Joe was educated in the schools of Falls City, graduating in 1895.  Unlike his brother Zeno, he did not choose to go on to college.  In April 1896, a Falls City newspaper reported that Joe had left to take a job as a bookkeeper at a bank in Woodville, Mississippi.  Three months later, though (July 1896), the same paper reported that he was back in Falls City working as the bookkeeper for a local general merchandise store.

In November 1896, Joe’s parents moved to Paonia, Delta County, Colorado, and Joe went with them.  Several of his relatives already lived there, including two uncles, two aunts, and assorted cousins.  In January 1899, “J. F. Crook” was included on a list of poultry breeders who would be exhibiting at a show in Delta, so that may have been one of the activities he pursued for a while.  The 1900 census showed him still living in his parents’ home in Precinct 5 (Paonia) of Delta County.  His occupation was listed as “Farm laborer.”

On 10 July 1900, Joe married Loma L. Burkart at the town of Delta in Delta County.  Loma (apparently short for “Saloma”) had been born 30 January 1879 in Indiana (probably Monroe County), the daughter of John Mathus Burkart and Elizabeth C. (Young) Burkart. Her family moved to Canton, Kansas, while she was still an infant, then to Trinidad, Colorado, a few years later.  They apparently moved to Hotchkiss, in Delta County, about 1898, just a couple of years before she and Joe were married.

Joe probably continued various sorts of farm work after his marriage, but in 1903 he was appointed to be the first bookkeeper for the newly established First National Bank of Paonia (where his father was one of the Directors).  I don’t know how long Joe remained in that position, but in November 1907, his uncle Glenwyn J. Crook published a note in a Falls City paper saying that he had visited Joe in Chicago, and that Joe then worked in “the Great Western Electrical Building.”  This last detail suggests that Joe’s brother Zeno may have helped him find a job there, because Zeno also worked for the Western Electric Company in Chicago (although Zeno himself had been transferred to the Denver office a couple of months before their uncle’s visit).

By 1910, Joe and Loma had left Chicago and moved to Mason City, Iowa, where they were listed both in the 1910 census and in the city directory for Mason City.  They did not remain there long, though, for they are listed in city directories for Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1911 and ‘12, and then in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from 1913 through 1922.

In most of these directories, Joe’s occupation is listed as “trav agt,” but this apparently did not mean what we might think in looking at these listings more than a century later.  He was not a “travel agent.”  The 1910 census lists his occupation as a salesman for some company whose name is undecipherable there.  The 1913 and ’14 directories for Sioux Falls specify that he was a “trav agt” for Larson Hardware Company.  (Really?  Why would a hardware company employ a travel agent?)  His 1918 draft registration lists his occupation as “Commercial Salesman for Kelley-How-Thomson-Leo-Gerberth-Mann, Sioux Falls.”  Finally, a note in the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (30 Aug. 1919, p.20) says “Mr. Cook [sic.] has been the traveling representative for a number of years for a Duluth hardware house.”  From these observations, I infer that “trav agt” in these old directories means that Joe was a “traveling agent” or, in other words, a traveling salesman.  In fact, the 1920 census specifically lists his occupation as “traveling salesman.”  His work probably consisted of calling on retail merchants representing various manufacturers and/or wholesale distributors.

The last Sioux Falls city directory that includes Joe and Loma is from 1922.  The next relevant record I find is a Los Angeles city directory from 1925, which shows Joe at 1859 W. Adams St. in L.A. and identifies him as a salesman for Star Paper Company, though it makes no mention of Loma.  A 1928 voter registration list, a 1929 city directory, and the 1930 census all show Joe and Loma living at 1971 Estrella Ave. in L.A.  Joe, according to the census, was a salesman for paper products.

Joe and Loma remained at the Estrella Ave. address through at least 1937, but the 1940 census shows that they had then moved to 22a  25th Ave, just half a block off of Venice Beach.  The census lists no occupation for either of them, but shows that both of them had other income sources (perhaps from investments and/or Social Security?).  Ten years later, the 1950 census showed them still in the Venice Beach area, at 440B Howland Canal.  By then, according to the census, Joe was unable to work.

Loma died in Los Angeles on 19 June 1951, and Joe died a year and a half later, 25 November 1952 (according to the California Death Index).  I have not found obituaries or identified burial sites for either of them.

I have seen no indication that they ever had any children.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Joseph and Loma, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

Return to Lucinda Martin bio page.
Return to John Martin Family home page.