John William Vokoun - The Prodigy

A person who's going to be famous usually drops a few clues by the time they're twenty-one. - Frank Gilroy

The Chicago fire was a seminal event in Chicago history. In 1871 for three long August days, the booming city of Chicago burned like few other cities ever have. The conditions were hot and dry which doomed a city built primarily of wood. It is true that the first building consumed was the shed behind the O'Leary's house on DeKoven Street (remember DeKoven from the start of this blog?). Whether, the cow was to blame will never be known. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly three square miles of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless which represented about one third of Chicago's population of the time.

The Chicago fire rocked the insurance world with the revelation that the industry was unprepared to meet such a massive calamity. Fifty-eight insurance companies were driven into bankruptcy by the fire. Even worse, thousands of policyholders were never compensated for their losses. While the venerable Gurdon Hubbard, the first registered insurance agent in Chicago, is said to have sold his own properties to meet the claims of some policyholders, in the end the industry paid the claims of only about half of the Chicagoans who had insurance policies. In spite of the devastation and counterintuitively, the insurance industry thrived in the aftermath. The fire was a boon because it wiped out the most poorly managed insurance companies and the new barrage of fire regulations made Chicago “the safest insurance field in the world.” The terrible losses of the fire led insurance companies to pioneer fire-safety procedures with an eye to protecting their reserves against similar disasters. The Chicago Board of Underwriters, the industry's trade organization, created new institutions of fire safety in Chicago, including a fire patrol (1871) and fire inspectors (1886). In short, it was an industry with opportunity. John William Vokoun proved to be a man who knew how to take advantage of an opportunity.

John William was born on 27 February 1870 in Kralovice. Ironically, perhaps given his ultimate career, neither he nor the family was in Chicago in 1871. He was six years old when the family arrived in 1876. He received whatever education an immigrant could obtain between ages 7 and 14. By age 15 though, John seems to have been working. While his older siblings with more memory of the old country who were probably more comfortable within their immigrant circles followed Jan into tailoring and shoemaking, the younger brother took a different path taking a job as a clerk. The firm he clerked for was one of the newly-formed insurance agencies of the day. He must have been a natural salesman because he did well. I mean really, really well. In 1894, at the young age of 24 he was promoted to partner having worked for the firm for nine years!

The newspapers of the time give hints about his lifestyle. In 1897 he travels to London. In 1898 he attended the annual Chicago Underwriters Banquet in the company of the deputy mayor held at Kinsley's. H. M. Kinsley was one of the most reknown restauranteurs of the day and Kinsley’s was considered Chicago’s finest restaurant and high- society’s first choice for catering, dinners, and parties. It was known to have hosted governors, senators, cabinet members, foreign ministers and President Rutherford B. Hayes.

He attended art auctions, mingled with wealthy citizens and local celebrities and rated mention in society news items.

He gains membership to the Chicago Athletic Association and is listed in the 1906 Chicago Blue Book a directory of "prominent residents." But, in spite of his great success, he remained a bachelor, though a very eligible bachelor.

Annie Sanders Kelley was born in 1867 in Chicago to James William Dominick Kelley and Mary Sanders Kelley. Their families seem to have descended from colonial New Yorkers. James looks to have been a successful businessman in retail hardware, department stores, and other ventures. He was the first member approved in the Illinois Society of Sons of the American Revolution on the account of his ancestor's war service. The family was well-enough off to afford to allow Annie to study music in Paris and London. They lived in a single family home and were members of Grace Episcopal Church. James' biography appeared in the 1911 Book of Chicagoans: A Biographical Dictionary of the Leading Living Men of the City of Chicago. The Kelleys look to have been models of WASPish respectability. That John William, poor Czech Catholic immigrant, married Annie speaks volumes about his social trajectory.

Miss Annie Kelley's 1888 Debut

Kelley home in Chicago

In 1907 John and Annie were married at Grace Episcopal Church. One of the family mysteries that will forever remain a mystery is what Annie's parents really thought of their son-in-law. How I wish I knew. In any event their life together  proved a short five years.  John William died in 1912 at the young age of 42. His will is a fascinating look into the family dynamic, I think. Here it is:

He leaves most of his estate to wife, Annie, as expected. But he also provides relief for some but not all of his family members. Marion Story who I gleam was his nurse or caretaker receives $500. His married sister, Anna Jellison, gets $1000. Widowed sister-in-law, Mary Vokoun, gets $1000. Widowed sister-in-law, Lydia Vokoun, gets nothing. Same with Frank, Louis, Vincent, and Joseph. 

So my first conclusion is that the brothers were doing all right. Mary Vokoun is presumably struggling or at least he is worried about her. Then there is Lydia. Was she doing okay or this evidence of a rift? She was able to buy a house and seems to have gotten some sort of settlement as a result of Rudolph's street car accident. Then there is the question of James Jellison, Alabama broom-maker/salesman. Did he not trust his sister's future to him? He was still alive and capable of working but I am guessing that John didn't think too much of his brother-in-law's career choices. Finally, although he provides for Anna and Mary, he clearly doesn't think much of their ability to manage their affairs as he hands over decision-making for how to pay out their inheritance to Annie and Vincent. There is nothing like a will to clarify what a family member really thinks of you, is there?

After John's death, Annie moved to Oakland, California where her family had migrated. She lived in close proximity to Rudolph's three son's Joe, Rudy, and Eddie Vokoun who are all in Alameda by 1920. She never remarried.  Annie died in 1938. She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.

Unfortunately, time has not left us any pictures of John but I have recovered some of Annie.

Annie (left) with her sister-in-law, Madeline Keller Kelley and her niece, Marykatherine Kelley. 1916 

Annie Vokoun, cousin, Madeline Kelley. 1932

Only Louis seems to have had comparable success to John but John's was more fleeting simply by virtue of marrying late and dying young. What he accomplished without an education or pedigree makes him the family prodigy in my mind. Fire seems a good analogy for his life, one that started small but burned bright then extinguished quickly.