Thomas McWhirter

Source Citation:
Year: 1900; Census Place: Spartanburg, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0105; FHL microfilm: 1241542

Year: 1910; Census Place: Spartanburg, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1472; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0089; FHL microfilm: 1375485

North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC

South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Columbia, South Carolina; South Carolina Death Records; Year Range: 1900-1924; Death County or Certificate Range: Spartanburg

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 

Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Kings, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02598; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 24-1988B

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

     Thomas McWhirter was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina on the 6th of November 1897.  Thomas' parents, James Waddy McWhirter and Jane (Janie) Williams McWhirter had nine children together:  Robert, Emma, Gertrude, Odessie, Icey, Rosa, Thomas, Jane, and Harry.

Thomas' mother, Janie, died sometime between 1905 and 1910 and in 1911, James McWhirter married a woman named Hattie Lattimore.

Life was demanding for the McWhirter family and census records from 1900 and 1910 show that Thomas and his siblings had to work on the family farm from a young age.

In 1916, 16 year old Janie McWhirter died as a result of sepsis.  In 1918, Thomas registered for the draft of WWI.  He is 20 years old and still working with his father on the farm in Spartanburg. 

Thomas relocated to New York prior to 1935.  The 1940 U.S. Census records him living in Brooklyn.  He has also been married and widowed  by this date.  

In 1942, he registered for the draft of WWII.  He is described as being 6 feet 5 inches tall, with brown eyes, black hair and a dark brown complexion.  In September of 1942, he enlists with the U.S. Army, length of service is noted as "the duration of the war."  He is almost 45 years old at the time.

Thomas McWhirter died on the 20th of August 1980 and was buried on Hart Island on the 22nd of September 1980.