Charles Truckenmiller

Charles married Josephine Anna Fanning, daughter of John Thomas Fanning and Anna M. Heitkam, after 1956. (Josephine Anna Fanning was born on 12 October 1894 in Indianapolis, IN,^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7} died on 2 March 1960 in Rockford, IL ^{7 8} and was buried on 5 March 1960 in Willwood Burial Park, Rockford, IL ⁷.)

  Marriage Notes:

It is difficult to know for sure just who Charles Truckenmiller was because there were possibly two different Truckenmiller families living in or around Boone and Winnebago counties after 1900 and apparently each had a Charles Truckenmiller.

There was a Charles Elmer Truckenmiller, b. 1887, who married Mabel Grace Price in 1920 in Boone County, Illinois. His parents were Edward Truckenmiller and Sarah Hoy who eventually moved to Stephenson County and then onto Carroll County, Illinois. Mabel Grace Price-Truckenmiller died in 28 July 1923 in Rockford.

There is another record of a Charles E. Truckenmiller who married Hattie E. Taylor in 1933 in Boone County, Illinois. Whether this was the same Charles Truckenmiller is not known for certain but appears to be very likely. This Hattie E. Taylor-Truckenmiller died on 24 Apr 1959 also in Rockford. This date of death is important because it has a great deal of bearing on the possible relationship with Josephine Fanning who eventually was married to a Charles Truckenmiller.

As the family stories and rumors have been passed along, it seems that Josephine was stuck in a marriage for a number of years long after she and Frank Roy Holmes had split up. Apparently her strict Catholic beliefs would not allow for a divorce. She possibly had met Charles Truckenmiller a few years before Frank had died but the story goes that she would not get further involved with Charles Truckenmiller while she was still married to Frank Holmes, or more precisely, while he was still alive. Even the children were adamant that she should not proceed any further with Charles while still married to Frank. After Frank had passed in Dec of 1956, their relationship may have become more serious but if this was the same Charles Truckenmiller that had married Hattie Taylor, then she was still alive and Josephine still would not get involved with Charles Truckenmiller while his wife was still alive. I don't know of any divorce filings between Charles and his wife, Hattie, so once she also had passed in 1959, both Charles and Josephine were then free to marry.

This presents a time-line as follows:
-- after 24 Dec 1956, Frank had died and Josephine was free to marry but had to wait for Charles
-- after waiting for almost 2-1/2 more years, Hattie Taylor, wife of Charles Truckenmiller, died in April 1959.
-- Charles Truckenmiller and Josephine are married sometime later in 1959.

Now the bad news. Even if they waited until 1959 to get married, the time that Charles and Josephine spent together as a married couple was very limited. Josephine died in March 1960 which means their married life together could have been as short as only one year.

Even more bad news. I have never been able to locate a marriage document for Josephine and Charles Truckenmiller yet she much have married him at some time because the death record for Rockford shows her name as Josephine Anna Truckenmiller and her gravestone also has the name Truckenmiller. While the burial location of Josephine is known to be next to Frank Holmes, I cannot locate a burial spot for Charles Truckenmiller. I don't know the date of death for Charles or where he died. I've searched all records and cannot locate any more information.

The death records from Rockford about the various Truckenmillers were accessed via the Internet and they reference microfilm roll numbers at the county court house. All we need is a dedicated person to look at these rolls of microfilm and determine for sure if these were the same Charles Truckenmiller.

07/28/1923 0050 0345 TRUCKENMILLER, MABLE GRACE
04/24/1959 0013 2026 TRUCKENMILLER, HATTIE EMMA
03/02/1960 0014 1056 TRUCKENMILLER, JOSEPHINE AN
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