John Alexander Heisler (1901 - bef. 1979)

Born 23 Jun 1901 in Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 12 May 1979 before age 77 in Burbank, Los Angeles, California

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Biography

Born 21 JUN 1901. Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. ^[1][2]

In 1911, Alexander Heisler was enumerated with his parents in Lunenburg Town. He gave his birth date as June 1900. However, he has not been identified in the 1901 Canadian Census.

As a young man, Alex attended the Lunenburg Academy. He was student number 33 on the 1916 student list for grade IX (age 15), but was not listed on the 1918 class list for grade XI (age 17). The 1917 class list for grade X is missing.

Family tradition holds that Alex “ran away to sea” becoming a cabin boy at age 12, and sailed on various ships of Canadian registry including the famous Bluenose. According to the Academy records, he was still in Lunenburg in 1916 (age 15). However, he was not in the class list for 1918, and may have gone to sea before the 1918 school year. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Military Service Act was passed by the Canadian Parliament 29 August 1917, providing for conscription of Canadian troops for service in Europe beginning in January 1918. Alex may have chosen to go to sea with the merchant marine rather than risk conscription. The Bluenose itself was not built until 1921. If Alex sailed on her, he could only have done so between 1921 and 1923.

In 1923, Alex was captain of the schooner Hillcrest. The other crewmembers were First Officer Carl Wagner, Second Officer Art Boehman, Steward Rob Mosher, Seaman Hilton, Seaman Beck, Seaman Howell and Orderly Curtan. Some three years later, on 2 March 1926, the Hillcrest, under the command of Captain Rideout, was lost off of Red Island on a voyage from Lunenburg to Port Union, Newfoundland.

In 1925, Alex succeeded Captain King of Annapolis as the master of the schooner Fisherman. The Fisherman was a 190-foot, three masted schooner built in 1919 as the Marshal Foch by L. S. Canning at Wards Brook, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.

Western author Zane Grey had purchased the Fisherman in 1924 for $17,000. Grey, then at the peak of his career, invested another $40,000 in refitting her with sixteen staterooms and quarters for sixteen crewmen. In 1925, with Alex as either a boatman or the captain, Grey sailed her to the Galapagos and Cocos Islands and along the Pacific Coast of Mexico, fishing for trophy marlin, sailfish and tuna. Grey published his recollection of the journey as Tales of Fishing Virgin Seas (1925). Alex was named several times in the book. He was on the Fisherman until 1927 or 1928.

According to his daughter, Alex did not think much of Zane Grey as a sportsman, nor of his taking women on board ship. However, the pay was good and Alex was able to give financial support to his family in Lunenburg.

Alex’s seafaring adventures took him into the South Pacific on a number of voyages. He told of one landing on a South Pacific Island where he and the crew were invited to a feast of “long pig.” Alex convinced the captain to make a number of the crew remain on the vessel, and to order the officers and crew who joined the feast not to drink the Islander’s alcohol. During the dancing following the feast, Alex, the captain and the crew returned to the ship, and set sail. the crew was angry that Alex had not told them what was going on. They reputedly became violently ill when they realized that “long pig” was human flesh, and that they had been at risk of becoming a future meal.

First Marriage:

Alex married first, 30 November 1928, in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California, by George H. Whisler, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, Dorothy Mae FRENCH (born 14 August 1904, in Edinburg, Portage County, Ohio), daughter of Clarence Ellis French and Mary Elizabeth Hughes.

Dorothy had been born on the family farm in rural Portage County, Ohio. Two years later, in 1906, her parents, Clarence and Elizabeth French, moved from Edinburg Township to the city of Ashtabula on the shores of Lake Erie in Ashtabula County, Ohio, where Clarence worked for Bert Roller in a shoe store. The move may have been motivated by medical concerns. Dorothy’s birth was long and hard, and Elizabeth may have wanted to have her next child in the city. In 1908, the family moved from Ashtabula to Rock Creek, a village south of Ashtabula, where Clarence opened his own shoe store advertising “Men's Fine Shoes and Rubbers.” By 1910, the family was rooming with Mary Stewart and her daughter Florence in their house on Main Street. Dorothy was 5 and was not in school.

The family lived in Rock Creek, where Dorothy attended Second through Eighth Grades. In 1918, Clarence sold the Rock Creek shoe store, and moved his family to a house on Poland Street in Struthers, a suburb of Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio. Clarence first worked with the Firestone Company in Youngstown. He later became paymaster for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. In 1918, the entire family was stricken with Spanish Influenza .

Elizabeth French received a bequest of $10,000.00 when her mother Mary Elizabeth (Ewing) Hughes died. The family used the money to return to Ashtabula in early 1919, and Dorothy enrolled in Ashtabula High School during the 1919-1920 and 1920-1921 school years. Clarence French worked with his brother-in-law Fred E. Gillette in Fred’s bicycle-motorcycle shop. On 9 January 1920, Clarence and Elizabeth French were living on Gregory Avenue in Ashtabula. Dorothy was 15. Clarence was working as a traveling salesman for a shoe company.

Dorothy’s mother was a teacher and firmly believed in education. She enrolled Dorothy in Stanford University in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California, and in June 1922, the family moved from Ohio to California. Clarence got a job with the Walkover Boot Store, and Elizabeth worked for a short time as a domestic. At first, the family lived in several rental homes. In 1927, Clarence and Elizabeth French purchased a home at 274 (later renumbered 1874) Park Boulevard, Mayfield, Palo Alto. Dorothy French was last mentioned in the Palo Alto City Directory in 1928.

Dorothy is said to have met Alex at a university party. She did not graduate from Stanford, and later took courses at the San Jose Teachers’ College.

The Thirties:

After his marriage, Alex hired on as watchman for the mothball fleet anchored off of Benicia in the Carquinez Strait, California. Alex and Dorothy lived on board one of the vessels, and each day he toured the ships by launch.

Before the birth of his daughter, Alex moved to and managed the Crawford Ranch, a duck hunting club on the Grizzly Island levee of Montezuma Slough in Suisun Bay, Solano County, California. Alex managed the Ranch for “Doc” Crawford from 1929 to about 1932 or 1933. During his time at the ranch, his daughter, Dorothy Jean, was born in Antioch, Contra Costa County, the nearest town to Grizzly Island. While managing the ranch, Alex met Stephen Bechtel, who hired him to captain his family yacht, the Nor’Wester.

After he became captain of the Nor’Wester, Alex and his family lived in Tiburon, Marin County, California. In 1933, they moved to Belvedere, Marin County, California, where they were caretakers for the Bechtel family mansion, Belvito. In 1934/5, they moved to Oakland, Alameda County, California. Stephen Bechtel was a member of the Oakland Yacht Club in the 30’s and 40’s and during the construction of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, he regularly took visitors and business associates on his boat out to view the progress of the huge concrete stanchions supporting the bridge.

In 1935, Alex and Dorothy moved to San Francisco. In 1936, Alex and Dorothy separated and later divorced. Alex moved to Santa Barbara with the Nor’Wester and lived on the yacht. He captained the Nor’Wester through several owners after Bechtel, and the yacht was eventually docked at the San Pedro Yacht Harbor.

Jerry Rawsthorne:

During the late 30s and early 40s, Alex was in and out of work a number of times. He applied to the United States Navy but could not pass the physical. In the late 30s, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he met his second wife.

Alex married second, in 1938, in Los Angeles County, California, Elsie Margaret “Jerry” RAWSTHORNE (born 17 March 1904, in Canada), daughter of Herbert “Pop” Rawsthorne and May M. Laidlaw. Alex and Jerry did not have any children.

In 1920, Elsie M. Rawsthorne, age 15, was enumerated with her parents in Pima County, Arizona. Her father, Herbert Rawsthorne was 47, and born in England. He was living with wife May M. Rawsthorne, age 44, born in California; son Ralph A. Rawsthorne, age 19, born in Canada; son Wilber D. Rawsthorne, age 17, born in Canada; son Marion A. Rawsthorne, age 12, born in Canada; daughter Edith A. Rawsthorne, age 10, born in Canada; daughter Mabel M. Rawsthorne, age 6, born in California; and son Ernest C. Rawsthorne, age 3 years, 7 months, born in Arizona.

During World War II, Alex joined the Coast Guard, then under Navy command. He served as quartermaster on a supply ship in the Pacific Fleet during the war, and was an active member of the Coast Guard Reserves until his death.

Following the war, Alex became general manager of the California Yacht Anchorage, where he met many actors and actresses, including Ward Bond, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. He became the general manager of the Harbor in 1957. The Nor’Wester cruised to Catalina Island and around the Los Angeles Harbor. In 1950, Alex and Jerry were living at 1683 Sunnyside Terrace, San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California.

In the 1960s, Alex was diagnosed with arthritis and colon cancer. He resigned his position at the Harbor, and was hired on as a night watchman at Warner Brothers studios in Burbank. He and Jerry moved to a small apartment across the street from the Studio. He had colon surgery in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and lived with an ileostomy. During his later years, he spent long hours at the Veterans Administration hospital in Burbank, counseling young servicemen how to accept and live with their disabilities.

Alex died 12 May 1979, age 77, in Burbank, Los Angeles County, California.

Jerry died 23 June 1990, age 86, also in Burbank.

William Wronick:

After their separation, Dorothy and her daughter moved to Palo Alto where they lived with Dorothy’s parents, Clarence and Mary Elizabeth French.

During World War II, Dorothy Heisler worked as a riveter at Moffitt Field Air Base, where she met her second husband, William John WRONICK (born 9 December 1896, in Buffalo, Erie County, New York), a civilian aircraft technician working with the Air Force. Dorothy married Bill on 29 December 1945, in Carson City, Ormsby County, Nevada.

Bill has not been identified in any censuses. He had served with the American military in World War I.

On 25 April 1942, Bill registered with the draft. He was living at 1346 – 8th Street, Alameda, Alameda County, California, where he was employed by the United States Government Naval Air Station. On July 20, 1942, he received a permit to go to Pearl Harbor. He was 5’ 10”, 180 pounds, and had brown eyes, brown hair and a ruddy complexion. In 1946, Bill was sent to Okinawa, Japan, as an official of the War Department.

After the War, Bill and Dorothy moved to Oxnard and Camarillo, California, near the Point Mugu military base, where Bill was working. In the middle-1950s, they moved to Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California, where Bill was a Mason, Santa Cruz Lodge No. 38 F&AM.

Bill died in Santa Cruz, 22 September 1974, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California. He was buried in the Soquel Cemetery.

After his death, Dorothy continued to live in Santa Cruz, where she enjoyed water color painting and traveling. In 1985, she moved to Reno, Washoe County, Nevada. In 1988, she moved to the Decoto Masonic Home in Union City, Alameda County, California.

Dorothy died 3 September 1989, age 85, in Union City.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S383367 FSFTID 9XCN-11B
2. ↑ Source: #S383368 FSFTID MS21-QGN

• Elliott Myles, firsthand knowledge. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Elliott and others.

FSFTID LJKG-YMF.

• Source: S383367 US|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|101|0|0|0|0|Unspezifiziert Alexander Heisler in household of Andrew Heisler, "Canada Census, 1911" Note: "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QV9R-FV3L : 2 March 2015), Alexander Heisler in entry for Andrew Heisler, 1911; citing Census, Lunenburg Sub-Districts 1-47, Nova Scotia, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,687. Master Listing Source: Y FSFTID 9XCN-11B
• Source: S383368 US|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|0|0|101|0|0|0|0|Unspezifiziert John Alexander Heisler, "California Death Index, 1940-1997" Note: "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPCQ-8JF), John Alexander Heisler, 12 May 1979; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento. Master Listing Source: Y FSFTID MS21-QGN