Jay Whitson

1889 - 1976  (87 years)

• Name	Jay Whitson  [1]
  Birth	26 Mar 1889	Hardin Twp., Pottawatamie, Iowa, -USA   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Note	Jay finished country school in 1904 and took 8th grade exams in 1905. He suffered prolonged periods of illness with rheumatic fever between 1904 and 1916 and again in 1922. He attended school at Fremont Normal School at Fremont, Nebraska for 17 weeks in 1907-08, 37 weeks in 1908-9; 48 weeks 1909-10 and he finished scientific course in August 1910. In the school year 1910-11 he taught in a one-room school at St. Helena, Nebraska. In that year he also took the Nebraska teacher's exam for a life certificate. From September 1911 until April 1912 Jay took his Freshman year at Iowa State College in Ames. In April 1912 he quit college and returned home because his brothers Wallace and Dan were injured in a farm accident. He worked on the home farm until September 1913 and during the 1912-1913 school year he taught at the same school he and his brothers and sisters attended and at which his mother taught. He returned to college at Ames in September 1913, completing work for a B.S. in Agronomy in January 1916. He taught at Cedar Rapids High School from January to May in 1916 and helped with the ISC Farm Mag't Survey during the summer of 1916. He returned to I.S.C. in June 1916 to work for a M.S. degree in Farm Management and to assist teaching Farm Management courses. In June 1917 he went to Washington D.C. with a civil service appointment in the U.S.D.A. Office of Farm Management. On May 29, 1918 he married Edith Druscilla Whitney in Ames, Iowa on the same day he received a Master's Degree in Farm Management and Edith received her Bachelor's Degree in Home Economics. From July 1918 to May 1919 Jay served in the infantry, mostly in France and Germany. He later proudly claimed that civilians he encountered in Europe referred to him as the non-soldier who was, for some unknown reason, wearing a uniform and traveling with the army. Jay was ill when he was discharged from the army. From May 1919 until October 1920 he did field work for the U.S.D.A. in the Midwest. He was asked to resign because of illness and did so without protest. From October 1920 to January 1921 he was out of work and helped at his father's farm. From January 1921 to April 1922 he had a Farm Accts Route in Shelby Co. Iowa but became seriously ill and had to resign. From May 1922 to January 1924 he was a hired hand for his brother Theodore on the home farm. From September 1924 to September 1925 he worked for a local paper while continuing to work as a hired hand on the farm. In September 1925 he bought an 80 acre farm near Lewis in Cass County, Iowa which he farmed for a while. In the spring of 1926 he moved to Des Moines, Iowa and worked as an assistant editor for the Wallace's Farmer magazine. When the depression came in 1929 his job was reduced to part time and later eliminated. Jay bought 80 acres in Warren County, Iowa between Indianola and Ackworth and he farmed full time from September 1931 to 1936. During this time daughters Bertha and May Alice attended the Ogden one- room school and the family started attending the Ackworth Friends Chruch. From January 1937 throught Septmeber 1945 Jay worked as field man for the Program Surveys of the U.S.D.A., traveling constantly in the MidWest, sampling farmer opinion of the action programs. 'Home' was on the farm most of the time until the fall of 1943 when the family moved to Ames. In October 1945 Jay transferred to the R.E.A. (Ruaral Electrification Administration) and lived in Washington D.C., doing field work each summer and fall in almost every part of the U.S. After their daughters married in 1946, Bertha in June and Mary Alice in September, and Edith and Jay made their home in Washington during the winter and spring and Edith returned to the MidWest each summer and fall while Jay did field work. In order to qualify for a Social Security pension in addition to his meager Federal pension Jay resigned in May 1951 from his government job and took a job until July 1953 with Krambeck Hatchery and Feed Store in Clinton, Iowa. From 1953 until 1957 Jay and Edith took a number of trips and moved around quite a bit, living for a while in Kansas and Indianola, Iowa and also off and on with daughter Mary Alice Whitson Harvey's home in Minnesota. In 1957 Jay and Edith moved in with Harvey's in their new home in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Edith died in 1962. The last few years of his life Jay lived in the Mayflower Home in Grinnell, Iowa.
  Death	1 Oct 1976	Grinnell, Iowa, -USA   [1]
  Person ID	I14225	HHTT
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2022

  
  

  Father	Wilzue Whitson,   b. 10 Jul 1850, Lancaster, Pennsylvania d. 12 Dec 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa, -USA (Age 78 years)
  Mother	Eliza Sarah Smith,   b. 12 Aug 1859, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, -USA d. 19 Jun 1944, Council Bluffs, Iowa, -USA (Age 84 years)
  Marriage	19 Apr 1883	Omaha, Neb.   [1]
  Family ID	F3877	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Edith D. Whitney,   b. 4 Apr 1892, Rahway, New Jersey, -USA d. 22 Jan 1962, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, -USA (Age 69 years)
  Marriage	29 May 1918	Ames, Iowa, -USA   [1]
  Children	1. Living   2. Living
  Family ID	F3881	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2022

  
  

• Sources

  [S118] Lorinda Stover Steadman 'Lori' (Reliability: 1).