1182. Jimmy Joseph James Skalicky James
•Shanghai Jimmy’s birth or family name was “Skalicky,” not James.
Joseph James Skalicky was the second of six children born to Emil and Anna Matuska Skalicky in Jackson, Minnesota. The other children were John, Louis, Anna, George and Edward. (Ellsworth, pages 3-5) The “free “ part of Ancestry.com says that the family Skalicky is Bohemian in origin, so Czech or Czechian today. The name comes from the Czech or Slovak word for places called Skalice or Skalicka, from skala which means “rock” or “crag.” Also, Matuska is Czech or Slovak in origin and is a version of “Matthew.”
From quite a young age Jimmy displayed an independent if not a rebellious attitude. During his childhood he may have been closer to his grandfather, Frank Skalicky, than anyone else. (Ellsworth, page 115). Eventually he said, “My name is Jimmy James. I’m known by that name and I made something out of that name. I never want to be known by Skalicky.” Jimmy got along okay with at least some of his siblings but not his parents although he received his portion when they died. Neither Jimmy or any family member would offer an explanation for the distance he maintained from his parents. (Ellsworth pages 5-9).
•Shanghai Jimmy’s final military assignment was with the 15th Infantry in Tientsin China.
Jimmy had enlisted in the army expecting to see service in Siberia as part of the American Expeditionary Force, but his troop ship was diverted to Manila when the mission requirement changed. (Ellsworth, page 84).
NOTE: Mr. Clyde Howard made an interesting post about this little known episode of American military history. Mr. M. C. Toyer sent me interesting information about the US 27th and 31st Infantry regiments and their service in Siberia. An internet search will yield a lot of information about the AEF and the service of the regiments just named.
Later, Jimmy had an opportunity to volunteer for service in Tientsin with the 15th and took it because the climate was more to his liking. (Ellsworth, page 85).NOTE: A very interesting book is THE OLD CHINA HANDS by Charles Finney published by Doubleday in 1961. This is another scarce book nowadays. It is a history of the 15th Infantry in China between World War I and World War II. I read this book a long time ago. Jimmy James is not mentioned, so far as I remember.
When his enlistment was up, Jimmy stayed in China hoping to find a working passage home as a deck hand on a eastbound ship because he had wanted to travel around the world, but that was not possible. He intentionally stayed in China rather than going home in a troop ship. (Ellsworth, page 134). He used the name “James” from the time he applied for a job with the Asian Development Company in Shanghai after separating from the army in 1922. (Ellsworth, page 135). I have not found anything that indicates a legal name change.
NOTE: That Jimmy worked for the Asian Development Company at one time was something we knew previously. I had tried to find out about it on the internet with out much luck. In CHINA DIARY, it is described as being involved with heavy engineering works, such as the flood control project on the Yellow River.
•Jimmy married Mae Parker, daughter of a Canadian Merchant Marine Captain, who had a daughter, Doris, from a previous relationship.
They had one daughter, Anne but the marriage was not successful and they divorced after World War II after many years of conflict. Eventually, all three women came to the United States. Doris was by then the wife of an American serviceman from whom she was later divorced. Doris remarried and was in California at the time CHINA DIARY was written. Anne was a citizen by birth although it had been in China. She married a David Premack and was living in Philadelphia when the book was written. Mae was sponsored by her daughter and Jimmy tried to block her entry. Eventually she remarried, was widowed, and was in California when the book was written. In this country Doris and Anne grew apart. (Ellsworth, pages 610-613). Whatever family dysfunction Jimmy experienced as a child evidently became, in some form, part of his life as an adult and was passed on to his children.
By the time CHINA DIARY was written Jimmy was “retired from all business activity” and living in a “small rented dwelling behind the home of his landlady.” He was said to keep “the treasures of his distant past in a pile of cardboard boxes , all neatly categorized.” Just what might have been in those boxes is a matter of some interest because it was also said that he never retrieved a single item from his once vast possessions in China. He was well known around Dallas for maintaining an active schedule of dancing and ice skating. (Ellsworth, pages 608- 609).
NOTE: I have been and am of the opinion that Jimmy’s chili recipe was lost when he died. Nothing I have found to date makes me believe otherwise. But in the interest of disclosure I have mentioned the “pile of card board boxes” above.
