Wingding Antics

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Deb Werling

John Wesley Werling was born on June 9, 1907, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to William Phillip Werling Jr. and Virginia Martinez. In 1910, William and Virginia Werling lived at 2123 Lafayette Street with their children, Mamie (age 3) and John (age 2) and Virginia’s widowed sister, Viola Martinez (age 23). William’s occupation was a box maker.¹ By 1920 the growing family had moved to 519 S. Galvez. William (age 36) was a foreman at a lumberyard. Included in the family are his wife, Virginia (age 33), Mamie (age 13), John (age 12), Kenneth (age 13)-an adopted son, Thelma (age 7), and Virginia (age 2yrs 6mos).²

Growing up in New Orleans during the 1910s, John would have experienced a vibrant and rapidly changing city. The city was experiencing significant modernization, with electric streetcars crisscrossing the streets and the expansion of drainage systems that allowed the city to grow beyond the natural levees of the Mississippi River. During this period, New Orleans was one of America’s busiest ports, with cotton, sugar, and coffee moving through its wharves. The city’s population was growing rapidly, reaching nearly 400,000 by 1920. Young John would have witnessed the construction of the city’s first skyscrapers, including the Canal-Louisiana Bank & Trust Building (1907) and the Hibernia Bank Building (1921). The city faced significant challenges during World War I (1914-1918), including the devastating influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. However, it was also a time of cultural flowering, with jazz emerging as a distinctive New Orleans sound. The French Quarter, which had fallen into disrepair, began its preservation movement during this period, helping maintain the unique character of the city that John would know throughout his life.³

From 1927-1932, John was listed in the New Orleans City Directories as a cabinet maker first with Werling and Brandon Screen and Cabinet Works located at 3718 Banks.⁴ In 1932 at the age of 24 he obtained his Seaman’s Protection Certificate which stated his ship would be the Steel Exporter and his position, wiper (a position that wipes down and cleans the ship’s engine room and equipment). He is described as having a dark complexion, brown eyes, black hair, 5’8” tall and weighing 138 pounds.⁵ Seaman’s Protection Certificates served as an early form of citizenship papers and identification documents. They were issued to American merchant sailors to protect them from being forcibly recruited into foreign naval service.⁶ In On April 4, 1932, John (age 28) is listed on the “changes in crew prior to departure” manifest for the vessel Tegucigalpa arriving in New Orleans from the port of Ceiba, Honduras.⁷ He is listed on another arriving on April 18, 1932 from Ceiba to New Orleans. The document shows that he was “shipped or engaged” on April 8, 1932, and his position was fireman.⁸ A fireman worked in the ship’s boiler room shoveling coal into the boilers and monitoring steam pressure gauges and water levels among other tasks related to the position. On July 30, 1932, he was a fireman on the S.S. Steel Exporter arriving at Honolulu, HI from Kobe, Japan.⁹

Following this brief transition to maritime work in 1932 he returned to New Orleans and two years later on 15 January 1934, Mr. and Mrs. John Patterson announce the engagement of their daughter, Marie Louise Feldman, to Mr. John W. Werling.¹⁰ John and Marie were married on 7 February 1934 at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans.¹¹ The couple had three children: Wesley Thomas Werling, Lynn Marie Werling, and Barbara Ann Werling. He also returned to his primary trade of cabinet making as evidenced in the 1940 census. In 1940 John (age 32) lived at 4035 Baudin St. in New Orleans with his wife Marie (age 30), her parents, John (age 66) and Emma (age 69) Patterson, and her sister Johanna Feldmann (age 26).¹²
During World War II, John registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. He is described as 5’8”, weighing 168 lbs., with brown eyes and black hair. It also notes he had no fingers on his right hand (as a result of a carpentry accident).¹³ In the 1950 census he remained at 4035 Baudin St. His age was 42 and he lived with his wife Marie (age 41), children: Wesley (age 7), and Lynn (age 5). Others in the household were Marie’s sister, Johanna (age 52) and mother, Emma (age 80).¹⁴

John Wesley Werling died of a heart attack in December 1977 at the Baudin St. home. He was buried on December 22, 1977, in Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, in the Feldmann family plot (Section 11 Cedar, between Olive and Orange).¹⁵

Endnotes

1 United States 1910 census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, Population Schedule, New Orleans City, Enumeration District (ED) 44, sheet8B, dwelling 2123 Lafayette St, Dwelling number 168, family 168, John Werling in William Werling Household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1910,” Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPYD-HWX?lang=en : accessed 19 February 2025).
2 1920 U.S. Census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, New Orleans City, Enumeration District (ED) 47, sheet 7A-7B, ward 3, page 104 (stamped), dwelling 519 S. Galvez, family 150, John Werling in William Philip Werling Household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1920,” Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MV74-VMK?lang=en : accessed 19 February 2025).
3 Synopsis on life in New Orleans from 1910-1920, Claude, (https://claude.ai/chat/2e031d4b-2b2d-4535-a02d-9f09cc56d2c : generated 19 February 2025).
4 Soards’ New Orleans City Directory, 1927 (New Orleans, LA: Soards Directory Co., Ltd., 1927, Vol), 1585, entry for “Werling, John W”; imaged in “U.S. City Directories,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/985463102?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=fc88aeb4-4713-4e76-934d-d83cb7072d12&_phsrc=qCq35&_phstart=successSource : accessed 1 January 2022) Louisiana > New Orleans > 1927 > New Orleans, Louisiana, City Directory, 1927. Soards’ New Orleans City Directory, 1928 (New Orleans, LA: Soards Directory Co., Ltd., 1928, Vol. LV), 1583, entry for “Werling, John W”; imaged in “U.S. City Directories,” Ancestry( https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/831992724?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=f631e1d2-f263-4fce-a45c-b4186c6669c9&_phsrc=qCq27&_phstart=successSource : accessed 1 January 2022) Louisiana > New Orleans > 1928 > New Orleans, Louisiana, City Directory, 1928.
Soards’ New Orleans City Directory, 1932 (New Orleans, LA: Soards Directory Co., Ltd., 1932), 1415, entry for “Werling, John W”; imaged in “U.S. City Directories,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2469/records/971209447?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=2176ef3f-f385-431c-a7f8-01882adcbe6b&_phsrc=qCq31&_phstart=successSource : accessed 1 January 2022) Louisiana > New Orleans > 1932 > New Orleans, Louisiana, City Directory, 1932.5 “U.S., Applications for Seaman’s Protection Certificates, 1916-1940”, database with images, Ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61257/records/103207?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=5572ab58-76ba-4e59-9265-9d913a42a3d4&_phsrc=qCq23&_phstart=successSource : accessed 3 January 2022), application for John Wesley Werling, number 22208; citing NARA; Application for Seaman´s Protection Certificates; NAI: 2788575; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation; Record Group Number: 41; Box Number: 112 – New Orleans.
6 Description of Seaman’s Protection Certificate, Claude, (https://claude.ai/chat/e389b8c2-4806-4236-84c0-76e3516d2236 : generated 19 February 2025).
7 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1910-1945, NAI Number 4492828; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Number: 85.
8 New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963, database, Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7484/records/6008204?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=88d3d691-aeca-44c9-9ddb-c28f92f0605e&_phsrc=qCq76&_phstart=successSource : accessed 9 January 2022), entry for John Werling, arrived 18 April 1932 on Tegucigalpa from Ceiba, Honduras. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1910-1945, NAI Number 4492828; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Record Group Number: 85.
9 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959, database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1502/records/7922909?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=7b7bd811-e2c0-4a71-8362-81930f2a5911&_phsrc=qCq74&_phstart=successSource : accessed 3 January 2022), entry for John Werling, arrived 30 July 1932 on Steel Exporter from Kobe, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, compiled 08/1912 – 11/1954; National Archives Microfilm Publication: A3569; Roll: 078; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Record Group Number: RG 85.
10 Busy Days Ahead for Member of New Orleans Society Circles, the Times-Picayune, 15 January 1934, p. 21, col. 1; image copy, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed on 9 January 2022).
11 “Louisiana, Parish Marriages, 1787-1958,” database, Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q293-3CPM?lang=en : accessed on 19 February 2025), John Wesley Werling-Marie Louise Feldman, 5 February 1934.
12 1940 U.S. Census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, New Orleans, SD 1, Enumeration District (ED) 36-61, sheet 2B, ward 3, page 104 (stamped), dwelling 4035 Baudin Street, family 32, John Werling in John Patterson Household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1910,” Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYP6-4ZZ?lang=en : accessed 19 February 2025).13 “United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947,” images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238/records/334848608?tid=11044836&pid=-537395883&queryId=0723b371-ff85-4ee3-9c0b-ca5486c86c61&_phsrc=qCq19&_phstart=successSource : accessed 9 January 2022), card for John Wesley Werling, serial no.5118, order number 2197, Local Board No. 3, Orleans Parish, Louisiana; the source of the images is cited as National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Louisiana, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147.
14 1950 U.S. Census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, New Orleans, Enumeration District (ED) 36-85, sheet 4, house number 4035 Baudin, serial number of dwelling unit 36, Wesley Werling in Johanna M. Feldmann Household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1910,” Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6X2R-H76W?lang=en : accessed 19 February 2025).
15 “Find A Grave Index,” database, Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90066740/john-wesley-werling : accessed 3 April 2022), Memorial ID 90066740, created by Graves, entry for John W. Werling (1907-1977), Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana.