John Charles Hanneman was 1 of 12 children of John Charles & Anna Katherine (Stellmacher) Hanneman.

Before John was born his parents and brother Gustav came to America from Danzig, Prussia (present day Gdansk, Poland).

The German family was Roman Catholic. Before leaving Danzig in 1869 Church records showed the family spelled Hanneman with two nn at the end Hannemann. The spelling changed to Hanneman (1 n at the end) in America.

When they arrived in Detroit they settled and lived in various homes on the lower East side of Detroit. All of the places John lived his entire life in were within a 2.5 mile circle.

While John's marker shows his birth year as 1877, John was actually born on 26 Dec 1876. As a young boy he wanted to be able to have "his" birthday celebration not mixed in with Christmas and to be able to actually get birthday presents. John claimed 3 Jan 1877 as his birthday. This continued throughout his life.

So, when John died his son Ray showed the Jan dob on his death certificate and 1877 on John's marker. It was only in later years when the family ordered copies of John's baptismal and birth certificates that the truth would be learned.

His 12 Sept 1918 draft registration showed he was 5'2" tall and weighed 125 lbs. At that time John was working as a painter for the Detroit Board of Education and living his wife and son at 222 Illinois Street in the East side of Detroit.

When John grew up he became a house/commercial painter. In his off hours he loved to sing with the boys and was nicknamed Jack or Dugan.

When John was 29 on 17 Feb 1906 when he married Mary Ann Carda. In 1907 the couple had their only child, Raymond John Hanneman. Sadly the marriage ended with a divorce. John's need for being with the boys and singing contributed to the end of the marriage.

While they were divorced John's love for Mary did not end and he always talked well of her. For the rest of his life John remained a bachelor living in apartments or with members of his family.