His Name was John

I have struggled with how to approach this blog entry and you will have to bear with me as it is a work in progress even now. As you know if you are a regular reader I have decided to research and share the findings on my father's birth family. The person who seems to be almost exclusively blamed for every bad thing that happened was his father. So here we go dear readers.

My father's name was John and his father's name was John. At this point I am not going to share his last name. It just wouldn't be fair. The information I have gotten about him as a person is all from my biological grandmother's family. They had plenty of reasons not to like him and as far as I can tell no reason to say anything good about him. I have worked with lots of "bad" people over the course of my career with the Illinois Department of Corrections. Even the worst people I met weren't evil all the time. They had moments where they did horrible things but those weren't the only moments of their lives. John had those moments as well. There is no one I have to tell me any of his better moments yet. I will hopefully find someone.

John was born in Bernadotte, Illinois on January 29, 1907 to George and Neva, the third or their nine children. Bernadotte is an unicorporated community along the Spoon River in Fulton County. It is located at the Northeast corner of the old U.S. Army Camp Ellis. It is the location of the only dam on the Spoon River. Bernadotte was once considered as the site for the capitol of Illinois prior to the capitol being located at Vandalia in 1820. Vandalia was selected by a margin of one vote in the state legislature. The town was razed in the 1940's with the exception of one building to become part of the Camp Ellis prisoner of war camp during WWII. It appears from census records that John grew up in Fulton County. In the 1910 census records he is three years of age and residing with his parents in Bernadotte. In the 1920 census he is listed as being 12 years of age and resides with his parents in Putnam Township, Illinois again in Fulton, County. The only city, town or village listed for Putnam Township is Cuba, Illinois. So it appears that John and his family lived in a rural area.

John, according to Dora's family met Dora's father Nicholas while they were both in jail most likely in Fulton or Peoria County. I personally would lean toward Peoria County since the family business at that time was bootlegging. The year was 1928. Prohibition went into effect on January 20, 1920 and ended with the repeal of the 18th amendment on December 5, 1933. Apparently John and Nicholas were released at the same time and John came to live with the family in late 1927 or early 1928 as the age of about 20. He and Dora were pushed together by her parents and married in 1928 just after her 15th birthday. A review of census records from 1930 does not reveal any records for John or Dora or for that matter for my father who was born in 1929. The family indicates that at that time John sent the family to live in rural Iowa we think in the Prescott area. They lived in a very rural area. John went ahead and from what we can glean from the family found them a "shack" to live in with no running water but a stream nearby. When things were somewhat settled Dora's father or father in law put her and my Dad on the train. Dora related the story that my Dad fell asleep in her arms on the train. The conductor came by and gave her a pillow. He stood there waiting and when she determined he wanted a tip she took my Dad off the pillow and gave it back to the conductor. She had no money to give him a tip. It appears that while Dora and my father were in Iowa John would travel back and forth to Peoria, Illinois to participate in various activities which allegedly involved bootlegging and prostitution. Peoria could be a rough place in the 1920's and 30's. John apparently made enough trips to Iowa to father two more children there with Dora. Dad's sister Barbara and brother James were born there sometime prior to 1933. Dora related the story several times that while they were in Iowa living in the middle of nowhere a young couple stopped by and asked for a drink of water. The couple, she believed were Bonnie and Clyde. It is impossible to prove or disprove. The one thing that can be said is that during the period Dora and my father were in Iowa Bonnie and Clyde were in Iowa for a time. They were known to avoid populated areas in an effort to avoid the law. So the story is possible.

Dora and the three children return to Illinois sometime prior to 1935 when the last child Judith is born to Dora and John in Peoria at the hospital. Dora suffers from post partum depression and John is unable to cope with four children one being a newborn. The family indicates that he was able to get Dora to sign away her parental rights with a bit of trickery and he signed his away. Judith appears to have lived with his "girlfriend" while Dora was recovering. The children were eventually adopted in the mid 1930's. The most recent census data available that contains personal information is the 1940 census. Those of you who do not review ancestry records the law requires census records to be held for 72 years prior to release. The 1950 census will be released in 2022. The 1940 census shows John living in Peoria with his new wife Mae and a seven month old daughter named Gladys. In a bit of what may be irony or scarasm John lists his occupation as "policeman". It is the depression and Peoria. There are no merit commissions to regulate hiring so maybe he told the truth. It will require additional research. In 1940 John is 33 and his wife is 20. I have tried to find any additional records on his wife and daughter but they have thus far disappeared into the mists of time.

The next time we have any record of John he is dead. He died in Cuba, Illinois in January 1990. The only other story I can relate comes from my family. The one that adopted my Dad. John apparently knew where the children he and Dora had were located. He made one trip to Wataga to the Knotty Pine Tavern in the early 1940's. He appears to have made no attempt to see the kids and was in the area making inquiries about them. My grandmother Byrdis had very strong feelings about adoptive children contacting biological parents. It would not surprise me if she had not required my Grandfather contact the adoption caseworker and advise that John never do that again. There is no family story passed along that happened or that John ever was in the area again.

So, John appears to be somewhat of a trouble maker. Was everything he did bad? Probably not. Remember that everything I know about him comes from people who have an interest in him being the bad guy. You will get updates as I am able to find additional information.