George Jacobs Ducrow

George Jacobs Ducrow. March 13, 1863 - March 13, 1944. , George Jacobs Ducrow was born into a circus. His earliest memory was training with L.B. Lents New York circus. However, his time there was not all fun and games. In 1873 he was badly injured in a fireworks accident and was blind for three months. He eventually left the circus and was sent to live with his grandmother, who took him to New York City in 1876. A few months after their arrival, his grandmother died, leaving thirteen-year-old George on his own. He sought help and was taken to the New York Juvenile Asylum., In 1878 George was placed out in Illinois with a farmer who was not kind to him. After four years he ran away and worked for a number of other farmers before he finally settled in Irving, Illinois, where he worked in a hardware store. In 1898 George enlisted and served in the Spanish American War. Following his service, he returned to Illinois and began working for the John Deere Plow Company as a traveling expert. He and his family later moved to Mississippi where George worked as a John Deere demonstrator, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked in the John Deere office., George married Julia Dickerson, a widow and mother of one, and together they had two daughters. The family never missed a circus or a parade! His daughter Edith remembered her father as a loving parent, devoted Christian, and reader. "He enjoyed being with us and enjoyed all the things that he missed in his childhood with us… He was a 'flag waving American,' and never complained about the past. Instead, he loved America for… 'the chance it gave him to make good.'", In loving memory of William (Bill) and Mary Ann Lagemann.