Making the Case for Jesse Harr's Parents
On this page:
This page is more about the discovery process to find Jesse Harr's ancestry, which we knew essentially nothing about when we started. To see a better description of his past before marrying Sadie, see the Horr Dennis page. Otherwise, see the Harr Brooks or Harr Howard page for his families. It can especially be useful to use the Page History feature to see how our knowledge came about incrementally over the first year of research.
We have found Jesse's likely birth and first years in Astoria Township, Fulton County, Illinois with parents Orville Horr and Mahala Caroline Dennis. Lewiston is the county seat of Fulton. By 10, he is likely living in Iowa and appears back there after marriage with Sadie and young son Walter L in 1905. Read on as to how we are making this connection.
Orville and his family (father and siblings) have the surname spelled as Horr and Harr in intermingling years of official records since the early 1800's. So it is not clear that there was a correct way to spell it other than the fact that Jesse and his parents primarily used Harr since the 1900's. Although this is not a non-English speaking immigrant family, name and spelling differences seem common in this period of influx and transition of the area. Some of Jesse's cousins settled on the Harr spelling while some stayed with Horr.
It appears the Illinois roots were only a generation or so. Read the Horr McKee history in Illinois (Jesse's Grandparents along with Uncles and Aunts). Also check out the Surname Progression page on these two surnames and their popularity back then. The same holds true for Jesse's mother, Mahala, although we have as yet to detail that family out yet. Jesse's parents were born in Illinois, as was he, but his grandparents all came from other states farther east as Illinois was not yet a settled when they were all born.
Caveat
Anyone who gets into genealogy quickly realizes that nothing is as it appears. Names that one thought unique are quite common. Tidbits of information are rarely recorded twice the same way. This is especially true as recent immigrants tried to find a home in this new country and dealt with prejudice, dishonesty, and stereotypes. Add to the fact they often did not speak English and so information was often recorded with different English spellings by different people. So a genealogist has to have several theories in mind, do searches for records and documents that support or disprove a theory, and generally build up a case of evidence to make one theory stronger over all others. Included in this is searching for information to disprove what is found. With all this said, the preponderance of evidence suggests this is a very strong and only likely match for Jesse and his ancestors.What we heard
There are lots of stories floating around related to Jesse and his parents. One is that Jesse's father was a (Colorado) mountain man who came out of the hills just long enough to mate with a black foot Indian squaw and then disappeared. Others are that he was a horse trainer and a stage coach driver. Supposedly a close relative (first cousin?) was Ira Millet who was with the Ringling Brothers circus as a trapeze family. Walter L and his kids visited the circus in the late 1930's and early 1940's and were escorted back to the entertainers area to visit the relatives there.What is clear is Walter L, Jesse's son, did not have much regard for his father. You could never get a story out the same way twice from Jesse according to Walter L's report to his kids. Walter L never made up with Jesse for what Jesse did to the family — leaving the family to marry a teenage girl he got pregnant who was boarding in the same house. Her father had passed and it was just the mother and her kids. Walter L never spoke badly nor positively about Jesse; only to say "do not trust what he says". So the truth was never clear. Walter L had to leave school when he was around twelve and get a job to care for his mother and sisters. His mother passed away early when Walter L was only 25.
Jesse apparently wanted to stay in touch with his grand kids and would try to visit; sometimes walking half the day across Cleveland to get to Walter L's house many miles away. But Walter L would come home from work, escort Jesse to the car, and drive him home — not wanting to invite him in nor to have him a part of their lives. Jesse quickly married Gladys and had two daughters with her. Jesse finally passed in 1954 in Cleveland while still married to Gladys.
Even though there was this rift, one of Gladys Howards' grandchildren did serve as flower girl at Wally and Betty Ann's wedding in 1955 (Jesse's second grandson). And Walter L's oldest son Leroy Pat was in the wedding parties of his cousins through step-grandmother Gladys.
Other things we know is there was some family connection back to Western Pennsylvania. Not only was Walter L born there (and supposedly Sadie, Jesse's first wife), but the family would often visit back there. While we know there was some connection of Agnes Suhovic, Walter L's wife, to Pennsylvania — there was always believed to be a connection of Jesse to Pennsylvania as well.
That is about all we had to start with from Walter L's kids.
What we learned
From readily found, definitive documents related to Jesse in the 1900's, we gather a number of facts. From Census records of 1910, 1920 and 1930, we learn that Jesse declared he was born in Illinois and his parents are both from Illinois. Furthermore, his World War I and World War II draft cards list his birth town as Louiston. Both list his birth as 25 January although one lists 1879 and the other 1881. His 1910 and 1920 census implies 1879 as a birth year with the 1930 census implying 1882. (note: the 1930 census was taken before 25 January 1930 and so before his supposed birthday. Jesse lists himself as being 48 years old in that census.) Guess the stories of getting consistent information are substantiated. But more information points to January 1879 as the likely birth year.What we found (and didn't)
Searches in the Illinois area for records on a Jesse Harr before 1900 were coming up empty handed. That is, until we started looking for a wider variation of the name. Hence the discovery of the 1880 census entry for Orville/Orwell and Mahala Horr with 1 year old son Jesse in Illinois. So why do we think this is a match? Once we take this variation in spelling of the last name into account, many more records appear about Jesse, his parents, and both grandparents.While there are a number of Jesse Harr's in the USA around the same time, none are in Cleveland or Illinois. Note that there are a number of Jesse Horr's also around this same time but they are also scattered and in general trackable in Missouri, Maryland, New York and other states.
What matches up
Here is what matches up and makes us think the 1880 census with Orville and Mahala is the same Jesse Harr we know:- Birth town
- Age
- Parents birth state
- Relatives in Pennsylvania
- Occupation of father
- Jesse, Sadie and Walter L in Iowa with Mahala in 1905
- Jesse Horr from Illinois does not appear later anywhere
- Walter Harr, Jesse's grandson, birth certificate
Jesse listed Louiston as his birth town. The census records for 1880 listing a Jesse Horr are for Astoria Township in Fulton County, Illinois. This township is 18 miles from Lewistown, Illinois along a major road route 24. Lewistown is the closest town (albeit never above a few thousand people) and the original (and current) county seat. Hence, any record of birth, if made, would have been kept in Lewistown. Earlier state census records show the town was named Lewiston in the mid-1800's.
From the 1880 census in Astoria, Orville and Mahala Horr list their son Jesse as one year old. Jesse is listed most often with a birth year of 1879. As he is not listed with something like 8/12 or similar (common for babies less than one year old), he is likely more than one year old. So a January 1879 birth date would match for a census taken in April 1880.
Both Orville Horr and Mahala Caroline Dennis were born in Illinois in that same county. Jesse declared later in his census records in 1910 through 1930 that his parents were born in Illinois.
While the father of Jesse, Orville Horr, was born in Illinois (in the same county), Orville's father and mother were born in Ohio and Pennsylvania; respectively. Hence giving indication to the connection back to Pennsylvania that Jesse had. Mahala's parents and oldest siblings were born in Tennessee.
Orville lists his occupation as a Teamster. While we now think "labor union", this was before the union had formed. The original use of the term was "a person who drove a team of draft animals, usually a wagon drawn by oxen, horses, or mules.". So the stories of being a horse trainer and stage coach driver by Jesse seem to fit to this work declaration of his father. The 1910 census in Cleveland lists Jesse as an Ash Wagon driver.
Orville Horr's siblings all appear in earlier census records in the Fulton County area but by 1880 most have drifted off to Missouri and Kansas (and back and forth as well). Jesse nor his sisters never re-appear with the parents in a census after that 1880 entry. We track Orville and Mahala through some interesting finds detailed below though. Note: The 1890 U.S. census records were destroyed in a fire in Washington in the 1920's.
We have not found a Jesse Horr 1900 census record nor one for Jesse Harr's. All of Jesse Harr's 1900's census records had transcription errors making them difficult to find as it is. Jesse married Sadie in Salida, CO in 1901. We know this as the marriage certificate has since been found in Agnes' belongings in Pat Harr's basement. Being a mining town with a heavy transient population, who knows if the census coverage was very good there. So we do not know why there is not hit on a 1900 census record yet. Nor how Jesse met Sadie and where.
Key is there is nothing to disprove that Jessie Horr of the 1880 census did not re-emerge as Jesse Harr in Cleveland later. The Iowa connection below likely solidifies this all.
What does not match up
But some things do not match up so directly:- Spelling of personal names and city different
- Mother being American Indian
Most of these non-matchups are likely mistakes or simply explained otherwise.
The surname is different but likely changed. Some of Jesse Horr's cousins changed the surname about the same time to Harr. The census records for the Horr family seem pretty clearly written with a letter "O" as opposed to "A" for many years (1860, 1870, 1880). But the 1850 and 1865 census record for Peter Horr, Jesse Horr's grandfather, is clearly written as Harr. And Mahala and Orville both have later records written as Harr (Mahala's re-marriage and Orville's cemetery record). Oddly as well, Walter Harr (Jesse's grandson) has a birth certificate from 1930 in Cleveland that is clearly written Horr.
From Roz Edson, who maintains the Rootsweb Horr / Hoar Families database, we get:
As to how you pronounce the name Horr, my grandfather was James Webster Horr. We pronounce Horr like Haw (as in Hee-Haw, or See-Saw). But other people pronounce it as whore.
Note also how the census records with Jesse's parents list his given name as "Jessie" while he later uses "Jesse" (except for the 1920 census which records it as "Jessie"). But this difference in spelling can easily be accepted like the differences encountered with the surname spelling.
Jesse listed "Louiston" in his draft cards. There is no record of a city with that name in Illinois. "Lewistown" readily comes up and is in fact the county seat for Fulton County where Jesse Horr was living in 1880, as previously indicated. We have found indication of a town name change from Lewiston to Lewistown during the 1800's. But this difference could simply be Jesse not knowing how the town was spelled in the first place. So although this is different in spelling, it is very likely the same location.
In 2000, Astoria had around 1000 people and Lewistown 2000. Canton has always been the largest city in the county, another 18 miles north of Lewiston, but still only has 15,000 residents even today. As the county was only formed in 1823, it was still a pretty rural area then and comparatively now. So listing the county seat and records office of Lewistown as the birth town instead of the small township of Astoria is not considered incorrect for the time.
Mahala was born in Illinois but both her parents are from Tennessee. Tennessee is the home of the Cherokee tribe and Mahala is a common name for a squaw back then. But the census record lists her as White, and her siblings have more European names. So likely she is white / European descent and Mahala was a name in common use. There are a number of Mahala Horr's and Mahala Harr's in the USA in the 1800's. We know Mahala's maiden name and thus connection to local family as we found her marriage record to Orville in Fulton County. So maybe the "native american" roots background was a story made up around the mother's almost Indian sounding name.
Implications of Find
If this connection holds true, then there is a whole history and connection to settlers moving from Pennsylvania through Illinois to Missouri and Kansas through the 1800's. But of course, it is because these records seem to exist connecting all these families, that we even found the information. So we will continue to build the link tighter as possible and tag onto the coattails of the extensive research available for this families history before that. So far, no one shows where any of Orville Horr's kids end up or have further lineage defined for them. But all the other branches of this family are extensively studied and described.Disproving the Find
There are other Jesse Harr's born around the time of our Jesse. But they are born outside of Illinois, Ohio or Pennsylvania; and are easily tracked with other wives and family members. Orville and Mahala Horr and there kids, that include Jesse, are very difficult to track further so far. So it is still possible we will disprove this link if we start to find the siblings. But given the Iowa story below, this is likely not going to occur.The Iowa Connection
In what has to be the strangest turn of events, in trying to disprove other Jesse Harr's to then prove Jesse Horr and the ancestry, we discovered a 1905 Iowa State Census entry that had just become indexed and available in late April 2009. This 1905 census shows Jesse, Sadie and son Walter in Burlington, Iowa! Recall that Walter was born in 1903 in Pennsylvania and Ruth and Mildred in Cleveland in 1906 and 1908; respectively, based on census records. We know there has always been a connection back to Pennsylvania for the family as Walter L and Jesse made trips back there. What is completely new news is that Jesse, Sadie and young Walter were in Iowa — at least during the 1905 census.
Were they just visiting? Had they lived there a while? Was Walter L really born in Pennsylvania or maybe it was Iowa and he was told differently? This raises so many interesting questions as we try and recreate this lost history.
But more interestingly is to look at the name of the lady above them at the same address; presumably the head of household as she is listed first. A Mrs. M.C. Hunycut. Could this be Jessie Horr's mother, Mahala Caroline Horr (nee Dennis)? Remember Orville Horr shows up in the 1900 census in Keokuk, Iowa without a wife. Keokuk and Burlington are just 20 miles apart, both on the river and border with Illinois, and both just 45 miles from Astoria, Illinois (the birthplace of Jesse Horr). So this possible connection of Jesse Harr with the mother of Jesse Horr (Mahala) — this more tightly ties in the story of Jesse Harr being born Jessie Horr.
The presumption is that Mahala got remarried, has a new surname, and her second husband either died or divorced (hence not in the census record of 1905).
Definitively tying Jesse Harr to Jesse Horr
We have now found a 1889 marriage record of Mahala C Harr (note with an A) to an Albert Hunnicutt in Keokuk, Iowa. Remember we find Orville in Keokuk in the 1900 census but without Mahala. This marriage would have been when Jesse is only 10. There is an Albert Hunnicutt of about the same age as Mahala living in Fulton County in 1880 (in neighboring Harrison Township). He is married to a Susan with two children. So this seems to definitely show how Mahala Caroline Dennis marries Orville Horr in 1872, has three kids (see 1880 census), remarries in 1889 in Keokuk, Iowa to Albert Hunnicutt, and then appears in Burlington, IA (just north of Keokuk) in 1905 as Mrs M.C. Hunnicutt with Jesse, Mrs Sadie Harr, and one year old Walter L. There is no 1890 nor 1900 census for the Hunnicutt's and so it is not clear they had any children by this marriage; or even if Jesse and his sisters were living with them. Also, not sure if there are additional siblings after Jesse.While all the above is enough, there is more to definitively tie it up. Jesse's marriage application to Gladys Howard in 1918 declares his parents as Orville and Mahala Dennis. So, in his own declaration, he ties it back to the found Jesse Horr of Lewiston, Illinois.
Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Ohio
Most confusing still is the progression of Jesse from Illinois, to Iowa (his mother remarried there), to Colorado where he married Sadie, to Pennsylvania (sons' birth), back to Iowa, and then to Cleveland. What drove him crisscrossing the new territory and how could they be so mobile for the decade or so. So lets create a table of the documents found, listing their event, date of recording, street, city, and state to try and track this all.Note that we now suspect they were captured in the Iowa census in 1905 simply being there for sister Cora's funeral. We are still trying to find Jesse's 1900 census record. As the only record of Sadie before the 1901 marriage is the 1900 Pittsburgh census, we include her census record here to help understand her trek back and forth. But in 1916 when Jesse splits with Sadie and marries Gladys, we simply list Jesse's whereabouts here.
| Document / Event | Date | Street | City, State | Notes |
| Federal Census | 1900 Apr | Pittsburgh, PA | Sadie's Census | |
| Marriage Cert | 1901 Apr | Salida, CO | Jesse to Sadie | |
| Death Cert | Pittsburgh, PA | Orville Harr death after 4mths | ||
| Birth Cert | Pittsburgh, PA | Walter's birth | ||
| Iowa Census | 1905 Apr | Burlington, IA | Likely just there for Cora's funeral | |
| Birth | Cleveland, OH | Mildred's birth | ||
| Birth | Cleveland, OH | Ruth's birth | ||
| City Dir | 1907 | Cleveland, OH | ||
| Federal Census | 1910 | Cleveland, OH | ||
| Marriage Cert | 1918 | Cleveland, OH | Jesse to Gladys | |
| Federal Census | 1920 | |||
| Federal Census | 1930 | |||
| Federal Census | 1940 | |||