Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake Michigan
Search

Person

James L. Wojan

Also James L. Wojan · James Wojan

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Active
fl. 1971–1974
Parents
Walter A. Wojan
Siblings
Edward Bruce "Ed" Wojan · Ronald "Ron" Wojan · Jeanne Marie Gillespie · Audrey Potter · Patricia "Patty" Wojan · Diane Terese Wojan
Member of
Beaver Island Flying Club
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
communityreligionheritage
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

James L. Wojan, son of Walter A. Wojan and Vera M. Wojan of St. James, was a schoolboy in the 1961 Beaver Island Community School grade table, treasurer of the newly formed Beaver Island Flying Club in January 1971, and married Karen L. McCafferty at Holy Cross Church on September 28, 1974. The couple, “Jim and Karen Wojan,” recur together in the Beacon’s social and civic pages through the 1970s and 1980s, and he served on the St. James Township board and fire department across those same decades.

History

A February 1961 grade-by-grade school table lists James Wojan in Grade 1 alongside Edward Wojan (Grade 8), Jeannie Wojan (Grade 6), Ronald Wojan (Grade 4) and Angela Wojan (Grade 3) — the same Edward and Ronald the 1974 wedding notice names as James’s brothers, placing a school-age James Wojan in Walter A. Wojan’s household a full decade before that notice.1 In January 1971 he was elected treasurer of the newly organized Beaver Island Flying Club, a group of fifteen island teenagers meeting weekly under instructor Bill Welke, alongside Frank Solle as vice-president and his own sister Audrey Wojan as secretary.2

On September 28, 1974 he married Karen L. McCafferty at Holy Cross Church. The wedding notice is unusually explicit for this record: it names his parents directly (“Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Wojan”), his best man as his brother Ronald Wojan and a groomsman as his brother Edward Wojan, and reports that “Mr. and Mrs. Wogan, parents of the bridegroom,” hosted the rehearsal dinner — the same article using both spellings for the same couple.3 “Jim and Karen Wojan” appear together repeatedly in the years that follow: on a March 1976 St. Patrick’s trip to Chicago, as school chaperones in April 1978, and as the parents of Kyle James Wojan, born August 24, 1983.456 A March 2011 graduation notice for a niece independently names “Jim (Karen) Wojan” among Walter A. Wojan’s children still on Beaver Island, alongside Ed and Ron.7 Through the 1980s he served on the St. James Township board (recorded repeatedly in board-meeting attendance from 1983 to 1987) and as assistant fire chief in December 1982.89

Significance

Wojan’s record threads together a school-age Beaver Islander, a teenage club officer, a bridegroom explicitly identified as a Wojan sibling, and a long-serving township official — evidence that only converges into one man once the 1961 school roster and the 1974 wedding’s sibling list are read against each other.

Evidence and limits

This record merges two episode articles originally created separately from 1971 and 1974 newspaper appearances of “James Wojan.” No single source states outright that the 1971 flying-club treasurer is the 1974 bridegroom, so the identification rests on converging evidence rather than one statement: the February 1961 school table places a James Wojan as a sibling of Edward, Jeanne and Ronald Wojan — the same three siblings the 1974 wedding notice names as James L. Wojan’s brothers — a full decade before either the flying-club notice or the wedding; “Jim and Karen Wojan” recur as a couple from 1976 onward, and a 1983 birth notice and a 2011 graduation notice each independently confirm a “Jim Wojan” married to “Karen” among Walter A. Wojan’s children. No second James/Jim Wojan of the right age appears anywhere in the sources held here. Given that convergence, this identification is treated here as probable rather than established, since the bridge is built from separate documents rather than one that names both episodes together.

A separate “Jim Wogan,” who helped in a 1971 harbor rescue, is documented at Jim Wogan and is not merged here; the Beacon used “Wojan”/“Wogan” as interchangeable OCR-era spellings for this family throughout the period, so that record may or may not be the same man, and is left as its own unresolved episode.

Open questions

  • Is Jim Wogan (1971 harbor rescue) the same man documented here, or a separate person the paper also spelled “Wogan”?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, February 1961, school honor-roll/grade table. ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, January 1971, “Beaver Island Kids Start Flying Club.” ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, September–October 1974, “Weddings: McCafferty-Wojan.” ↩

  4. Beaver Beacon, March 1976, “St. Patrick’s Party – Chicago.” ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, April 1978, school trip report. ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, September 1983, birth notice. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, March 2011, graduation notice (Christie Brynaert). ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, St. James Township board minutes, 1983-1987 (multiple issues). ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, December 1982, fire department roster. ↩

Kin

Vera M. Wojan1927 – 1980Walter A. WojanAudrey PotterDianeTerese Wojanb. 1958Edward Bruce"Ed" WojanJeanne MarieGillespiePatricia"Patty" Wojanb. 1957Ronald"Ron" Wojanb. 1975This articleJames L. Wojan
Only relations stated in the sources are drawn; absence means unrecorded, not childless or unmarried.

The dated record

4 dated events · 1971–1975These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Names James L. Wojan as the September 28, 1974 groom at Holy Cross Church, marrying Karen L. McCafferty. States "Parents of the couple are Mr. and Mrs. James B. McCafferty and Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Wojan," and names best man Ronald Wojan ("assisted his brother") and groomsman Edward Wojan ("another brother"), and reports "Mr. and Mrs. Wogan, parents of the bridegroom," hosting the rehearsal dinner — the same article using both spellings for the groom's parents. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-09_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The scan confirms the full name, wedding context and both spellings of the parents' surname.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-09_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Names James Wojan as the club’s treasurer; it provides no full biography or independent identity record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-01_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held ten-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1971-01_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Grade-by-grade school table lists Edward Wojan (Grade 8), Jeannie Wojan (Grade 6), Ronald Wojan (Grade 4), Angela Wojan (Grade 3) and James Wojan (Grade 1) together -- the same sibling set (Edward, Jeanne, Ronald) the 1974 wedding notice names as James L. Wojans siblings, placing a school-age James Wojan in Walter A. Wojans household a decade before the wedding and ten years before the flying-club treasurer notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-02_Beaver-Beacon
  6. Reports the birth of Kyle James Wojan on August 24, 1983 to "Jim & Karen Wojan of Beaver Island" -- matches the 1974 bridegroom James L. Wojan and bride Karen L. McCafferty by given names, nine years after the wedding. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1983-09_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Beaver Beacon, March 2011, graduation notice (Christie Brynaert).
    Identifies the graduate as niece of "Ed (Connie) Wojan, Ron (Patti) Wojan, Jim (Karen) Wojan, Jeanne (John) Gillespie all of Beaver Island" -- independently names Jim Wojans wife as Karen and places him among Walter A. Wojans children (with Ed and Ron) thirty-seven years after the wedding, cited via person/walter-a-wojan. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2011-03_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Lists "Karen and Jim Wojan" among islanders attending a St. Patrick's party in Chicago. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-03_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Names "Karen and Jim Wojan" as chaperones on a school trip. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-04_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Lists "Assistant Fire Chief: James Wojan" in the Beaver Island Fire Department roster. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1982-12_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Records James Wojan present with Ronald Wojan, Vivian Visscher and Tim McDonough at a St. James Township board meeting -- one of many such attendance records from 1983 through 1987. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1985-01_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “James L. Wojan”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/james-wojan/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, September–October 1974, “Weddings: McCafferty-Wojan.” (and 10 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

BibTeXRIS