BY KAREN HANSEN
In 2012 I reported that an obituary had been found for another Civil War Vet, William Work,
who is buried here, apparently without a stone. The notice of his death was in the Walnut
newspaper on January 31, 1929. It stated that he was a long time resident of Walnut and died at
the St. Rose Hotel where he had made his home for several years. They were waiting advice
from relatives in Illinois to make funeral arrangements.
William Work’s obituary was in The Walnut Bureau on February 7, 1929. It says that he was
born in Pennsylvania on February 2, 1849 and died January 28, 1929, aged 79 years, 11 months,
and 26 days. Burial was in the Walnut cemetery. He was known at Walnut as an old veteran of
the Civil War; he was a prisoner of war, escaped and didn’t muster out after the war, per his obit.
We didn’t know if we could prove his service.
We have found him in various census records. In 1880, the earliest that he was in Layton
Township, he was a laborer, living with Alexander Stuart and family. He is listed in the 1885
Iowa Census as a farm hand for the Hans Brix family in Section 30 of Layton Township. The
1895 Iowa census and the 1910 Census show William living in the St. Rose Hotel in Walnut.
According to the 1920 Census, William, 72, was a pool hall owner in Walnut. By 1925, he was
boarding with J. G. and Relinda Deen in Walnut. It lists his parents as Henry Work and Hanna
McCoy; all were born in Pennsylvania. Familysearch says his mother’s name was Anna McCoy.
The parents are buried in Stephenson County, Illinois.
There were many short articles about all of the travels of William in the Walnut newspaper. In
late December, 1890, it said that after living 9 years in Layton Township, he left for Ackley,
Hardin County, where he would make his permanent home, taking charge of a large farm for his
widowed sister. It called Bill a steady, industrious young man, and wished him abundant success.
He did not either go there or stay there, according to the March 11, 1892 paper. It said that word
came from Aurora, Nebraska, where he had been spending the winter with a sister, that he would
return to that place for the coming season instead of Clarion, Iowa, where he was engaged last
year.
In 1908, Wm. Work left Walnut for his boyhood home in Freeport, Illinois for a month’s visit
with his brother and other relatives. It had been 18 years since he had visited or communicated
with his relatives there. He planned to visit relatives in Ackley and Clarion, Iowa, on his return
home. In 1909, William left his pool hall in the hands of a competent manager, for another
month’s visit in Freeport. The following year, 1910, he went to visit his ill brother in Bolton,
Illinois, which is close to Freeport.
In 1911, William purchased the pool hall, which he formerly owned for several years. However,
the December 22nd newspaper of 1911 stated that he had been farming that year at Clarion, Iowa
and everything was prosperous. After visiting here, he went to visit his sister in Aurora,
Nebraska. The January 1, 1914 Walnut Bureau reported that William’s billiard and pool tables
were moved in the J. C. Vollstedt building, where he would conduct his pool hall in the future. In
November, 1918, Wm. Work and M. G. Bussow were refunded three weeks’ license fee, because
their pool halls were closed by the Board of Health. Emmeline Keeler, William’s sister died in
August of 1919 in Freeport. The article in the newspaper said she was the third sister to pass
during the past year, but I couldn’t verify that.
