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John Preston Jeter

John Preston Jeter, Sara E. Jeter, Ollie Rosa Jeter
ca. 1888, location unknown

Gravestone of John Preston Jeter and his second wife, Sarah E. Rose. Located in Fairlawn Cemetery, Oklahoma City, OK

John P. and Sarah on Porch; John E. and Ollie on steps,  Exie, Minnie and Mattie in yard.  Heber Springs, Arkansas, after 1900

John P. and Sarah (sitting); John Ernest, Ollie and Minnie (standing).  Heber Springs, Arkansas, after 1900

The oldest of the surviving sons of William Griffin Jeter and Elizabeth McCutchen Berry, John Preston Jeter was born on the family farm between Petersburg and Atterbury in Menard Co., lL on 7/27/1836.

He was first married to Sarah Martha Foster on 1/1/1861 in Grundy Co., MO, the Rev. J. W. French, Cumberland Presbyterian minister officiating.  Their issue:  Elizabeth L. (1862-1934) who married Robert E. Cranmer; and Anna M.(1866-after 1927) who married ___?___Nash.  The Cranmers remained in Livingston Co., MO; Anna Nash lived at one time in Spokane, WA and in Corvallis and Portland, OR.

Sarah Martha Foster was born in Illinois on 12/21/1838 and died on 11/28/1868.  She was buried in the Union (Drummond) cemetery in Grundy County.  A gravestone existed and was noticed in the 1960s where someone had leaned it against a tree, but it had disappeared by the 1990s.

John Preston married a second time on 11/25/1869 to Sarah Emaline Rose in Daviess Co., MO, the Rev. Thomas Montgomery officiating.  The issue from this marriage:  Mary Minnie(1871), Mattie E. (1873), Sarah Exie (1876), Ollie Rosa (1879) and John Ernest (1881).  Minnie married  Frank Marion Cole and lived in Gig Harbor, WA.  Mattie married W. D. (Dick) Gibson and lived in Pauls Valley, OK.  Exie married Charles A. Armstrong and lived in Oklahoma City.  Ollie married Enoch A. Davis and lived in Oklahoma City as well. John Ernest Jeter married Callie A. King and lived in Franklin Co., AR, Oklahoma City and Enid, OK.

John Preston Jeter served in the 44th Regiment of Missouri Infantry during the Civil War. He first enrolled as member of Co. B, 30th Regiment of Missouri Militia on 4/30/1864 and then volunteered at Trenton, MO for regular service on 9/1/1864 and was mustered into Company “I” of the 44th. His muster-in roll describes him as having gray eyes, dark hair, a fair complexion and a height of 5′ 11″. The 44th saw action in the the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and in Alabama, the campaign against Mobile,  the siege of Spanish Fort, and the assault and capture of Fort Blakely.  The latter was the last infantry battle of the war. He and the 44th were mustered out of Federal Service on 8/15/1865 at St. Louis, MO.

John Preston Jeter died on 7/9/1913 in Oklahoma City, OK and rests in Fairlawn Cemetery in that city. His 2nd wife, Sarah Emaline Rose, born 10/24/1845 in Blue Mound, Illinois,  died on 11/22/1920 and rests beside him. John was a farmer, Republican and a Presbyterian.

Submitted by C. Victor Jeter, August 9, 1999

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