She told me stories on which he would pop out to visit her and give her a hundred dollar bill. Or the time he brought her a pet monkey. I was always in awe and I attempted to use this against her when I wanted something "unique"---it never worked to my benefit.
When I got a bit older my mom retold the stories but added more details. She explained to me that we are not really related to any Smith's although that is her maiden name (my grandfather's last name). This confused me at first. My mom loved telling me family stories and this one sticks out the most to me.
My grandfather's name was Jack Smith Jr. and his dad's name was Valentine Karp. As it was told to me Valentine told my great-grandmother that his name was Jack Smith--hence the reason that my grandfather was named Jack Smith Jr. Obviously nobody was aware at the time that really it should have been Valentine Karp Jr. My great-grandparents never married as it was a short affair.
Anyway, what brings me to this is because I have located the newspaper articles along with the trial information against my great-grandfather Valentine Karp.
My great-grandfather was a bank robber and used the alias Jack Smith. This is why he was inconsistent and in and out of my mom's life and also why he gave unusual and expensive gifts.
I haven't read all the court proceedings yet but here is a newspaper article (one of the many that I have located.)Valentine Karp's photo and a brief story of this bank that he robbed is located on the top right of the Algona, Iowa Newspaper.
Next I need to research my dad's side of the family....which will be difficult beings there are a lot of brothers and sisters (I believe 16 or 17ish) and they lived in an orphanage---unless you were a few of them who happened to be adopted.
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