john sherman billingsley was the youngest child of robert billingsley and emily collingsworth. he was born in enid, oklahoma, on march 10, 1896. (in later years, billingsley claimed to have been born in 1900, but this is refuted by both the 1930 census and the social security death index.) his parents had settled in enid following the 1893 land run. the billingsley children attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, riding a horse to get to school. when an older brother committed a homicide and was sent to prison, the family relocated to anadarko to be near him. upon the brother's release, he enlisted sherman as an assistant in his bootlegging business.