Samuel Jack Hearst

Samuel Jack Hearst was born Sam Herscovitch and was known as Jack. The birth was registered many years later, 23 May 1929. The birth date was written as 6 Jun 1907. However Aunt Minnie said that she was 2 months older than Jack. Minnie was born 26 Mar 1906, so the birth year in the record should be 1906.

What I know about Jack is from how his sister Mary described him in a tape done in 1988. Jack did not go to high school. He found an advertisement in the Jewish newspaper that got him to go the outskirts of Sudbury. Mary says her brother was only 13 or 14. The 1921 Census lists all her siblings living at 1426 Fabre in  Montreal so he may have left after that time.

It was Jack who arranged a friend who was a pilot to take their father to Mayo Clinic. The pilot was killed on his way back home. After his father died, he brought the family to Sudbury. Mary remembers being passed from one lap to another during the long trip. Once his family was in Sudbury, Jack couldn't cope with his mother. According to his sister Mary, he was a playboy and shirked his responsibilities. He was always in debt. He took off and left the family stranded with a bunch of bills. Irwin, her brother, came from New York to bring them back to Montreal.

In this 24 Nov 1941 Border Crossing through Blaine Washington, Jack gives his grandmother's name as Polly , rather than Pinie, as his contact at 2806 Hochelaga St., Montreal. In this record, Jack says he is a truck driver  and lives with his wife Elsie at 311 West 50th St , Los Angeles. From the years 1932 to 1941, he gave both New York City and Los Angeles as the places he lived.

Jack had married Elsie in Las Vegas. Mary said that her sister Dotty was hung up on being Jewish and told Jack that had their mother been alive, she would have died knowing that Jack had married a shiksa. To which, Jack answered, he would not have married a shiksa if his mother were alive.

There is a military record dated 30 Mar 1943 indicating that Jack was a private. He died 14 Jan 1986 and was buried at the US Veterans Gravesite, 22 Jan 1986.

Elsie Amelia Dewane, Jack's wife, was born 23 Sep 1903  in Nebraska and died a few months after Jack, 20 Aug 1986 in Los Angeles. They adopted 2 daughters, Patty and Jackie but I have not been able to find out anything about them.