Evelyn Frechette
| Billie Frechette | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 September 1907 Neopit (Menominee Indian Reservation), Wisconsin, US |
| Died | 13 January 1969 (aged 61) Shawano, Wisconsin, US |
| Charge(s) | Harboring a criminal |
| Status | Deceased |
| Occupation | nursemaid waitress singer |
| Spouse | Welton Sparks (1925–1933; his incarceration) |
Mary Evelyn "Billie" Frechette (September 15, 1907 – January 13, 1969) was an American singer, waitress, convict, and lecturer known for her personal relationship with the bank robber John Dillinger in the early 1930s.
She is known to have been involved with Dillinger for about six months until her arrest and imprisonment in 1934. However, some sources believe their relationship began much earlier.[citation needed] She finished her two years in prison in 1936, then toured the country with Dillinger's family for five years as the "Crime Did Not Pay Show", and eventually lived her remaining decades in a quieter, married life on the Indian reservation where she was born.
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[edit] Early life
Frechette was born in Neopit, Wisconsin on the Menominee Indian Reservation.[1] She described the background of her mother (née Mary Labell) as "half French and half Indian",[2] and that of her father as simply French. (Her paternal great-grandfather was Moses Frechette Sr., a fur trader born in Quebec, who moved to the U.S. in 1850, becoming a US citizen in Brown Township, Michigan,[3] and living in Menominee, Michigan and as being an ancestor of, as of 2009, about 90 people there named Frechette.[4] His wife—one of Billie's great-grandmothers—had parents named Mawsawquot and Poway; the first of eight generations of North American Frechettes preceding Billie came to Quebec City from France between 1655 and 1680.)[1][5]
The parents of Moses Frechette Sr. were Charles and Ursule (Girouard) Frechette. Moses was born in Quebec on 10 December 1824. He married Marie LeClair Nokishiki, and they had 12 children. Moses Frechette Jr. and two of his siblings continued to reside on the Menominee Reservation, and he became the father of Evelyn Frechette.[3]
Her father died when she was eight years old.
In 1925, she married Welton Sparks, who was convicted and imprisoned the same year for a post office robbery.
[edit] Notoriety and involvement with John Dillinger
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Frechette met Dillinger in November 1933 and was arrested on 9 April 1934, on the charge of harboring Dillinger in her Twin Cities, Minnesota apartment, and served two years in federal prison for harboring a criminal. Dillinger and a companion watched from a block away; he wanted to attack the lawmen and rescue her, but accepted the argument that he would die in the attempt. She served two years and a day under the Federal Harboring Law at the Federal Correctional Farm at Milan, Michigan, and was released in 1936.
[edit] Later life
Frechette returned to the Menominee Reservation, where she had two subsequent marriages. She died of cancer on January 13, 1969 at age 61 in Shawano, Wisconsin.
[edit] Popular culture
- In the 1973 film Dillinger, Frechette was played by actress and The Mamas & the Papas member Michelle Phillips.
- In the 1991 film Dillinger, Frechette was played by actress Sherilyn Fenn.
- In the 2009 film Public Enemies, Frechette was played by actress Marion Cotillard.
[edit] References
- ^ a b [Pedigree of] Mary Evelyn (Billie) Frechette, "Lareau Family Master File" on RootsWeb.com
- ^ "Primary Sources: 'What I Knew About John Dillinger' – By His Sweetheart", Public Enemy #1, American Experience (represented by them as transcriptions of two installments in a series of articles by her, The Chicago Herald and Examiner, August 1934.
- ^ a b "Re: Evelyn, John Dillinger's girlfriend". Genforum.genealogy.com. 2001-03-03. http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/frechette/messages/122.html. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
- ^ Les Descendants des Fréchette (English version)
- ^ [Parents, children and wives of the junior] Moses Frechette, "Lareau Family Master File"
