Making the Case for Jesse Harr's Parents

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We did find what we believe to be Jessie's parents in Illinois — Orville Horr and Mahala Caroline Dennis. Check the database for more information as it appears Jesse or his father may have changed the surname to Harr. Given Walter L, Jessie's oldest son, never felt he could get a straight answer about anything out of Jessie, this does not seem surprising that the name change was unknown. But then again, name and spelling changes seem common in this period of influx and transition. It appears the Illinois roots were only a generation or so. Read on below for why we think this is the same Jesse. And if so, read the Peter Horr History in Illinois (Jesse's Grandparents and supposed family). Also check out the Surname Progression page on these two surnames and their popularity back then.

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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. 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 strong and likely match.

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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, his son, did not have much regard for his father Jesse. You could never get a story out twice the same way from Jesse according to Walter L's kids. Walter L never made up with Jesse for what Jesse did to the family; never spoke badly nor positively about him except to say do not trust what he says. So the truth was never clear. But Jesse apparently wanted to stay in touch with his grand kids and would visit, sometimes walking half the day across Cleveland to get to their 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 or to be a part of their lives. Jesse was married to Gladys and had family there at the time. 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.

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.

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What we learned

From readily found, definitive documents related to Jesse in the early 1900's, we gather a number of likely facts. From Census records of 1910 through 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 then.) Guess the stories of getting consistent information are substantiated.

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What we found (and didn't)

Searches in the Illinois area for records before 1900 are coming up empty handed. That is, until we started looking for wider variation of the name. Hence the discovery of the 1870 and 1880 census entries for Orwell and Mahala Horr. So why do we think this is a match?

What matches up

Here is what matches up and makes us think we found the correct record

• Birth town
• Age
• Parents birth state
• Mother possibly American Indian
• Relatives in Pennsylvania
• Occupation of father
• Jesse does not appear later

The census records are for Astoria in Fulton County, Illinois. This village is 18 miles from Lewistown, Illinois along a major road route 24. Lewistown is the larger town and the current and original county seat. Hence, any record of birth, if made, would have been kept there. Jesse listed Louiston as his birth town.

Their son Jessie was born in 1879. Jesse is listed most often with a birth year of 1879.

Both parents were born in Illinois as Jesse declared later.

The mother 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. While the census record lists her as White, and her siblings (if we found her correct maiden name and family) have more European names, there is the chance albeit weak.

While the father of Jesse, Orwell Horr, was born in Illinois (in the same county), Orwell's parents were born in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Hence giving indication to the connection back in Pennsylvania that Jesse had.

Orwell 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 the father.

Jesse Horr's siblings all appear in later census records in the Fulton County area but then drifting off to Kansas. Jesse never re-appears. The 1890 U.S. census records were destroyed in a fire in Washington in the 1920's. We have not found Jesse Horr's 1900 census record nor Jesse Harr's. Jesse Harr's 1900 census record should place him in Pennsylvania and just married. All of Jesse's later census records had transcription errors making them difficult to find as it is. So until we get a marriage certificate for Jesse and Sadie and maybe birth certificate for Walter L, we will not know why there is not hit on a 1900 census record yet.

Key is there is nothing to disprove that Jessie Horr did not re-emerge as Jesse Harr. See the recent Iowa connection find below as well.

What does not match up

But some things do not match up so directly:

• Last name different
• Birth city
• Mother being American Indian

These mistakes are all weak and none strong disprovers of the other facts found.

The last name is different. The census records for the Horr family seem pretty clearly written with a letter "O" as opposed to "A" for many years. So likely Jesse changed the name.

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.
Given we have heard this in our family of Harr's about the Horr and Hoar name, this makes sense that someone not familiar with the spelling but only pronounciation might spell it Harr. This give credence to family members who apparently change the surname without realizing it.

Note also how the census records with his parents list his 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.

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 as previously indicated. We have not found indication of a town name change over the years but this could simply be Jesse not knowing how it was spelled in the first place. So although this is different in spelling, it most likely is 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, and only has 15,000 residents today. As the county was only formed in 1823, it was still a pretty rural area overall then and comparatively now. So listing Lewistown as the birth instead of the small hamlet and township of Astoria is not considered uncommon for the time.

The 1880 census lists "Mahala Horr" as being "White" and not "Indian". There are a number of family trees findable on genealogy.com sites with what appears to be the Horr family. Some have the mother listed as "Carolyn Mahala Dennis". Dennis was a big family in Fulton County. Other databases list her name as xxxx xxxxx. None seem to have references and sources to verify things more clearly; and many appear to be copies of the others which even copied errors. But this all does give clues to try and prove or disprove a potential maiden name in lieu of having a marriage certificate to indicate a maiden name. W e have found an index to their marriage certificate but have not obtained a copy as of yet to show Mahala's true maiden name.

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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.

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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 them.

Note that even one other researcher (a descendant of Orville's brother) has listed aliases for Orville that include Orville Harr as a name. It is because of this researchers work that I found the link at all. So it is possible Jesse's father changed the name. But as Orville appears in the 1990 census in Iowa as Orville Horr, I suspect the father did not change the name. The hunt continues.

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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 have discovered this 1905 Iowa State Census entry that just became indexed and searchable in late April 2009. This 1905 census shows Jesse, Sadie and 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 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 apparent connection of Jessie Harr with the mother Mahala of Jesse Horr — 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 similar (hence not in the census record of 1905). We are still searching for death and marriage records of Orville and Mahala in Iowa and Illinois.