John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! Part 7 - Jack's fathers

Let's take a look at Jack's fathers.

John George Pringle
Data on familysearch family tree click
John Pringle was Jack's father by birth. But he will actually meet him for the first time in 1924 during the filming of "The Merry Widow". John Pringle had his own stock company touring the country - the Johnnie Pringle Stock Company.
According to Leatrice Gilbert's biography "Dark Star" Johnnie came to Logan ... and Ida became an actress, left town and became pregnant.

I could not find a birth certificate for John Pringle.
But his certificate of death states he was born July 13th 1865 in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

First evidence I could find was the US Census 1870.
His name is John George Priegel. He is six years old and lives with his parents and six siblings (there will be more siblings in future years) and his grandfather in Missouri.

US Census 1880.
John is 16 years old. He lives with his parents, siblings and his maternal grandfather in Plattsburg, Clinton, Missouri. Since several of his siblings were born there, we can assume that the family lived there for a couple of years.

Unfortunately I could not find any paper trail that shows how John George Priegel became John/Johnnie Pringle. Maybe his existence as a touring artist is the reason.

When he actually met Ida, married her (did they actually marry?) and how long they were together, I could not find out. A marriage certificate would be hard to trace, where would they have married?

The only written proof linking Johnnie, Ida and Jack is the US Census 1900. A source we're already familiar with.

Johnnie is with Ida and Cecil in Pueblo City, Colorado.
He was born in Missouri, his parents were born in Germany, he is 35 years old.

I couldn't identify any more census records for sure for Johnne Pringle. There just are too many "John Pringle"s.
However there is one "suspect" I have. He shows up in the US Census 1910 and 1920. He is listed as John W. Pringle, was born 1864 in Missouri, had a daughter who was over 20 years old, a wife and several small children. But I could be mistaken!


1924 "The Merry Widow". We already heard about what happened ... Jack's turbulent life, his first successes, he is on the brink of huge success and now he is filming a movie that will catapult him into Hollywood super stardom.
During the filming an extra stepped up to Jack and told him he was John Pringle ... and was his father. (This is supposedly the moment Jack learns for the first time the name he had as a small child.)
Jack will never meet Johnnie again.

We have the pictures taken on this day, father and son playing next to each other. (Of course we don't know if Johnnie had already revealed himself as Jack's father.)
This is the beginning of the big ball room scene. Jack's character had been drinking all day and night before the ball because he was heart broken. That's the reason Jack looks rather dishelved in the pictures.

All the way to the left, Johnnie Pringle as a servant. Jack is standing in the middle of the frame.

The same scene, but now we see the front. Jack is still in the middle. Johnnie is the servant to the right.

And now we see their faces. Jack in the middle, Johnnie Pringle to the right.

Jack's character suffering from his hangover. To the right, still Johnnie being a servant.

Upstaging much, Johnnie? Are extras as servants actually allowed to laugh?

And one last look at the scene. Johnnie Pringle on the left side of the frame. Jack is all the way in the back of the room now, meeting his "brother" who is sitting on the throne.

On familysearch you can see his certificate of death. I linked it to his family tree entry.
On August 12th 1929 Johnnie died at the California Hospital in Los Angeles.
He was 64 years old and left behind a widow named Florence Pringle.
His occupation was actor, his parents according to the document were J G Pringle and Charlotte Stewart.
His cause of death is illegible. But he was operated on June 3rd 1929 and two chronic diseases attributed to his death.
He had been in hospital for two months, he had lived in California for over four years.
He was laid to rest on August 14th 1929. Take a look here.

This is the sketch of the life of Jack's birth father.
What do we know about Johnnie's family life?
His parents were John George Priegel and Charlotte Stuhr.

John George Priegel was born March 17th 1828 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. (His birth name was probably Johann/Johannes Georg Priegel.)
1856 he married his wife in the USA.
1859 the couple officially immigrated to the US.
Around the same time John G. became a methodist priest.
But he wasn't just a priest, he was an artist and painter also.
On familysearch family tree John G.'s parents are listed - John M. Priegel and Rosa Rosenbauer. (No sources given.)


Charlotte Matilda Stuhr was Johnnie's mother.
Charlotte was born in Frankenhausen, Thüringen, Germany.
Her parents were Charles (Karl) Stuhr. Charles is the grandfather living with young Johnnie Pringle.
In familysearch family tree is an entry for Charles' wife - Sophia Garthoff. But I could find no evidence of her.
Charles was born in 1805 in Sachsen, Germany. His occupation is listed in the two census as vetinary or doctor of medicine. By the time the US Census 1880 was taken, Charles was still alive.

Charlotte and John G. had many children. Here is a list of Johnnie Pringle's siblings:

Charles A Priegel
born in 1858 in Pennsylvania
Henry O Priegel
born 1859 in Pennsylvania, occupation "painter"
Matilda Priegel
born in 1860 in Pennsylvania
Anna Maria Priegel
born in 1862 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1885 married to John Boone and died in 1952
Jacks father Johnnie Pringle/Priegel
born 1865 in Missouri, actor and stage producer, died in 1929 in Los Angeles
William H Priegel
born 1866 in Plattsburg, Missouri, occupation "paint maker", he was a soldier who got injured in battle, resulting in losing his index finger of his left hand, died in 1928.
Edward Priegel
born 1870 in Missouri, last trace of him in the US Census 1880 as "Eddie Priegel"
Louis Ernest Priegel
born in 1873 in Missouri, occupation "baker and candy maker", married Rhoda B., moved to Minnesota where he had a successful bakery, as a pensionist he lived of the bakery's profits.
Mary Priegel
born 1874 in Missouri, I could only trace her as a child
Plato Pathagarus Priegel
born in 1876 in Plattsburg, Missouri, occupation baker, during the war he worked in an ammunition factory, after that worked as a baker again, made headlines as "master baker", he married Amanda Schmitt, died in 1957.
Emmanuel A Priegel
born in 1878 in Missouri, occupation blacksmith, married Charlotte Hammer, died in 1960 in Los Angeles.

A big family. Some with artistic ventures.
While Jack was touring the county with Ida and Ida send him to Logan, Utah when she could not take care of him, Jack never found refuge with the big family of his father.

So who was Jack's stepfather? Would he take responsibily for Jack?
Walter B. Gilbert
The man Jack thought was his father for the longest time was actually his stepfather, actor and comedian Walter B. Gilbert.
Born November 26th 1877 in Philadelphia. His birth name was Walter Bennett Gilbert.
Before Walter married Ida in March 1907 in Ohio, Walter had already been married. I could find no evidence of any child of Walter.

Walter's parents were Franklin A. Gilbert, born 1852 in Pennsylvania.
Julia A. Bennett, born 1852 in Pennsylvania.
Walter and Julia had - so it seems - two children: Walter and another son called Francis M. Gilbert, born 1880.

After Ida's death in 1913, Walter handed Jack Ida's makeup kit, ten dollars and a train ticket to San Francisco. He practically kicked 16 year old Jack out of his life.
They were in contact by letter for some years after that, Walter used his contacts to get Jack a job with Thomas Ince in Hollywood. But when Jack really needed him because he ran out of money and had Olivia Burwell to support, Walter just wrote him a letter, saying Jack should have saved money and Walter wouldn't help him. "I never wasted stamps on him again." said Jack.

Walter remarried in 1919 and died in 1951 in San Francisco.

So - what do you think? How do you feel about Jack's fathers?
Both completely disappeared from his life as soon as they could.
That's sad.
Even if they didn't have the means to support him, at least they could have tried to give some emotional support for him, but that obviously didn't happen.

Another thing that comes to attention is the religious component in both the lives of Jack's parents - Jack's grandparents were very religious folk.
Ida's family were mormon. Jack's paternal grandfather was a methodist priest.
We do not know how Jack identified or if he considered himself a religious person at all.
But we know Johnnie Pringle demanded that baby Jack was baptisted in the Church of England as soon as Ida had returned to the stock company that were staying in Canada at the time.

In the next post, I'll summarize the finds and give you links to all the blogposts I wrote.