Outcast: Johan Jonasson

 The prompt for this week is "Outcast." I immediately thought of my great, great grandfather Johan Jonasson. He was the father of George S. Henrickson, my great grandfather who immigrated to America from Sweden. As I looked over my notes on Johan I saw he was an outcast in more than one way.

The birth records for Moheda Parish in Kronoberg County, Sweden record Johan being born on October 28, 1827 to Crofter Jonas Johansson and Maja Stina Danielsdotter. He was baptized on November 1, 1827. 

The next record that records his life (1831-1836) shows him living with his parents and siblings at a remote land Nackelyckor, situated on the land of Vegby Forsagard. This land is so remote that when I did a Google search for it it doesn't even come up. So, it's either changed names, or no one lives there anymore. Either way, all the records describe this location as being "remote". So, Johan and his family lived faraway from other people. 

In the Household record for 1837-1843 the family continues to live at the "Remote land Nackelycke cultivated by soldier Warn at soldier croft." The father Jonas is listed as a pauper. Records also state that the father likes to fight, is poor and is called "Styf" Jonas. Styf translates to "Stiff" and can describe his physical appearance, or his personality. 

Johan has grown up living in a remote part of the parish, being an outcast, if you will. Now something will happen to make him another form of outcast.

Johan's father Jonas died on July 29, 1846. The family was already listed as penniless and paupers. Johan's mother was left widowed with 4 children. Johan was old enough to also be listed as penniless on the records. 

On the Household records for 1844-1850 Johan is listed as a farmhand in Nya och Sodra Kvarnen in Moheda Parish. There is a note on the record about his conviction of theft. The notes are hard to read but it looks like he was sentenced in June 1848. His mother was also convicted of the crime of theft in 1851 even though it appears it happened in June 1848. After his sentence, Johan becomes without a steady residence for 1848-1849. He had to move on. 

Notes for his mother Maja tell us that she was convicted of theft and sentenced to 17 days of living on bread and water. She and Johan also had to perform public church duty. They also would have been asked to stand on the "duty stool" during a church sermon where their crimes would have been described. They would have asked for repentance and then been rehabilitated. Johan and his mother's crime happened in 1848 and they were punished for it in 1851. Sweden outlawed public humiliation for crimes on May 4, 1855. Too late for Johan and Maja.

Johan marries and lives with his wife until her death on April 10, 1872. The very next day Ingrid Christina Svensdotter Fahna moves in with Johan as a maid. They have an illegitimate daughter born on June 13, 1873. Johan and Ingrid do not marry until January 10, 1874.

Under reputation Johan continues to be described as a drunk, penniless, and "Styf" like his father before him. Ingrid and Johan have two more children, George and his sister Amanda, who immigrate to America. Ingrid leaves Johan to care for her sister, leaving him alone, again. Johan died in 1903, living by himself, as far as I could tell from the records.

Johan seemed to live most of his life as an outcast, whether it was by living remotely from other people, or by his actions taken and being outcast from society. I don't have any pictures of Johan, but I did find a picture of his younger brother Anders. Anders, by contrast, was never convicted of theft, had illegitimate children or was classified as a drunkard. I found this picture of Anders with 2 of his adult children. Anders is seated in the front, next to his wife.

I found notes on the Fahna family online. They were not very complimentary when they mentioned Johan. Johan seems to have been the Black Sheep of the family. Johan is definitely one of the more colorful ancestors I've come across.

Crime and Punishment of George Remus

 This week's theme is "Crime and Punishment." In researching, I've only found a few instances of ancestors being jailed. George Henrickson's father reportedly had minor run-ins with the local authorities in Sweden. My 3x great grandfather, Riley Thompson, was once jailed for a few hours because he cheered for Samuel Tilden at a rally for Rutherford B. Hayes. There is one ancestor, though, who most definitely committed a crime, and then got away with very little punishment.

George Remus was born in Germany around 1878. At the age of about 5 he traveled to America with his mother and sisters. His father had already come to America to find work. The family eventually settled in Chicago. George's mother was Marie Remus, maiden name of Karg. My great, great grandmother was Ottelia Karg, younger sister of Marie. George Remus was my great grandmother Emilia Ashley's first cousin. 

George was a smart kid, and with help from his uncle George Karg became a pharmacist at the age of  19. He later bought the pharmacy, and then another one. He was very successful at it, but he grew tired of it. He attended law school at night and then became a lawyer. He worked as a defense attorney, and was also very successful at that. He was one of the first defense attorneys to use the "temporary insanity" defense. After successfully defending a client with that defense he became very well known. When prohibition started, he noticed his clients were becoming rich while bootlegging alcohol. George found a loophole in the Volstead Act. Alcohol was permitted for medicinal purposes. Using his pharmacy knowledge, he obtained government licenses to make whiskey, for medicinal purposes. Then, he would hijack his own trucks and sell the whisky illegally. He based his whiskey operations in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was said that any whiskey sold East of the Mississippi during Prohibition came from George Remus. Time Magazine called him "King of the Bootleggers." 

During this time George left his first wife, Lillian, and daughter, and ran off with Imogene Holmes and her daughter, Ruth. During Prohibition George and Imogene bought a fancy house, threw lavish parties, and gave diamonds and cars away during parties to guests. There are rumors that George Remus was the main inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary character, Jay Gatsby. 

All of this fame and fortune naturally drew the attention of the government. The FBI investigated and the government finally had enough evidence on George to bring him to trial. He was sentenced to 2 years in the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for violating the Volstead Act. While there, George confided in an inmate that his wife Imogene had complete control of his money. The inmate was an undercover FBI agent who was there to gather more information on George. Instead, the agent, Franklin Dodge, quit his job and began his own affair with Imogene, while George was still in prison. Franklin and Imogene liquidated all of George's assets. They sold paintings and furnishings, cars and jewelry. Cleaned out bank accounts. They left George penniless. They also tried to get him deported, by saying he had never become an American citizen. They also hired a Hit Man to kill George, but the Hit Man didn't follow through as he feared retribution. Needless to say, when George was released from prison and saw what Franklin and Imogene had done, he was not happy. 

George filed for divorce from Imogene. On the morning the divorce was to be finalized, George saw Imogene get into a taxi at her hotel to go to the courthouse. George instructed his driver to follow her. He had his driver run the taxi driver off the road. When the taxi stopped, Imogene got out of the car and ran through a park. George followed her. He caught up to her, pulled a handgun out, and shot her in the stomach. This was in public, with many witnesses. Imogene, along with her daughter, got to a hospital but she later died from her injuries. George turned himself into the police and admitted he had shot Imogene, but claimed he was temporarily insane at the time. He had not been himself, and therefore, innocent. 

The case came to trial and was covered in papers all around the country. Everyone knew who George Remus was. He had shot his wife in public and was now claiming temporary insanity. George had even decided to defend himself and serve as his own attorney.  Prosecuting the case was the son of ex-President William Howard Taft, who was now on the Supreme Court. George's first wife and daughter, who he had abandoned, came to his defense. Imogene's daughter, Ruth, was one of the few to testify against him. After a month long trial the jury returned a verdict in 19 minutes......Not Guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The jury even wanted the judge to let Remus spend Christmas at his house. 

George was sentenced to an insane asylum in Ohio, but he was let go after only 7 months. He tried to find his money that Imogene had taken but was never able to recover any of it. He ended up living the rest of his life quietly in Cincinnati. He passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 73, in 1952. 

George Remus was mentioned in the Prohibition documentary by Ken Burns. He was a character on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. There was also a wonderful book written by Karen Abbott about the murder case called The Ghosts of Eden Park.

George Remus is my first cousin, 3x removed.  On my father's side of the family. Through my Grandma Lois Ashley Thompson.