Clyde E. Henderson, Iowa Native (52 Ancestors #23)

This is another article for the series "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks", a challenge by Amy Johnson Crow on No Story Too Small.

His parents, John Henderson and Ella Pillsbury Hutson Henderson greeted a brown-eyed, dark haired boy on 28 June 1897 in Bailey, Mitchell County, Iowa[1].  They named him Clyde Ellsworth Henderson.  He became the younger half-brother of Alva Leo Hutson and William E. Hutson, both sons from his mother’s first marriage to James Hutson.  Another brother, Lawrence K. Henderson, would come along in a couple years.

To me, Clyde would have been my half great-great uncle.[2]

He lived in the small village of Bailey for at least 20 years attending the local school through the seventh grade[3].  He registered for the draft in 1918 reporting that he worked for Mr. M.S. Carter in Bailey[4]. 

Draft Registration Card WW I,
Clyde E. Henderson

By 1920, Clyde moved about 20 miles north to live in LeRoy, Mower County, Minnesota.  He was married then, to Louise V. Bach.  Over the next 20 years[5], he worked as a laborer at a quarry, a rock crusher company and the railroad.  He and Louise had three children: Lloyd, Merrill and Marilyn.

Clyde and Louise’s whereabouts after 1940 are a mystery to me.  He may have been living in Chester, Iowa in the 1950’s based on a brief mention of a Clyde Henderson in the Austin [Minnesota] Daily Herald.  He died on 28 Feb 1983 in Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota[6].  He was buried in Wayne Cemetery (near Bailey) in a shared grave with his parents[7].

Future Research

• Obtain records for Clyde’s birth, school, marriage, employment and death
• Determine location of Clyde and Louise after 1940
• Contact descendants of Clyde and Louise

 Sources

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[1] Registration State: Iowa; Registration County: Mitchell; Roll: 1643186. Description-Draft Card : H. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line].

[2] Steve Morse One-Step Relationship Calculator 

[3] 1915 Iowa State census, Township: Bailey. Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.

[4] See footnote 1.

[5] 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. federal censuses, Ancestry.com.

[6] Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Death Index, 1908-2002 [database on-line]. Original data: State of Minnesota. Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002. Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Department of Health.

[7] Find-A-Grave