Letters published in 1918
The letters below were written by Andrew and Halvor Jensen to their sisters Kriste and Martha (letter of June 23, 1919) and their parents. Andrew Jensen was born April 21, 1887, one of five children born to Halvard and Jacobina Jensen, of Lærdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. The family emigrated from Norway to North Dakota where Halvor was born May 21, 1891 in the town of Milnor. In total, Halvard and Jacobina had 14 children.…
Harry Grover Sorber was born August 1, 1895. He left school after the 8th Grade, and worked as blacksmith, residing in Hunlock Creek, Pa. He was inducted in to the service on April 30, 1918 at Shickshinny, Pa, and served as a horseshoer in Battery E of the 314th Field Artillery. He was discharged on June 7, 1919 at Camp Lee, Virginia. After the war Harry worked as a carpenter at a coal company. He…
George William Christopher Pearson was born December 15, 1891 in Cullison, Kansas. Heworked as a grocery clerk at Farnsworth Mercantile in Cullison, and was described as being ofmedium height and build with gray eyes and black hair. He would enter Camp Funston, Kansason September 19, 1917 and become a member of Co H of the 353 regiment, which had beenorganized at Funston on September 5, 1917. On February 18, 1918 he would marry LaveniaIsabel Burns,…
John E. Hogan was born in Chicopee, MA on February 4, 1896. Katherine Carney, the daughterof John and Katherine (Collins) Carney was born in Peabody, MA around 1899. John served inCo B of the 8th Massachusetts Infantry. He would be recommended for discharge due to eyeproblems in October of 1917. However, his discharge papers would be misplaced and wouldstill be with the regiment when they moved to North Carolina in November. Sometime afterDecember 17th (his…
Frank Dennis Rogers, the second of five children of Dennis and Mary Ann (Doody) Rogers, wasborn November 9, 1891. His father would pass away after a long illness in 1903 when Frank waseleven. At the time of his entering the military as a private on December 13, 1917 he was astorekeeper residing in Wallingford, Conn., described as being of medium height, slender build,with gray eyes and dark hair. He served in the 322 Motor Repair…
Charles Morse Luther, the son of William A. and Ada C. (Rogers) Luther, was born in Johnston, R.I.on January 19, 1891. He served as a corporal in Co 470 of Motor Supply Train 418. He returnedto the United States on the USS Mount Vernon which left Brest on June 28, 1919, arriving inHoboken N.J, on July 5, 1919.In 1920 he was employed as a jitney chauffeur and resided with his brother Frank and sister-in-law Mabel…
Born February 6, 1896, John C Roberts was eldest of six children of Alva Button Roberts and John Taylor Roberts. Both of John’s parents were pastors in The Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the founders of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis.) John and his brother William followed in their parent’s footsteps and became ministers in the United Brethren, while his sister Irene would marry a minister of the church. According to…
Mary Fee, one of three children of Charles and Belle Fee of Cisco, Texas was born in 1901 or 1902. Her was a merchant and City Commissioner and Mary often appeared on the social pages of Fort Worth newspapers. On November 9, 1936, she married William Wender. They resided in Shreveport, Louisiana where William died in 1988. Mary died on May 13, 2002 at the age of 100. The letters below were written to Mary…
Biography Royle Raymond Stafford was born on January 14, 1897 in Altoona, Kansas. His father C.A. Stafford was a successful businessman owning a fruit ranch in Washington, and Stafford’s Dry Goods & Grocery Store in Altoona, which he had established in 1888. In 1915, he and his friend Merill Gerkin would travel to San Francisco to as members of the Student’s Military Encampment. From San Francisco they would travel to Portland, Oregon by ship. In…
Robert Presley Thornton was born July 26, 1893 in Nelson County, Virginia, the son of Robert H. Thornton and Sarah B. Thornton. A chemist, he attended the agriculture college at Clemson University where he was the president of the tennis club and a member of the Calhoun Literary Society, graduating in 1915. After the war he founded Thornton Laboratories, Inc. in Tampa, Florida. He died January 14, 1979 at the age of 85 and was…
