The Tragic Story Of JD Vance And His Sister Lindsay's Childhood

J.D. Vance and Lindsay grew up without having a stable father-figure. There aren’t many details about Lindsay’s father, beside the fact that he was the first husband of their mom, Beverly Vance. But by the time that J.D. was born it seemed like he was already out of the picture.

As for J.D.’s father, we have a bit more details about who he was. According to People, J.D. was born to Beverly and Donald Bowman in 1984. Bowman stuck with J.D. and Lindsay for six years before abandoning the kids by walking out the door. He and Beverly ended up divorcing, but despite two failed marriages, Beverly never gave up on love and married a whopping five times. J.D. even revealed in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy” (via People) that her third husband, Bob Hamel, adopted the Ohio Senator and made him change his name from James Donald Bowman to James David Hamel. Beverly’s third husband wanted J.D. to get rid of any trace of his father and that included his name.

After Hamel, Beverly would go on to marry two more times, and J.D. recalled this being one of the worst parts of his and his sister’s childhood in “Hillbilly Elegy.” He wrote, “Of all the things I hated about my childhood, nothing compared to the revolving door of father figures.”