Spanish American War Veteran

William Henry Hoogerzeil is my first cousin three generations removed.  He was born 5 March 1878 in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Hoogerzeil and Hitty Ann Taylor.  William married Bessie Mabel Hodgdon on 21 December 1904 in Boston.  She was the daughter of Albert W. Hodgdon and Mary A. Lord, born on 27 January 1878 in Lynn.  They had only one son, Robert Grant Hoogerzeil, born in 1910 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

William served in the Spanish American War and was stationed in Cuba.  After he was married he removed to Philadelphia and worked as a factory belt maker (for running gears and machinery, not for holding up trousers).  By the 1930 census he was back in Lawrence, Massachusetts working as a belt maker and leather worker.  He was the grandfather of Lynda Lee Hoogerzeil True, my distant cousin, who is the owner of the original copies of these top two photographs of William Henry Hoogerzeil as a young man.

William H. Hoogerzeil, sitting on the post in the center of this image.
This is a photograph of his unit in Cuba during the Spanish American War.

William Henry Hoogerzeil died 14 March 1935 in Lawrence, Massachusetts and is buried at the Central Cemetery in Beverly, in the Hoogerzeil family plot.  His wife, Bessie, died 5 January 1964 in Methuen and is buried with William, his parents and sister Annie.

I couldn't find much about William Henry's service online.  At Fold3.com there was an index card to his file, but that's it. No pensions, no muster rolls, nothing. But this photo and this tombstone tell us he was a veteran of the Spanish American War.

WILLIAM H.

HOOGERZEIL

CO. E.

8 MASS. INF.

SP. AM. WAR

DOWNING

 EDMUND HOOGERZEIL

1847 - 1922

1851  HIS WIFE HITTY  1935

1878 WILLIAM H. 1935

1878  HIS WIFE BESSIE  1964

1872 ANNIE 1898

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Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo