Just Who is Thelonius Holmes?

How does one get from 19^th century Sherlock Holmes to 21^st century Theo Holmes? Start by asking how he got the name Thelonius.
 
To answer the Thelonius question, you must first deal with the genealogy posed by the first question. The dialogue that follows was originally in an earlier draft of Black Velvet. I did so because it gives Theo Holmes’ story of his ancestry tracing back to his famous great-great grandfather. Holmes, proud of his ancestry and British roots, regales the tale to his newly hired assistant, Delaney Watson.
 
My daughter rightly criticized this story as being too long for the chapter in which it was in and not relevant to the book’s plot. As always, she was right, so the ancestral discussion was removed but not discarded. I saved its content for another day. That day is now and I hope you enjoy Holmes retelling the tale of his ancestry from Sherlock to Theo. Is it true or just a fanciful yarn that Holmes has embellished over time? Even I don’t know, but perhaps we’ll find out in future books in the Theo Holmes Murder Mystery Series.
 
The dialogue takes place at Holmes favorite San Diego pub. As mentioned in my first blog, this brew pub, sadly, no longer is in business. The story begins with the newly hired, Delaney Watson, joining Holmes and Raul at the pub for dinner. After a lot of friendly banter regarding the food and various draft beers and ales, Delaney asks a simple question.
“I’m curious, Theo.  How did you get the name Thelonius?”
 
“I get asked that a lot,” says Holmes.  “I’ll start at the beginning.”
 
Raul rolls his eyes, knowing that Delaney just opened the flood gates to one of Holmes’ hypnosis inducing stories. Raul interrupts Holmes and lights a warning flare for Delaney. “Be forewarned, Delaney,” he cautions. “Theo will not simply answer the question of his first name origin. I suggest you sit back in your chair and nurse your beer. This may take a while. Go ahead Theo.”
 
Holmes snickers, “Okay Raul, I’ll give Delaney the short version.”
 
“Yeah right,” says Raul, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
 
“As you may already know, I am a direct descendent of the world-renowned private investigator, Sherlock Holmes.  He is my great-great grandfather.  Many believe he never married or had children and some believe he never had a romantic interest in any woman.  There was, however, one woman in his life with whom he had a child – Irene Adler, an American opera singer and actress.
 
“Sherlock knew Miss Adler because he was hired by the Crown Prince of Bohemia to retrieve a photo of Adler and the Prince that suggested they were more than just acquaintances. Adler had a brief romantic relationship with the Crown Prince just prior to his engagement to another woman and he was concerned that, if the photo was made public, it might result in his upcoming marriage being called off.
 
“Sherlock was somewhat smitten with Adler, whom he considered both brilliant and beautiful. She proved him right by outwitting him and slipping away before he could retrieve the photo. But Adler had a strong moral compass and never gave the photo to the press, The Crown Prince, his reputation intact, went through with his marriage.
 
“It was believed by many that the Adler story ends there. However, the truth is that Sherlock ultimately located Adler and the photo. When he caught up with her, he was mesmerized and fell head over heels for her. She was his first and only love. Although they were not married, they became partners for life. Both kept their relationship a tightly held secret but that secret became endangered when Adler became pregnant. She gave birth in 1890 to a boy.”
 
“Well, didn’t that blow up their little secret?” Delaney asked.
 
“You would think so,” replies Holmes. “But back then there were no phones, no social media, no internet – just newspapers and social gossip. Sherlock was not that well known in 1890 and even when he became somewhat famous, he was not a household name. Sherlock was reclusive and his social circle was very limited. He was mainly known to his cronies in Scotland Yard.
 
“In any event, to best maintain the secret, the boy was given the first name of his dad but the last name of his mom. Sherlock bought a nice cottage, not far from London, in Southend-on-Sea and the boy and Adler moved there. Sherlock spent time there whenever he got the chance. When he retired, around 1910, he moved in with Adler. They soon got married in a private ceremony.
 
“Sherlock Adler, inherited his father’s intelligence and was a precocious young lad who did well in school and went on to Cambridge. Just before he graduated, Irene Adler, now Irene Holmes, decided to visit her elderly mom in New Jersey and return with her in time for her son’s graduation. Sadly, destiny intervened.”
 
“In what way?” asks Delaney.
 
“Irene booked her trans-Atlantic journey on the maiden and only voyage of the Titanic. She perished with over 1500 other souls on April 15, 1912. Sherlock and his son were devastated by Irene’s loss.  Soon after his graduation, the son legally changed his name to Sherlock Holmes, Junior to acknowledge his father. Because the cottage contained so many memories of Irene, Sherlock moved to a farmhouse in Sussex where he lived until his passing in 1927.
 
“His son, my great grandfather, Sherlock Junior, moved to London and followed in his dad’s footsteps by working as a detective for London Metro Police at Scotland Yard. He later set up his own private investigation company and married, Jane Whitmire, my great grandmother. They had three children, the oldest, a boy born in 1920, was named Sherlock Holmes the Third.
 
“Sherlock III, my grandfather, after graduating college, began working in his dad’s PI firm. He was in the service during World War II and got married soon after the war ended. Like the original Sherlock, he fell in love with and married an American – an Army nurse, Edith Jones, serving in Britain at the start of the D-Day invasion. After the war, Edith, missed her family in Arlington, Virginia and she and Sherlock III decided to move to the States.”
 
“Ah, so that’s how the Holmes clan got to America,” proclaims Delaney.
 
“Indeed. Sherlock III obtained his U.S citizenship while attending Georgetown Law School and joined the FBI after graduation. Sherlock III and Edith had two children. The oldest, a boy, born in 1948 and obviously named Sherlock the Fourth, is my father.  My dad also went to Georgetown law school and entered the military in the Judge Advocate General corps for the Navy.  That’s where he met my mom who was also a JAG officer.  Eventually, he found his way to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, known by all as NCIS, and ultimately ended up, just like the original Sherlock, doing criminal investigative work.”
 
Delaney exhales. “That’s quite the story, Theo, which brings us back to my original question. How come your name is Thelonius and not Sherlock number five?”
 
Holmes smiles and continues. “I’ll now get to your question. I was the youngest of three children. As you might guess, my older brother was named Sherlock V. However, my mom was a hard-core jazz fan and a pretty darn good jazz piano player in her own right. Her favorite artist was the great jazz pianist, Thelonius Monk. Don’t ask me how, but she somehow persuaded my dad to name me Thelonius. Fortunately, that quickly got shortened to my nickname, Theo, by my teachers and classmates when I started school.
 
“Sorry for that very long-winded history of my lineage and ancestry. Hope you found it of interest, Delaney.”
 
“I must admit, Theo, that despite Raul’s warning about its length, your family’s lineage is quite fascinating, especially the Titanic part. Is your brother, Sherlock V, also a private investigator or in law enforcement?”
 
“No, not even close. He’s a crypto currency investor. I don’t understand squat about the Bizarro world of crypto currency but he’s done quite well and without breaking the law.”
 
“This is only the second time I heard this story about the history of Theo,” Raul chimes in. “It clearly gets better with age,” perhaps wondering if the Holmes ancestry tale might have some fictional parts mingled in it.
 
“I’ll spare you the rest of the story about my personal voyage for another happy hour and dinner.  Shall we head back?” asks Holmes.