Elderkin Family History & Genealogy

William was David and Mary�s oldest child. Even though he came from a humble family, he had ambitions. He may have attended college, for he was listed on the 1900 census as a chemist[i] and on his death certificate as a �druggist-conductor.�[ii]

William married Ora Bennett in 1892 and moved to the Chicago area.[iii] They had one child, who died.[iv] Then they adopted a boy they named Wesley Oliver sometime after 1900.[v] He was born January 8, 1898[vi] to poor Irish immigrants named John and Mary Ann Regan, who left him at an orphanage.[vii] The Elderkin family moved to the booming city of Los Angeles a few years later, where William took a job as a conductor for the L.A. Railway.[viii]

Unfortunately, luck was not with William, Ora and Wesley. William died of tuberculosis at Sierra Madre[ix] where many went to recover from consumptive diseases,[x] on June 27, 1909.[xi] He was 41 years old. Ora was left with little money and few job skills, a situation which compelled Wesley to start working early. He was a messenger when he was just 12[xii] and enlisted in World War I[xiii] when he was 18 or 19. Ora died in November 1918 of �pernicious anemia.� Wesley married early and had one daughter, who was still alive in 2003.[xiv]

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[i] 1900 U.S. cens., Chicago-Jefferson Township, Cook County, IL, p. 13B, line 88.
[ii] Wm. W. Elderkin death certificate no. 2083 (1909), County of Los Angeles, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles, California.
[iii] 1900 U.S. cens., Chicago-Jefferson Township, Cook County, IL, p. 13B, line 88.
[iv] 1900 U.S. cens., Chicago-Jefferson Township, Cook County, IL, p. 13B, line 88.
[v] Virginia K. Hall interview by Sarah Thorsen Little (Seattle), Fallbrook, CA, 29 May 2003. No transcript.
[vi] California Death Index 1940-1997, online at <http://www.ancestry.com>, printed out 20 May 2003.
[vii] Interview, Virginia K. Hall, 29 May 2003.
[viii] William W. Elderkin obituary, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 29 June 1909.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] �Health,� by Shaffer, Ralph E., Professor Emeritus, Department of History, California State Polytechnic Universty, online at <http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~reshaffer/helthx.htm>, printed out 3 June 2003.
[xi] Wm. W. Elderkin Los Angeles County death certificate no. 2083.
[xii] Los Angeles City Directory 1910, Los Angeles, California. (Los Angeles: L.A. City Directory Company, 1910).
[xiii] Wesley O. Elderkin household, 1930 U.S. Census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Inglewood Township, enumeration district 19-1003, supervisor�s district 19, sheet 313, dwelling 90, family 90; National Archives micropublication.
[xiv] Interview, Virginia K. Hall, 29 May 2003.