Jack Reagan
Jack Reagan | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Edward Reagan July 13, 1883 |
| Died | May 18, 1941 (aged 57) |
| Resting place | Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Nelle Clyde Wilson |
| Children | Neil Reagan Ronald Reagan |
John Edward "Jack" Reagan (July 13, 1883 – May 18, 1941) was the father of radio station manager Neil "Moon" Reagan (1908–1996) and his younger brother President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) .
Early life
Reagan was born in Fulton, Illinois. He was the youngest of four children[1] of Jennie (née Cusick) and John Michael Reagan, both of whom were first-generation Irish Americans. Reagan's parents died of tuberculosis when he was six, and he then lived with an elderly aunt who provided him with a strict Catholic upbringing.[2] After a few years of elementary education, Reagan worked as a shoe salesman. He met Nelle Clyde Wilson in a dry goods store in Fulton, Illinois.[3] The two were married in Fulton's Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic church in November 1904.[4] They had two children: Neil "Moon" Reagan and Ronald Wilson Reagan. After the birth of their second son, Reagan's wife Nelle was told not to have any more children.[5] Between 1914 to 1920, the Reagan family moved several times from Tampico to several small Illinois towns and Chicago, before finally settling down in Dixon in 1920.[3]
Ancestry
Jack's paternal grandfather, Michael O'Regan, was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland. O'Regan worked as a tenant farmer during his early years in Ireland, before he moved to London in 1852. O'Regan married an Irish refugee, Catherine Mulcahey, in London and anglicised his family surname as "Reagan". The Reagans relocated to Carroll County, Illinois in 1856, where their son, John Michael was born.[2] John Michael became as a grain-elevator farmer, and married Jenny Cusick in 1878. Cusick was born in Canada, but like John Michael, her parents came from Ireland. Their son, John Edward "Jack", was born five years later.[6]
| 8. Thomas O'Regan | |||||||||||||||
| 4. Michael O'Regan (Reagan) | |||||||||||||||
| 9. Margaret Murphy | |||||||||||||||
| 2. John Michael Reagan | |||||||||||||||
| 10. Patrick Mulcahey | |||||||||||||||
| 5. Catherine Mulcahey | |||||||||||||||
| 1. John Edward "Jack Reagan[7] | |||||||||||||||
| 12. Patrick Thomas Cusick | |||||||||||||||
| 6. Patrick Cusick | |||||||||||||||
| 13. Jean Gabbert | |||||||||||||||
| 3. Jennie Cusick | |||||||||||||||
| 7. Sarah Higgins | |||||||||||||||
Death
Journalist Lou Cannon writes that Jack Reagan was an alcoholic in his Reagan. This may have led to his death on May 19, 1941, at the age of 57 after a series of heart attacks.
See also
References
- ^ Kengor, Paul (2004), p. 4
- ^ a b Gullan (2001), p. 320
- ^ a b Pemberton (1998), p. 4-5
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 22
- ^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 21
- ^ The New Yorker, Volume 57, Issues 37-41, 1981, p. 45
- ^ Reitwiesner, William Addams and Michael J. Wood. "The Ancestors of Ronald Reagan". Retrieved 2008-04-16.
- General
- Angelo, Bonnie (2001). First Mothers: The Women who Shaped the Presidents. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-06-093711-4.
- Gullan, Harold I. (2001). Faith of our mothers: The stories of presidential mothers from Mary Washington to Barbara Bush. New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0-8028-4926-1.
- Kengor, Paul (2004). God and Ronald Reagan. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-06-057142-X.
- Pemberton, William E. (1998). Exit with honor: The life and presidency of Ronald Reagan. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-0096-X.
- Reagan, Ronald (1990). An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-0025-9.
