Their first child Jerald William Graham was born the 31st day of October in the year of 1927. He was born in Snowmac
Glen Curtis Graham was born in Snowmac
Jerald had just turned a year old shortly before his brother Curtis was born.
Jerald died the 4th day of January in the year 1929. Curtis was about 13 months old (1 year and a little over 1 month old) when his older brother died and may not have remembered him as he grew older (it is unclear if he remembered him or not as I never thought to ask about such things before my grandmother their sister died and it is doubtful their surviving brother who was born long after both his older brothers had died would know about such things).
My paternal grandmother Helen Irene Graham was born the 30th day of January in the year 1930. The exact date according to Helen was not known as she claimed that the doctor that delivered her was drunk and died in a car accident that night on the way back from their house, so for that reason she did not have a birth certificate. She went back and forth between which year she was born in depending if she wanted to be year younger or older until settling on January 30th of 1930 to be her official date of birth, and that is the date given on her death certificate and the date the family celebrated her birthday during the time I knew her from mid my birth in 1984 until her death in 2009.
Going with the agreed upon year of 1930 for Helen's birth - Curtis would have been a little over two years old when his sister was born. This is the most likely date for her birth as if she were born the previous year on January 29th or 30th there would not have been enough time passing between her brother's birth in November of 1928 for Helen to have been conceived and carried to term before her supposed earlier birth date.
A photograph of Curtis and Helen Graham from 1931 when she was a year old shows Curtis looking much older than one year old Helen supporting that there was more than a year difference in their ages also if Helen were born in 1929 they two would have only been two months apart in age which is not physically possible (for full blooded siblings). So birth certificate or not it is more reasonable that my grandmother was born in 1930 as she eventually settled on. Given that she waffled on the year mostly in her teen years it is doubtful she bothered to work out if the math worked between her birth and Curtis' or that anyone would have noticed the error.
My grandma Helen (at a year old) being
so small next to Curtis (about age two). It has
always looked, in this photo to me, much like
she was a toy doll. (Photo taken in 1931 most
likely during the Spring or Summer based on
the children's clothing).
After Helen was born three more Graham siblings joined the family.
(All three are still alive as of posting this on the 26th day of August in the year of 2017).
Sister W. was born in mid February of 1932. Curtis was three at that time and Helen was two.
Curtis died the 14th day of February of the year 1934 of 'Organic Heart Trouble'. Organic meaning some type of physical deformation of the heart. The exact nature of the condition is not known. However it is noted that Curtis had this condition for the last eleven months of his life and had been seen by a doctor for this condition from October 3rd of 1933 up until February 13th of 1934. This same doctor was questioned (so it seems from Curtis' death certificate) and gave the date and time of death for the boy as Feb. 14th 1934 at 7 PM. Curtis died in Wewoka (sic), Seminole County, Oklahoma and his father Harper H Graham was the informant on his little son's death certificate.
Glen Curtis Graham was 5 years old when he died.
Harper and Emma's third and last son M (still living) was born April 1934, about three months after Curtis' death. Emma was six months pregnant when Curtis' died. This last third son survived childhood - a feat that his two older brothers were unable to do because of illness and the harshness of living the late 20's and early 30's of rural Oklahoma (a possibly genetic abnormalities in Curtis' case with his heart problem).
Harper Harlis Graham with his children Glen Curtis Graham and baby Helen Irene Graham.
According to a story his daughter Helen Irene (Graham) Bradford told (while in the hospital in about 2007) Harper did the work meant for a two man team which could have easily killed him.
It is possible that his job was that of driller and tool helper/toolie where one man was the driller and the other the toolie and Harper did both jobs by himself by choice as he was able to and would get paid more(I think) doing things that way.
Harper worked for the Blackwell Oil Company in Seminole County, Oklahoma from about 1926/7 - 1944.
The census for 1930 gives his occupation as Pumper - Oil Fields. 1940 gives it as Roustabout - Oil.
Emma Graham went to have an operation (I don't recall exact what she needed removed). The doctor gave her caster oil even though she told him she was allergic to it. She passed out after being given caster oil and while passed out the doctor administered ether and she died afterward.
After his wife's death Harper quit his job with Blackwell Oil Company and took his family west by car to California where he got a job working as a cannery worker for California Frozen Foods.
Harper later remarried by which time his daughter Helen (the oldest surviving child) was already married herself (having married in February 8th of 1948) and moved into her own home.
Given their very young ages at death neither Jerald William Graham nor Glen Curtis Graham ever fathered any children (dying at the ages of two and five respectively) and their surviving brother and his wife never had any biological children (though they did adopt to two unrelated children both of whom had children of their own and they in turn also had children - mostly girls). So the Graham line has already died out through Harper's branch.
However Harper was the eldest of his father's twelve children and in addition to having four younger sisters he also had seven younger brothers - the youngest of which at age 88 and is still living in Oklahoma as of August 2017 and has a son of his own, also living. (Update 2018 - Harper's youngest brother and the youngest of his siblings, Robert Edmund Graham, has died since this post was first written).
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