My grandfather John R Bloom 1884 to 1935 and his ancestors

When I became interested in my family’s genealogy a decade ago, there was no  living relative who remembered anything about my maternal grandfather except his, name … John Bloom.  With the resources of Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org (the Mormon Church genealogy site) and a clue from my ‘aunt’, I have discovered much more.

Charles A Bloom Obituary

On the 1900 US Census, John Ryan Bloom (as Jno R. Bloom, born November 1884) and his parents, Charles A. Bloom (see Bloomfamily) and Grace M.  Bloom, resided in the home of Mo (Morris) and Thresa Hanf at 620 Second Avenue West in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Charles and Grace Bloom were married in 1884. My great grandfather Charles worked as a bank teller and John was ‘At School’. My great grandparents were both recorded on that 1900 US Census as “in-laws” ( so something is amiss on the Census) and John Ryan Bloom was a “nephew”. Either Charles was the brother of Thresa Hanf (which is suggested in an annotation on the Ancestry.com website) or Grace was a sibiling of Mo or Thresa Hanf.

That Grace M. Bloom was my great grandmother is further substantiated by her being recorded as mother of the Head of Household (John Bloom) on the 1920 US Census; at that time she was a widow. Charles A Bloom died  in early February 1905; here is his obituary from the 8 February 1905 Pine Bluff Weekly Graphic.

John R Bloom’s middle name

John’s World War I draft card revealed his birth date, 3 November 1884 and his a middle name, Ryan. John Ryan Bloom – WWI Draft registration card. My aunt recalled that when she was very young, she visited John’s family in Austin, Texas when he was sick in bed at home. That clue lead me to his death information John R Bloom – Death Information and I found he died 7 July 1935 and was buried in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the same plot as his parents. At that time, he’d been living in Austin, Texas as his occupation was ‘Mgr. Frigid Air’.

John Rhine Bloom & Emme Marie Block marriage license

John R. Bloom married Emma Marie Block on 27 December 1917 and the full name on the Marriage License (that I  discovered on 26 February 2012) was John Rhine Bloom; Rhine was his mother’s maiden name. 
I think the Marriage License is more trustworthy and the name on his draft card was simply misspelled.