In this obituary from the Peotone Vedette of my Great Great Grandaunt Belle Jorgenson McKee, there’s a mention of a surviving relative, a “cousin Mrs. Anna Loucks”, who attended her funeral. Is Anna Loucks Belle’s cousin on her father’s side or her mother’s side of the family? I'd like to know because Belle and her sister, my 2nd Great Grandmother Lena Roscoe, have the same father (Ole Jorgenson), but I think they had different mothers. Belle's mother is Caroline Peterson Jorgenson, but I don't think she was Lena's mother.
But that's a whole 'nother story.
While looking into this, I did a simple Google search for "Anna Loucks" Chicago. Come to find out she was one of Chicago's FIRST ten female police officers hired in 1913! The Chicago History Museum had a blog post about them from 2012, but it's no longer available.
At chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, a search for "Chicago police women" finds many articles from various newspapers around the country. This article appeared in the South Bend (Indiana) News-Times, February 27, 1914, page 7. The arresting officers were Mary Boyd and "Marie" Loucks. Anna's middle initial is M.
Have to put the following article in here! This was buried deep on page 9 from the Topeka State Journal, Topeka, Kansas, April 8, 1914.
"WOMEN CAN SHOOT
From a clipping I found at QConline.com, in 1950, at the Second Annual Convention of the Illinois Policewomen's Association, Mrs. Anna Loucks, at age 79, was the state's oldest female police officer at that time. Her obituary said she received the highest civil service rating among the first ten policewomen to take the examination.
Well, that was a fun diversion, but now back to work answering the question of how Anna Loucks is a cousin to Belle Jorgenson McKee.
Hit the Bull's Eye More Often Than Men Do
Chicago, April 8 - Police Women of Chicago can shoot straighter and can hit the bull's eye more often than Chicago policemen, according to a report today from the police school of instruction. Twelve police women made a revolver shot average of 88.43 per cent.
"Chicago police women are better marksmen than the men." said M. L. C. Funkhouser, second deputy police superintendent. "Twelve policemen taken from the ranks, not the experts, but the average patrolmen cannot make a better record than the women did."
One of the police women, Marie Crot, made a record of 96 per cent, and nine out of the twelve were returned as "expert' shots with average of 84 per cent each or higher."
From a clipping I found at QConline.com, in 1950, at the Second Annual Convention of the Illinois Policewomen's Association, Mrs. Anna Loucks, at age 79, was the state's oldest female police officer at that time. Her obituary said she received the highest civil service rating among the first ten policewomen to take the examination.
Well, that was a fun diversion, but now back to work answering the question of how Anna Loucks is a cousin to Belle Jorgenson McKee.
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