The incredible century: Evelyn Jackson's 100-year journey from Missouri farm to WWII veteran in England

Evelyn Jackson, who was born Dec. 25, 1924, in Advance, observed her 100th birthday in England, where she has spent most of her life.

Jackson has had quite a journey after beginning life on a farm surrounded with oven-warmed bricks as a makeshift incubator, said her only child, Sally Gray of London.

“We are celebrating mum’s birthday in the residential care facility into which she moved at 95 years old,” Gray said earlier in December. “They are throwing a party on Dec. 23. I will be there with my husband and two children, John and Clementine.”

While Jackson is expecting a birthday card from King Charles of England, her daughter also requested one from U.S. President Joe Biden.

Jackson’s parents William and Jennie Wells emigrated from the United Kingdom in 1880 and 1915 respectively. The Wells family was based in Advance, Missouri, when she was born.

“She was a low birth weight, which might explain why her place of birth is listed as Pocahontas, Arkansas, on her birth certificate,” said Gray, questioning if it possibly was the site of a hospital.

Sadly, Jackson’s father died in 1925, only months after she was born, Gray said. He is buried in the cemetery in Advance.

“My mother and I visited his grave in 1976 when we spent some time at the home of the local drugstore owners, Bernice and Charlie Hinkle,” she said.

Jackson’s mother Jennie Wells returned to the UK following William’s death.

“My mother went to school in Lincolnshire, UK, took part in the Second World War as a member of the Royal Observer Corps and established a hairdressing business,” Gray said. “My grandparents’ story is very interesting. My grandfather was 25 years older than my grandmother. He died in 1925, aged 64 (born 1860), when my grandmother was 39.”

It was only two or three years ago that Gray’s mother shared the fact that her grandmother was a second wife.

Her grandparents came from Lincolnshire, but they did not know each other until her grandfather returned to England after his first wife’s death.

“William came from a farming family, but at some point, the family lost the farm,” Gray said. “I think this prompted him to emigrate to the United States in 1880. He settled initially in Ohio, where he met his first wife, Ellen Denman, whose family had emigrated from Lincolnshire.”

William and his first wife were married for 27 years and had no children when Ellen died in 1914.

Following Ellen’s death, William returned to Lincolnshire to visit family, and this is where Gray’s grandmother Jennie Baile, 29, comes into the picture. Born in 1886, Jennie came from a farming family that had fallen on hard times.

“When she met William, she was the main carer for her aged parents,” Gray said. “There was opposition from her parents to the match, but despite this, Jennie persuaded William they could make a life together in Missouri. William returned, and Jennie followed. She had a very adventurous spirit. William and Jennie were married in April, 1916.”

Gray’s mother was the youngest of three children: Tom was born in 1917, John in 1920, and her mother Evelyn in 1924.

“The family seems to have been quite itinerant,” Gray said. “They made their living through farming, and my mother says that Jennie used to raise turkeys. I still have some bakelite harness spreaders which my grandmother brought back from the States.”

Gray’s grandmother told “my mum the 10 years she spent with William in Missouri were the happiest years of her life. Sadly, they came to an end when William died. His cause of death was liver cancer. I believe he knew he was dying. I think William knew she would eventually be alone with the children and thought that she would cope better if she returned to Lincolnshire.”

When Gray and her mother saw his grave when they visited Advance in 1976, “We were introduced to a couple who had offered to adopt mum after William’s death,” Gray said.

Gray’s grandmother died in 1966 when Gray was four years old.

As the single mother of three children, one of whom was a babe in arms, Jennie found it hard to cope even when she returned to Lincolnshire.

Life was still hard, Gray said. She had a smallholding and would make butter, which she sold at a market. She cycled the 16-mile round trip frequently. Her cousin offered to have her become his housekeeper. The offer came at a price, he only had room for one of her children.

“Jennie had a very difficult choice to make,” Gray said. “It was my mother who remained with her. Mum’s older brothers were sent away to school, though really the school was a glorified orphanage. I feel very sad, mainly because Tom died in the school aged 14, in 1931. My mother has limited memories of him, but she still has a Native American arrowhead, which he found in a field, and passed on to her. My mother and her brother John were reunited after Tom’s death. They both attended local schools.”

Gray explained her mother had a general education.

“She was not academic. She was apprenticed to a hairdresser after school. Her business sense meant that she built up a clientele and had a shop that also sold knitwear,” Gray said.

Her mother was 14 when World War II broke out. Once she reached 18, she was drafted into the Royal Observer Corps, counting the aircraft flying out and coming back to the many airfields in Lincolnshire. She was an active member of the ROC Association.