FEEDBACK: Surprise — Jasper has family left

To the editor:

The article (History: Sgt. William Jasper) says that there appear to be no living relatives even though he apparently had at least two children.  I would like to inform you that there are actually quite a few of us.  My great grandmother was Ada Jasper Moore – she was born in the 1880s.  She often told my grandfather, Alton Jasper Moore, of the exploits of her great grandfather – we are not sure just how many greats that might actually be.  My uncle, William Jasper Moore, has a natural daughter and an adopted son and daughter.  His son has continued the Jasper name with his son.  My mother is Alton’s daughter.  She has seven children – the youngest of whom is William Jasper Walter.

Though I have never met them, I understand that there is another branch of the family that may actually have the sword given to Sgt. Jasper by Governor Rutledge.  Ada Jasper had five children – my grandfather, my uncle Archibald, and aunts Ada, Katherine, and Virginia.  All of them had children.  So as you can see, the original William Jasper does indeed have living relatives.  As he is our only claim to fame, we try very hard to keep stories of his courage alive.

My grandfather, Alton, also confirmed that William was indeed of German descent but never out loud in front of my grandmother as she was of proud Irish descent and had a deep seated dislike of all things German due to WWI and WWII.  He did say that while William had originally come from Germany, he spent more time with Irish immigrants than German as most went or stayed north and the Irish tended to head further south into the Carolinas and Georgia.  Though we know virtually nothing of his wife and children, it is most probable that she was of Irish descent.

 — Carol Jordan, St. Johns, Fla.

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