Black Sheep Sunday
I’ve never written a story about a real person, especially a
real person I never saw and one that my family would never speak. His sister,
my grandmother Granny Grace, when I questioned her about her family, always
retorted “their all dead, so leave sleeping dogs lay.” Was she hiding the Black
sheep from us or us from him?
When I looked on Ancesty.com for my John Howard Beswick
there is 6 family trees which he is included and with 6 pieces of
mis-informations.
I know John or Howard is his first name that is the name his
3rd to the oldest sister, Jean or Aunt Babe to us kids, gave me the names of
each child of Monroe and Emma. In the
1920 census he is residing at the grey bar hotel, yes the famous Alcatraz. In the 20’s Alcatraz
was a Military prison named the Pacific Beach Disciplinary Barracks. Then he was transferred to McNeil Island,
Washington, U.S. Penitentiary. A When John was a little boy his parents split
up, Emma took my grannie to South Dakota with her and John stayed in Nebraska
with Monroe his father. I understand
Monroe was an ugly, vicious man who made trouble for everyone he encountered
but especially his own family. I wonder if being abandoned by his mother and
the general rottenness of his father, poverty of the times or was he just born
the black sheep.
I have no idea where he went or when he died, I was told he
robbed a few banks. His brother in law,
Fred Jacobi was the deputy sheriff in Holdrege, Nebraska and by looking at the
census’s our family gravitied to live with them.
So for years since the invention of the computer I scroll
through many hours of websites, reading a lot of Nebraska newspapers, that
would tell about a bank robberies. And then holy-moley there was a booking picture
of him. Maybe now I can write the story.
Signing off,
Black Sheep’s niece
January 13, 2013
