William Hollar's Not So Fortunate Kids

Paul Hollar's Tragic Home Explosion, 1969

ZACHARIAH HELLER/HOLLER/HOLLAR > JOHANNES HOLLAR > GEORGE ELAM HOLLAR m Lucy Robertson (who then married Nathan Poyner) > WESLEY HOLLAR > ISAAC WALTER HOLLAR > WILLIAM HOLLAR

Isaac Walter Hollar ended up being raised by his grandmother and her second husband, the founder of Poyner Township in Black Hawk County. You can read about it here. Isaac's seven children fared pretty well, overall. Oldest son William, born 06 Dec 1878 in Poyner Township married Sarah Zarr in 1902 in Manchester, Delaware County, Iowa, where he had spent most of his childhood. After their marriage, they spent a few years in Waterloo before 1913 and then moved to Nashua, in Chickasaw County, where they remained for most of their lives.

William was a bricklayer who did masonry work and helped build many of the buildings in Nashua. He then became a tile contractor and retired about 1949. Sarah died in 1965 and William died in a Charles City nursing home on 28 Jun 1969 at the age of 90.

Young Walter Hollar Killed by Train

They had seven children, but the boys did not live long lives - two were tragically killed. The oldest boy, Walter, who was nine years old, was killed after being hit by a train while playing with his friends on 20 Oct 1914. He had been visiting his grandparents in Manchester when it happened.

Then, bachelor son Paul, born in 1909, was killed when his entire small frame house exploded the morning of 03 Dec 1974. They found his body in the rubble. It is believed that a gas cook stove might have been the cause. He was 65 years old.

Brother Clayton Hollar's wife saw the house go up from her kitchen window. Clayton had returned in 1962 from years living in Shrevesport, LA at the behest of his mother after their brother Lee's death at age 53 from cancer in 1960. Clayton ended up getting a job on his return with Oliver Co in Charles City and then to Koehring-Bantam in Waverly before being struck with a chronic and debilitating condition that ultimately caused his death in July of 1979 at the age of 62.

Florence Hollar Baldwin lived to the ripe age of 95, dying in Independence on 13 Jul 2007, after living for years in Bettendorf, Iowa. Her husband Elton died 02 Apr 1982 in Scott County.

Sister Marian lived to 87, dying 28 Jan 2006 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She outlived her first husband, Dayton Lang, who died 23 Mar 1974 in Waterloo and her second husband, Orval Robert Goldsworth survived her, dying 28 Mar 2011 in Cedar Rapids.

Finally, oldest daughter, Pearl Phillips, who had moved west to Arizona, died at 73 in Phoenix on 18 Sep 1976.