World War I draft registration card, Ernest F. Cooper, Clay precinct, Reno Co., Kansas, 5 June 1917 (form 521, No. 19)

What this document records

Card

Form 1. 521. REGISTRATION CARD 1992 No. 19. 1 Name in full: Ernest F. Cooper. Age, in yrs: 29. 2 Home address: Buhler Kans R F D 2. 3 Date of birth: August 21 1887. 4 Are you (1) a natural-born citizen...: Natural Born. 5 Where were you born? Nickerson, Kans, U.S.A. 7 What is your present trade, occupation, or office: Farmer. 8 By whom employed? My Self. Where employed? Buhler Kans. 9 Have you a father, mother, wife, child under 12... solely dependent on you for support: Wife & Child. 10 Married or single: Married. Race: Caucasian. 11 What military service have you had? Rank: No (branch, years, nation blank). 12 Do you claim exemption from draft: [blank]. Signature: Ernest F. Cooper.

Registrars report

15-2-47-A. 1 Tall, medium, or short: Medium. Slender, medium, or stout: Medium. 2 Color of eyes: Light blue. Color of hair: Red. Bald? No. 3 Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot, or both eyes, or is he otherwise disabled: [blank]. Signature of registrar: J. H. O'Donnell [?] (read only at whole-card scale; not cropped, and not certain). Precinct: Clay. City or County: Reno. State: Kansas. Date of registration: June 5-19-7 [= 5 June 1917]. Stamp: RENO COUNTY BOARD, HUTCHINSON, KANSAS.

Reading notes

His birth date, from his own mouth, at last: 21 August 1887. The catalog held only "AUG 1887" from the 1900 census [D.263], plus an uncited FamilySearch tree date of 21 Aug 1887 that was explicitly recorded as a lead. The lead is now a record. ⇒ It also agrees with [D.798]'s "age at first marriage 22" against a 5 Jan 1910 wedding. Born at Nickerson, Kansas -- which is what his 1978 obituary says ([J.445], "He was born in Nickerson, Kan."), stated here by him sixty-one years earlier. THE SIGNATURE IS THE SAME HAND AS THE 1920 CENSUS ENUMERATOR'S. [D.797] and [D.787] identify Reno County E.D. 193's enumerator as Ernest F. Cooper, who thereby enumerated his own household; the reading on sheet 6B was light enough that it first looked like a different name and had to be settled against sheet 1B. This card -- a signature he wrote himself, on a federal form, three years earlier -- is a third and independent attestation of the same hand: the same wide-looped capital C, the same crossed F, the same long terminal flourish. Red hair, light blue eyes, medium height, medium build. The catalog has no photograph of him; this is the only physical description of any kind it holds. "Wife & Child", singular, in June 1917 -- Wyatt Wyatt Wendell Cooper was born 1914; Vera Ernestine came about 1925. Consistent. "What military service have you had? -- No." He registered and did not serve; the 1930 schedule's veteran column likewise reads No ([D.798]). His brother's card is three images away on the same reel -- Charles Levitt Cooper Charles Levitt Cooper, image 005250475_04558, [B.120], registered the same day, 5 June 1917, at the same Reno County board in Hutchinson, but in the Salt Creek precinct before registrar J. W. Adams, while this one is Clay precinct. Both carry the registrar's-report number 15-2-47-A.