Nationality American Name Jack Reagan | Religion Roman Catholic | |
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Full Name John Edward Reagan Resting place Calvary Cemetery,East Los Angeles, California Children Ronald Reagan, Neil Reagan Parents Jennie Cusick, John Michael Reagan Grandchildren Ron Reagan, Michael Reagan, Maureen Reagan, Patti Davis, Christine Reagan Similar People Ronald Reagan, Neil Reagan, Ron Reagan, Maureen Reagan, Michael Reagan | ||
John Edward "Jack" Reagan (July 13, 1883 – May 18, 1941) was the father of radio station manager Neil "Moon" Reagan (1908–1996) and his younger brother United States President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) .
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Early life
Reagan was born in Fulton, Illinois. He was the youngest of four children of Jennie (nee Cusick) and John Michael Reagan, both of whom were first-generation Irish Americans. Reagan's parents died of tuberculosis when he was six, and he then lived with an elderly aunt who provided him with a strict Catholic upbringing. After a few years of elementary education, Reagan worked as a shoe salesman. He met Nelle Clyde Wilson in a dry goods store in Fulton, Illinois. The two were married in Fulton's Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic church in November 1904. They had two children: Neil "Moon" Reagan and Ronald Wilson Reagan. After the birth of their second son, Reagan's wife Nelle was told not to have any more children. Between 1914 to 1920, the Reagan family moved several times from Tampico to several small Illinois towns and Chicago, before finally settling down in Dixon in 1920.
Ancestry
Jack's paternal grandfather, Michael O'Regan, was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland. O'Regan worked as a tenant farmer during his early years in Ireland, before he moved to London in 1852. O'Regan married an Irish refugee, Catherine Mulcahey, in London and anglicised his family surname as "Reagan". The Reagans relocated to Carroll County, Illinois in 1856, where their son, John Michael was born. John Michael became as a grain-elevator farmer, and married Jenny Cusick in 1878. Cusick was born in Canada, but like John Michael, her parents came from Ireland. Their son, John Edward "Jack", was born five years later.
Death
Journalist Lou Cannon writes that Jack Reagan was an alcoholic in his Reagan. This may have led to his death on May 19, 1941, at the age of 57 after a series of heart attacks.