Creating Fiction from History: 1/26/2022

John Charles Winchester was born into it, you might say. On a cold November day in 1897 Charlie, as he became known, was the fifth son of Charles and Edith Winchester. Considering the Winchester family's military history, it came as no surprise when Charlie joined the ranks 20 years later after the situation in Europe had heated to the point where someone felt they needed to kidnap a VIP in order to get their way. However, as we're not there quite yet, let's get back to Charlie and how he grew up.

John Charles was born in Dubuque, Iowa, at what might have been called the height of their prosperity before the Depression hit, quite a few years later. Growing up in a fairly large city boasting over 30,000 inhabitants, Charlie didn't have an easy life by any means, though his parents were fairly well-to-do.

From the time he was eight years old, Charlie basically supported himself by running a shoe-shine business on the streets of Dubuque. With the extra funds garnered from his little venture, Charlie opened a savings account at the local branch of Wells Fargo.

Well, the years went by and news filtered into Dubuque, thanks to The Luxembourg Gazette, about trouble brewing "across the pond."

Although Luxembourg had officially been granted neutral status about 30 years prior to the birth of John Charles Winchester, by The London Accord the storm brewing had embroiled them in the whole nasty affair. While Charlie's family was predominantly and proudly English, the English being on more or less good terms with Luxembourg, the Winchesters took it to heart; particularly John Charles. When his older brother, uncle, and aunt shipped overseas several years later to join the fray, Charlie enlisted as a fifth-generation military man.

But, the story was not yet over...even as the rain began to fall on that cold November day in 1917, John Charles knew he would return to Dubuque and become something more.

This column utilizes photos of unknowns provided by the Jefferson Valley Museum to create a possible scenario for the photo. The stories are not historically accurate, for the most part; the authors do research the photos but take liberties for creative purposes.

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum's photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.