My Great-Uncle Billy, named William Paul Roger Little was born on April 23, 1923 at 7:10am in Duluth Minnesota to Ruby Evangeline (Hummer) Little (9-25-1888 to 11-18-1933) and William Herman Little (8-4-1884 to 12-16-1961). The doctor's name was William Ryan. Billy grew up on England Avenue of Riverside and Lewis Street of Hunter's Park, both Duluth neighborhoods. They had moved to Hunters Park around 1935 or 36. Billy's hobby was taking watches and clocks apart, fixing them and putting them back together again. This could have turned into his life's occupation. Sadly, he had some trouble with the law and spent some time in Red Wing Prison in Red Wing, Mn. around age 18. He worked for Holland Furnace Company for a time and apparently ran away or otherwise vanished without a trace around 1945 at age 21 or 22 because he felt the stigma of having been in prison would never go away. When Billy was young he broke his arm which never properly healed leaving him noticeably crippled. Billy had one brother Merle Little, born in 1919 and drowned in Lake Superior off of Park Point at age 13 in 1932. Billy also had two sisters. Naida Clarissy Little (my great aunt) was born 12-16-1909 and died a couple years back. Loiz Arle Little (my grandmother) was born 3-31-08 and died about 30 years ago. Bill also had an aunt Ora (Hummer) Gorder (1-4-1886 to 3-1982) that lived many years and died at age 96 in Seattle Washington. According to the stories that I have heard, Aunt Ora always knew the whereabouts of Billy and would periodically tell his sister Naida that he was ok, but she never told where he was. She also said he had changed his name to Wilhelm something, had married and had a family. For this reason I feel that he was somewhere in the Seattle area at some point in his life.
At this point Great-Uncle Billy would be 80 years old and could very well be alive, possibly with a new name, living in Seattle. All other members of his generation of our family are deceased. Please help me clear up this 58 year old mystery. If someone you know seems to fit into this story in any way, shape or form, please contact me at webmaster(at)greatunclebill.com. Thank you.
All known pictures of Uncle Billy
Click the pic to see the bigger pic
