I don't know what it was about Chicago, Illinois, that allured four Henderson, Kentucky men to move there in the late 1920's, 30's, and 40's... but they sure enough did drop everything here in Henderson and move up there and started up lives of their own.
Thomas Stron Thompson, Henry Nally Thompson, William Von Thompson, and Vernon Posey Thompson, all four sons of John Rowan Thompson and his wife, Mary Janella (Nally) Thompson, eventually migrated from Henderson to Chicago and either worked and started a family, worked and sewed some seeds, or just worked.
The first born, Stron, I found record of him in 1927 crossing the border into Saskatchewan, Canada for work. By the 1930 census, though, he's in Chicago living with his two younger brothers: Henry, and Von. Uncle Stron, according to the 1930 census, was a machine operator in a packing factory. His brother, Henry, was an electrician at a telegraphy company.. and the youngest of the three, Von, was a carpenter at the steel plant.
By 1940, Stron was living in the household of his brother, Von, who was now married to Mary Louise Stevenson, and had a young daughter named Betty Lou. Stron's occupation, now, was a furniture finisher. Von was now a foreman at a factory.
In 1940, the other brother, Henry, was married to Ella Florence Ewald, and his occupation was listed as electrician.
By 1942, the youngest of the Thompson boys, Vernon Posey Thompson, filled out his WW2 Draft Card while residing in Chicago and his employer was the Stevens Hotel.
Uncle Stron, the eldest boy, eventually came back to Henderson and lived with his parents. After the death of their father, John Rowan Thompson in 1959... he solely took care of his mother and lived with her until she was placed in a nursing home. She passed in 1972. Stron continued to live in the family home until eventually family placed him into a nursing home and he passed away in 1989. As far as we know, Stron never married, and never had any children. According to family story -- he got his heartbroken, possibly while living in Chicago...and he was so heartbroken, he never ever tried to find love again.
Uncle Henry, the second eldest boy, before his marriage to Ella... he had a short-lived marriage to a woman named Beulah. This was around 1927 -- and it resulted in a son. The family knew about this son... but never knew what happened to him. I had no idea who he was or what his name was until I ran my DNA with Ancestry and uploaded to MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, and GEDMatch. I matched with some Smutz's and sure enough, that's how we ended up related.
Uncle Henry's son was Robert Henry "Bob" Smutz, 1927-2012. Uncle Henry's other son, Mark, who's mother was the wife, Ella, wasn't born until 1950. We've known Mark his whole life. I'm actually decent friends with his son, Jon, and Jon's wife. Jon tested over on Ancestry and that's what connected us to each other. Henry finished out his life living in Chicago and passed away in 1993.
Uncle Von eventually divorced his wife, Mary, and re-married a woman Bernice Niemaszek, and had another daughter, Linda in 1954. He, too, finished his life out in Chicago and passed away in 1988.
The youngest son, Vernon Posey Thompson, or as we called him "Uncle Jake," always had a "mafia" vibe about him. A "man of mystery" if you will. Until doing my DNA with 23andme in 2020; we thought we had Uncle Jake's life all figured out. We knew he'd had a couple boys with a woman named Billie Grissom, who we're pretty sure was the first woman he actually married, and that they were eventually adopted by the woman's next husband, so they had the last name Borders. They were born in 1953 and 1956...died in 1992 and 2014 respectively.
Then we knew Uncle Jake married a woman twenty years his junior - Norma - and had four more children, all daughters: Vicki, Cyndy, Wyndee, and Missy. 59, 61, 64, and 69. Sometime in the 1970's, Uncle Jake moved his family from Chicago, IL, all the way to the Las Vegas, NV area. Henderson, NV to be more precise, I believe.
I thought his life was pretty cut and dry besides that... but doing my DNA at 23andme unlocked a family secret. Uncle Jake had actually met a woman, Virginia Peters, in Chicago, before going off to WW2. After coming home and being stationed in Georgia -- they gave birth to a daughter, Laura, in 1945. Uncle Jake didn't settle down and become a father, though. Uncle Jake apparently sewed another seed in '53 in Chicago and gave birth to a daughter named Karen, who I also had no idea about until recently. This was the same year he had his first son by Billie Grissom.
Uncle Jake eventually settled and lived the rest of his life in Henderson, NV, and passed away just a few days after my Nana (his sister) in October of 2001. Neither one ever knew the other one passed away.
Moral of the story... these Thompson boys got around. From Henderson, KY, to Chicago, IL, to Saskatchewan, Canada, to Las Vegas, NV... they got around, saw a lot of life, saw a lot of women, had some kids that were both known about and unknown about... and thanks to DNA, some family secrets have been uncovered and for me, it hasn't been a bad thing. I've enjoyed getting to know my new cousins and honestly, I look forward to connecting with more of them as time goes by.
I wish I had a photograph, to share, of all the Thompson children with their parents, or at least all the Thompson boys together..
Here is, at least, a photograph of Uncle Jake (Vernon Posey Thompson) with my Great-Grandmother (his sister) Anna Elizabeth (Thompson) Sandefur... and standing making a face at the camera is my Mom, Tammy. This photo was from the 1970's.
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