Jesse “Joseph” Preston Bender’s WWII Draft Registration

After his youngest two children died in a house fire in November of 1942, Joseph (the name which he was going by at the time) sent his two youngest surviving sons Charles and Harold to a farm where they would be taken care of as payment for working on the farm. His son Jack remained with his mother Elizabeth Jenkins and his father.

According to Jack the couple argued a lot, and eventually divorced. It seems that by the time that Joseph gave information for the WWII draft in 1942 he and Elizabeth had possibly parted ways, but they also tended to move around a bit and it is unlikely that mail or news was reaching them as well as it could. “Jess Preston Bender” was still living in Wayne County, Michigan but listed his nearest relative as “Mr. L. Fast”. I know that Jesse was close with his maternal uncle Clemons “Clem” Fast, but had no uncles with “L” names.

I found a Mr. Lloyd Raymond Fast living in Grosse Point, Wayne, Michigan at the time of the draft. His place of business matched Jesse’s address for “Mr. L. Fast” even more interesting was that this Lloyd Raymond Fast gave his place of birth as Neptune, Ohio which is located in Jesse’s native Mercer County, OH very near Jesse’s birthplace of Dublin Twp.

Looking further into Lloyd, I found that he is the son of George Branaman Fast (1846-1920) and Martha Cecilia Nelson (1861-1954). George B. Fast was the younger brother of Jacob Ginter Fast (1840-1912), Jesse’s paternal grandfather.

More on my Ohio Trip

I went to Ohio feeling extremely giddy and hopeful to find out more about Louella, Martha, and Martha’s parents; Sarah Ann Keyser & Jacob Ginter Fast.

For Martha Magnora Fast Bender Couts, I thought I would certainly be able to locate a marriage announcement from December 1890 which would tell me who William G. Bender’s parents were. But there was no announcement following their marriage and no announcement of Jesse Preston Bender’s birth in 1892. I also thought I would be able to find articles concerning her second marriage in 1903 to James McClellan Couts and subsequent divorce after between 1910 and 1920. I anticipated finding out if Martha’s daughter, Louella Bender was born with a mental disability or if it was caused by illness or injury, but I found nothing on her. Not even a birth announcement.

I was also looking for more on Martha’s parents. Especially on Jacob G. Fast’s stomach troubles and his red automobile which he supposedly drove through his barn.

Even though I didn’t find all I had hoped to find on the Fast’s and the Bender’s, I was glad to finally stand at the Riverside Cemetery and see their graves in person. There they were, all next to each other and next to family. To the left of Sarah and Jacob is their daughter Laura Ethel Fast Pennell and an infant. Martha and Louella are in two different rows, but you can walk almost in a straight line from one to the other. I think Louella was buried next to Pennell relatives.

Above: Louella’s marker in the foreground with her mother Martha’s directly across.

For me, visiting a grave in person instead of just seeing a photo that a stranger posted for Findagrave is a way for me to pay my respects. I’ve seen so much lately about cemeteries being “pointless” because everyone forgets about the people buried there, but not me. I may not be able to visit every grave, but the ones I do just fill me to the brim with gratefulness. I exist because they pressed on in the face of challenges. So much had to go right (and perhaps more had to go wrong) in order for my existence to be possible. If that isn’t enough to make someone appreciate life just a little more, then I don’t know what will.