Pike Township Family Stories
DECENDANTS OF JAMES AND FANNIE (NODINE) HILLYER
transcribed by Phyllis Hazen, Sept. 5, 2015
James Nelson Hillyer
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, pages 239 – 240
By Alice Hillyer and Ethel GreenJames Nelson Hillyer was born in 1851 in Easton, Pennsylvania. He died in 1914. He married Fannie Marie Nodine, daughter of George and Flo Nodine. After the death of her first husband, Fannie married Lymon E. Howe on 18 Sept. 1915. Lymon had been married to Mary Tollerday. Fannie was born 3 Feb 1859, died, 18 Jan 1941. Both Fannie and James are buried in the Nichols Cemetery.
James Nelson and Fannie Marie Hillyer were parents of Harriet, James Harvey, Irvin, Grace and John Atwood Hillyer.
Harriet F. (Hattie) Hillyer was born 19 July 1879, died 5 Oct 1905. She is buried in the Nichols Cemetery. She married Edward Smith on 23 Feb 1898. They were parents of three children: Albert, Chancey and Edward Smith.
James Harvey Hillyer was born 22 July 1881, died 16 Sept 1964. He married Edna Metcalf on 1 Jan 1908. Edna was born 2 Jan 1884, died 27 June 1965. Both James and Edna are buried in the Nichols Cemetery. They were parents of five children: Bernice (Hillyer) Longstreth, Clarence (Whitey) Hillyer, Archie Hillyer, (deceased), Lester Hillyer and Robert Hillyer (deceased).
Irvin William Hillyer was born 16 Sept 1885, died 20 Oct 1974. He married Carrie B. Sturms on 2 Feb 1910. She was born 23 Sept 1889, died 4 Nov 1982. Both Irvin and Carrie are buried in the Nichols Cemetery. Their daughter is Helen (Hillyer) Edington. Grace Mae Hillyer was born 26 Feb 1891, died 27 Feb 1983. She married Marion P. Renshaw on 15 Sept 1915. He died early in 1983. They were parents of two children: Doris (Renshaw) Newton and Merlin Renshaw.John Atwood Hillyer, Sr. John Atwood Hillyer, Sr., was born 2 Nov 1896. He married Mary Jane Howe on 2 Nov 1916 in Canaan, Connecticut. She was a daughter of Lymon E. Howe, who died on 30 March 1926, and Mary (Tollerday) Howe. Mary Jane was born 6 Jan 1893, died 5 Jan 1941, and is buried in the Nichols Cemetery. Mary’s only sibling was a brother who died at birth. John and Mary Jane Hillyer were parents of six children: Ethel, Genevieve, Almon, Jeanette, Grace and John Hillyer, Jr.
A few years after the death of his wife, John Hillyer, Sr., married Gladys Lucille (Koch) Jensen on 2 Nov 1944 in Marshfield, Wisconsin. She was born 27 April 1908. She was a widow. They were parents of Shirley Jean Hillyer. Gladys also had five children by her first husband; Duane (Bub) Jensen, Lucille (Jensen) Beckman, James Jensen, Katie (Jensen) Hayes and Carla (Jensen) Dunnahoo.
John Atwood Hillyer, Sr.’s great grandparents were from Pennsylvania and Connecticut. John’s father, James Nelson Hillyer, built the house in Nichols where John was born. James had worked on the bridge gang before building the house, but he had it built by the time John was born in 1896. The house is over 87 years old. John first went to Lacy School, then to a school on the Bluff, near Kirkpatrick’s. John’s mother, Fannie, remarried and moved to Connecticut. Then she sent money to John to come to Connecticut to live in 1914, when he was 18 years old. At twenty years of age, he married Mary Jane Howe. Four of his children were born there – Ethel, Almon, Genevieve and Jeanette Hillyer.
While living in Connecticut he played pool, went hunting, trapped for coon and muskrats, and he rode a motorcycle winter and summer. Before his marriage, he had hauled telephone poles from Connecticut to New York.
John, his wife Mary, his mother Fannie and his four children moved back to Nichols on 18 Sep 1926 because his mother wanted to move back. They came back in a dodge sedan, bringing Jeanette, the youngest child then, on a pillow because she was so little. Since 1926 John has live in the same house on High Street in Nichols.
John worked in Wisconsin for three years, driving a truck for the Ordinance Plant. He owned his own truck and hauled corn and cattle for several years.
He worked on a farm for Charlie Elder for five years. He also worked one fall for Margaret Kaalberg, picking corn. He drove a truck for the Hawkeye Lumber Yard in Nichols. He worked at Fellman’s farm until he retired.
They didn’t have family reunions then. Now the Hillyers have one every year. John’s mother, Fannie, and wife, Mary, did a lot of sewing and made quilts. His second wife, Gladys, does a lot of sewing, too.
Grace and John Hillyer, Jr., were both born in Nichols.
John A. Hillyer, Sr., didn’t go to military service. He was waiting at the station ready to go when church bells started ringing and the Armistice was signed at the end of World War 1.
At one time the road from Conesville came straight from the county bridge south of Nichols to John’s garage, which is gone now, where he lives.
John likes to play cards and shoot pool. He is now 87 years old and still enjoys playing cards and pool. He still plants and takes care of a large garden every year.
John Hillyer, Sr., has seven children; 22 grandchildren (two deceased) and 21 great grandchildren (one deceased). His children live in Burlington, Iowa (Almon); Muscatine (Jeanette); Peru, Illinois (Grace); Middletown, Iowa (John, Jr.) and Nichols (Ethel, Genevieve and Shirley).Ethel Alberta Hillyer, daughter of John and Mary Jane Hillyer, was born 16 July 1918 in Canaan, Connecticut. She married Durward (Red) Merton Green on 18 May 1942. He was born 4 March 1914 in Nichols, died 14 June 1958 in Anchorage, Alaska; he is buried in the Nichols Cemetery. They were parents of four children; Larry, Gerald, Phyllis and June Marie Green.
Larry LeMoyne Green, son of Red and Ethel Green, was born 27 Dec 1942. He married Cynthia Ann King on 27 Nov 1965; she was born 4 Feb 1944. They are parents of Jill Ann Green, born 10 Feb 1967, and Amy Lynn Green, born 25 Feb 1970.
Gerald Merton Green, son of Red and Ethel Green, was born 3 Oct 1946. He married 10 June 1969 and divorced his first wife 17 March 1972. They were parents of Bryan Merton Green, born 5 Jan 1970. He married Sharon Kay Morrison on 18 June 1976. She was born 12 Dec 1945. They are parents of Stephanie Ann Green, born 1 March 1974. Sharon also has other children by a former marriage: Rick, Samantha, Robert and a daughter who died in infancy.
Phyllis Eileen Green, daughter of Red and Ethel Green, was born 3 Jan 1949. She married Thomas Joseph Hazen on 24 Aug 1968. He was born 25 Nov 1947. They are parents of Dawn Marie Hazen, born 14 Jan 1969, and Casey Thomas Hazen, born 14 Sept 1973.
June Marie Green, daughter of Red and Ethel Green, was born 9 April 1957 and died 26 Sept 1957 in Anchorage, Alaska. She is buried in the Nichols Cemetery.Genevieve Elta Hillyer, daughter of John and Mary Jane Hillyer, was born 2 April 1921 in Canaan, Connecticut. She married and divorced Bill Middagh. They were parents of Robert Eugene Middagh, born 14 Dec 1941. She married second, Charles Benjamin Oostendorp on 22 July 1943. He was born 17 Jan 1911 in the house now owned by Ethel (Hillyer) Green in Nichols. He died 17 July 1982 in Iowa City and is buried in the Nichols Cemetery.
Almon "Knute" Lymon Hillyer, son of John and Mary Jane Hillyer, was born 23 Jan 1923 in Canaan, Connecticut. He married Helen Marie McKean on 13 March 1943. She was born 26 Feb 1922. They are parents of three children: Mary Anita, Lindal Ray and Alice Marie Hillyer.
Mary Anita Hillyer, daughter of Almon and Helen Hillyer, was born 10 Jan 1946. She married John Terry King on 25 July 1965. He was born 18 Sept 1944. They are parents of Anthony John King, born 20 July 1967; Todd Michael King, born 24 Nov 1969; Chad Alan King, born 3 Oct 1973.
Lindal Ray Hillyer, son of Almon and Helen Hillyer, was born 16 March 1947. He married Sherry Myrtle Hopson on 16 Oct 1966. She was born 23 Feb 1946. They are the parents of Lisa Marie Hillyer, born 26 Sept 1967, and Damon Edward Hillyer, born 26 Nov 1973.
Alice Marie Hillyer, daughter of Almon and Helen Hillyer, was born 8 Dec 1949. She married Carl Parker on 14 June 1970 and they were divorced later. He was born 29 Sept 1948.Jeanette Fannie Hillyer, daughter of John and Mary Jane Hillyer, was born 1 Feb 1925 in Canaan, Connecticut. She was married on 12 March 1943 to Lawrence Raymond Carlile, who was born 28 Oct 1924. They are parents of Judith Marie Carlile and Mary Emma Carlile. Mary Emma Carlile was born 27 March 1944 and died at birth.
Judith Marie Carlile, daughter of Jeanette and Lawrence Carlile, was born 21 Oct 1942. She married Harold “Dean” Anderson on 1 Sept 1963. They are parents of Dena Jo Anderson, born 28 Feb 1964; H. Dean Anderson, stillborn in April 1965; Toi Danelle Anderson, born 17 June 1967; and Tyler “Kip” Anderson, born 5 Jan 1970.Grace Mae Hillyer, daughter of John and Mary Jane Hillyer, was born 29 April 1927 in Nichols. She married Edward Krolak. He was born 30 July 1925. They are parents of three children: Terry Edward Krolak, Linda Marie Krolak and Michael Alan Krolak. Terry Edward Krolak, son of Grace and Edward Krolak, was born 3 Aug 1947. He married Marilyn Ann Dvorak on 28 July 1973. She was born 12 Dec 1944. They are parents of Edward Joseph Krolak, born 15 Dec 1976. Linda Marie Krolak, daughter of Grace and Edward Krolak, was born 12 June 1950. She married John Mathieu on 17 Oct 1970. He was born 3 July 1949. Michael Alan Krolak, son of Grace and Edward Krolak, was born 23 Sept 1964.
John Atwood Hillyer, Jr., was born 1 April 1929 in Nichols. His first child is Janet Hillyer. He married Delores Woodall and they were divorced later. John and Delores were parents of Candy and Connie Hillyer.
John next married Mary Millspaugh and they were divorced later. They were parents of twins, John William and Jeannie Marie Hillyer, and Kenneth Laverne Hillyer. His last marriage was to Henrietta on 11 July 1967. She was born 3 Oct 1938. They are parents of Kimberly Denise Hillyer, born 22 Feb 1968 and Stephen Phillip Hillyer, born 1 June 1971.
John William Hillyer and Jeannie Marie Hillyer were born 29 Sept 1953. Jeannie is the parent of Shannon Lynnett Conger, Melissa Lynn Conger and Ernest Joseph Mazurkiewiez.
Kenneth Laverne Hillyer, son of John, Jr. and Mary Hillyer, was born 26 Sep 1954. He married Hope Lazader, who was born 12 Sept 1958. They are parents of Crystal Dawn Hillyer, born 15 July 1978, and Kenneth Hillyer, born 7 March 1979.Shirley Jean Hillyer, daughter of John, Sr. and Gladys Hillyer, was born 23 Jan 1947. Her son is Scott Alan Hillyer, born 29 May 1969.
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