Some Notes on Ival Lenard Fister (1915-1984)

Ival Fister was one of my grandmother's brothers. Courtesy of Tom Cairns.

Ival Lenard Fister (April 4, 1915 - July 6, 1984) is one of my grandmother Margaret (Fister) Hartley's brothers.  Most of what I know about him, unfortunately, revolves around his criminal record.

The only personal anecdote from my father about Ival was that Ival once came to San Diego (in the 1960s probably), looking for money, and my grandfather George Hartley Jr. gave him some with the stipulation that he not come around anymore.

Ival's Christmas card, date unknown, probably 1930s.  Courtesy of Tom Cairns.

Ival did make the papers.  I don't know what problems he had before these newspaper stories, but it struck me that they happened only 9 months after his mother Mette Karine "Mary"s death (his father Ben Fister had died a year earlier):

Daily Illinois States Journal (Springfield)
8 Sep 1935, Sunday
Page 9, col 4
from GenealogyBank 

Escapes Jail
Ival Fister, 20-year-old prisoner charged with housebreaking, escaped from the Morgan county jail this morning by hiding behind a cell block and taking his bid for freedom while the turnkey and assistant turnkey were serving the morning rations.
A search was soon started for the youth, who in July confessed to several house robberies here.  He was being held under bond awaiting action from the November grand jury.

Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield)
21 Nov 1935, Thursday
Page 19, col 8
from GenealogyBank

Ival L. Fister, 21, who escaped from the Morgan county jail on Sept. 7, has been arrested by police at St. Joseph, Mo.  His identity was established by means of fingerprints sent ot Washinton, D. C. previous to Fister's jail break here.

The fugitive was arrested at St. Joseph, Mo., on charges of attempted robbery.  State's Attorney W. B. Absher stated today that if Fister secured an acquittal in Missouri, he will be returned here to face a charge of house burglary.

Daily Illinois States Journal (Springfield)
12 Dec 1935, Thurs
Page 13, col 8
from GenealogyBank 

Morgan Sheriff Takes 2 Men to Penitentiary
Jacksonville, Dec. 11. - Clarence Miller, Jacsonville, recently sentenced to an indeterminate term at the Menard penitentiary, and Ival L. Fister, confessed burglar, were taken to Menard today by Sheriff Kenneth Woods.  Miller was found guilty of a part in the recent shooting of Sheriff Woods.

Daily Illinois States Journal (Springfield)
22 Apr 1939, Saturday
Page 4, col 1
from GenealogyBank 

to receive hearing on Monday by the states parole board:
"Morgan county.--Kenneth Busch, Ival L. Fister."

Daily Illinois States Journal (Springfield)
27 Apr 1940, Saturday
page 3, col 8
from GenealogyBank 

to receive hearing states parole board:
"Harry Wilson and Ival L. Fister, both of Morgan county,"

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
9 Aug 1942, Sun
Page 4
from Newspapers.com 

Watch Girl's Home and Catch Convict
Philadelphia, Aug. 8. (AP) - A Washington girl's love for a fugitive convict unwittingly brought about his capture, detectives testified today. 

The story was told to Justice of the Peace Howard C. Meredith, who ordered Ival L. Fister, 27, turned over to Virginia officers. 

Recently Arlington county authorities learned that a young woman known to be friendly with Fister had quit her Washington job and come to Philadelphia, gaining employment as a domestic in a suburban Merion home. 

They followed and with local officers took up watch outside the place the girl worked.
Last night, the detectives said, Fister alighted from a bus and came to the apartment house.  He was arrested. 

Police added they understood he also was wanted in Oregon on a homicide charge.

Evening Star (Washington, DC)
15 Aug 1942, Saturday
Page 16, col 4
from GenealogyBank 

Arlington Jail Fugitive gets 30-Year Sentence
Ival L. Fister, 27, yesterday was sentenced to 10 years each on three counts of burglary by Judge Walter T. McCarthy in Arlington County Circuit Court.  The sentences are to run consecutively. Fister will serve his sentence in the Virginia State Penitentiary.
The prisoner, who previously had pleaded guilty, escaped from the Arlington County jail in January by cutting through his cell bars with several razor blades and then soaping his body to squirm through a narrow space.
He was seized August 7 by Detective Capt. Hugh C. Jones in Ardmore, Pa., after Capt. Jones had trace the man through a Washington girl.  The girl, police said, gave up her job here and went to Philadelphia where she was employed as a domestic.  Fister was taken into custody at the girl's apartment by police who were watching the place.  

Daily Illinois States Journal (Springfield)
6 Jul 1961, Thurs
Page 9, col 1
from GenealogyBank 

granted parole
"Ival L. Fister of Morgan County, who has served 5 years and 10 months of 1 year to life sentence at Menard,"

Ival died in Chicago, Cook, Illinois on July 6, 1984.  It is unknown to me if he had any wives, girlfriends, or children.


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