Hazel (Dixon) (Wimmer) Sullivan

The new year has already brought me a bounty of records. I'm still processing them, but spent some time today working with my great-aunt, Hazel Dixon, and thought I'd write up the new information that I've gained thanks to her two marriage records. The information I had so far indicated that her surname at the time of her death was Sullivan, but I also had an old family group sheet done by a cousin that said she'd married someone named Wimmer. Turns out they are both correct. Hazel Dixon married Harry Wimmer, divorced, and later married James Sullivan.

Hazel L. Dixon and Harry K. Wimmer

Hazel married Harry Wimmer on 16 November 1931. She was 22 years old, still living with her mother [Mary E. (Klein) Dixon] and her soon-to-be step-father, Thomas Payne at 125 West Grand Street, Elizabeth.(1) According to the 1930 U.S. Census, Hazel was working as an insurance clerk, she may have still been in that job at the time she married.(2)

Harry Wimmer was born in Elizabeth, NJ, as was Hazel. His parents were Otto Wimmer and Eva Ball. He was employed as a bank clerk, possibly at Harmonia Mutual Savings Fund (3- see note), and was living at 130 Reid St., Elizabeth. His widowed mother and four other people with the same surname [siblings?] were also living at that address. (3)

Click to enlarge.
Marriage Certificate of Hazel Dixon
and Harry Wimmer, 1931. (1)

The wedding was conducted by the Reverend Wilhelm G. Felmeth, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church. (4) The marriage certificate indicates that the wedding was performed in Elizabeth, but there is no indication of an exact location.(1)

The witnesses at the ceremony were family members.  Theo Wimmer, living at the same address as the groom, presumably his brother, and Marie O'Hare, Hazel's niece. Marie was the daughter of Clara Viola (Dixon) and John J. O'Hare. Marie was, as far as I now know, born in 1913. (5) Hazel was born in 1909. (6) They were more like cousins than aunt and niece.

At some time, I suppose, things went wrong for Hazel and Harry. There was a divorce. I'm hoping to find some more information about that in the near future.

Hazel and James Sullivan

Click to enlarge.
Marriage Certificate for Hazel Dixon
and James Sullivan, 1946. (7)

On 23 March 1946 Hazel married again. Her groom was James Sullivan, son of James and Margaret (McCarthy) Sullivan. He was born on 1 Nov 1909,  making him eleven months younger than Hazel. This was James's first marriage. He was employed as a clerk. (7)

I don't know where the couple settled after their marriage. They don't appear in the 1947 Elizabeth Directory. In 1949 they are listed at the home address of James's widowed mother, Margaret, at 444 Spring Street, Elizabeth. This is the same address that James gives on the marriage certificate, so it's possible that they moved in with his mother right after they married.

Hazel died in 1957, just ten years after she married James Sullivan. Her obituary in the Elizabeth Daily Journal on 21 May of that year says she is the "widow of James Sullivan." So somewhere in that ten years James died. I have not yet found his death date.

You can read previous posts about Hazel:

• Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon : Birth Certificate
• Hazel Dixon, where did you go? 
• Hazel (Dixon) Sullivan : Death Certificate

Links
The New Jersey Churchscape : You can read a general history of the Third Presbyterian Church, as well as the First and Second, here.

Sources
(1)  New Jersey Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Records, Trenton. NJSA microfilm roll 525 (Marriage Certificates 1931: Wat - Z), organized alphabetically by groom's surname. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton. [Hazel's address on the marriage return matches that of the 1930 census.]

(2) "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4F1-D1T : accessed 15 February 2016), Thomas Payne, 1930. ED 61, sheet 7B; household 166. Citing The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. GS Film Number 2341121, digital folder 004951973, image number 00896.

(3)Elizabeth Directory 1931 (Newark, New Jersey: The Price & Lee Co., 1931), p. 771, Wimmer, Harry and Wimmer, Eva; digital image, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 5 January 2017). Harry Wimmer is living at 130 Reid St. with his widowed mother, Eva, and Martha E., Rudolph A., Theodore O., and Waleska L. - all with the surname "Wimmer".  In searching the same city directory, I find no listing for Harmonia Mutual Savings Fund. There is a Germania Mutual Savings Fund, and a Harmonia Building and Loan Association, so I list his employer with that qualification - it may be incorrect in the directory.

(4) Elizabeth Directory 1931 (Newark, New Jersey: The Price & Lee Co., 1931), p. 278, Felmeth, Wilhelm G Rev pastor Third Presbyterian Church; digital image, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 January 2017).

(5)  "New Jersey State Census, 1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9W-W6G6 : accessed 21 February 2016), John J O Hare, 1915. Not the most conclusive evidence for the birth date, but all I have at the moment.

(6) Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, birth certificate 79 (16 January 1909), Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.

(7)  New Jersey Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Records, Trenton. NJSA microfilm roll 802 (Marriage Certificates 1946: Spittler - Tango, John), organized alphabetically by groom's surname. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton.

(8)  Elizabeth Directory 1949 (Newark, New Jersey: The Price & Lee Co., 1931), p. 1018, Sullivan, James M (Hazel) r 444 Spring; digital image, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : downloaded 5 January 2017). Margaret F Sullivan, widow of James J is listed at the same address.

(9) Hazel Dixon Sullivan obituary, Elizabeth Daily Journal, Elizabeth, New Jersey, 21 May 1957, laminated clippings. Obituary and funeral arrangements.