During the Great Depression of the 1930s, there were many homeless people wandering about looking for work in any way they could find it. In Winnebago county, Illinois, the County Comissioner would try to find work and housing for those who could/would work, and encourage the unwilling to move along to somewhere else.
Jack Berget was one such wandering person. He was in his 50s, and not in good health, but he was able and willing to work. The commissioner called my grandfather, Neil Gale, who said yes, he could use another farmhand. (Farmers may not have had much cash, but they didn't starve.) Jack arrived on the mail truck, and stayed with the family for many years. He was unable to handle the heavy farm work, but was able and willing to work at the multitude of smaller jobs necessary in farming.
My mother has fond memories of him helping her with her homework. In my half-century of family visits to the cemetery, my mother and aunts have always decorated Jack's grave the same as their parents'.
Since Jack had no close relatives (supposedly one sister, in Florida, who rarely wrote), when he died, Grandpa buried him in the family plot.
Jack Berget was one such wandering person. He was in his 50s, and not in good health, but he was able and willing to work. The commissioner called my grandfather, Neil Gale, who said yes, he could use another farmhand. (Farmers may not have had much cash, but they didn't starve.) Jack arrived on the mail truck, and stayed with the family for many years. He was unable to handle the heavy farm work, but was able and willing to work at the multitude of smaller jobs necessary in farming.
My mother has fond memories of him helping her with her homework. In my half-century of family visits to the cemetery, my mother and aunts have always decorated Jack's grave the same as their parents'.
Since Jack had no close relatives (supposedly one sister, in Florida, who rarely wrote), when he died, Grandpa buried him in the family plot.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, there were many homeless people wandering about looking for work in any way they could find it. In Winnebago county, Illinois, the County Comissioner would try to find work and housing for those who could/would work, and encourage the unwilling to move along to somewhere else.
Jack Berget was one such wandering person. He was in his 50s, and not in good health, but he was able and willing to work. The commissioner called my grandfather, Neil Gale, who said yes, he could use another farmhand. (Farmers may not have had much cash, but they didn't starve.) Jack arrived on the mail truck, and stayed with the family for many years. He was unable to handle the heavy farm work, but was able and willing to work at the multitude of smaller jobs necessary in farming.
My mother has fond memories of him helping her with her homework. In my half-century of family visits to the cemetery, my mother and aunts have always decorated Jack's grave the same as their parents'.
Since Jack had no close relatives (supposedly one sister, in Florida, who rarely wrote), when he died, Grandpa buried him in the family plot.
Jack Berget was one such wandering person. He was in his 50s, and not in good health, but he was able and willing to work. The commissioner called my grandfather, Neil Gale, who said yes, he could use another farmhand. (Farmers may not have had much cash, but they didn't starve.) Jack arrived on the mail truck, and stayed with the family for many years. He was unable to handle the heavy farm work, but was able and willing to work at the multitude of smaller jobs necessary in farming.
My mother has fond memories of him helping her with her homework. In my half-century of family visits to the cemetery, my mother and aunts have always decorated Jack's grave the same as their parents'.
Since Jack had no close relatives (supposedly one sister, in Florida, who rarely wrote), when he died, Grandpa buried him in the family plot.
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