To be honest with you, this part I find most exciting writing about as most biographies about Jack only scratch the topic on the surface.
Here is a picture of Ida Adair, source:
http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/gilbert/
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| source: http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/gilbert |
Ida Adair - Jack's mother
Ida always gets slashed. She is the cruel mother, treating her poor son hellish and neglecting him as long as she lived. She was an actress that never made it big. And she took her frustrations out on Jack.
Jack was an unplanned child and she didn't want to have him.
Sounds cruel, but let's make some practical considerations:
If Ida had managed to give him a stable home, somewhere where Jack could build friendships with children his age and attend school, his life would have been a lot easier. But Ida was an actress, she had to travel. No wonder then, that she did not want to have a child. Ida took care of Jack as best as she could. That might not always been good, and sometimes it would make Jack sad. But that's just what it was. Jack's growing up story isn't singular. He had a working mum.
Ida was born on April 28th 1877 in Logan, Utah.
(This is taken from her death certificate which you can look at below.)
She was born into a family that we'll take a good look at later. But here are the short facts:
Her father was William Henry Apperley. He started his job as professor/teacher at the Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah in autumn 1877.
Ida would stay with her father until her adult years.
Birth of her Son
July 10th 1897
Her son John Gilbert is born. Ida is 20 years old.
US Census 1900
On June 11th/12th 1900 Ida is with her husband John G. Pringle and her 2 year old son in Pueblo City, Colorado with a touring stock company.
What does the document state about Ida:
Ida Pringle, wife of John G. Pringle, she is 23 years old and was born in 1877.
Ida has one child, of which one is still alive.
She was born in Colorado.
Ida's father was born in Alabama, her mother in Connecticut.
She is an actress, she can read, write and speak English.
We do not know when John Pringle and Ida broke up. Same goes for information about their divorce.
Marriage to Walter B. Gilbert on May 4th 1907
This document comes from the collection "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994".
You can find the data here.
Walter B. Gilbert, 29 years,
lives at at the Sterling Hotel
born in Pennsylvania, occupation actor.
(First) name of his father F. A.
Birth name of his mother Julia G. Bennett
Walter was already married.
Ida Apperley, 29 years old,
lives at the Sterling Hotel, Hamilton, Ohio.
She was born in California, she is an actress.
(First) name of her father Wm (short for William)
Birth name of her mother (no entry).
She was already married, her married name was Greenleaf (sic!).
Rev. Hartman is scheduled to marry them.
Signed Walter B. Gilbert, May 2nd 1907.
Added later:
Marriage took place on May 4th 1907.
Signed L. O. Hartman, "M. E. Minister".
Ida's Death
You can find her death certificate here.
From the collection "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956".
State of Utah - Death Certificate
Ida Adair Gilbert
Place of Death: Semloh Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah
Time of Death: September 29th 1913, 4 AM
Cause of Death: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (she had suffered from it for 1 year)
Ida was born April 28th 1877 in Logan, Utah.
At the time of her death she was 36 years, 5 months, 1 day old.
Her occupation is "housewife".
Father: W. H. Apperley, born in unknown
Mother: unknown
"the above is true to the best of my knowledge": W. B. Gilbert, staying at the Semloh Hotel.
How long had the deceased lived in the place of death: 5 days.
Former or usual residence: San Francisco.
Laid to rest on October 2nd 1913 on the Mt. Olivet cemetary.
Ida's Entry in the Death Registry
Find the data here. Scan can be found on familysearch
This is basically the same information as on her death certificate. Only this is the death registry on bureaucratical level up.
You can take a look at Ida's grave on findagrave.com here.
(It's a small world! Jack's third wife Ina Claire was also laid to rest there.)
Ida Adair's Family
What was Ida's family like when she grew up? Who were her parents and brothers and sisters?
I spend a long time researching this part and put everything I could find on the open access familysearch family tree. But all this research work brought out some interesting finds.
Ida's father William Henry Apperley and Lydia Ann Mangum Crocket had, according to biographies, eight children. I could only find documents for seven children. I also found basic entries for Ida's parents and seven children on familysearch family tree. I strongly suspect those basic entries were created from Mormon registries. So I will just assume that there really just were seven children.
First child and first sibling for Ida was
Lydia Amelia Millie Apperley.
You can find the data set at familysearch click
She was born January 17th 1875 in Logan, Utah.
I found no birth certificates for any of the Apperley children.
They only became mandatory in Utah in 1894. But even after that I could not find Apperley birth certificates.
At the age of 18 Millie married Clifford B. Johnson in Logan on March 22nd 1893.
1894 they had their first child Laura, born in Idaho.
On May 13th 1898 Millie had her son Robert Lee.
In the US Census 1900 we find Millie with her family in Idaho. For the US Census 1910 in Utah.
The US Census 1920 documented the family in Idaho again.
Next we meet Millie again on the 1940 US Census. But she is not in Utah or Idaho, but in San Francisco. She is divorced, 65 years old and lives alone. We also learn she had 8 years of school education and she is unable to work.
Her answer for the question where she lived on April 1st 1935, she answered "same place".
Millie died on November 15th 1969 in Contra Costa, California.
The second child was Ida Adair.
Find her at familysearch family tree click
Ida's older sister left the family when she married. That's March 1893. Meaning Ida will have taken over a lot of responsibility for her younger siblings at age 16. Later, when Ida's mother left the family (first for a short time to San Francisco, then "forever"), Ida surely had to take care of the Apperley household as well.
Third child is a son, William Apperley.
Find him on the family tree here clickWilliam was born on March 12th 1880 in Logan, Utah.
He pops up on the US Census 1880 (taken on August 1st 1880).
Next census entry I could find of William is on the US Census 1900.
He is in Idaho Falls, Idaho. June 5th/6th, he is a "boarder", single and 20 years old. His occupation is "laborer".
After much searching I could find William again on the California Death Index.
He died on March 15th 1913 in San Francisco.
There is a findagrave.com entry for him. The information there is that he succumbed to tuberculosis, he was a "marble cutter" and he was cremated at Cypress Lawn Colma.
He was only 33 years old.
The next child is Frank Apperley.
Born July 3rd 1884 in Logan. That is also his place of burial. I could find nothing more about him.
Look at his entry on the familysearch family tree here click
The next Apperley kid is a person we already met. It's "cousin" Clara!
Clara Blossom Apperley was born March 11th 1888 in Logan, Utah.
Familysearch family tree click
I could find no other person with this name, so this is definately "cousin" Clara from the 1900 US Census.
There she is documented with her sister, her husband and their small child. Clara is twelve years old, Ida 22.
Clara marries March 28th 1903 in Logan! She is only 15 years old!
But this marriage didn't seem to last as she died carrying her birth name on May 6th 1909 in San Francisco of tuberculosis.
She was laid to rest on May 8th 1909 in San Mateo, California.
Clara was only 21 years old.
Another Apperley child I found no further documents for is Vera Floreta Apperley.
Familysearch family tree click
Born February 23rd 1891.
That's it.
Youngest child of the Apperleys was Clifford Meldon Apperley.
He was the easiest to research sibling. ;)
Find him on familysearch family tree click
Clifford was born June 18th 1893 in Logan. That means only a short time after his oldest sister Millie married.
On June 5th 1917 Clifford was drafted for World War I. He lived in San Francisco and worked as a street car conductor. Very nice, Clifford!
He is 25 years old, single and lives with his mother. He claims exemption from draft because he has to take care of his mother.
He is of medium height und build. Brown hair and blue eyes. Is he bald? "no". :)
In 1920 we meet him again in the US Census.
He lives in San Francisco. His mother is not listed in his household anymore. (She has since died.) But he does not live alone, but with his wife Bertha. Looks like Clifford and Bertha live in a pension.
US Census 1930 lists Clifford and Bertha in Covina, Los Angeles, California.
On April 22nd 1940 Clifford lists on the 1940 US Census in Sacramento.
The pair do not have a child, Clifford is 47 years old. He has six years of school education, Bertha 8 years. Both are "farmers" on their own farm. They lived in "Almeida" on April 1st 1935.
Clifford was also drafted for World War II in the so called "old men's draft".
Clifford Melden (or Meldon), lives in Sacramento, he has telephone and his employer is the San Juan Union High School in Fair Oaks, California. He is a school bus driver.
He died on March 29th 1975. His last permanent residence was in Carmichael, Sacramento, California. He was 81 years old.
Now we get a good picture of the Apperley family. That is the family Jack was sent "home" to when Ida could not take care of him.
William and Lydia Apperley live in Logan, Utah. William works there. Some time Lydia left the family for a short time for San Francisco, but William made her come back. Then some time after that, Lydia left for good. William and Lydia divorced.
January 1875 - Millie is born in Logan, Utah
April 1877 - Ida is born in Logan
March 1880 - William is born in Logan
August 1880 - US Census 1880 - Millie, Ida and William live with their parents in Logan
July 1884 - Frank is born - no further data found
March 1888 - Clara Blossom is born
February 1891 - Vera is born - no further data found
March 1893 - Millie marries
June 1893 - Clifford is born in Logan
July 1897 - John Gilbert is born in Logan
June 1900 - US Census 1900 - Millie lives with her family in Idaho, Ida is in Colorado with John Pringle, her son and her 11 year old sister Clara, William lives as a "laborer" in Idaho
March 1903 - Clara marries in Logan, she is only 15 years old
March 1907 - Ida marries Walter Gilbert
May 1909 - Clara dies in San Francisco
April 1910 - US Census 1910 - Millie lives with her family in Utah
March 1913 - William dies in San Francisco
September 1913 - Ida dies in Salt Lake City - Jack is 16 years old, Walter Gilbert sends him to San Francisco
June 1917 - Clifford is drafted for WWI. He lives in San Francisco, is single and taking care of his mother.
January 1920 - US Census 1920 - Millie lives with her family in Idaho
April 1930 - US Census 1930 - Clifford lives with his wife Bertha in Los Angeles
April 1935 - US Census 1940 - Millie lives in San Francisco, Clifford and Bertha in Almeida
April 1940 - US Census 1940 - Millie is divorced and lives in San Francisco, Clifford and Bertha live in Sacramento.
April 1942 - Clifford gets drafted for WWII. He lives in Sacramento
November 1969 - Millie dies in Contra Costa, California
March 1975 - Clifford dies in California.
Now ... where could Ida send her son Jack? What family member could take him in?
Some time after Clifford's birth Lydia left Logan and her family, maybe taking Clifford with her. Lydia went to live in San Francisco, that's what Leatrice Joy writes in "Dark Star". The documents seem to suggest this too although there are many blank spots in Lydia's life.
After Lydia's oldest daughter left the family following her marriage, the second oldest daughter - Ida - would have to take on many responsibilities. Ida seems to have taken in her youngest sister Clara after her mother Lydia left. What other reason would there be for Clara being on the road with them? Clara could babysit, but Clara wasn't an adult yet and had to be looked after too.
The first sibling to die - that we have evidence of - was Clara at 21 years old.
Clara seems to have come to stay to live close to her mother in San Francisco.
William died in San Francisco only a few years later. Followed very shortly after by Ida who had her last permanent residence in San Francisco.
After Ida's death, Jack gets send to San Francisco. His uncle Clifford and his grandmother live there.
Millie separates from her husband and by 1935 she also lives in San Francisco.
A little shocking is the fact that so many siblings died relatively young of tuberculosis.
Clara - 21 years - 1909
William - 33 years - 1913
Ida - 36 years - 1913
3 out of 7 children! We do not know anything about 2 children (Vera and Frank).
Only 2 children "grow old" - Millie and Clifford. Both, Millie and Clifford, spend a large part of their lives in California. The place where their mother moved after leaving Logan and her marriage behind.
There really is no place for Jack!
The only residence that he could be send to are the Apperleys in Logan. (But when the family fell apart and William Henry's second wife entered the picture, things became difficult there.)
Live with Millie? She seems to have her own struggles.
Jack was send to Hitchcock Military Academy in California.
After Ida's death he was send to San Francisco.
Jack spoke of how his "cousin" Clifford (his uncle Clifford who was only a few years older than him) was kind to him when they spend time together - be that in Logan or California, we do not know more details.
So how about you? How do you feel about Ida now?
I see her in a completely different light now.
She seems to have tried her best. Unfortunately sometimes that brought hardship. But Ida accepted her responsibilities, she did not run away from them.
Next time we will take a look at Jack's grandparents in Logan where he was sometimes send to live ...
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