John Francis Casey (1912/Chicago, IL – 2004/Cortland, IL)

My grandfather, John Francis Casey, passed away this morning. He was 92 years old. 92 years 157 days to be as precise as my genealogy program allows. I only had infrequent contact with him growing up (my grandparents divorced when my father was a young boy). But from those visits I do remember tales of work on the beat as a police officer in Chicago.

As an adult, I am happy to have taken opportunities to visit him, and to introduce my own children to their great-grandfather. Most recently was in the summer of 2003, when my new interest in genealogy led to a trip to Chicago with my brother. We visited Grandpa Casey, and his sister Margaret, and tracked down many other relatives who we were not fortunate enough to have met when they were still living.

Family trees are a fascinating thing. Genetically speaking, I’m Chris Casey/Dedera/Slovacek/Peter, but that’s way too long to sign on a check, and each of those names could be similarly split. And so the naming rules say I’m a Casey, and I’ve traced my way back to John’s Great-Grandfather Michael, a tenant farmer in County Limerick Ireland, who’s own son Michael came to America and ended up in Chicago. My place on the Casey tree passes back through my Grandfather John, and I hope I can help preserve his memory for my own children and farther down the branch as it grows.

Read John’s Obituary from the Chicago Tribune.

Care to climb our tree? Explore the Casey/Geltmaker family tree online.

If you have any information about John Casey or believe that you may be connected to my tree in any way, I would be very glad to hear from you! Please send me an email to: chris@casey.com