Anna Vokoun - The Kočovník

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list. - Susan Sontag

Lise the Bohemian

Lise Tréhot was Auguste Renoir's muse. She was the subject of more that twenty of his paintings including this one depicting the Bohemian Roma of Paris of his time. It so happens that she was neither a Bohemian nor a gypsy but details, details. 

The Roma people are Europe's gypsies but they share a name with Bohemians thanks to the permissive protection granted by a former King of Bohemia, Zikmund in the 15th century and courtesy of turn-of-the-century Parisians who romanticized the gypsies' artistic and unconventional lifestyle. Hence the opera, La Boheme, which was in turn the inspiration for the musical, Rent. 

It is unlikely that we will ever find any photos of Anna so I chose Renoir's rendition of a Bohemian gypsy. Kočovník (KOE-cho-VEE-neek) is the Czech word for nomad or wanderer. It seemed appropriate for Anna and her husband James lived a life that never seemed entirely settled.

Anna was born on December 3, 1865 in Kralovice. She was ten years old when she boarded the ship for America. A few things of interest about her. Though she had at least one sister, she was only girl who lived long enough to immigrate with the family (Barbora died at age two). She was thus the only girl in a house full of boys. She was young enough to probably learn to speak English without an accent which linguists say is before the age of twelve. She was probably the first in the family to fully assimilate. The older boys, except Louis (who as I alluded to in his story seemed to make his own way), all married other Bohemian immigrants. However, starting with Anna, the children all married outside the Bohemian ethnic enclave. Having listened to the family stories of the older boys descendants, I noticed that there seemed to have been a reluctance among them to accept even their children marrying non-Czechs. No so with Anna, John William, Vincent, and Joseph. Finally, Anna was a devoted daughter who stayed rooted in Chicago long enough to care for her father, Jan.

Anna married James Jellison in Chicago in 1888. James was born in 1856 in Illinois. He seems to have a long been descended from a line of Jellisons that arrived in America from England around 1620. The Jellisons, at least James' immediate family, have some interesting stories that seem consistent with Anna and James' wanderlust.

William Jellison, James' father, was born in Pennsylvania. His father was a seaman from Maine which perhaps sheds light on the inability place roots that the family exhibits. William is listed as a farmer in Ohio in the 1850 along with his wife, Elizabeth, and their young family. Normally, I associated farming with being tied to the land. Apparently not so with William because at the next census in 1860, he has moved to western Illinois where he is again listed as a farmer but one with enough acreage to employ at least one farm laborer in addition to his teenage boys. The family is in Illinois when the Civil War breaks out. Three of James' older brothers, John, George and Zimri, serve with Illinois regiments during the war. There is also a Civil War record of a James Jellison from the same Illinois town serving in the Civil War but I believe this must have been an uncle or cousin since our James is only nine years old at wars end. William Jellison remains in Illinois for all of twenty years before resettling. By 1880 he has moved to central Missouri where he resumes farming. In 1900, William is listed in the census as a retired farmer. For once he stays put in Missouri rather than moving to a condo in West Palm Beach. I guess that wasn't a thing in 1900. Below is a photograph of James' brother, John. I believe this is the only photo related to the Jellision family that we are likely to find.

John Jellison

If it was James who had the itch to move on, Anna was likely the rock that anchored him, at least, until Jan died. James mostly employed himself in the manufacturer of brooms. Though his father was a farmer, at least two of James' brothers were involved in broom making. (Families that sweep together, stay...oh never mind). We can assume that James was good at it. Per the 1887 Chicago City Directory, there were many broom makers and then there were many brush makers, but James' was one of only three businesses could do both!

James Jellison, 1887 Chicago City Directory

In 1900, James and Anna are in Chicago. Living with them is Jan and her youngest brother, Joseph Edward, who is 23 but not on his own. Their three children Josephine born in 1889, Lillian born in 1891, and John born in 1894. James lists his occupation as "cigar dealer." Perhaps, brooms weren't selling so well that year.

In 1910, James and Anna were living in Birmingham, Alabama of all places. What drew the family there? My best guess is that one of James' siblings was nearby otherwise it is a head-scratching. One of my great curiosities in the Vokoun family is how the "assimilated" Chicago factory girl from Bohemia fit in with the belles of 'Bama. James is selling sewing machines, having moved on from cigars and, at least temporarily, from brooms. But then in 1914 He's a salesman for the Birmingham Broom Manufacturing Company. Tragedy struck in 1910 when oldest daughter, Josephine, died at the age of twenty. 

Life in Birmingham lasted a few years but whatever drew them there wasn't enough to keep them there. They were gone by 1916 except for son, John. But to where? It took me some extended research to find them at this point. James' older sister, Louisa, seems to have been developmentally delayed (none politically-correct census records list her as an "idiot"). She lived with her father, William, moving around until settling in Missouri. Her death certificate in 1916 in Missouri states that the informant was J. R. Jellison suggesting he traveled or spent time in Missouri. 

Ultimately, James and Anna resurfaced in Philadelphia where their 1920 census misspells their name. My break in this came when I discovered the probate record of William Jellison, who died in 1920 and bequeathed $500 and a house in Quincy, Illinois to his only living sibling, James. The probate lists James' home as Philadelphia. Ironically, there are some other Jellisons mentioned in the will and probate, all with whereabouts unknown. 

In 1930, James and Anna are in Camden, New Jersey. James owns another broom manufacturing business. Ultimately, James and Anna moved to Detroit, Michigan where James died in 1934 of cancer. Anna is listed in Detroit in the 1940 census with her son, John. For five consecutive census covering 40 years, Anna lived in different city, different state. But Detroit would be her final place of rest. She died in 1943. and is buried in Roseland Park cemetery next to James. 

John enlisted in the Alabama National Guard in 1916. He was activated for service in World War I in 1917. His unit was the 167th Infantry Regiment with the Rainbow (42nd) Infantry Division. It served in several campaigns but most notably at Croix Rouge Farm in the summer of 1918 months before the armistice in November 1918. You can read more about the 167th and if you are a glutton-for-punishment true diehard there is a video of a Power Point presentation about the regiment. Here are some documents from John's war service.

Pvt. John R Jellison

Liberty card and dog tag.

After the war, John married Emma Bell. Eventually they moved to Detroit where John work as an automotive inspector, presumably at one of Detroit's many auto manufacturing plants of the day. Unlike, his grandfather, William Jellison, John made it to Florida on retirement moving to St. Petersburg in 1960. He and Emma died there and were buried in Birmingham, Alabama.

Lillian Jellison married Walter Enckler in Philadelphia in 1920. They had one daughter, Josephine M Enckler, born in 1926. She would apparently be Anna and James only grandchild. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find record of Josephine beyond the 1930 census. She is not listed in the 1940 census with her mother. She is also not listed in Lillian's 1959 obituary below. I have to assume that she died young but it remains an unsatisfying assumption. Lillian remarried to Robert Schureman after Walter died in 1933. She is buried in the same cemetery as her parents.

Here is the Jellison tree. My instinct is that Anna should have living descendants but if so I have not found them.

I close with a quote that seems to fit what we can know of James and Anna. It seemed to me to make sense of their life.

"There's a race of people that don't fin, a race that can't sit still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, and they roam the world at will. They range the field and rove the flood, and they climb the mountain's crest; Their's is the curse of the gypsy blood, and they don't know how to rest." - Robert W. Service