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Note: John Thomas was the sixth child, born on October 16, 1896 in Chatham, Ontario; most family members called him Jack. As a young man in Chatham, Jack worked at a lumber company before moving on to a carriage building company in which he upholstered carriages. After the family moved to Detroit in 1915 Jack met Beatrice Holmes, who had also been born in Canada and moved to Detroit. They married October 27, 1917. Within a few months, in 1918 John was drafted into the Army and was assigned to Camp Custer; about 6 months later, on November 11, 1918 World War I was over and a short time later he was discharged along with most of the soldiers. Because of his service in the Army John and his wife were able to become naturalized citizens of the U.S. on October 30, 1919. Their first child, Frances Elizabeth, died a few days after birth of pulmonary problems. A second child, Beatrice June, was born October 15, 1921.
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