Celina “Lina” Elizabeth Wills, the first of nine children of Elizabeth Bissonnette and John Albert Wills, was born on July 25th, 1904 at home at 42 Congress Street, Cohoes, New York.
Below is an old photograph of Celina held by her mother, Elizabeth or “Libbie”. Lina was baptized on September 19, 1904 at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Cohoes. Her godfather was her uncle, Joseph Bisnett, Libbie’s older brother. Her godmother was her grandmother, Celina Bissonnette.
In the 1910 census, Lina is 6 years old and not attending school. She lives with her parents and two younger sisters on Broad Street in Schuylerville, Saratoga County, New York. Here is the building on Google map
Her father, John Albert Wills, had a photography st
udio, perhaps in the downstairs store front. The family continued to live in various locations in Schuylerville until 1917 when they returned to Cohoes.
Soon afterwards, Lina met Robert Francis Cranney, a young man raised in St. Vincent’s Male Orphan Asylum on Western Avenue in the city of Albany. He can be found there, 7 years old, in the 1910 census along with 240 other boys. It founded in the mid 1800s by the Christian Brothers and changed its name to LaSalle in the 1920s. In 1910 it was a rough place to grow up.
Their marriage took place on 2 October 1923 at St Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church in Watervliet, New York. It was not a happy marriage by today’s standards. While growing up, it was not unusual to hear stories about Bob Cranney physically beating Lina – as she came to be called by her sisters. Lina’s sisters believed the physical abuse caused Lina to develop a seizure disorder and her premature death.
Lina and Bob Cranney had four children:
Gloria Jean Cranney 1925-1992
Robert Francis Cranney, Jr 1926-1997
Kenneth Cranney 1928-1978
Richard Cranney 1930-1992
Below are family photos of the Cranney children:
