Week 3: Namesake

 Week 3: Namesakes: the Ivan's


My son, Ivan, was named after two “Uncle Ivan’s” - one on my husband’s side of the family and the other on my side of the family. Ivan is currently working as a design engineer in Connecticut.




Ivan Leroy Looker and his twin brother Olin were born in Watseka, Illinois in 1930. Watseka was a rural area, and Ivan’s father Olin Sr. was a maintenance superintendent at a factory (I can’t make out the kind of factory on the 1940 census, but I think it produced farm equipment.) My husband thinks Ivan went to college at Notre Dame, but I found a yearbook picture that places him at Millikin in Decatur in his early 20’s studying education.  Maybe he went to law school at Notre Dame as he became a lawyer. (His brother Olin attended Purdue and became an engineer; coincidentally, my son Ivan became a mechanical engineer, and my son Logan is the one interested in law.) According to my husband, Ivan Looker inherited a large piece of land from a client and had an airfield and flew airplanes. Although Ivan chose to practice law, he was still very mechanically minded, and had several patents, including one for a gear type fluid pump in 1955, a mechanical transmission in 1957, a variable speed transmission in 1967, a planetary gear type steering device for track vehicles in 1967, and a navigation device for aircraft navigation in 1980. (Photo of Ivan (left) Ernie (middle) and Olin (right),  courtesy of his daughter Lynara Tonner)


Ivan Ray Spencer was born in Spokane, Washington in 1908. He was raised by his father Theodore (his parents were separated/divorced).  He had an 8th grade education, and his father was a sheepherder in the Stanley area, so I'm assuming he also worked as a sheepherder as a teen.  His military records show he was an enlisted Private during WWII, and have his occupation listed as "mechanic/repairman," so he must have had some skills in that area.  Mom said he had a job driving out to businesses and changing out records in their jukeboxes. This might have been when he was living in Twin Falls, Idaho. The 1940 census from there has him listed as a “service man” and the industry looks like “music co.” if you squint really hard.  He worked as a heavy equipment operator for a construction company in Alaska in later years.  It seems he lived in Alaska the last 30 years of his life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Macbethian Story

Image
  Many Kirkpatricks know the story of Roger Kirkpatrick with Robert de Bruce and the murder of Red Comyn in Greyfriars Church in Dumfries; after all, that’s where we got the bloody dagger as the coat of arms and the motto “I mak siccar.”  However, there’s more to the story. First, for those who may not know about the Red Comyn murder, here’s the story. Edward I of England was the ruler over both England and Scotland.  The Scots were oppressed, so a rebellion was ensuing.  Those who were considered candidates for the Scottish crown were Robert de Bruce and Red Comyn, who struck a deal: Bruce suggested, “Support my title to the crown and I will give you all my lands, or give me all your lands and I will support your title to the crown.” Because Comyn’s claim to the crown was weaker, he chose the land in exchange for supporting Bruce. They took an oath of fidelity and secrecy, which Comyn broke by going to Edward I and telling him of the agreement.  After escaping ...
Read more

Week 16 - DNA

Image
  Week 16 - DNA DNA is what renewed my interest in genealogy. I have discovered so many new things, new “long-lost” 2nd and 3rd cousins, and have also been able to answer some questions in places where research and paper trails have dried up.   This week I’ll show how my siblings’ DNA has helped with these discoveries when my own DNA might not have been enough to do it. Years ago Melvin Alsager put together a book on the Kirkpatrick side of the family after he and Aunt Mary researched it. I’m sure many of you Kirkpatrick’s have it as he handed them out at one of our family reunions. At the end it says, “It is now up to each branch of the Kirkpatrick tree to add their own pages to this starter project and to keep the family history current as a continuing memorial to our ancestors. Please feel free to prune and graft onto the older limbs and even re-examine the reliability of the roots.” When I first got my DNA results, I was surprised to see I had so many Stevens, Carlo...
Read more

Week 17- Favorite Place

Image
 Week 17 - Favorite Place This was actually a very difficult prompt. I was torn between the family homestead where I grew up (which most relatives who might read this already know about) or something from Scotland when I visited a couple years ago.  I wouldn't be able to settle on one favorite place in Scotland - I visited both the Closeburn (Kirkpatrick) Castle and had a tour, and visited the Caerlaverock Castle - also tied to the Kirkpatrick's. These places were very different from each other.  Caerlaverock is in ruins, but very peaceful and fun to climb around in - and it had a moat! There is a legend attached to this castle, or maybe it was the earlier one (the foundation of the earlier castle is also on this property): Many Kirkpatrick's know the story of Roger Kirkpatrick with Robert de Bruce and the murder of Red Comyn in Greyfriars Church in Dumfries; after all, that’s where we got the bloody dagger as the coat of arms and the motto “I mak siccar.”  However, ...
Read more