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John married Martha Ellen Perry (1863-1933). They had three children -- Clyde E. Pring, Perry Pring and Nina Seward.
At some point as a youngster or young man, John migrated from Indiana to Missouri, where he "was reared," said a newspaper. "He first settled in the Osage Nation near where Pawhuska still stands" when Oklahoma was still Indian Territory and not yet a state in the union. In 1890, the Prings "settled in the Pottawatomie nation at the present site of Dale..., leased land from the Indians and put in cultivation a farm lying north of Dale," said the Shawnee News Star in 1943. John's sister Mary Jane "Jennie" McCollough also resided nearby in the Shawnee area. Said the News Star: On this land he himself built a log house ... and still stands a quarter of a mile west of the town on the north side of the road. After the opening of the country for settlement, [he] moved to Tecumseh when that town was established and lived there for a number of years. When the railroad was built into Shawnee in 1895 he came here and had lived here since that time. John was active in local politics. He attended the "first meeting and organization of the democratic party" of Pottawatomie County, and "helped select its present name in order to gain Indian votes for his party although he had at first favored calling it Vest for the late Senator Vest of Missouri." He also was an "ardent prohibitionist and militant in his fight against whiskey, and was constantly vigilant in watching the saloons to see that they complied with the law."
Over the years, John worked as a railroader, truant officer and farmer. Said the News Star, for "Following several years during which he worked in the shops of the C.R.I. and P. railway company, he was employed as truant officer for the Shawnee schools, a capacity in which he served for 25 years, resigning [in 1940] because of his age."
Reflective of his active mind, John received seven patents for his inventions over the years. He did not reap financial rewards of his creations, however, because other inventors had patented similar technologies a little sooner. The News Star said that one of John's inventions "was for the purpose of preventing nuts from becoming loose and working off from the bolt under continuous vibration thus avoiding rail spread and train wrecks. When he offered to sell it to the railroads, he discovered a device accomplishing the same purpose had already been purchased by the company some months previous."
Martha Ellen died on April 25, 1933, at the age of 70. She is buried in the Resthaven Cemetery near Shawnee.
He passed away in Shawnee at age 88 on July 30, 1943, and was laid to rest with his first wife. ~ Son Clyde E. Pring ~ Son Clyde E. Pring (1881-1968) was a specialist in boiler-making and inspection, working in the areas of motive power and machinery. He saw an opportunity in Panama and on June 8, 1906 was appointed to the position of boilermaker in the construction of the Panama Canal. He arrived on June 15, 1906, and his first assignment was "motive power and machinery." Among other things, he was involved with the technical details of the monumental "Culebra Cut," today known as the "Gaillard Cut," a nine-mile long, 300-foot-wide channel that involved removal of many million cubic yards of earth.
Clyde himself was a photography buff, and in December 1913, while in Les Cascadas, Canal Zone, placed an advertisement in American Photography, seeking to trade his Ica Cupido camera for a "postcard camera, with anastimgmat lens and double extension bellows." To commemorate his role in the construction of the canal, Clyde was a member of the Society of the Chagres -- founded in 1911 and "made up of American white employees who have worked six years continuously on the canal," says the 1913 book The Panama Canal by Frederic Jennings Haskin. "In 1913 only about 400 out of the many thousands of Americans at one time or another employed in the construction of the Panama Canal were entitled to wear the insignia of the society." Clyde is named in the 1916-1917 directory of the society, with his job listed as boiler inspector, and his address at the time was Cristobal, Canal Zone. Clyde's work at the Canal is being researched more fully. Clyde married Adale A. (?), a native of Ohio, and had one son, Vernon. During World War I, when Clyde registered for the military draft, their residence was Superior, Pinal County, AZ, where he worked as a boiler maker for the Silver Ring Mining Company. He was recorded to be of medium height and build, with grey eyes and brown hair, and a gunshot scar on his left forearm. They resided in San Gabriel Twp., Los Angeles County, CA in 1920. In 1943, Clyde was back in the Panama Canal Zone. At some point, while visiting Fort San Lorenzo in Puerto Rico, he found an old iron cannonball which he apparently donated to the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles. He died Feb. 15, 1968, at the age of 87.
~ Son Perry Pring ~ Son Perry Pring ( ? - ? ) married Ethel L. (?). In 1920, they lived in Tyler, Smith County, TX, where Perry worked as a super for a compressor company. As with his brother Clyde, Perry circa 1909 was initiated as a member of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America, Helper's Division. Later, by 1930, they had moved to Houston, Harris County, TX, where Perry was a clerk for a cotton company. Their children were Thyra Pring, Elizabeth J. Pring, Phillip Pring and Howard R. Pring. ~ Daughter Nina (Pring) Seward ~ Daughter Nina Pring ( ? - ? ) married Eric Seward. They resided in Shawnee circa 1943. Nothing further of their lives is known. For more information, contact Sandra Ammerman-Paser. Donald L. Kear, a distant nephew of John Pring's, has an extensive collection of information on this family on his "Kear Family Site." He also has published his findings in The John Cears Kear Family (1984). Copyright © 2002-2005, 2008 Mark A. Miner. Grave photos by Max Walker. |