hegnauer.family
hegnauer.family

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Canton, Massillon and North Canton, Stark County, Ohio: Rev. Leonard Samuel Hegnauer's family

· 4 min read · 3 people named

Igis line (Luzius H0001 → Leonhard H0003 → Christian H0010 → Leonard Samuel H0019). Index entries only.

Summary

  • Records: 434 records placed (76 confirmed, 345 probable, 13 possible) on 20 people (9 of them living). About 290 of these are entries in the GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries index where "Rev. L. S. Hegnauer" (or Rev. Leonard S.) is named in someone else's obituary, and about 30 name "Rev. Robert (L.) Hegnauer": the officiating ministers. They are placed as probable on H0019 and on his son Robert Lawrence (US-CAN-003), with the role "officiant".
  • Founder: Rev. Leonard Samuel Hegnauer (H0019; 21 Mar 1891 Rockville, Bates Co., Missouri – 24 Jun 1978), already in the study. He is the great-grandson of the Igis emigrant Luzius Hegnauer. The family moved from Bates County to Illinois about 1923 (daughter Delores born there) and was at Canton by 1940. He and his wife Anna Katherine Yoss (1888–1961, US-CAN-001) are buried in West Lawn Cemetery, Canton.
  • So the Canton cluster is not a separate immigrant line (H2): it is the Missouri Igis family, one generation removed. Nothing else in Stark County belongs to another origin, except the unexplained Clara E. Hegnauer (below).
  • Children (all born before 1926): Lotta M. (born about 1914; Mrs. William C. Nelson; died in Ohio), Rev. Robert Lawrence (19 Jun 1915 – 11 May 2012; a minister in Indiana and Ohio, buried at North Canton), Naomi R. (about 1917 – about 2012; Mrs. Smith, later Martin), Leonard Yoss (17 Jun 1919 – 28 May 1984, Forest Hill Cemetery, Canton), Delores (about 1923 – 2021; Mrs. Voltz).
  • Robert Lawrence's family: wife Martha Icieola Sigrist (1916–2002, of Mulberry, Indiana); Indiana 1940, Pomeroy, Meigs Co., Ohio, 1950, Berne, Indiana, at the end; three living children, one of whom lived in New Hampshire, where a grandson, Christopher David Hegnauer (1978–1995), is buried at Contoocook.
  • Leonard Yoss's family: wife Roberta Jo Clark (1918–1997, of Canton); sons Ronald (23 Nov 1948 – 20 Feb 2026) and two living sons; Ronald's widow and son are living. Several living in-laws are placed as possible from address indexes and obituary mentions only.
  • Clara E. Hegnauer (25 Aug 1893 – 3 Jul 1973, Massillon; US-CAN-022) does not fit this family: H0019's sister Clara (H0018) married Walter Swezy and stayed in Missouri. Relationship unknown.

Descendant chart

LinkStrengthEvidence
Christian H0010 → Leonard Samuel H0019provenSee people/H0019.md (1900 and 1910 households, WWI card, parents' death certificates). O02873 (1900 census) is placed on him here.
H0019 × Anna Katherine Yossproven1920 census (O02915), 1940 and 1950 Canton; obituary indexes of two daughters name both parents (O03296, O03515); Lotta's Ohio death index gives her mother's maiden name Yoss (O03345).
H0019 → Lotta, Robert Lawrence, Naomi, Leonard Yossproven1920 household in Prairie Twp., Bates Co. (O02910–O02915).
H0019 → Deloresproven1940 household in Canton (O02846); her 2021 obituary names Leonard and Anna.
Robert Lawrence → three living childrenproven1950 household at Pomeroy (O02456–O02460); his 2012 obituaries.
[US-CAN-007] → Christopher David (1978–1995)probableChristopher is buried at Contoocook, N.H., where [US-CAN-007] lived 1990–2005 (O02349, O03984); no record naming the parents was seen.
Leonard Yoss × Roberta Jo Clark → Ronald and two living sonsproven1950 household (O02406–O02409); Ronald's 2026 obituary names both parents and his brothers (O03564).

Conflicts

  • Leonard Yoss's birth: 17 Jun 1919 (Find a Grave, address index) against 18 Jun 1919 (SSDI, O02700) and 1920 (Ohio death index).
  • Robert Lawrence's birth year: 1915 (draft card, Find a Grave) against 1916/1917 in several obituary indexes; the draft card (his own statement) is preferred.
  • The GenealogyBank index sometimes records the officiant as "principal" or "child" of the deceased (O03060, O03092, O03093); these are indexing errors.

Unresolved officiant entries (left unplaced)

Eleven GenealogyBank entries name a "Rev. H. L." (8), "Rev. Howard", "Rev. A. J." or "Rev. E. L." Hegnauer. No Hegnauer minister with these initials is known; they are probably misreadings of "L. S." or "R. L.", but only the obituaries would show. Four with an initial L ("Rev L", "Rev L B", "Rev L C") are placed on H0019 as possible.

Open questions

  1. Where did H0019 train and serve before Canton (Illinois about 1923)? Church yearbooks of his denomination would give his pastorates and explain the obituaries from Belmont, Portage and Crawford Counties.
  2. Clara E. Hegnauer (1893–1973) of Massillon: whose widow or daughter was she?
  3. The marriage of Leonard Samuel and Anna K. Yoss (about 1913, probably Bates Co.) has not been found.

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