John W. Simmons
b. June 1873, Sharpsville, Tipton County, Indiana, to John T. and Edith (Crousore) Simmons
d. 15 September 1909, The Philippine Islands

m. about 30 June 1903, The Philippine Islands
Antonina Del Rosario
b. about 1874, The Philippine Islands
d. 1943, The Philippine Islands

Children with Antonina Del Rosario:

• James W. (1902-1941 married Sergia Beltrano
• Goldie (1904-bet. 1985-1993)
• Idadel (b. 1906)
• John W., Jr. (1908-1943)

The Simmons family arrived in Indiana during the mid-to-late 1840’s. James M. and Hester Jane (Moore) Simmons settled in Howard County, Indiana, where their eldest son John T. Simmons married Edith Crousore, the daughter of Jacob and Anny (Ice) Crousore, in 1849. The couple had eleven children, the youngest of whom was John W. Simmons. John and Edith moved to near Sharpsville, Tipton County, Indiana, in 1867. John was born there in 1873. His mother died in 1877 and his father in 1909. John headed west sometime prior to 1898.

John W. was a resident of Washington when the Spanish-American War erupted in 1898. He enlisted as a private in Company C of the 1st Washington Volunteer Infantry at Camp John R. Rogers near Tacoma on 1 May 1898. The regiment was sent to Manila, The Philippines, in late October. The unit saw action throughout the first half of 1899 before returning to the States in August and being mustered out on 32 October 1899.

John re-enlisted and was serving with the U.S. Army Hospital Corps at Fort Vancouver in June of 1900. By November of that year, he was back in Manila.

During his first tour, Pvt. Simmons met Antonina Del Rosario and the couple was reunited upon his return. The couple married and had five children. One son, a twin to eldest son James, died at birth.

John W. died in September 1909, a little more than a month after his father passed away back home in Sharpsville. Antonina remarried a friend of her late husband and spent a few years living in Nebraska. After the marriage failed, she returned to The Philippines. Her youngest son, John, Jr., died fighting for the Philippine Resistance against the Japanese during WWII.

Although John W. Simmons never returned to the States, several of his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren did. They immigrated in 1977 and have made John’s homeland their own.

Submitted by:
Terry D. Prall
Arcadia FL
E-mail: tprall@desoto.net