Frank Roy Holmes ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11}

  General Notes:

Family info:
Was a contractor and built numerous homes in Rockford, Illinois. Lost everything in the crash of 1929. As he would build a house, then mortgage it, use the money to build another. He owed a lot on all of the houses, and everything went back to the bank. He later was a junk dealer and had a 2nd hand store in Rockford. Fathered at least 19 children, 2 with his first wife before she died in about 1912, and then at least 17 more with his second wife, 4 of whom died as infants.

(Source: Lisa Holmes, http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3110691)
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  Noted events in his life were:

• He appeared on the 1880 US Census in Cherry Valley, IL on 1 June 1880. ¹⁰

1880 US Census
Page 15C, District 217, Dwelling 149, Family 153, Roll 0261
Cherry Valley, Winnebago County, Illinois
Frank Holmes..Son..1..Illinois

(Living with parents.)
.

• He appeared on the 1910 US Census in Rockford, IL on 14 April 1910. ²

1910 US Census
Page 6B, District 172, Dwelling 114, Family 126
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; home owned with mortgage
Married 8 years
Frank R. Holmes..Head..31..Illinois..Contractor, House

(Living with wife, daughter, and mother.)
.

• His occupation in September 1918 was a Carpenter, Self Employed in Rockford, IL. ¹²

• He resided at 806 Elm Street in September 1918 in Rockford, IL.
¹²

• On 12 September 1918, he registered for the World War I Draft at Rockford, IL.

Name: Frank Roy Holmes
Birth Date: 17 Apr 1879
. ¹²

• He appeared on the 1920 US Census in Rockford, IL on 8 January 1920. ⁵

1920 US Census
Sheet 7A, District 190, Dwelling 93, Family 183, Roll 417
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; house owned with mortgage
Frank R. Holmes..Head..40..IL..Contractor

(Living with wife and 5 children.)
.

• He appeared on the 1930 US Census in Rockford, IL on 7 April 1930. ⁶

1930 US Census
Sheet 5B, District 101-28, Dwelling 76, Family 124, Roll 571
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; home owned, $20000
Frank R. Holmes..Head..49..IL..married at age 32..General Contractor

(Living with 2nd wife and 10 children.)
.

• He appeared on the 1940 US Census in Rockford, IL on 4 April 1940. ⁷

1940 US Census
Sheet 8B, District 101-55, Household 185
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
225 South Avon Street; Rent $25
Frank Holmes..Head..60..IL..4th grade..Building Contractor

(Living with wife, 7 children, and 1 married daughter.)
.

• He resided at North Springfield Road; RR #2 in 1942 in Rockford, IL.
¹³

• Frank Roy Holmes registered for WW II Draft: 1942, Rockford, IL.

¹³ Name: Frank Roy Holmes
Birth Date: 17 Apr 1879
.

• He was buried after 22 December 1956 in the Sunset Memorial Gardens in Machesney Park, IL.

Find A Grave Memorial #84129446
. ¹¹

• His obituary was published in the Rockford Register Republic on 24 December 1956 in Rockford, IL.

¹⁴ Services for Frank R. Holmes, 75, 10517 Ventura Blvd., who died Saturday in a local hospital after a long illness, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Thomas M. Delehanty funeral home, 401 River Lane. The Rev. James Fitzhough, pastor of Evans Memorial Methodist church will officiate. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens. Friends may call at the funeral home from 7 to 9 o'clock Tuesday night.

Mr. Holmes was born April 17, 1881, in Cherry Valley and lived in the Rockford area all his life. He married Josephine Fanning in Elgin. He was a building contractor for 40 years, retiring in 1947.

Survivors include his widow; 10 daughters, Mrs. Thomas Mattus, Mrs. Lester Bjork, Mrs. Clem Phelan, Mrs. Albert Kirby, Lois Holmes, Mrs. Robert Renton, and Mrs. John Renton, all of Rockford; Mrs. Gerald Renton and Mrs. William Hall, both of Los Angeles; and Mrs. Gertrude Baird, Montana; and four sons, Bradford, Emerson, Robert, and Harold, all of Rockford.

(Source: Rockford Register Republic, Rockford, IL, 24 Dec 1956)
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.

Frank married Hattie Jane Coleman, daughter of Frank Coleman and Alice Vel Dyer, on 7 April 1903 in Rockford, IL.^{1 2} (Hattie Jane Coleman was born on 7 March 1886 in Argyle, IL ² and died on 4 April 1911 in , Winnebago County, IL.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: 7 April 1903, in Rockford, IL. ¹

• They appeared on the 1910 US Census in Rockford, IL on 14 April 1910. ²

1910 US Census
Page 6B, District 172, Dwelling 114, Family 126
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; home owned with mortage
Married 8 years
Frank R. Holmes..Head..31..IL..Contractor, House
Hattie J. Holmes..Wife..24..IL..Embroidery..1/1
Gladys G. Holmes..Dau..7..IL
Mary J. Holmes..Mother..59..IL..Widowed..married 30 years..11/11..Housekeeper
.

  Marriage Notes:

Name: Frank R Holmes
Titles and Terms: Mr
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 07 Apr 1903
Event Place: Winnebago, Illinois, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Birth Year (Estimated): 1880
Father's Name: Charles Holmes
Mother's Name: Josephine Packard
Spouse's Name: Hattie Jane Colman
Spouse's Titles and Terms: Miss
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Age: 17
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated): 1886
Spouse's Father's Name: Frank Colman
Spouse's Mother's Name: Alice V Dyer
Page: 165

Citing this Record
"Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9L-K3Z4 : 17 October 2017), Alice V Dyer in entry for Frank R Holmes and Hattie Jane Colman, 07 Apr 1903; citing Winnebago, Illinois, United States, county offices, Illinois; FHL microfilm 1,914,051.
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Frank next married Josephine Anna Fanning, daughter of John Thomas Fanning and Anna M. Heitkam, on 4 April 1913 in Elgin, IL.^{3 4 5 6 7} (Josephine Anna Fanning was born on 12 October 1894 in Indianapolis, IN,^{5 6 7 8 15 16 17} died on 2 March 1960 in Rockford, IL ^{3 17} and was buried on 5 March 1960 in Willwood Burial Park, Rockford, IL ¹⁷.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: Image, on 4 April 1913, in Elgin, IL. ⁴

• They appeared on the 1920 US Census in Rockford, IL on 8 January 1920. ⁵

1920 US Census
Sheet 7A, Roll 417, District 190, Dwelling 93, Family 183
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; house owned with mortgage
Frank R. Holmes..Head..40..IL..Contractor
Josephine Holmes..Wife..26..IN
Gertrude B. Holmes..Dau..9..IL
May G. Holmes..Dau..6..IL
Radford F. Holmes..Son..4..IL
Emerson L. Holmes..Son..2y 4m..IL
Venus R. Holmes..Dau..1..IL
.

• They appeared on the 1930 US Census in Rockford, IL on 7 April 1930. ⁶

1930 US Census
Sheet 5B, Roll 571, District 101-28, Dwelling 76, Family 124
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; home owned, $20000
Frank R. Holmes..Head..49..IL..married at age 32..General Contractor
Josaphine Holmes..Wife..35..IN..married at age 18
May Holmes..Dau..16..IL
Radford Holmes..Son..14..IL
Emerson Holmes..Son..12..IL
Venus Holmes..Dau..11..IL
Alice Holmes..Dau..9..IL
Alberta Holmes..Dau..7..IL
Mary Holmes..Dau..4..IL
Grace Holmes..Dau..3..IL
Carol Holmes..Dau..2..IL
Robert Holmes..Son..0..IL
.

• They appeared on the 1940 US Census in Rockford, IL on 4 April 1940. ⁷

1940 US Census
Sheet 8B, District 101-55, Household 185
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
225 South Avon Street; Rent $25
Frank Holmes..Head..60..IL..4th grade..Building Contractor
Josephine Holmes..Wife..45..IL..8th grade
Emerson Holmes..Son..23..IL..High School..Machinist, Stove Factory
Mary Holmes..Dau..14..IL..7th grade
Grace Holmes..Dau..13..IL..6th grade
Carole V. Holmes..Dau..12..IL..5th grade
Robert Holmes..Son..10..IL..3rd grade
Joan Holmes..Dau..7..IL..1st grade
Harold Holmes..Son..4..IL
Alice Phelon..Dau..19..IL..8th grade
.

  Marriage Notes:

Name: Frank R Holmes
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 04 Apr 1913
Event Place: Kane, Illinois, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Birth Year (Estimated): 1882
Father's Name: Charles Holmes
Mother's Name: Mary
Spouse's Name: Josephine Annie Fanning
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Age: 18
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated): 1895
Spouse's Father's Name: John F Fanning
Spouse's Mother's Name: Annie
Page: 258

Citing this Record
"Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9G-JK18 : 15 October 2017), Frank R Holmes and Josephine Annie Fanning, 04 Apr 1913; citing Kane, Illinois, United States, county offices, Illinois; FHL microfilm 1,481,111.
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The house located at 806 Elm Street in Rockford played an important part in the Holmes family history. I'm not sure if Frank built this house or if he purchased it but the 1910 US Census shows he and his first wife, Hattie, living there with the notation that the house was owned but with a mortgage.

In the 1920 US Census, Frank is still living at 806 Elm Street but now with his 2nd wife, Josephine and their growing family. Once again he notes that they own the house but still with a mortgage. The census also shows his mother, Mary Josephine Packard, living at the same address but as a separate "family" instead of just showing her as part of Frank's extended family. In addition, there were two other families also living at the same address and enumerated as separate families: John and Georgia Pratt, and Lugeborg and Eva Myers (or Nyers); both families were renters. Even Frank's mother indicated that she paid rent. I believe this address of 806 Elm Street in Rockford was probably a very large house converted into a boarding house or perhaps a small apartment building or four-plex type of house.

In the 1930 US Census, Frank and Josephine and their large family are still living at 806 Elm Street as well as two other families: Clarence and Mabel Crandall, and Lyle and Matilda Dean. Frank's mother, Mary Josephine Packard, had passed away in 1925. The census shows a grand total of 20 people residing in the house: 3 married couples and a total of 14 children with 10 of the children being Frank and Josephine's.

Holmes families stories tell of the effect of the several years of the slumping economy and the hardship it imposed on Frank and Josephine as they had great difficulty in even paying the taxes on the property on Elm Street and his business suffered because of the lack of any additional new construction. Mary Doris Holmes, daughter of Frank, later told her family that she could remember that there was no heat in the house and very little food. Her mother, Josephine, was "too proud of a Catholic" to receive assistance from the soup line. The children would occasionally stand out behind bakeries until employees would take pity and hand them some day old items.

By 1940, Frank and Josephine apparently lost their home on Elm Street to the banks and probably other pieces of property as well because the census shows them living with their family about a block away at 225 South Avon Street where they are paying $25 per month rent.

The old house at 806 Elm Street was torn down a number of years ago to make way for some urban renewal projects and a major re-alignment of roadways. Elm Street does not even go through anymore and is a dead-end street in this location.
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