Family of Jean (John) Francois DALLONS and
Ethel ROLLASON

John DALLONS  Father Mother  Oscar Jean DALLONS Felicie PIERARD

Ethel ROLLASON  Father Mother Albert ROLLASON Elizabeth CHAMBERS

Married: 12 Jan 1921 in Birmingham, England

Children:

Suzanne Dallons	b. 1 Jul 1922	Stockton, CA
Lilianne Dallons	b. 27 Mar 1924	Los Angeles, CA
John Dallons	b. 25 Dec 1926	Los Angeles, CA

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Story of John and Ethel's Life Together

How they Met From an interview with Ethel: How did you and John meet? "How did I? That's another story! I met John's sister [Suzanne] because they came to England and she found a job where I worked [Cadbury chocklate Factory]. She had been to art school in Italy. She was always talking about her brother in the Belgium army, then when he came on leave she invited me to go with him to the cinema. He couldn't say a word of english so there wasn't much conversation. Anyway, she spoke to me about him and to him about me and that I should write to him - they enjoy letters you know - the soldiers. Then he sent ont to me - a very nice postcard - a very artistic postcard. Then of course I sent one to him. So we got to [writing]. Then when he came out of the army, he went to work. He said afterward that he was thinking about me but made no attempt to ask me out or anything. He got a job in England - and they made good money - but he vowed to make enough mony to get married on before he said anything to me. So I knew he was a friend, a soldier friend. And then he came out to - he said he came to see my brother about a motercycle he wanted to buy - and my brother said "he didn't want a motercycle, he wanted to see you." But I wasn't there! Anyway, eventually, - the family, invited my family, my brother, my mother and myself, to visit them. Very proper. And John asked if I would go out with him, so I said yes and the same day he asked if I would marry him! I didn't know the man!" He had probably been thinking about this for many months. "Yes! But not me! And I knew that they were Catholics and my first thought was'This would not be very good.' Anyway, I said I would have to think about it. I thought about it for about three months. It was a strange way to meet your future husband. I still have, and you will have a lot of fun to read them - his letters and my letters." Did he lkearn English quickly? "He had an English grammer book in the army so he learned through just reading, so his accent was pretty bad. His first letter he wrote to me he said 'At have at last up my mind to write to you.' Well, it was a strange way to get marriied - really. It turned out okay. I knew he was a fine man - but I wasn't madly, passionately in love with him. And he never made any attempt to - of touching me or any kind of affection - which was a mistake! He was too proper, but I simply couldn't imagine having him go to a church wedding so we went to the city hall. We took Suzanne and my brother, and the clerck said his spiel what we should say and John said 'I beg your pardon?' And I almost laughed even though it was a serious occasion. I always remember that - he hadn't understood what he had to say." They were married on January 12, 1921 in Birmingham. As John was a citizen of Belgium it was necessary to repeat the ceremony in Charleroi.   Immigration to America On March 12, 1921, with the promise of employment as a glass blower in Point Marion, Pensylvania, John and Ethel departed Southampton, England on the ship Aquitania, arriving in New York on March 19th, to begin their new life together. They first stayed at the home of Emelia (Dallons) and her husband Elysee Guelff who had arrived in Point Marion about 20 years earlier. When mechanization of the glass plate process eliminated the Job they flipped a coin to decide whether to return to Europe or to go to Stockton, California and the coin sent them west to California where Emila (Chausteur) Dallons was living in Stockton, California and work in a glass factory was available. Emilia (Chausteur) Dallons was then living in Stockton so they probably stayed with her until they were able to find a place of their own which they did in a section in the south end of town called "French Camp". This area got its name from being a camping and meeting place of French trappers in the early eighteen hundreds. John found that the glass factory had closed so he took any work he could find including ditch digging to moving rolls of paper Their first child Suzanne was born on the first of July, 1922. By coincidence John had contracted pneumonia at that time so the entire family was in the hospital at the same time. The large brick county hospital is still in use today and an easily seen landmark in the south part of Stockton. After recovery and all were home they decided to move to Southern California where a job was found work in a glass bead factory in Redondo Beach, California. About 1929-1930 the great depression brought about hard times with the need to take any job available -ditch digging, meter reading, piano and organ playing for movie theaters. Lillian and John Jr. were born in Redondo in 1924 and 1926. The last of the family to arrive in America was Paul and Marguerite Dallons and their daughters Jean Marie and Josie. They arrived in New York aboard the Arabic on the 11th of March, 1929.

In 1930 John and Ethel moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He worked there as a technical glass blower for Publiniak Laboratories, which developed experimental radio tubes. 1930: Left to right: Suzanne, Lee, Ethel, John Jr. and John DALLONS

Two years later the family returned to Redondo Beach where John established one of the first neon sign businesses on the West Coast. Along with the neon sign business he developed, perfected and manufactured ultraviolet lamps and diathermy equipment. The business developed rapidly, and he was joined by his brothers Paul, Oscar and their father Oscar Sr. They also made electro-medical surgical apparatus and quartz and Pyrex tubing for scientific and industrial use. By 1927 John's parents, Oscar and Felicie, his brothers Franz, Oscar (Jr), Paul and sister Suzanne had immigrated to the United States and all were living in the Redondo Beach area. The parents, Oscar and Felicie and probably son Franz arrived in New York on the 23rd of December 1925 aboard the vessel Paris. We do not know when Oscar (Jr.) came to America but we do know that he married Theresa LoCicero in Los Angeles in 1927 and they went to Australia. They returned to the United States aboard the S.S. Sonoma in San Francisco on August 7, 1930. Nothing is known as to the arrival of Suzanne but she was living in Los Angeles in 1931. In 1937, John took a dislike to the coed education system in America, sold his share in the neon sigh business, and moved his family back to Charleroi, Belgium. It was a memorable trip. At the outbreak of World War Two in 1938, they returned to Redondo Beach, California and rejoined the neon and ultra-violet business. John retired in 1946. They continued to live in Redondo Beach until about 1966, and moved to a retirement community in Riverside, California. John died in 1967. Ethel moved to San Francisco to live with her daughter Lilianne. They later moved to Santa Rosa where Ethel maintained her own apartment until she died at the age of 95 in 1991.

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