George Jacobs Ducrow

George Jacobs Ducrow was born into a circus and his earliest memory was training with L.B. Lents New York circus. 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, and he was taken to the New York Juvenile Asylum. In 1878 he 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 he 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 he 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. His daughter Edith remembered him as a loving parent, devoted Christian, and reader who enjoyed being with his family, loved America for the chance it gave him to make good, and never complained about the past.

Concordia, Kansas · United States