The marriage of Isabella is recorded in the Ontario Marriage Archives for 1888, reference #011826:

     Date:      28th April 1888, town of Waterloo
     Groom:     Henry Hohner
     Age:       23, bachelor
     Residence: Huron Co.
     Born:      Zurich, Huron Co.
     Parents:   Jacob and Margaret Hohner
     Religion:  Lutheran
     Bride:     Isabella Sanborn
     Age:       17, spinster
     Residence: Waterloo
     Born:      Woolwich Tp
     Parents:   William and Mary Sanborn
     Religion:  Methodist
     Witness:   William Gordon, Lydia Underwood of Waterloo
     By:        Rev. D. W. Williams by License

Notes

• the facts on Henry are clear and can be corroborated. But more on Henry later.
• the maiden name of the bride is Sanborn which may indicate that she was not formally adopted by Nathan after his marriage to Mary Ann in 1874.
• the bride's parents are William and Mary which confirms Mary Ann as her natural mother.
• Isabella was born in Woolwich Township is an unexpected piece of this puzzle.
• the bride was born in late 1870 or early 1871 and the groom was born in late 1864 or early 1865.
• the witness, William Gordon, had married Isabella's older half-sister Henrietta in 1884.

The Ontario Births Archive for 1897, reference #042961, announces the birth of a daughter:

     Name:       Irene Hohner
     Sex:        F
     Date:       Nov 4/97, Waterloo
     Father:     Henry Hohner, Fireman
     Mother:     Bella Uttley
     Physician:  J. H. Armitage
     Registered: Nov 24/97

• this is the first registered birth for Isabella and Henry. Mabel Uttley said that Irene was the eldest child in the family. So, for now, Irene is Isabella's first born.
• Isabella is like her mother -- she uses whichever maiden name suits her at the time.
• the family is living in Waterloo and their family doctor is used by many of the Uttleys.

We also know from his obituary that Daniel I. Hohner was born in Waterloo County in 1900, the son of Isabella and Henry Hohner.

From the Stratford Directory

The next reference to Isabella marks a change in her life. The 1904-06 Vernon's Directory for Stratford lists Mrs. I. Hohmer living at 17 Wellington and that McDermid & Kyle is a hardware store at that address. So by 1904 Isabella and family are living above a hardware store in Stratford. Where's Henry?

In the 1905-06 Directory Mrs. Hohner is the householder (owner) at 254 Albert Street and Henry Mehm, a plasterer, is at the same address as a boarder.

The next year in 1907 Mrs. Hohner has moved down the street to 300 Albert to a house that she owns and in which she will remain for the rest of her life.

In 1909 and 1910, 300 Albert Street is owned by Henry Mehm now a bricklayer and there is no record of Isabella. In 1911 Mrs. I. Hohner is the householder at 300 Albert. The next year 1912, Henry Mehm, now a mason is the owner of the house and Isabel Hohner is a boarder and she is listed as the widow of Henry for the first time.

Henry Miehm is a contractor and owner of the house in 1917 and Isabella is missing. In 1919 Isabella is the owner and Irwin Hohner is listed for the first time, but Henry Mehm is missing. Henry Mehm (labourer) is the sole listing in 1921 but 1922 includes Mrs. Bella Hohner, Irwin Hohner (labourer) and Henry Mehm (mason) as the owner. 1923 drops Irwin and adds Daniel Hohner (labourer).

In 1924 through 1926 only Henry Mehm appears. The Directory of 1927 lists only Daniel and Isabel. The next year includes Danl Hohner, Isabel Hohner (wid Henry) and I. Hohner (labourer) and 1929 has only Mrs. Isabell Hohner.

Today (summer of 1997) 300 Albert Street is an empty lot of green grass surrounded on all sides by the original homes. Only a short, broken segment of the concrete walk to the front porch remains. The house must have been damaged beyond repair and was demolished

Notes

• In the early 1900's Isabella and Henry Hohner separated and Isabella moved to Stratford.
• Isabella and Henry Hehm move in together but never marry.
• Henry Hohner is dead by 1912.
• Isabella had sons named Irwin and Daniel.

Obituary

The Cemeteries Office at Avondale had a date of June 22, 1965 for the death of Isabella (Bella) which led to an obituary in the Wednesday June 23, 1965, pg 7, issue of the Stratford Beacon:

MRS. ISABELLA HOHNER
  Mrs. Isabella Hohner, 94, 300 Albert St., died Tuesday in Stratford General Hospital where she had been a patient for one month. Born in Elmira, she lived most of her life in Stratford. Her husband and family of 14 children [no typo here -- that's fourteen] died before her. She is survived by several grandchildren. The body will be at the Heinbuck funeral home, 156 Albert St., where a funeral service will be held Thursday at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. Merril Ferguson, of Parkview United Church, officiating. Burial will be made in Avondale cemetery.

This is sparse, but without contradiction:

• this confirms the Tuesday June 22, 1965 date for her death.
• to be 94 when she died and to have been born in 1870 she would have been born in the last half of 1870.
• the 1881 Census says both Isabella and Diana (born July 28 1871 and the last child from Nathan's first family) were 9 years old. I think a birth date in 1870 still works for Bella as she was born in the last half of 1870.
• 300 Albert Street is good, my Aunt Mae recalls that her aunt Bell was "full of fun" and lived on Albert Street in Stratford.
• Elmira is in Woolwich Township. Mary Ann "Sanborn" said she was a resident of Elmira when she married Nathan in 1874. She must have lived in Elmira for some years for Bella to have been born in Elmira.
• she was once married, is good -- to Henry Hohner. She never remarried.
• Wow! Fourteen kids!! And she outlived them all.
  • I've got big problems with this fact. She marries in 1888, the first child (Irene) is born in 1897 and she separates from Henry Hohner before 1904. This doesn't work.
  • Did Henry Mehm bring a lot of children to the common law marriage? Were any of Isabella's children fathered by Mehm?
• What opportunities were missed by the author of this column (for us) -- no names of parents, no name (or date) for a husband and nothing to say about children except a number.
• The children of Isabella that we know of include:
  • Irene from the Ontario Birth Archive of 1897.
  • There is a second daughter as Daniel's obituary mentions two sisters, Mrs. George Sloane and Mrs. Herbert Chapman. Annie is the daughter who married Mr. Chapman, so it is likely that the first daughter married Mr. Sloane.
  • Daniel I. (1900-1940) who lived at home with his mother until he died.
  • A son Irwin is mentioned in the Vernon's Directory in years 1919 through 1922.
  • A son Edward who was in the RCAF in 1940 living in Regina.

There is a pink granite headstone in section "C" of the Avondale Cemetery, Stratford, that has inscribed:

HOHNER
Daniel I. Hohner
1900-1940
Bella Hohner
1870-1965
at rest

There are three other Hohners in Avondale Cemetery

• Daniel I. Hohner is her son, born in 1900 and shares Isabella's headstone.
• There is a David Hohner (died Oct 16, 1944) in a different section of the cemetery and from his obit in the Beacon, he comes from Huron County and was single. This is possibly a relation but not a son of Bella.
• Finally there is an Elgin Hohner who died August 26, 1892. I couldn't locate a headstone and I couldn't find a death notice in either of the two Stratford papers of the day.

The marriage record from the Ontario Archive 1888, reference #011826 says the parents of Henry were Jacob and Margaret Hohner. It also says Henry was born in Zurich, a place with Uttley connections later on.

Vernon's Directory for Stratford in 1896 records Jacob Hohner as the householder at 15 Inverness and that Edward Hohner of the same address worked as a butcher at H. Pauli. At the same time Henry lived with his wife Isabella in Waterloo as we know his daughter Irene was born at Waterloo in 1897 and his son Daniel there in 1900.

From The News Record on Wednesday August 27th, 1902, page 1, and the Berlin Daily Telegraph on Thursday August 28th, 1902, page 2:

DEATH OF MR. JACOB HOHNER.
  Death claimed another victim early this morning in the person of Mr. J. Hohner. Deceased, who had lived in Waterloo but a few years, had been ill for over a year, and was aged 67 years. Besides a widow, the following children survive -- John, Berlin; Henry and Mrs. D. Sippel, Waterloo; Mrs. Fitzpatrick, Buffalo; Mrs. John Weseloh, and Edward and Emma at home. The funeral takes place on Saturday at 2 p.m. to St. John's church and Mt. Hope cemetery.

• Jacob and his son Edward came to Waterloo just a few years earlier from Stratford.
• After Isabella has left for Stratford, Henry is still living in Waterloo. And Henry is living with Mrs. D. Sippel. [This could be continued.]

Henry's brief obituary from the Berlin Daily Telegraph on Thursday May 18, 1911, page 4:

DIED IN WATERLOO.
    ---
  On Tuesday, May 16 [1911], Henry Hohner aged 48 years, died in Waterloo. Funeral will be held Friday afternoon from the residence of his brother, Edward H. Hohner, King street.

• Age 48 means Henry was born in late 1863 or early 1864 which closely matches his marriage information.
• No references to parents, a wife or any children clutter up this writer's prose. Not even Mrs. D. Sippel is mentioned.
• This agrees with the Stratford Directory listing Isabella as widow in the 1912 edition.

Henry is buried at the Mt. Hope Cemetery, Waterloo beside his parents Jacob and Marguerite (nee Schock). They share a common marker that is already very eroded. The west side of the stone is engraved with:

Henry/Hohner/died/May 16, 1911/aged/48 yrs./at rest/

Copyright © 1998 Dorothy Gwynn
Most recent revision July 8, 1998