Peter and Bertha Dornaus came in 1881 from Bohemia/Austria. Peter applied for citizenship two years after arriving and served for eight years in the Illinois Guard. He mistakenly believed that he received citizenship for his service and lived under that misapprehension until he was 82 years old. He immediately applied for citizenship again and received that status. When he received his citizenship in 1935, Peter was interviewed and told an interesting story about the great fire of 1900 and his bass viol. The night of the fire he had played his bass viol in a performance and returned it to its storage place in a downtown location. He was alarmed to learn in the morning that the building where he stored his instrument had burned down. He then learned that his viol had been rescued and placed in the courthouse, which the rescuer thought would not burn. But the viol was rescued a second time and removed from the courthouse before it could burn, and Peter still had the instrument in 1935!
The Dornauses first appeared in the city directory in 1897. Fifteen year old Vincent's employment at that time was as a cigar maker, along with his father, Peter. (At that time they were working for Tryner and Richardson and did not have the shop that appears in the photo above.) Peter's second occupation was musician and music teacher and each of his sons played a musical instrument. Perhaps Vincent had left school to work in order to help the family. After 1915 Vincent was listed as a musician or orchestra member in the city directories and we know from his obituary in 1965 that he was a member of the De Molay Band, one of the oldest bands in Bloomington, and that he was an original member of the Bloomington Band, playing with the band for 60 years. He played the clarinet in the Bloomington Band as well as the Consistory Band. In 1918 he was billed as the solo clarinetist at the Irvin Theater. The Irvin had an orchestra, and Peter Dornaus played in that orchestra as well. Possibly a living could be made by playing at multiple locations throughout the city. Like his father, Vincent had two occupations-- for a time he was a cigar maker as well as a musician, but another occupation that he followed was water meter reader. His brother Arthur was also an important musician in Bloomington who led an orchestra and played the violin.
Vincent had one son, also named Vincent. Vincent Jr. had a different life from his father. He completed high school and graduated from Wesleyan. He was very active in clubs, school government and Greek life. As a high schooler, he sold magazines to earn money and won a trip to New York for being a top salesman. During his college years he travelled with a group of young men to Europe to experience the culture there. Vincent didn't play an instrument, but was known for his singing ability. After completing college, he worked as a supervisor in a department store in Chicago and lived in New York City at the time of his father's death.