Military Monday : Floyd LeMaster, World War II Draft Registration, 1942

Working my way through the hints in the Ancestry database for World War II Draft Registrations, 1942 and located this registration in Jay County, Indiana for Floyd LeMaster, my paternal granduncle.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data : United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration., Floyd LeMaster, Jay County, Indiana.

This draft record adds to the information I've collected about Floyd, who was the son of Luman Cooper Lemasters and Barbara Isabel Wehrly.  Floyd's draft registration gives his exact date of birth as February 2, 1894 in Jay County, Indiana.

Floyd was 48 years old at the time of the registration, and his nearest living relative was his wife, Opal (Gagle) LeMaster of the same place.  Floyd's address was listed as Jay County, Indiana but the postal address was Rural Route 3, Fort Recovery, Ohio. His telephone was Salamonia. This area of Jay County was served by Fort Recovery as the nearest post office.

Floyd was a self-employed farmer in Jay County, Indiana.  

Physically, Floyd is described as having a light complexion, white male, 5'7", with brown eyes and brown hair.  He weighed 165 lbs.



Military Monday – We all have ancestors who have served in the military. Military Monday is a place to post their images, stories and records of their service in various branches of the military. Military Monday is an ongoing series by Cindy at Everything’s Relative – Researching Your Family History.

Tombstone Tuesday: LeMasters

Source: Salamonia Cemetery (Jay County, Indiana), LeMasters marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 26 March 2009

Floyd LeMASTERS and wife Shirley Opal (GAGLE), as well as son Floyd D. and wife Nevada J., and one unidentified LeMasters are buried in the Salamonia Cemetery, Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana.

Floyd was born February 2, 1894 in Jay County, Indiana, the son of Luman Cooper and Barbara Isabel (WEHRLY) LeMASTERS.

Opal was born September 12, 1895, the daughter of James and Myrtle (FREEMEYER) GAGLE.

Floyd and Opal were married October 9, 1913. They had two children: Remonda and Floyd.  Floyd was adopted.

Floyd D. LeMASTERS was born March 24, 1923 and died August 15, 1972.  He married Nevada Jane McKINLEY, born 1922, died 2001.

I do not know yet how the Edythe G. LeMASTERS (1907-1929) fits into the family.  

Tombstone Tuesday – To participate in Tombstone Tuesday simply create a post which includes an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors and it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor. This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Amanuensis Monday: Sketch of Luman W. LeMasters

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Today I'm looking at the biographical sketch of my paternal 2nd-great grandfather, Luman Walker LeMASTERS, which appeared in the book "History of Jay County, Indiana: including its World War Record and Incorporating the Montgomery History", by Milton T. Jay, 1922, Historical Publishing Company, page 195.





Luman W. LeMasters, an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the best known farmers and landowners of Jay county, proprietor of "Lookout Hill Farm" in Madison township, where he makes his home, this farm being on rural mail route No. 6 out of Portland, is a "Buckeye" by birth, but has been a resident of this county practically all the time since he was twelve years of age, a period of about seventy years, and thus has been witness to and a participant in the amazing development that has taken place in this community since what might properly be regarded as pioneer days, for there was still much of the primeval wild here when he first came to this county.  Mr. LeMasters was born on a farm in Shelby county, Ohio, October 19, 1842, and is a son of Luman W. and Nancy (Young) LeMasters, Virginians, who became residents of Ohio in their childhood days and were there married. The elder Luman W. LeMasters was born in that section of the Old Dominion that came to be organized as West Virginia in Civil War times.  He was reared as a farmer and also became a "local" preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church.  After his marriage he made his home on an eighty-acre farm which he owned in Shelby county, Ohio, and there remained until 1854, in which year he moved with his family over into Indiana and located on a quarter section of land he bought in Madison township, this county, the west "eighty" of which is now owned by his son Luman, the subject of the sketch.  On that place the elder Luman W. LeMasters and his wife spent the remainder of their days, their influence for good in that community continuing a pleasant memory in the neighborhood.  He died on April 15, 1888, and his widow survived until August 26, 1904.  They were the parents of nine children, six of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having three sisters, Phebe J., Mary P., and Martha J., and two brothers, Jacob and John LeMasters.  As noted above, the junior Luman W. LeMasters was twelve years of age when he came to Jay county with his parents in 1854.  He grew to manhood on the home farm in Madison township, completing his schooling in the neighborhood schools and by two years of attendance at the old Farmers Academy at College Corner, and was living on the farm when the Civil war broke out.  On July 21, 1861, he enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of Company C of the 39th regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which presently was reorganized as the 8th Cavalry, and with that gallant command was serving when on July 3, 1863, while on a charge against the enemy at Deckers Forge, two and one-half miles south of Winchester, Tenn., he was shot through the left breast, receiving a wound which terminated his further usefulness as a soldier, putting him on the invalid list.  In March, 1864, Mr. LeMasters received his discharge and in the following fall was married and began farming for himself as a renter of land in this county.  Three years later he moved over into Darke county, Ohio, and was there engaged in farming for nine years, at the end of which time he returned to Jay county and took charge of the home farm in Madison township.  In 1904 he bought the west "eighty" of that quarter section and is still living there, practically retired since 1907, renting his fields.  Mr. LeMasters is a Republican,  is a member of Henry McLaughlin Post, No. 516, Grand Army of the Republic, at Salamonia, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of that village.  It was on October 2, 1864, that Luman W. LeMasters was united in marriage to Mary K. Chew, who has thus been his helpmate for more than fifty-seven years.  Mrs. LeMasters was born in Camden county, New Jersey, February 13, 1847, and is a daughter of Dr. Ezekiel and Caroline B. (Woolston) Chew, both of whom were born in that same state.  In 1855 Dr. Ezekiel Chew moved with his family from New Jersey to Farmersville, Ohio.  Two years later he moved to Ft. Jefferson, in Darke county (Ohio) and after a sometime residence there came to Indiana.  He made several changes of residence after coming to this state, but finally located in St. Joseph county, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in August, 1888.  His wife died on February 27, 1879.  They were the parents of ten children, of whom seven are living, Mrs. LeMasters having one sister, Sarah F., and five brothers, Nathaniel D., Cooper, Charles, Virgil and Donald Chew.  To Luman W. and Mary K. (Chew) LeMasters have been born ten children, Beulah S., Luman C., William C., Elsie, Bertha, Ord O., Edith, Maude, Arthur and Vernon, all of whom are still living.  Beulah S. LeMasters married L.L. Rockwell, who is engaged in the garage business at Ft. Recovery, Ohio, and has four children, Claude, a Noble township farmer, who married Opal Loy and has two children, Catherine M. and Duetta; Opal, who married Daniel Grile, who is operating a garage at Geneva, Ind., and has two children, Lester and John Lynn; Edith, wife of Cecil Bickel, a Madison township farmer, who has one child, and Anna.  Luman C. LeMasters, a farmer of Madison township, married Belle Wehrley and has twelve children, Clarence, a Madison township farmer, who married May Bickel and has three children, Kenneth, Mary I. and Luman; Chesley, now living at Richmond, Ind., who married Clara Burkey and has two children, Donald and Doris; Bertha, who married Russell Hercules, of Richmond, Ind., and has two children, Mervil and Isabella; Floyd, a Noble township farmer, who married Opal Gagle and has one child, Remonda; Gerald, who is the garage business in Pennville and married Mabel Kantner and has one child, Maxine; Stanley, who is at home; Dorothy, wife of Charles Hunt, of Richmond, Ind.; John, a teacher in the schools of the county, making his home in Madison township, and who married Dorothy Delauter and has one child, Geraldine, and Freda, Ord, Mary O., and Elvin C., who are at home.  William C. LeMasters, who is now living at Victor, Col., where he is the proprietor of a moving picture theater, married Lella Lewis and has four children, Gladys, who married Lloyd G. Moser, of Mt. Rosa, Col., and has two children, Carrie and Bobby; Lella, who married Earl Slinkard and is living in California, and Ralph and William, at home.  Elsie LeMasters married M.J. Adkinson, a farmer of Madison township.  Bertha LeMasters married John Yaeger, who is now principal of schools at Brazil, Ind., and has six children, Clarence, Mary, Helen, John V., George W., and Luther L.  Dr. Ord O. LeMasters, now a practicing physician at Sidney, Ohio, married Emma Garmenhouser.  He and his wife have an adopted daughter, Isabella.  Edith LeMasters married Henry Mineholtz, who is now engaged in the mercantile business at Alamosa, Col., and has four children, Wilhelmina, Lucile, Helen E. and Marjorie M.  Maude LeMasters married Dr. S.W. Phillips, a veterinary surgeon, now living at David City, Neb., and has two children, Donald and Louise.  Arthur LeMasters married Maude McLaughlin and is now engaged in the garage business at Geneva, Ind.  Dr. Vernon LeMasters, a veteran of the World war and a practicing physician, now living at Sidney, Ohio, married Helen Garmenhouser and has one child, a son, Robert.  Doctor LeMasters was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the United States army during the war and served for eighteen months overseas.  Mr. and Mrs. LeMasters were among the most active promoters of the movement which led to the organization of the Methodist Episcopal church at Salamonia in 1876 and thus for more than forty-five years have been prominently identified with that congregation.  Mr. LeMasters served as a member of the board of trustees of this congregation until 1920 and for more than forty years was class leader, while for many years Mrs. LeMasters was one of the leading teachers in the Sunday school.




John Newmark at TransylvanianDutch started this Monday genealogy meme, which has quickly spread throughout the Geneablogger community. I am excited to be a participant and transcribe the records of my family.

Family Milestones: February 2nd

My paternal granduncle, Floyd LeMASTERS, was born on this date in 1894 in Jay County, Indiana.  Floyd was the son of Luman Cooper and Barbara Isabel (WEHRLY) LeMASTERS, and the older brother of my Ord Wehrly LeMASTER.  Floyd married October 9, 1913 in Jay County, Indiana to Shirley Opal GAGLE.  Shirley was born September 12, 1895, the daughter of James and Myrtle (FREEMEYER) GAGLE.  They had 2 children.  Shirley died in 1982.  Floyd died February 12, 1982.  Both are buried in the Salamonia Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana.

Tombstone Tuesday: Luman Cooper & Barbara Isabelle (Wehrly) LeMasters

My paternal great-grandparents, Luman Cooper and Barbara Isabel (Wehrly) LeMasters, are buried in the Salamonia Cemetery, Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana.

Luman was born May 27, 1867 in Jay County, Indiana, the son of Luman Walker and Mary Keziah (Chew) Lemasters.

Barbara was born March 14, 1869 in Jay County, Indiana, the daughter of William P. and Olive Jane (Smith) Wehrly.

Luman and Barbara were married on November 13, 1886 in Jay County, Indiana. They moved shortly after their marriage to Ord, Valley County, Nebraska, but returned to Jay County, Indiana after the death of their first child. They lived out their remaining years on their farm in Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana.

Luman and Barbara were the parents of thirteen children, all but the first child were born in Jay County, Indiana.

• [unknown name] LeMasters (1887-1887) died in infancy in Valley County, Nebraska
• Clarence Harrison LeMasters (1888-1963) married Ferry May Bickel, had 5 children
• Chesleigh Franklin LeMasters (1890-1960) married Clara Louise Burkey, had 6 children
• Bertha Alberta LeMasters (1892-1961) married Russell J. Hercules, had 4 children
• Floyd LeMasters (1894-1982) married Shirely Opal Gagle, had 2 children
• Gerald Walker LeMasters (1896-1987) married Mabel Agnes Kantner, had 3 children; married Pearl Lovina Smith, had 2 children
• Stanley Duey LeMaster (1898-1982) married Anna Beard, had 4 children
• Dorothy Dot LeMaster (1900-1984) married Charles Glendon Hunt, had 3 children; married Glen Lock
• John Leland LeMaster (1902-1980) married Dortha LeEtta DeLauter, had 6 children
• Freda Claire LeMaster (1904-1979) married James Orville LaFollette; had 2 children
• Ord Wehrly LeMaster (1906-1971) married Ruth Pauline Haley, had 6 children. These are my grandparents.
• Mary Olive LeMaster (1909-) married Virgil Thornton Taylor, had 1 child.
• Elvin Cooper LeMaster (1912-2000) married Cleo Belle Hanks, had 4 children.