Josephine Anna Fanning ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10}

  General Notes:

Family Notes: Was called, "Josey". Estranged from Frank, he repeatedly left, came back, hence the later pregnancies and children. She lived in a house in South Rockford that the kids built for her. She worked as a maid, cook.

Cause of death - slipped on a throw rug, hit her sewing machine. Died later due to Pneumonia at the hospital.

Further it is rumored that Frank "bought" Josey from her parents in Chicago when she was 14 years old (1918). Frank already had two little girls at home and needed a wife to take care of them.

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

Some others have claimed that she wasn't "bought" but rather it was merely an "arranged" marriage.
-----------------------------

  Noted events in her life were:

• She appeared on the 1900 US Census in Indianapolis, IN on 6 June 1900. ⁸

1900 US Census
Page 6A, District 138 , Dwelling 102, Family 118
Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
407-1/2 South Noble Street; house rented
Josephine Fanning..Daughter..Oct 1894..5..IN

(Living with parents.)
.

• She appeared on the 1910 US Census in Rockford, IL on 16 April 1910. ⁹

1910 US Census
Sheet 3A, District 171, Dwelling 42, Family 53, Roll 336
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
830 Mulberry Street; house rented
Josephine Fanning..Daughter..16..IN..Finisher, Tannery

(Living with parents.)
.

• She appeared on the 1920 US Census in Rockford, IL on 8 January 1920. ³

1920 US Census
Sheet 7A, District 190, Dwelling 93, Family 183, Roll 417
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; house owned with mortgage
Josephine Holmes..Wife..26..IN

(Living with husband and 5 children.)
.

• She appeared on the 1930 US Census in Rockford, IL on 7 April 1930. ⁴

1930 US Census
Sheet 5B, District 101-28, Dwelling 76, Family 124, Roll 571
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
806 Elm Street; home owned, $20000
Josaphine Holmes..Wife..35..IN..married at age 18

(Living with husband and 10 children.)
.

• She appeared on the 1940 US Census in Rockford, IL on 4 April 1940. ⁵

1940 US Census
Sheet 8B, District 101-55, Household 185
Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois
225 South Avon Street; Rent $25
Josephine Holmes..Wife..45..IL..8th grade

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

• Her obituary was published in the Unknown newspaper after 2 March 1960 in , Winnebago County, IL.

¹⁰ Services for Mrs. Josephine (Holmes) Truckenmiller, 65, 711 S. Greenview Ave., mother of 10 daughters and four sons, will be held Saturday, March 5, at 1 p. m. in the Julian-Poorman funeral home, 304 N. 5th St.

The Rev. Clyde P. Karriker, pastor of Messiah Lutheran church will officiate. Burial will be in Willwood Burial park. Friends may call in the funeral home Friday night from 7 to 8:30 o'clock.

Mrs. Truckenmiller died Wednesday morning in Rockford Memorial hospital after a brief illness.

She was born Oct. 21, 1894, in Indianapolis, Ind., daughter of John and Anna Fanning. She moved to Rockford from Chicago 55 years ago. On Aug. 15, 1959, she was married to Charles Truckenmiller. She was a member of the Messiah Lutheran church.

Survivors include her husband; 10 daughters, Mrs. Mae Mattus, Mrs. Venus Bjork, Mrs. Allice Phelan, Mrs. Mary Renton, Mars. Carol Renton, all of Rockford; Mrs. Gertrude Baird, Great Falls, Mont.; Mrs. Alberta Hall, California; Mrs. Grace Kirby, Nevada; Mrs. Joann Renton, California; and Mrs. Lois Swanson, Winnebago; four sons, Radford, Emerson, and Harold Holmes, all of Rockford, and Robert Holmes, Kansas; a sister, Mrs. Helen Carey, Rockford; and 38 grandchildren.

(Source: unknown newspaper; probably the Rockford Register-Star)
---------------------------------------------------
.

• She was buried on 5 March 1960 in the Willwood Burial Park in Rockford, IL.

Find a Grave Memorial ID: 234829677
. ^{10 12}

Josephine married Frank Roy Holmes, son of Charles Tarbell Holmes and Mary Josephine Packard, on 4 April 1913 in Elgin, IL.^{1 2 3 4 5} (Frank Roy Holmes was born on 17 April 1879 in Cherry Valley, IL,^{3 4 5 6 13 14 15} died on 22 December 1956 in Rockford, IL ¹⁶ and was buried after 22 December 1956 in Sunset Memorial Gardens, Machesney Park, Winnebago, Illinois, United States ¹⁶.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: Image, on 4 April 1913, in Elgin, IL. ²

• They appeared on the 1920 US Census in Rockford, IL on 8 January 1920. ³

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. ⁴

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. ⁵

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.
-------------------------------------------------------

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.
------------------------------------

Josephine next married Charles Truckenmiller after 1956. (Charles Truckenmiller was born in 1886 in Illinois and died after 1960.)

  Marriage Notes:

It is difficult to know for sure just who Charles Truckenmiller was because there were possibly two different Truckenmiller families living in or around Boone and Winnebago counties after 1900 and apparently each had a Charles Truckenmiller.

There was a Charles Elmer Truckenmiller, b. 1887, who married Mabel Grace Price in 1920 in Boone County, Illinois. His parents were Edward Truckenmiller and Sarah Hoy who eventually moved to Stephenson County and then onto Carroll County, Illinois. Mabel Grace Price-Truckenmiller died in 28 July 1923 in Rockford.

There is another record of a Charles E. Truckenmiller who married Hattie E. Taylor in 1933 in Boone County, Illinois. Whether this was the same Charles Truckenmiller is not known for certain but appears to be very likely. This Hattie E. Taylor-Truckenmiller died on 24 Apr 1959 also in Rockford. This date of death is important because it has a great deal of bearing on the possible relationship with Josephine Fanning who eventually was married to a Charles Truckenmiller.

As the family stories and rumors have been passed along, it seems that Josephine was stuck in a marriage for a number of years long after she and Frank Roy Holmes had split up. Apparently her strict Catholic beliefs would not allow for a divorce. She possibly had met Charles Truckenmiller a few years before Frank had died but the story goes that she would not get further involved with Charles Truckenmiller while she was still married to Frank Holmes, or more precisely, while he was still alive. Even the children were adamant that she should not proceed any further with Charles while still married to Frank. After Frank had passed in Dec of 1956, their relationship may have become more serious but if this was the same Charles Truckenmiller that had married Hattie Taylor, then she was still alive and Josephine still would not get involved with Charles Truckenmiller while his wife was still alive. I don't know of any divorce filings between Charles and his wife, Hattie, so once she also had passed in 1959, both Charles and Josephine were then free to marry.

This presents a time-line as follows:
-- after 24 Dec 1956, Frank had died and Josephine was free to marry but had to wait for Charles
-- after waiting for almost 2-1/2 more years, Hattie Taylor, wife of Charles Truckenmiller, died in April 1959.
-- Charles Truckenmiller and Josephine are married sometime later in 1959.

Now the bad news. Even if they waited until 1959 to get married, the time that Charles and Josephine spent together as a married couple was very limited. Josephine died in March 1960 which means their married life together could have been as short as only one year.

Even more bad news. I have never been able to locate a marriage document for Josephine and Charles Truckenmiller yet she much have married him at some time because the death record for Rockford shows her name as Josephine Anna Truckenmiller and her gravestone also has the name Truckenmiller. While the burial location of Josephine is known to be next to Frank Holmes, I cannot locate a burial spot for Charles Truckenmiller. I don't know the date of death for Charles or where he died. I've searched all records and cannot locate any more information.

The death records from Rockford about the various Truckenmillers were accessed via the Internet and they reference microfilm roll numbers at the county court house. All we need is a dedicated person to look at these rolls of microfilm and determine for sure if these were the same Charles Truckenmiller.

07/28/1923 0050 0345 TRUCKENMILLER, MABLE GRACE
04/24/1959 0013 2026 TRUCKENMILLER, HATTIE EMMA
03/02/1960 0014 1056 TRUCKENMILLER, JOSEPHINE AN
------------------------------------------------------------------