HEART OF STEELE
It happens to me all the time now. I’ll be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly, the name of someone I’ve known for years flies clear out of my head. Or I can’t remember a word I first learned in grade school.
Other than making for a little embarrassment now and then, those little gaffes don’t have much of an impact. But a recent discovery by my genealogy-loving brother made me think about the role that memory plays when it comes to family history.
It all started with a story our grandfather told our dad about someone in the family marrying a gangster. Years ago, Dad passed that story along to Tom, and he kept an eye out for any clues that might lead to more information.
The truth was finally revealed in a message sent by ancestry.com user, who mentioned Johnny Benson, who was shot and killed by FBI agents in 1946. While he wasn’t quite as closely related to our family as grandpa said, there is a connection. And it’s a doozy.
Johnny grew up with many siblings. Their father died when all of them were young. According to a published account, “Johnny’s misfortune began with his marriage to Marvel, a woman prone to partying and men, but whom Johnny loved anyway.”
Marvel is the distant relative in my family. (Sorry, Johnny.)
In 1936, the troubled young man found himself serving a four-year jail sentence for armed robbery. Even though word about Marvel’s continued partying and bad behavior reached him, Johnny returned to his wife after he was released.
The couple tried to make a new start but hauling liquor got Johnny into more trouble. In a confrontation with the FBI, he shot an agent and escaped.
Guessing that he’d return to Sanish, N.D., where his mother had worked as a telephone operator, agents staked out the town. In the ensuing confrontation, they shot Johnny dead in an alley. In his hand, they found cash and a note stating his intention to move overseas and asking his mother to pay off his debts.
While he is the most shirt-tailish of all my shirt-tail relatives, I’m glad we finally got the truth behind Johnny Benson. And if you’re at all interested in genealogy, I encourage you get to the heart of your family history.
You just never know what fun and fascinating stories you might discover.