Jeanette BlancheClark

Jeanette 'Blanche' (Clark) Tarter was born on Oct. 16, 1880 near Laredo, Grundy County, MO, the daughter of George 'William' and Helen (White) Clark. Her family history research and writing efforts, done well into her 90s, provide a rare, vivid and irreplaceable view of this pioneer branch of our family, and prove that one person can make a difference.

On Dec. 14, 1904, Blanche married Laban Moore Tarter (1878-1969) in St. Joseph, MO. He was born on Sept. 16, 1878 in Farmington, IL, the son of Frederick Moore and Mary Anne (Oliver) Tarter. Laban was a 1905 graduate of the University of Missouri, and was described by his wife as "a man of honor and integrity, so kind and so generous, devoted to his family, fond of reading and writing poetry."

The Tarters had two sons -- Rodney Clark Tarter and William 'Paul' Tarter.

Blanche and Laban built two "modern farm homes" near Trenton, MO, before moving in 1916 to Chillicothe, MO. There, Laban was a salesman for the International Correspondence Schools. They moved to Kansas City in 1923, where they joined the Linwood United Methodist Church. Later, Laban became an insurance broker.

In 1961, the Tarters moved to Raytown, a suburb of Kansas City.

Laban died in Baptist Memorial Hospital in Kansas City on April 23, 1969.

After her husband's death death, Blanche became deeply interested in genealogy. She worked with her cousins Edith M. (Peterie) Hoyt and Verda (White) Richey to co-publish a landmark book in 1971, Ancestral and Chronological History and Lineage of the Family of Luther White and Mahala (Minor) White, Their Forbears and Descendants, 1665-1971.

The book mainly focuses on the history of the Whites, and Blanche desired to know more about her Minor roots. She embarked throughout the 1970s on an intensive letter writing campaign, with her son Paul and cousin Alba (McGirk) Kristensen-Peck, and many others, using correspondence to explore courthouses, historical societies and other sources in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Blanche died on Feb. 8, 1978, almost certain, but never assured, that her great-grandfather, Daniel Minor Sr., was the son of Western Pennsylvania pioneers Jacob and Maria (Nein) Minerd Sr. While her hunch has proven correct, this fact was not established until 1996, after her son donated some of her papers to the Minerd-Miner-Minor Archives.