When the Legend Becomes Fact.......

SIMMONS: My Mom and Uncle related the story of their grandmother "Mima" Simmons Crail's youngest brother, John W. to me several times. It was short and sweet. John served with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He married a local girl and became police chief of Havana.

Neat story! But, was it true?

I could not find John listed with the Rough Riders. He was a Hoosier, they were predominately Westerners. John's father's 1909 obit named a son, J.W., P.I. P.I.? Two options - Private Investigator or Philippine Islands. I went with the latter.

My next step was the message boards at GenForum and Ancestry. GenForum was the jackpot. I received a reply from a young woman born in the Philippines telling me about her grandfather, John W. Simmons. Her cousin, also Philippine-born, would fill in more details later on. We were 3rd cousins. My Mima and their John W. were children of John T. and Edith [Crousore] Simmons.

John was born in Sharpsville, Tipton, Indiana in 1873. Ironically, he did go west before 1898. He was mustered in at Camp Rogers near Tacoma, Washington in May of that year. [Company C, 1st Washington Volunteers] John's company left San Francisco for Manila in October. The 1st Washington saw action in early 1899 and left for home in August.

John re-enlisted and was with the US Army Hospital Corps in June 1900. He was then sent back to the Philippines from November 1900 until 1903.

During his first tour of duty, John had indeed met a local girl - Antonina Del Rosario. They were reunited before war's end. John and Antonina were married in 1903. Already parents of twin sons, one of whom died at birth, they would have three more children. John died in September 1909, about a month after his father.

Antonina remarried and her 2nd husband brought the family to Nebraska. Her 2nd marriage failed and Antonina took the kids back to the Philippines. Part of the family would return to the States in 1977.

John W. Simmons Jr., youngest of the children, served with the Philippine resistance during World War II. He was killed by the Japanese invaders early in the war. His Anglo features made him a target of the enemy.

The Rough Riders and the gig as police chief went by the wayside, but the real story is every bit as interesting!