Jay Nicholas Simons

Narrative:

     Jay Nicholas Simons was born on 24 May 1906 in Milton, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania.^6,7,8
     Jay appeared with his mother, on the 1920 Federal Census of Milton, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, in the household of John Henry Simons, his grandfather.¹⁹

A Troubled Youth --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     As a teenager, Jay seems to have taken up with a disreputable element. On 9 Dec 1926 he was arrested as part of group of eight young men from Milton and Turbotville after police raded their homes and found stolen goods. They all were working occasionally, but were discovered after they "showed an affluence which they could not have come by honestly" according to a newspaper report. Jay confessed to taking part in a robbery of the E. R. Taggart store in Watsontown on 17 Nov involving $500 worth of clothing, the Old Mill Inn in Milton on 27 Nov of cigars, cigarettes, candy and merchandise, the H. B. Mensch grocery store in late November where they took canned goods, a shot gun, groceries, and meats worth $300, and Ward Wallace's butcher shop in Milton on 13 Dec yielding $200 in meats.²⁰
     Jay and his accomplices pleaded guilty of all the charges. Unable to post $1,500 bail, they were held in jail for trial. On 3 Jan 1927 they were sentenced to two to four years in jail.^21,22 However they were all released after being paroled on 27 Sep 1927.²³
     Jay got in trouble again in Jul 1930, when he and Warren Paul, one of his accomplices in the earlier robberies, were arrested on charges of beating and robbing Harry F. Persing of $18. A newspaper account said they had both served terms in Glenn Mills reformatory and "had bad names." They had been drinking at a speakeasy and Persing had caused trouble by ordering drinks for the house and refusing to pay for them. Jay suggested they go downtown to a restaurant as there was nothing but Limburger cheese at the speakeasy. Persing drove them, but an argument broke out and they stopped, then Paul hit Persing with the automobile's crank. Persing claimed they had gone through his pockets and taken about $18.^24,25
     They pleaded guilty and were sentenced 22 Sep 1930 to five to ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary in solitary confinement at labor, and fined $100 and costs, with the judge accusing them of a "mean and despicable trick" in attacking the man who had offered them a ride.²⁶ They returned to court 2 Dec 1930, stating they had understood that they were pleading guilty only to the assualt charges and not to highway robbery, and denied they had taken any money. Jay had been working at the Milton Manufacturing company, making $3.50 per day. They were re-tried and found guilty of assault and battery and each fined $50 and sentenced to one to two years in jail. They were paroled after nine months in the county jail.^25,27
     Jay appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of Milton, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, in the household of his mother.⁴ Jay appeared in the 1930 census with his step-father's surname, Meckley, but it appears that he never actually adopted that name and continued to use his mother's maiden name, Simons.^2,28,29

Getting Married --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Jay married first Anna Marie Styers, daughter of Abraham Lincoln Styers and Laura Jane Hummel, about 1937. She had previously been married to John Dewey Heimbach and Clarence Elwood Weida.^9,10,11
     Jay and Anna appeared on the 1940 Federal Census of Milton, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, at 454 Columbia Ave., enumerated 17 Apr 1940, reporting that they were renting their home, for $11 per month. Listed as living with them were his brother Olan, her father, Abraham Lincoln Styers, and her nephew, Clifford Daubin, age 17.²⁸
     Jay registered for the draft for World War II on 16 Oct 1940, while living at 454 Columbia Ave., Milton, Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, reporting he was employed by Milton Manufacturing Co., in Milton.³
     Jay and Anna appeared on the 1950 Federal Census of Kelly, Union Co., Pennsylvania, on Mountain View Rd., enumerated 3 Apr 1950, reporting they lived in a home that was not on a farm, and lived in the same house the year before.³⁰
     In May 1950 Jay's wife asked the missing persons bureau in Philadelphia to search for her nephew, Clifford Daubin, who they had raised. He had enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and several months later been given a medical discharge. He went to Philadelphia where he worked at several jobs, then suddenly disappeared in 1945. No explanation was reported as to why she had waited five years to report him missing.³¹
     There was a fire at the home of Jay and his wife in Milton on 14 Feb 1968, caused by a defective heating pad. She had used it during the night and was sure she had turned it off before placing it under the bed. Damages were confined to the bedroom, estimated to be $150.³²
     He was a laborer at an iron works in 1930. By 1940 he was a box maker for a manufacturing company. That year he reported he had worked 24 hours the last week of March, and had worked 45 weeks the prior year, earning $900.^33,28 He retired 1969 from ACF Industries in Milton, where he worked in the maintenance department.³⁴
     His wife died on 9 Jan 1976 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.^35,36,37

A Second Marriage --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Jay married second Martha Jane Sholter, daughter of Charles D. Sholter and Daisy M. Allen, in Jun 1976 in Union Co., Pennsylvania. She had previously been married to an unknown man and a Mr. Elias, and was the widow of Joseph Robert Bowes and Allen Clifford Price.^12,13,14
     Jay died on 19 Apr 1984 in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, at age 77.^15,16,17 He was buried on 21 Apr 1984 in Montandon Cemetery.¹⁸