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View Tree for Harry James MauritzenHarry James Mauritzen (b. August 17, 1882, d. June 6, 1964)


Picture of Harry James Mauritzen
Harry Mauritzen

Harry James Mauritzen (son of James "Jens" Peter Mauritzen and Johanne "Jennie" Peterson)1939 was born August 17, 1882 in Peru, Illinois/cert. in file1940, 1941, and died June 6, 1964 in 1904 14th St., Peru, Illinois1942, 1943. He married Charlotte Theresa Doerr on July 7, 1909 in LaSalle Cnty, IL1944, daughter of John (Jean) David Doerr, Jr. and Helena/Lena Hochguertel.

 Includes NotesNotes for Harry James Mauritzen:
Individual: Mauritzen, Harry
Social Security #: 342-09-7788
Issued in: Illinois

April 2003
Harry's father James "Jens" P. Mauritzen was 38 and his mother Jennie Pederson was 33 at the time of his birth. He was born in the family home on 4th & Plum in Peru, the second youngest of 6 children, plus an older step-sister Jennie from James' former marriage. (See notes on Mayme & Margaret Mauritzen for stories of family homestead) .
His family attended the Congregatonal Church on 4th & West St. in Peru. He went to school through the 10th grade and got a job, presumably to help his family. When he wanted to go to work at Westclox he went to night school to finish his degree.
He started as a stock boy in the Shipping Department and early on became foreman. He spent a few months less than 50 years at Westclox and always remained in the Shipping Department. They didn't give him the gold watch because it wasn't quite 50 years.
Aunt Lois says she thinks the reason her parents were married in the Zion E & R Church was because the minister said he could do it quick and Grampa had dated Charlotte six years. Grampa Harry was rumored to have said, "Just make it fast. We've got a train to catch." They were honeymooning in Niagra Falls.
Harry was a volunteer fireman his whole adult life and served as Fire Marshall. He also was president of the fire company for 22 years. Aunt Lois tells me in the early years their home was equipped with a very loud fire bell which rang directly into the firemen's homes. It rang in a code so all the men knew where the fire was. Code 2-3 meant out of town, so the firemen would have to gather at the firehouse to learn of the location. She recalls one incident in which Grampa was in such a hurry that he got into his car, backed out of the garage but forgot to open the garage door and smashed the door in.
In earlier years he rode his bike down to the fire station at the bottom of the hill and threw it on the ground in his haste. Gramma said everyone knew Harry's bike and someone always returned it to the house for him.
In 1925 their home on 6th Street caught fire. Aunt Lois tells me it was a Saturday. Grampa had been doing some repair work around the house in recent days and had burned the trash in the furnace in the basement. Apparently burning embers had caught under the roof and smouldered there overnight and ignited in the morning. Gramma was giving Uncle Glen his Saturday bath, Aunt Lois says she was just hanging around the house somewhere and Uncle Murray was on his paper route when someone told him to "Go home. Your house is on fire." This was all before my mother was born.
Grampa's brother Charlie, who lived across the street from them, happened to be there and ran in the house to try to save some of their things. He threw a mattress out of the upstairs window and literally flattened Grampa with it. There was tremendous damage from smoke and water but no one was hurt. What was left of the house was moved to the 7th & Peoria area, rebuilt and later sold, but the family never lived in it again. Apparently my grampa took a lot of ribbing from the other fireman about what happened, but knowing my grampa, he must have been terribly embarassed.
While the new brick house was under construction on the same lot, Harry & Charlotte and their three children at the time, lived with Charlotte's mother Lena and her second husband Carl Hoesch, across the street from where the burned house would be rebuilt. These were very cramped quarters and Uncle Murray remembers having to sleep in a tent in the back yard. The newly built brick house was state of the art. My mother was the only one of the four children to be born in that house.
My grandfather died when I was 12 and I have many wonderful memories and impressions of him. He was a quiet, gentle man, and I suspect, very particular. His basement workshop was immaculate with everything in its own place. When my cousins & I were visiting (which was often) we frequently were sent to the basement to rollerskate. What fun! He probably worried about what we were doing, but never said anything. Only my father, who would periodically come to the top of the stairs and holler, "QUIET DOWN THE NOISE!"
He always seemed to be doing nice things for people. He loved the water, was quite a fisherman and we spent many summer weeks up in Wisconsin at Lake Mills with them. Mom & Gramma would fish with him and then Gramma fried up bluegills or perch at night. What a treat. I have a photograph that shows me sitting on a raft-like device he made for me out of 2 empty gasoline cans fastened to either end of a board. And he also grew his own worms. I remember the worm bed and him taking scaps of food out and using the pitchfork to mix it in with the dirt.
He also taught Terry Lunn (my cousin) and me to ice skate. He was quite good, I thought figure-8-ing and skating backwards. We also used to go skating down at the Slough. I was told that Grampa was the Chairman of the fundraising effort which led to having lights put in for skating at night. Aunt Lois remembers envelopes of money coming to the house for that project.
I remember walking home from skating at the Peru Park, being so cold (he never wanted to come in) and Gramma putting our clothes on the open oven door to warm. I loved their kitchen with the marble counter tops--actually, I loved that whole house, so many warm memories. I always felt safe and loved there.
Grampa was a generous family-oriented man. My mother tells me that during the Depression his sister Anna, who was married to Vincent Daniels at the time, came to him to tell him they were about to lose their home. She begged him to help and Grampa took out a mortgage on their own home to prevent his sister from losing hers. This worried him greatly, and there was a time he thought he might lose his job at Westclox and they would lose both homes. He said in later years that as much as he loved all of his children, he would never mortgage his home again. We don't know if his sister was ever able to pay him back.
Harry was also the chief organizer of the yearly Hochguertel family reunions held on the farm of Henry & Jean (Paton) Sale. These events fell off in the 1950's.
Harry was a wonderful man. Their home was always open and there were times when all his adult children & spouses came home to live, either during the War or perhaps as newlyweds. Aunt Lois remembers him saying ,"I so regret a lot of things I could have done for my mom that I should have," referring to Johanna Mauritzen. I can't imagine he was anything but the same devoted son as he was husband, father, grandfather.

QUESTIONS; BAPTIZED WHERE

Marriage Cert. in file
Birth Cert. in file
Death Cert. in file
Obit in file
10 photos in file
1910 census in file
1920 census in file
1930 census in file
Found draft registration 1917 but revealed nothing new--didn't copy ances.com

1920 Census of Margaret & mother Johanna still on Plum St. She died a few years later.
1920 Census of Mamie, age 40, in Chicago living with her step sister Jennie & her husband John Jensen
while working as a nurse
1930 census showing Mamie & Margaret back at the homestead in Peru where they lived until their deaths

More About Harry James Mauritzen:
Burial: June 9, 1964, City Cemetary, Peru, IL.1945, 1946
Social Security Number: Social Security #: 342-09-7788.1947, 1947, 1948

More About Harry James Mauritzen and Charlotte Theresa Doerr:
Marriage 1: July 7, 1909, LaSalle Cnty, IL.1949
Marriage 2: Zion E&R Church, Peru, IL.
Marriage 3: July 6, 1909, LaSalle Cnty, IL.1949, 1950, 1951

Children of Harry James Mauritzen and Charlotte Theresa Doerr are:
  1. +Murray J. Mauritzen, b. April 24, 1912, Peru, Illinois1951, d. January 28, 2003, Venice, Florida.
  2. +Lois Mauritzen.
  3. Glen Mauritzen, b. February 28, 19241951, d. July 7, 1990, Overland Park, Kansas1951.
  4. +Helen Mayme Mauritzen.
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