Jerrems Family Newsletter
Dear Donald,
Thanks for the emails of appreciation for the JJ. Ray and I spend way too much time on this every month, so it is nice that you are enjoying the effort. Also thanks for contributing stories.
We try to balance the story lines between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Also, I would like use a seasonal theme for the Journal, but I can’t use Fall when half the readership is getting ready for Spring.
Headsup: The December issue will reach you during Thanksgiving week, and the Jaunary issue during Christmas week.
We have a report from Chick’s son, a history major who did some research, stating that there is no such thing as “an authentic Jerrems Coat of Arms”, which we were looking for. Our original thought was it might make for a nice family logo in the JJ banner. Anyone want to take on the CoA design project?
Dan’s Jacket
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is based on an email Ray (our roving reporter in Sydney) sent me several years ago. Ray has added some embellishments (to make it easier for readers to understand) and an update.
“About 4 years ago our son Roger sent my wife Di an email addressed to djerrems@yahoo.com, overlooking the subtlety that my wife’s address was “d(underscore)jerrems”. Normally one would expect an incorrectly addressed email to merely bounce back. Instead we got an excited email from Dan Jerrems (obviously being “djerrems@yahoo.com”) in Baltimore , via Roger, to say that he had got Roger’s email and that we were the first other Jerrems people he had ever heard of. We exchanged some emails and anecdotes but did not succeed in taking the matter of how we might be related any further.
This was the first inkling I had that there was a Jerrems family in the US. Later, when I began researching the Jerrems family, I found a genealogical goldmine in the US. None of the numerous US Jerrems people I located had any inkling that they had relatives (albeit third cousins) in Australia, either.
One of Dan’s anecdotes was that he had gone to a second hand clothing store in Chicago some years earlier and saw a very nice suede jacket. When he looked at it more closely he saw from the label that it had been made by Jerrems Tailors in Chicago. He made some enquiries about Jerrems Tailors but did not find out anything of use.
Somewhat perplexed that there were Jerrems people in the US, I mentioned this to my Aunty Vi, who lived in Sydney. She said that she remembered an Uncle Arthur and Aunty Mame who had visited her family from the US in the mid 1920s. She said that Uncle Arthur had a tailoring business and showed her a photo of an imposing building with “Jerrems Tailors” in large letters across it. She was adamant that the store was in New York, but that is another story.
As you have probably now realised, “Arthur” was Arthur Wallace Jerrems, one of your grandfather’s older brothers. He was a cousin of Vi’s father, Ernest Alfred Sr. More importantly, when my later research fell into place I realised that Dan’s mother had married Arthur’s son (Arthur Wallace junior), in both cases being their second marriage. So the coat had been made by the store originally owned by Dan’s mother’s late husband’s father!
Beat that for coincidence!” Ray’s Update:
Just to prove that in genealogical research if you are patient more things come your way.
Several months ago Leila Menzies found the shipping record for Arthur and Mame’s return to the US from their visit to Sydney. They sailed from Sydney to San Francisco on the “Sierra”, arriving on 23 April 1926. They would then have travelled by train to Chicago. Aunty Vi’s vivid recollection of an event that took place almost 80 years ago was proved correct.
If she was here now (she died last year) she would have smiled quietly in her dignified way and said “Ray, I told you so.”
Ray’s Note: We will tie-in Leila’s family connection in the December issue. Some “Nicoll the Tailor” stores were changed to “Jerrems Tailors” in the early 1900s.
Dark Odyssey (1957), Starring Jeanne Jerrems
She reached out for love and found a loaded gun! So begins “Dark Odyssey,” Radley Metzger’s first feature, made with William Kyriakis, shot in New York City. This contemporary Greek tragedy tells the gripping story of a seaman out to avenge the rape of his sister. But before he can, a young woman captures his heart, creating a conflict between love and machismo.
Genre: Drama
Format: Full Screen
Language: English
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Edward Brazier …. Jack Fields
David Hooks …. George Andros
Warren Houston …. Bartender
JEANNE JERREMS …. Niki Vassos
Athan Karras …. Yianni Martakis
Chris Marx …. Freighter Captain
Maggie Owens …. Cleaning Woman
Rosemary Torri …. Helen Vassos
Ariadne Zapnoukayas…. Mrs. Vassos
Nicholas Zapnoukayas… Mr. Vassos This is tale of a brooding Greek sailor (Athan Karras) who jumps a shipmate then jumps ship to New York to satisfy a personal vendetta. Before he can, a young Greek-American woman captures his heart, creating a conflict between love and machismo.
The sailor’s plans seems to become temporarily derailed when he meets a nice Greek-American girl (Jeanne Jerrems), whose mix of politeness and forwardness disarms the tradition-bound Karras and he becomes torn between his mission and the possibilities of a relationship in the New World in the contrasts between dour, humorless Karras, whose Old World values are spinning in the “permissive” social landscape of modern America, and the modern Jerrems.
=============EDITOR’S NOTE ===============
This is my kind of movie. Dark Odyssey can be rented from NetFlix.com. If anyone has see it on VCR/CD, please let me know.
As near as we can tell, Dark Odyssey is the only movie with Jeanne Jerrems. Where does she fit into the family tree? She is Dan’s mother!
Tribute to Liam
As far as Liam Jerrems goes how much time do I have? How much paper? You could seriously write a series of books on the guy, and I am not just saying it because he was my brother. He was only 20 when he passed away but he literally lived a life most people could only dream of both in a good and bad way. Good because of all the amazing things he did for both himself and other people and the huge amount of friends he had and the influence he had on all of them and everyone he came in contact with, plus so many other things. But bad for the 13 year battle he had with cancer in which he was put through things that made him so tough willed his spirit literally burned like a flame.
It sounds like a very sad story but now I just feel lucky and proud that a guy like that was my brother and I really could keep writing for days about him, but here’s just a few of the main things you need to know about him.
Born on the 09/07/1983, Liam was third of three boys, and at a very young age his fiery spirit was recognizable. He was pretty much the most animated child you could ever meet. Apart from a hernia he got at age 4 he was fairly normal until he turned seven when he was diagnosed with Leukemia.
From when he first got the cancer his resiliency and his “ready to fight it” attitude were recognizable and even from that young age he made a vow to himself to utterly reject the cancer and its ability to make his life no fun. He wanted fun in his life and nothing was going to stop him! It was like the Leukemia was just an interruption to his social events. The doctors couldn’t believe him either, and they would say he will be sick for weeks, but a week later he would be home smiling and planning his next social engagement.
He should have died when he was 11. He was granted a “wish” by the Starlight Foundation to go to the snow, which we did and it was great, but he survived. He was supposed to die again when he was 14 but there was way too much happening socially at that time. Starlight gave him another “wish” and this time we went to Sydney on a skateboard shopping spree. Again it was all too much fun and he survived again. He had his first bone marrow transplant around this time and although it all looked good at first, it failed. However another match was made.
At this time Liam raised thousands of dollars to buy c.d. players for everyone in his ward and was rewarded with hospital plaques in his memory in that particular ward. Also at this time Liam was selected as one of Australia’s Youth Ambassadors to go to the Sydney Olympics. He met all the famous athletes plus some very important people and became a Leukemia Research activist in conjunction with his hospital.
Amongst many other things Liam graduated from high school with excellent marks and was only kept back one grade despite missing over 5 full years of schooling on and off. He was accepted into an Acting School degree course but deferred it to help his mother run a food shop for a year and make some cash. At this time Liam had his 2nd transplant but it failed again. The Government decided he could not have any more treatment (2 transplants was everyone’s limit). He was 19 so he kept working, saved $10,000, bought a hot car and took Dad and I on a holiday to New Zealand, unfazed and more determined than ever to have fun. Just amazing, he wouldn’t say die and he partied and had fun to the end.
When he finally passed away it didn’t seem like a waste at all. 1000 people crammed the church right out the door for his funeral . The Liam Jerrems legacy lives on in Noosa and he holds a special place in the heart of our community. I am a small man in comparison to him and I honestly haven’t met anyone with his pure greatness but I am so glad he was my brother, but still so sad he has gone. He was always my best friend and I his. A true lord of men, a king among men.
Jerrems Trivia
Jerrems Factoids You Probably Didn’t Know
October’s Jerrems Trivia Quiz:
The mountain range west of Nowra, which is on the coast about 100 miles south of Sydney was officially named (by the NSW Geographical Names Board) “Jerrems Spur”. After which member of the Jerrems family? We have no correct answers yet, but Jenny Jerrems from Sarasota, Florida says:
“I have a good friend in Australia, & if I get a chance to visit Pauline I will try to visit Jerrems Spur, too, if it’s findable on a map.” November’s Jerrems Trivia
Thomas William Jerrems Jr (born 1867 in Plainfield, Illinois), holds the record for the highest ratio of daughters to sons. He had 6 children, 5 of whom were daughters (Julia, Ada, Lulu, Louise and Amy).
He also holds the record for the brevity of their names. Thomas was a farmer, perhaps he gave his cows short names also. The male line of this family (not the cows, however) has died out.
Administrivia
Housekeeping Items 
Sample Holiday Greetings from One Branch of the Family Tree to yours.
The Kiwi Jerrems in New Zealand Jerrems-to-Jerrems Greeting Card
Last reminder to send your family greeting and picture in to me before December. Otherwise, I will make one up, but I don’t want to embarrass the nuts and the fruits in the tree.
From the Circulation Department
We are up to 33 subscribers worldwide. We publish on the last Saturday of the month.
If-You-Dare-to-Show-Your-Friends Department
Back issues of the Jerrems Journal can be seen at www.peacefulstreet.com