John Samuel and Maud G. (Kennedy) Holmes
John (1868 – 1931) was originally from Canada and came to the US as a teenager. Maud (1878 – 1955) was born in Michigan, the oldest of 5 children. The couple married in Chicago in 1900 when John was 32 and Maud was 22. In 1910, the census lists John’s unmarried sister Eliza Jane and 3 of Maud’s younger siblings all living with the couple along with a live-in maid.
Sadly, the Kennedy siblings’ mother had passed away in 1908 while her 3 youngest were still under 18 years old: in 1910 Claude was 20, Ethel 18, and Clinton 13. Though their father was still living (he died in 1917), it seems that Maud took over the final years of their upbringing. John and Maud had no children of their own.
John was extremely successful in real estate. His estate was valued at $1.5 million at the time of his death (about $28 million today), and his will left half of that to Maud. The rest was donated to charity and divided up amongst his sisters (including Eliza Jane who never married).
It’s unclear because no occupation was listed for Maud on any censuses while John was alive and I couldn’t find a 1940 entry for her, but at some point she took up the family business, likely after John’s death. Her obituary says she was “a real estate broker and active in medical research at St. Luke’s hospital…” She died at her home at the Drake Towers in 1955 and was survived by the 3 siblings she helped to raise.
I checked Graceland’s index and only two occupants are listed for this beautiful, massive mausoleum. It sits on the north end of the lake looking toward the avenue, but it has a little balcony overlooking the lake which I didn’t get a picture of (though I walked on it). The design is Art Deco with Egyptian Revival details.
RIP John and Maud