Forest Home Cemetery is the final resting place of royalty. Buried here is Steve John, referred to as the “King of All the Gypsies.” John was a monarch who ruled over an estimated 50,000 Romany “subjects” in the United States. While John’s followers were U.S. citizens, they often deferred to John to settle disputes among themselves. An imposing figure with striking white hair, long side whiskers, and a distinctive white mustache, John traveled extensively to administer justice among the Romany community.
He was born in 1861 and died in 1926.
While John sometimes told authorities he was Brazilian, it is believed that he was born in Serbia. He and his wife, Queen Marie, had seven sons and five daughters. John said that he was the “seventh son of a seventh son,” which endowed him with special powers.
Life for the Johns was eventful. In 1908, John and his wife were fined in Chicago for animal cruelty after they were seen dragging two exhausted greyhounds behind a “gypsy” wagon. The newspaper report made a point of mentioning that John paid the $50 fine from a “large roll of bills.”
In 1911, John was wanted in North Carolina for perjury. He was said to have lied to a judge about the kidnapping of his daughter, Flora, by the brother of a man who was a pretender to his throne. John said that the man had “enticed” his 16-year-old daughter away from home. But the man testified that John was lying about Flora’s age, that they had been married with John’s approval after he had paid John $3,000, plus the plus $250 for the marriage feast. John avoided being sent to North Carolina by putting up a bond of $1,000 – which the newspaper pointed out had been paid in cash.
In 1922, a suspiciously similar situation occurred. Paraska, one of John’s other daughters, was chased cross-country for years by her father until she was found in Myrtle Springs, CA. John claimed that at the age of 12, Paraska had been “stolen” by Jack Lee. Lee, a member of a rival family, told authorities that he had paid John $2,000 in gold to marry Paraska. Paraska meanwhile said that she married Lee because she loved him. Paraska then testified that she thought she was older than what her father had said and asked to have an x-ray to determine her age. The x-rays showed that she was, in fact, over 18. Paraska and Lee were then married by a justice of the peace and held a second Romany ceremony.
In 1924, John was fined $50 for violating public health laws when 14 sheep were roasted at an open-air fire during the wedding celebration for one of his sons and a “gypsy princess” in West Seneca N.Y. The newspaper account stated that that John had “plenty of money.”
John owned property in Chicago and Detroit where he died unexpectedly of apoplexy. News of his death was reported in newspapers nationwide. Articles described the John home being flooded with colorfully dressed mourners, lit by many candles, and that “the weeping of women kept up a dismal obligato [sic]…”
John is buried in a mausoleum which now also holds three others: his wife, a son, and his sister. On the roof of the mausoleum is a cross etched with the now faded words, “King Steve John.” There were rumors that John’s coffin was inlaid with jewels and the cement of the mausoleum was embedded with gold coins. Because of these stories, the mausoleum was frequently vandalized and therefore had to be bricked shut.
When John died, the Detroit Free Press mentioned that he was to be buried in Forest Home Cemetery where other “kings” were interred. Perhaps there are more members of royalty to be discovered here.
References: Archival newspaper articles from: Grand Haven Tribune, Buffalo News, The Sunday Standard, the Detroit Free Press, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Daily News, Daily Arkansas Gazette, Sacramento Bee, The Gridley Herald, The Oakland Tribune.
