Jane Bell

Jane Bell

TexasProbable

Possible wife of William Leonard Proeger Sr · c.1879–1955

⚠ Not to be confused with Jane Bell (Martin), c.1794–1798, of Sumner County, Tennessee — Earl's 3rd-great-grandmother and the wife of Peter Hines Martin. Two different women, four generations apart, with the same name. No Sumner County fact belongs on this card.

Born

c.1879, Texas

Died

1955

Married

William Leonard Proeger Sr

Sources

6

Research status

Evidence: A FamilySearch family tree and family testimony. Weak or missing: No birth, marriage or death record has been read; c.1879 and 1955 are unsourced. William Leonard Proeger's wife until her death in August 1942 was Anna Blanche Roberts, and his own 1955 death notices name no wife, so a marriage to Jane Bell could only fall between August 1942 and December 1955, and none has been found. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →

Life in the order the records give it

Birth1879

Born c.1879, Texas S12

Death1955

Died 1955 S12

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage1876

Wife of William Leonard Proeger Sr (1876–1955), as a family tree has it; not proven, see the hold below S12S24

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Open question

⚠️ Not the mother of William Harry Proeger. A family tree and family testimony listed her as his mother S24, but his own sworn 1932 Ohio licence application gives his mother's maiden name as Anna B. Roberts S144, and Anna Blanche was William Leonard's wife until she died in August 1942 S1175. William Harry's mother is Anna Blanche Roberts.

Open question

⚠️ Hold on the marriage. William Leonard's death notices of 15 and 16 December 1955 list his children and sisters and name no wife S1176S1177. She stays on the record only as a possible later wife, until a Los Angeles County marriage record of 1942–1955 turns up.

In the record Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents

1. S12FamilySearch Tree public pages, no login required for deceased persons — William Harry Proeger KC1N-799, Aileane Marie Silva L9GZ-NDP, William Leonard Proeger L7GK-VBK, Queen Anne Proeger LHQW-W1L — ancestors.familysearch.org. User-contributed; event lists are treated as PROBABLE unless separately sourced.
2. S24Family testimony — Earl Proeger, September 2026. Stated directly by the family and recorded on their word. Covers: the Silva maiden name and William Harry Proeger as his father's father (both of which record research had already reached independently); and, on Kristin's side, her father Thomas Caffey — raised in Austin, University of Texas, died at Austin — and her mother Lavonne Walker, Walker being her maiden name. Not a document. No record has been retrieved for any of the Caffey or Walker statements, no dates were supplied for either person, and none has been estimated. Carried throughout as Family testimony, never as Confirmed. Superseded in part on 13 September 2026: the Thomas Caffey statements are now carried on records instead — see S31–S35. The Lavonne Walker statements still rest on this source alone. Extended 17 September 2026: the family further states that she was born Walker, married a Caffey and divorced, then married a Danielson who has since died — which is why her photographs are captioned Danielson. It matches the Caffey obituary's "former wife, LaVonne Danielson" [S31] independently. Her present surname and her widowhood rest on this testimony alone; the second husband's given name, and every date and place attached to that marriage, were not supplied and are not published. Extended 22 September 2026 (eyewitness): Earl was present at the birth of his half-brother John Jacob “Jacob” Proeger, born in 1994 to William Leonard Proeger and Briana Castro Proeger; Earl states the birth was one month before his own wedding ceremony with Kristin, which was held on Guam (the marriage itself was registered in Travis County; see the next entry). No birth record has been retrieved. Extended 22 September 2026 (Earl’s own account of his marriage): “Kristin and I married on Guam in a ceremony but registered our marriage in Travis County […] and we could marry without swearing, a scruple we held as Quakers and which Guam had no accommodation for.” The only date held is the Travis County registration, 1994, from the Texas Marriage Index [S2]; the date of the Guam ceremony was not supplied and is not published.
3. S144Lucas County, Ohio marriage licence application and certificate no. 97864, 1932 — William H. Proeger and Dorothy Susan Reid. Ancestry collection 61378 (Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774–1993), record 2472799, image TH-1-18858-23171-20, film 002169933, ledger page 288. Read from the image at full resolution — 4818 × 3802 px, 80/80 DeepZoom tiles, 21 September 2026. The entry has two halves. The licence application, sworn 27 February 1932, gives the groom as William H. Proeger, 21 years of age on the 26 day of June, residence 4823 Summit St in Lucas Co., Ohio, born Pa., occupation Machinist, father Wm. L. Proeger, mother's maiden name Anna B. Roberts, not previously married; and the bride as Dorothy Susan Reid, 18 years of age on the 4 day of March, residence 4823 Summit, born Indiana, occupation none, father Charles Reid, mother's maiden name Bessie Craighead, not previously married, consent signed Mrs. Bessie M. Reid. The certificate beneath it returns: “on the 4 day of March, A.D. 1932, I solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wm. H. Proeger with M. Dorothy Susan Reid”, signed R. O. Stevens. A first marriage this site did not know existed. The card had carried “Married (1) 4 March 1932, Lucas County, Ohio — spouse not identified” as Probable on the strength of an index [S12]; the ledger now names her and settles it. Both parties are recorded not previously married, which makes Aileane Marie Silva his second wife, not his first. His parentage is now on a document he personally swore to — father Wm. L. Proeger, mother Anna B. Roberts — rather than inferred from censuses and index entries [S12][S14]. And it is the first paper behind the family's memory of Ohio: Earl's own account has his grandfather coming back to California from Ohio around the August 1940 Utah wedding, and this ledger puts him at 4823 Summit Street, Toledo, working as a machinist, in February–March 1932. ⚠ The year digit on the groom's age line is smeared and is not legible. The line reads “21 years of age on the 26 day of June 19—”. The day and month are clear and corroborate 26 June; the year on that line is not readable, and the abt 1911 in Ancestry's index is derived from the age column, not read off the page. ⚠ What became of Dorothy Susan Reid is not on this page. Between 4 March 1932 and 13 August 1940 there was a divorce or a death; the ledger says neither, and no such record has been looked for. An open question, not a finding. ⚠ Groom and bride give the same address, 4823 Summit — stated twice, explained neither time. ⚠ The bride was a minor at application: she turned 18 on 4 March 1932, the wedding day itself, and her mother Mrs. Bessie M. Reid signed the consent line on 27 February. ⚠ The officiant's initials are not certain — the certificate signature reads R. O. Stevens and the application's expected-officiant line carries the same surname with initials that could be read either way. ⚠ The frame is film-flagged “Smeared Ink” by the filmer, and Ohio licence ledgers of this period carry age, not birth date, on both sides.
4. S1175Los Angeles Examiner, Wednesday 19 August 1942, page 32 — paid death notice, PROEGER, Anna Blanche. Newspapers.com image 1345687044. Page read (OCR) 1 October 2026. Confirmed “PROEGER. Anna Blanche of 2123 Lemoyne ave., Los Angeles, loving wife of William L. Proeger.” The OCR breaks off at the services line, so the services and burial are not read from this notice.
5. S1176Los Angeles Times, 15 December 1955, page 61 — death notice, PROEGER, William Leonard. Newspapers.com image 380962183. Page read (OCR) 1 October 2026. Confirmed “PROEGER, William Leonard, late of 1540 Ewing Street, Los Angeles, loving father of Queen Anne Helgedalen, Richard F., William H. and Julius K. Proeger, brother of Carry Ross and Gertrude Murfin.” Services Friday, Utter-McKinley's Glendale mortuary. It names no wife, living or late.
6. S1177Los Angeles Mirror, 16 December 1955, page 27 — funeral notice, William Leonard Proeger. Newspapers.com image 694257945. Page read (OCR) 1 October 2026. Confirmed William Leonard Proeger, 79, of 1540 Ewing St., died Wednesday [14 December]; services at Utter-McKinley's Jewel City chapel; burial Valhalla Cemetery; he leaves a daughter, Queen Ann Helgedalen, three sons, Richard, William and Julius, and two sisters. It names no wife.