William Joseph Lawler

In the fall of 2017 a group of Haverford College students completed a project to research a number of the burials in Mausoleum Hill on the Yeadon side of the cemetery. This profile is based on their work.

Billy was an early Christmas present in 1922 for the Lawler family in Philadelphia.  James and Nellie had already welcomed two other children, and after Billy there were three more While both of his parents were born in Pennsylvania, of his grandparents, only his paternal grandfather was born in the state. His maternal grandmother was born in England, his maternal grandfather was born in Delaware, and his paternal grandmother was born in Ireland. In 1930, he was living at 2028 South 23rd Street with his parents and siblings.

His five siblings were James, John, Joseph, Eileen, and  Robert, born about 1920, 1922, 1924, 1927, and 1932, respectively. Presumably as a consequence of the Great Depression, Bill’s father had only had 26 weeks of work in 1939 and had been unemployed for the 8 weeks leading up to the April 1940 census. He worked as a plumber and contractor, and his income in 1939 was $1,040. Brother James also worked as a plumber. His brother John deviated from the family trade, working as a truck driver. Bill was 17 in 1940, just finishing high school and had not yet begun work.

He didn’t have long after he graduated high school to begin his adult life in Philadelphia; Just as his father had served in the first world war, Bill decided to serve in the second. In August of 1940, he enlisted as a Private in Uncle Sam’s army and served domestically until July 21, 1942. For the next three years he was overseas but exactly where hasn’t been discovered. His date of discharge was August 10, 1945, one day after the second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

In 1949, he married Florence McMillan., and it was in the McMillan family plot on Mausoleum Hill (shown above) that they would both be buried. She was the second oldest of eight children. His occupation in the 1950 census was listed as press man for an automobile company.

William and Florence had three sons, William, Robert, and Patrick. At some point  the Lawlers moved to Gloucester County, New Jersey. That’s where Florence died in 1976 at age 53 and William died in 1989. Their son Robert was buried with them after he died in 1997.