-
| Name |
Ira J. Johnson |
| Gender |
Male |
| Person ID |
I3314 |
adkinshorton |
| Last Modified |
2 Jan 2013 |
| Father |
George Bristol Johnson, b. 29 Jan 1842, d. 17 Aug 1913, Chicago, Cook Co, IL  (Age 71 years) |
| Mother |
Caroline Elizabeth Couch, b. 10 Dec 1845, Chicago, Cook Co, IL , d. 03 Jul 1885, Chicago, Cook Co, IL (Age 39 years) |
| Married |
30 Jan 1867 |
Cook Co, IL |
| Documents |
 | Illinois Statewide Marriage Index - COUCH
• Quick View of Families (maximize browser for better viewing)
|
| Family ID |
F21649 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
-
| Notes |
Somewhat of an historical oddity, Ira J. is listed in History of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Vol. III as Ira J. Couch and his parents as George B. and Caroline E. Couch...and his wife as Generva Laing. However, his father was George Bristol Johnson, and his mother Caroline Elizabeth Couch, making him a Johnson, not a Couch. After (presumably) burial with the Couch family in Lincoln Park, and upon reinterrments in Rosehill Cemetery, the family monument includes the names of Ira Couch and Caroline E. Gregory Couch, Sr. (Caroline Jr.'s parents), along with daughter, Caroline E. Couch Johnson, Jr., her husband George Bristol Johnson, and their daughter-in-law, Generva Laing Couch. Clearly, Generva did not become a Couch by birth, or by marriage to Ira J. Johnson, son of Caroline E. Couch Johnson and George B. Johnson. So the questions arise: How did Ira J. Johnson become Ira J. Couch, and his wife Generva become Generva Laing Couch, rather than Ira J. and Generva Laing Johnson? Text of the History of Trade is given below in hopes someone might have clarification for this: | | | p.77-78-- "Ira J. Couch--A native son of Chicago and a representative of one of the prominent and influential families of this city, Ira Johnson Couch is a son of George B. and Caroline E. Couch, and a grandson of Ira Couch, whose name is closely and influentially linked with the annals of civic and material development and progress in Chicago. The Board of Trade claims Ira J. Couch as one of its appreciative and valued members, and he is one of the interested principals in the representative firm of S. B. Chapin & Co., one of the foremost in the stock-investment business in both Chicago and New York and one that has definite precedence and influence in connection with the operations of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago and the Chicago Stock Exchange, with both of which important bodies Mr. Couch is actively identified, besides which he is to be designated as an able member of the bar of his native city, though he has not been actively engaged in the practice of his profession since 1900. Mr. Couch was born in Chicago on the 21st of June, 1871, and after making good use of the advantages aflforded in the public schools of the western metropolis he pursued a higher academic course in Beloit College, at Beloit, Wisconsin. In preparation for his chosen profession he then entered the Chicago College of Law, and in this institution he was graduted as a member of the class of 1896, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, his admission to the Illinois bar having been a virtual concomitant of his reception of the degree noted. After his graduation Mr. Couch became associated with the representative law firm of Arnd & Arnd, with which he continued his alliance until 1900, when he retired from the practice of law and turned his attention to the stock and bond business, of which he has become a successful representative in Chicago, as has he also in connection with operations on the Board of Trade. At the initiation of his activities along these lines he was fortunate in identifying himself with the firm of S. B. Chapin & Co., and of the same he has been a member since 1906. Though he has manifested no ambition for political preferment, Mr. Couch as a public-spirited citizen takes a lively interest in all that touches the well-being of his native city. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirtysecond degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and he holds membership in the Chicago Athletic Club, the Chicago Golf Club and the Glen View Golf Club. In 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Couch to Miss Genevra Laing, of Chicago, and they have three children?Ira Laing, Mary Elizabeth and Johnson." | |
|
|
|
|
