Bluejacket Bio, Tazewell County, IL Genealogy Trails

James "Big Jim" Bluejacket
Pekin's Cherokee Pitcher
By: Carole Hill Martin, Pekin, IL©2007
changes and transcription by: Candi Horton.

James Bluejacket was born James Smith in Adair, Oklahoma on July 8, 1887. He was the son of William and Lucy Daurthy Smith.
Most of the family called him "Big Jim". As a little girl, I was in awe of his size. He was a large man. His father was a white man,
his mother a Cherokee Indian.

His surname is confusing. My mother told me that Jim took his mother's maiden name because the name Smith was so common that
he had difficulty getting his mail forwarded to him when he was traveling around the country playing baseball. His mother's maiden name was Daurthy. After reading Jim's obituary, you would assume that his father's surname was Bluejacket. But, that's not the case his father's surname is Smith.

Pekin had a professional baseball team between 1909 -1913; which, brought Jim Bluejacket to Pekin. While, in Pekin he met and married Jennie Piro, my mother's oldest sister. Jim and Jennie where married December 23, 1912. They had two sons: Fred, born May 20, 1913
and James Jr., born November 18, 1918. When the boys where young Pekin was home but Jim was traveling most of the time.

Jim Bluejacket played for many baseball teams in the Midwest, including Pekin, Bloomington and Greybull, Wyoming. He made it to the Big Leagues. He played for a few years with New York, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. After his baseball playing days were over he worked as a welder for Standard Oil company. During that time he traveled the world and they lived in Aruba for 15 to 18 years. Him and Jennie retired to Greybull, Wyoming. However, Pekin was always considered their home, they returned often and where Jim came to die. They were living at 910 Caroline St., Pekin when Jim died on March 26, 1947. Jim was buried march 29, 1947 in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Pekin, Illinois.

Jim's funeral was the first one I attended or the first one I remember attending. I was a little past 7 of age. A couple of the other memories of him have stayed with me all these years. Jim was quite a talker who loved to sit around the courthouse lawn in Pekin and spin yarns with Pekin citizens who remembered the baseball hero. it seemed as if every time my mother took me to town, if Uncle Jim and Aunt Jennie were in town, we would see him setting on the benches around the court house, holding court.
Even as Jim's health worsened, he still liked to talk, but sadly, his speech was affected. I don't know why, possibly a stroke. He would stay in the little bedroom off the dining room at my grandparent's home. When I was there, he would call me to the bedroom to visit. His speech was difficult to understand but that didn't matter, I would sit there at the end of the bed and listen to my Uncle Jim.

After Jim's death, Jennie moved to California to be near her son, Jimmy. When Jimmy opened a dude ranch in the Shell canyons of Wyoming, she returned to Greybull and lived out the rest of her life there. She died in 1987. She is buried with Jim in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Pekin, Illinois.

Jennie was a very independent woman for her time. She would drive, alone to Pekin from California for visits. That was before expressway driving and cell phones.

The Bluejacket Family
12-25-1940 on the Island of Aruba.

Jim Jr., "Big Jim Bluejacket", Fred
Jennie Piro Bluejacket.