From this document, we can see that it is a draft/registration card for John Henry Rogers. His home address is seen as R#4 in Marion from Grant County in Indiana. At the time of writing this, he was 39 years old with a birthdate of June 22, 1879. He is white and is native born to the US. His present occupation was farming, and he owned his own farm. His farm was Richland Township in Grant County Indiana. His nearest relative was Elva Myrl Rogers and she lived at the same address as him. I noticed after looking closely that "Richland Township" for Place of Employment was written over something. It seems like it was whited out as best as possible but then written over. That blank also asked for the address, not the name of the farm. His handwriting seemed uniform through the document but seemed scrunched when writing "Richland Township". There are also spaces where the ink is lighter than other places. His signature at the bottom is very bold though. The organization of this document is normal due to it being a government officiated document. It is pretty simple and straight forward with its information.

In a textual standpoint, there isn't any information missing on this form; however, there is lot of questions to ask that we don't get the answer to by just looking at his document.

1. Who is Elva Myrl Rogers? Well, I know from my family tree that Elva was John's wife, and she was originally Elva Myrl Puckett.

2. Why is the farm called Richland Township? From my research and my conversations with relatives, John Rogers was a very rich man. He owned almost an entire city. I find it funny that he called his farm "Richland". It's almost comical that he would display his fortune with a name like this, but with his history of gambling and boasting, it becomes understandable.

3. Why did he write this draft card? Technically, it is a law that every man in the US register for the war. However, in 1918, which was when this was written, the draft age had recently increased to 45. However, many in this group didn't end up being drafted. There were also exemptions, one of which being for economically providing individuals. Because he was rich and provided for his family, he was able to escape being drafted.

4. Where is the Richland Township and who would have taken it over if John had gone to war? Well, from the document, it seems that Richland Township is in Grant County, but there was no specific address. This infers to me that Grant County is probably the Township. Also, I think that Elva Rogers was probably the one who they would have told his was dead if he was drafted, but I don't think she would have inherited the land. Normally, that is a son. However, from my research, all of his sons were in college or too young to do so. I wonder still who would have inherited it, if he didn't end up gambling his entire fortune away.

There are many other questions that could be asked, but for the purpose of my story, these are the questions that seemed most relevant to me. John Rogers' draft card, which probably to him seem unnecessary, showed just a little bit of his cocky personality with the name of his farm, which he seemed to change. It also helped uncover some historical contexts and ironic stories that continue my unlucky narrative.

(Above is a picture of Elva, John, and their children in their car. This was the first car in Wabash County, Indiana and was a very big deal.)

Sources:

Ancestry.com

National Archives and Records Administration