Jesse Milford Harper & son

HARPER

Posted By: Erin (email)
Date: 7/22/2012 at 13:10:42

The family I am looking for are: Jesse Milford Harper b. 1889 (parents John Harvey Harper & Ida Mae Shelton)

Side note - John Harvey Harpers parents were Jesse Harper & Miriam Porter who had 18 children many f them died young but there were still quite a lot of Harpers running around from the sounds of it..

I believe that Jesse Milford Harper is my great great grandfather. As far as I can make sense of things I believe that Maggie Butler who he was married to in 1910 must be my great grandfathers mother based on the timing of her being married to Jesse Milford Harper.

My great grandfather was Jesse Robert Harper 1911-1966.

I have ordered my great grandfather, Jesse Robert Harpers Toledo/Tama Iowa birth record but so far have received nothing. When I ordered it I wasn't sure who his parents were so I did not include these names.

Ultimately, I am searching for Jesse Milford Harpers death certificate and Jesse Robert Harpers birth certificate to prove the connection that seems the only answer that makes sense.

I can't seem to find a divorce record for Jesse Milford Harper and Maggie Butler but I did find a record of Jesse Milford's second marriage to Marie Otto. Interestingly, Jesse Milford's 1917 draft card lists him as single on June 5th 1917, and he married Marie in September 1917 so my best guess is that he married Marie shortly before shipping out to war.

His draft card is dated June 1917 in wisconsin and he got married in september of 1917 in Minnesota but to a girl from Wisconsin so he obviously was divorced from Maggie butler enlisted in the war, stationed in Wisconsin and got married right before he took off for war where he most likely died... would this make sense?

Here is what I've got:

I found a marriage record from Jesse Milford Harper to Marie Otto. Jesse Milford who I believe (at this point) is Jesse Robert Harpers father...

As far as I can tell my best guess is that he died or was never recovered or something in WWI....

- I see his 1889 birth record to John Harvey Harper & Ida Mae Shelton
- I see him on 1910 census as living with Maggie/Margaret Butlers family
- I see where he married Maggie Butler in 1910

We know that Maggie Butler had Jesse Robert in 1911. We know she was his mother based on the census I found with Maggie Armstrong married to JL Armstrong and living with his children Vonnie and John and the 1966 Reno newspaper listing his mother as Mrs. JR Armstrong (JR and JL too close to be coincidence in my opinion) and step siblings Vonnie and John (again no coincidence that maggie/Margaret/Madge Armstrong was living with a Vonnie and a John)...

Because we know Maggie Butler is his mother (even though we have no birth record to prove it) and we know she was living with and married to Jesse Milford in 1910, and Jesse Robert Harpers birth date is almost exactly 9.5 months after they wed, one has to assume that Jesse Milford is the father. It makes too perfect of sense...

I found him living by himself and listed as single in 1915 (or else he was the only person home when census person came as he is only person listed as living in house). We know his former wife and son were alive in 1915 since they were both alive until at least 1966 so clearly they parted ways...not sure why...

I found a marriage record between Jesse Milford and Marie Otto in 1917 in Minnesota but his draft card was filled out in Wisconsin, but based on Marie's records she was born and lived in Wisconsin most of her life so one would assume he was stationed or visiting there, they met, got married in Minnesota maybe on vacation before he left for war, who knows....

Then he vanishes...

All I can think of is that he died at war.... and maybe when Jesse Robert was born he was born at the Harper homestead in the middle of nowhere (theres a pic of a shack "Harper Homestead") on ancestry... So maybe  there just wasn't ever a formal birth certificate....

It's all I can think of but in looking at all of this info, I think this storyline adds up. What are your thoughts? What happened to men who died at war and were never recovered, was it common for their to be no death record in that case?

Is there any way for me to access 1917-1918 Tama, Iowa newspapers death notices/obituaries online to see if there's anything listed in the paper about his death?

If Jesse Robert was born at home in Tama would there be a birth record?