How would you feel, what would you do upon learning that the name you had grown up with was completely phony? It happened to me in middle age, with a husband and two grown-up children at the centre of my world. And for several years I simply didn't believe it Would you believe an old man so confused by Alzheimers that he no longer recognized his wife and daughter?
Would you be annoyed, even angry with a parent who hid your relatives from you? Deprived you of finding your roots?
Would you care enough to start sleuthing?
For years Mother and I had been suspicious that this loving and supportive husband and father was lying to us about his past. We had never met his family. In my early twenties I had made a few inquiries, all in vain.
Now I began by sending out more letters, still dubious that Dad had at last told us the truth. I was blown away when Ara Kaye, Reference Specialist at the State Historical Society of Missouri, helped me locate our whole family of Fritons, uncles, aunts and all, in the 1900 U.S. Census. I believe my hands were shaking as I read about Ruskin, his parents, and grandparents in old St.Louis.
Completely captivated, I spent the next ten years churning out hundreds of queries to government agencies, military headquarters, libraries, veterans' groups...across the United States and as faraway as Germany, wherever clues and hunches led me. I found my relatives in St.Louis, the present generation, who knew about the son who had vanished and was never heard of again. We shared wonderful old letters, documents, and photos, and I was thrilled to recognize my father as a boy of ten or eleven.
I knew of his service in the Army during World War I because that is where he met my mother, Margaret, who was a Red Cross nurse at the hospital where he was stationed. They began dating and eventually were secretly married. (It was against the rules for nurses to date enlisted men)
Was the Army aware of the secret identity change? Did they perhaps order it?? Certain key letters and documents suggest this is the case, but the evidence is by no means conclusive.
Was Ruskin Friton/Thomas Burton engaged in undercover work? The family was German, and he spoke the language.
Or perhaps he committed some crime?
Friends ask: "Betty, if your dad did something dishonorable, would you really want to know?"
The answer is yes--whatever he may have done will not dim this daughter's love and gratitude.
Why would a brainy young soldier disappear forever from his family and hide them from his wife and child? My research has filled in many gaps, but the ultimate answer is still missing. My prime reason for going onto the net with this true account is the fervent hope that someone out there can provide information or clues. Organizations and/or individuals who share my interests in military history, true mysteries or genealogy are invited to link their website to this one: www.trafford.com/robots/00-0052.html.
A Changed Man is more than just a mystery. The reader will embark on a sentimental journey into the zestful youth of the Twentieth Century, with its flappers, bootlegging, revolutionary inventions, and newfound freedoms; also a fond recollection of two vibrant and unforgettable people: Tom and Margaret, whose antics will make you laugh out loud, as when...
-Tom locked bumpers with Richard Dix and dragged the furious film star all across Hollywood, to punish him for tailgating.
-Or when he was thrown into a Mexican jail for the crime of winning big at a poker game.
-Or Margaret's electrifying experience with spark plugs on the old Scripps Booth.
-Or she drove her brother's Model T Ford into the neighbours' choice flower bed and was invited in for tea by the forgiving neighbours.
-Read about the frequent root beer explosions, due to Tom's yeasty formula. (We had to carry bottles upstairs from the cellar, wrapped in a pillow).
-Learn why Tom was delighted when our dear dog Peter bit him on the arm.
Warning to readers: If you dip into this story, you may find it highly addictive and not be able to put it down. This was my fate when writing it You'll be sleuthing for clues. If you come up with any, please share them with me
DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE?