 October 1929 in Texas, age 50; died 9 July 1980 at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Beaumont, Jefferson County; married; a veteran of the armed forces; an installer for Western Electric; residence Nederland, Jefferson County. Father Will Kretschmar; mother's maiden name “Leissi Ladusch”. Removal 12 July 1980 to Oak Bluff Memorial Park, Port Neches (Davis Funeral Homes). Ancestry hinted this record to his mother through the mother field; he is the man on the certificate. The birth date matches the 1929 state birth index (S436). “Leissi” is a variant spelling of her nickname Liessi, given by an informant in 1980; the site keeps Liessi. The informant was his wife, who is not named here because she may be living. The cause of death and his Social Security number are on the image and are not transcribed. Collection: Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982 (db 2272, image 33154_b063081-02973).
10. S1196Austin American-Statesman, 21 November 1973, p. 9 — death notice of Will F. Kretschmar. Newspapers.com page 387049343. Read from the newspaper’s text, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Will F. Kretschmar, 83, of 4913 Ave. H died in a local hospital Tuesday”; survivors include a brother, Max Kretschmar of Elroy, and a sister, Minnie Reininger of Austin. Grandchildren are counted only, not named.