Janus Theodore Hieronimus (1911 - 1996)

Born 22 Sep 1911 in Nacogdoches County Texas

Ancestors

Husband of Jewel Etta (Mackey) Hieronimus — married 12 Sep 1966 in Angelina County Texas

Descendants

Died 6 Jan 1996 at age 84 in Angelina County, Texas

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cyndi Ricks [send private message]

Biography

Janus was born in 1911 (I remember my mom taking my grandparents to get a birth certificate. They choose the year and the date for my grandfather's certificate). He was a large man, 6'4" with really large hands and feet with curly dark hair which he kept cut really short. He married Etta McKey (pronounced Mackey) they had 5 children, Ray & Fay, Betty, Dude and Hazel. They divorced in the early 60's and remarried not to long after. In between he married someone else but I do not remember her name. They lived in Nacogdoches, Angelina and Polk Counties. Janus was a mechanic and worked at the saw mills, so they moved around these mills towns.
Janus was 5 when his mother died and 14 when his father died; he had almost no formal education, and could not read or write. When I was in the 3rd grade my grandparents built a house out behind the paper mill in Lufkin, Texas. It was 3 bedrooms 1 bath on 3 acres. (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Hieronimus_Family_Home)
My grandfather's last job was for the plywood plant in Lufkin; as the large machines mechanic. Every evening he would bring home a hand full of little papers; he would tell my grandmother what he did that day and she would fill out each form and he would take them in his lunch pail to work the next day.
Once he retired he devoted himself to his place and his family, he had a couple of old barns and a several OLD tractors that he farmed the 3 acres with. I remember that my grandparents grew enough food on that 3 acres to fill 3 freezers and every freezer every child had. Papa always called it a truck patch.
If prompted he would tell you about being an orphan; he told stories of waking up under a table at a family members house because there was no one to put him to bed; of wearing his fathers boots for several years after he died and how much too big they were. He once said to me "I know what lonely is".
He told stories from his past that were funny and others that were sad, his memory was keen.
He was very devoted to his family as an adult; and all of his kids were very attached to him as well. When my son (his first great grandchild) was born we left the hospital and took him directly to see my grandparents. I will never forget him holding my baby with those huge hands, tears in his eyes telling me the boy was good stock.
He passed away in 1996 and is buried in Sand Flat Cemetery in Angelina County Texas. ^[1]

Place of burial Space:SandFlat Cemetery, Angelina County, Texas

Part of Project: United States Cemeteries

Sources

• Cyndi Ricks, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Cyndi and others.

name: Janus Theodore Hieronimus titles & terms: event: Marriage event date: 12 Sep 1966 event place: Angelina, Texas, United States age: 55 estimated birth year: 1911 spouse: Jewel Etta Mckey spouse's age: 48 spouse's estimated birth year: 1918 certificate number: 074355 county code: 003 Citing this Record

"Texas, Marriages, 1966-2010," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VTRF-8K9 : accessed 22 Oct 2012), Janus Theodore Hieronimus and Jewel Etta Mckey, 1966.

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4SF-GZ9 : accessed 2 October 2016), J T Hieronimus, Justice Precinct 3, Nacogdoches, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 174-11, sheet 5B, family 87, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4111