Separating fact from legend

Last week, I finished my chapter about Joe Parkhill. As with most chapters, I had to pull in information from many sources to nail down the shifting details of murky stories.

One particularly helpful source is the full US census records through 1950, searchable at several sites online. I use genealogy site FamilySearch, which includes the census data with free accounts.

With that, I can put together the bare bones of a person’s life.

In the 1920 census, Joe is almost nine years old and living with his grandparents at 229 Spring Street in Eureka Springs. That whimsically wedge-shaped cottage, one story in front and two in back, is bright yellow today and one of the city’s most photographed buildings.

In 1930, nineteen-year-old Joe is still living with his now widowed grandmother, but they rent a home on Ingleside Avenue in Chicago. With the Depression in full swing, he’s unemployed.

In 1940, Joe and his grandmother remain in Chicago, now on Kimbark Avenue. Joe is a dance hall promoter.

In 1950, Joe is back in Eureka Springs, living with his wife Inez across from the Basin Park Hotel. What he did at the hotel is why he’s in my book.

Those bare bones allow me to cross-check claims in other sources, such as newspaper articles and local oral legends. That cross-checking is one reason the book is taking me so long, but when I say I shit you not, I’m going to mean it.