| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
They went thataway: a Gradyvillian goes to Texas . . . . . . and from there Frates Harper moved around. He made his way from Gradyville to sojourns in three states, and multiple marriages along the way. Jim has meticulously researched the story of Mr. Euphrates Harper, in this fascinating mini-biography. Click on headline for complete story By Jim A funny thing happened on the way to researching today's column--I set out toward the westering sun, bound for Gradyville, but wound up instead on the road to Texas, Illinois, Missouri and matrimony, and it's all W.M. Wilmore's fault. In the April 26, 1911 News, Mr. Wilmore, the longtime Gradyville correspondent, amongst all the usual reports of weather, crops, who had been shopping in Gradyville or visiting elsewhere, and who was doing poorly or on the mend, slipped in this little attention-getter: "Your reporter is just in receipt of a letter from Mr. Euphrates Harper, a son of Mr. and Mrs. S.A. Harper, of our city. Euphrates left us four (sic) years ago for the state of Texas, locating at Moody. He likes the state fine, and is getting along nicely. He also informed us that he was united in the bonds of wholly (sic) matrimony on the 12th, with one of the finest ladies in the Lone Star State. We have been informed that the young lady Mr. Harper married is very wealthy. We are always glad to hear of our Adair county boys doing well. Success to you and yours, Euphrates." (Texas records indicate he married Mrs. Frances West on April 13th, 1911 in McClellan County. He subsequently married a Miss Wilson in Adair County, Ky., and after her passing in 1939, he was wed to Bessie Bonds.) Mr. Pyrrhus Euphrates "Frates" Harper was born in the summer of 1891 in Gradyville, the oldest child of Steven "S.A." Harper & his second wife, Maude Nelson Harper. (Perhaps the political leaning of the family may be discerned from the 1900 census: their fifth-born child, a son, born early that year was named Theodore Roosevelt Harper. But I digress.) Frates had departed Gradyville on the road to Texas in the summer of 1908, shortly before his or 18th birthday, and the August 26th News reported he had written his father and was indirectly quoted as stating "he landed all right and he is well pleased with the appearance of the land." I believe young Harper's departure from Adair County was noted in the August 5, 1908 News but if so, the Gradyville newsletter incorrectly gave his surname: "Mr Frank Shirley and wife, of McGregor, Texas, who have been visiting here for the past three weeks, returned to their home the first of the week [that is, around July 26th or 27th] taking several of our Gradyville people with them, namely, Miss Nancy J. Grady, Euphrates Kemp (sic), and Mr. Shirley and wife, of Fairplay." When the 1910 census was taken April of that year, 19-year-old Frates appeared in Bell County, Texas in the household of a young couple, John B. & Nora Roach. His occupation was given as "hired man." Mr. Roach was born in Kentucky and quite possibly was a native of Flat Rock, Metcalfe County. (The towns of McGregor and Moody, Texas, are not far removed from each other in McClellan County, and Bell County adjoins McClellan to the southwest.) By June, 1917, Mr. Harper resided in Auburn, Sangamon County, Illinois, and on his draft registration card, he indicated he was a farm hand. By 1942, he lived in Jacksonville, Illinois, and at the time of his passing in late 1963, Frates and the third Mrs. Harper were residents of near West Plains, Howell County, Missouri. This story was posted on 2016-09-25 07:59:52
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Francis Brooks (BD) Davis, Jr., 62, Cumberland County, KY (1953-2016) First day of Fairgrounds dismantling project off to good start BJF sends complete Helen Hunt Jackson September poem Adair Co. hospital board meetings 27 Sep 2106 - AGENDA Awareness Singing Sat 22 Oct 2016 at ACHS Sen. Max Wise - Today is Hunting & Fishing Day in KY Blakey's at Breeding UMC, Sun 2 Oct 2016 Hart County, KY, man charged with consumer product tampering Lucas/Glasgow-Area Seniors Get Information at Scam Jam Comment: September View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
