Mrs. Mary Daulton Clark Identified Using Two Key Resources - Ancestor #33

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

Using City Directories and the Census to Identify Relationships

The Covina Argus[1] newspaper is a treasure trove for stories about my ancestors who settled in the San Gabriel Valley of southern California.  Most prevalent were stories about my Kendall family which may not be so serendipitous.[2] 

On the 16^th of November 1917 one snippet in the social column caught my eye:

Source: Covina Argus on newspaperarchive.com

“Mrs. Kendall” was my great-grandmother, Ida May Brown Kendall.   I've written previously about what a mystery her life is to me prior to her marriage to Henry Martin Kendall.  Consequently, any hint of her interaction with others, especially people with the surname Brown or Kendall, gives me hope of discovering details of her early life.  Bonus point if Ohio was mentioned.

Abundant Clues

Here’s a list of clues I gleaned from this two-sentence news item:

1. Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Kendall lived on Orange Avenue in November 1917
2. Mrs. Mary Clark had a daughter named Miss Daisy Clark.
3. Daisy Clark was not married.
4. The Clarks arrived on Wednesday.
5. The Clarks were from Cincinnati, Ohio.
6. The Clarks were visiting “relatives”.
7. Mrs. Clark was Mrs. Kendall’s cousin.

Did I miss anything? 

What My Existing Records Show

·        Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Kendall lived on Orange Avenue in 1917.

·        “Mrs. Kendall”, nee Ida May Brown, was the daughter of Jane Clark and Thomas Brown.

·        Jane Clark’s father was Daniel Clark, second wife was Irena, and they lived in Adams County, Ohio.

The Big Question

Based on what I already know, I think this news snippet is worthy of further research. So, who was Mrs. Mary Clark and her daughter Daisy and how were they related to “Mrs. Kendall”.  Was Mrs. Mary Clark married or a widow?  Sometimes, newspapers would refer to a widow at Mrs. “Her Given First Name” followed by “Her Married Last Name” such as Mrs. Mary Clark.   I’ll need to verify all of this information.  Sorry Uncle Louie, just because you’re the newspaper publisher doesn't necessarily equate to accuracy.

City Directory Search

I like using city directories so that’s where I focused my initial search on Ancestry.com -- Mary Clark; lived in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio (filter set to county and nearby counties); keyword Daisy.  There were way too many results – Mary Clark was just too common of a name without more search criteria which I didn't have.  Switching the search to Daisy Clark with keyword Mary Clark was more promising.    The chart below shows the results for years 1917-1924.

  

Year	Names/Listing	Town
1917[3]	Clark, Daisy B. res. 2367 Norwood Av ------ Grant, blacksmith, res. (Mary)	Norwood
1919[4]	Clark, Daisy D. res. 2367 Norwood Av ------ Grant U. blacksmith, res. (Mary E.) ------ Mrs. Mary E., furnished rooms, res same	Norwood
1922[5]	Clark, Daisy, machine operator,  res. 2367 Norwood Av ------ Grant V. blacksmith, res. (Mary E.)	Norwood
1924[6]	Clark, Daisy B. forelady,  res. 5420 Carthage Av ------ Grant, blacksmith, res. (Mary E.)	Norwood

Now, my working assumption based on the city directory results was that Mrs. Mary Clark was not a widow but married to Grant Clark at the time of the newspaper article and that their daughter was Daisy B or D. Clark.  Note Grant’s middle initial in 1919 and 1922, and his occupation.  The next step is to determine whether there’s a relationship between Grant Clark and Jane Clark Brown, the mother of Ida May Brown Kendall.

Census Search
The census was just the resource I needed to establish a relationship between Grant, Mary and Daisy Clark, their residence and his occupation for comparison to the city directory listings.  The census search was extensive in order to reach Jane Clark’s parents.  Below are the findings from 1860-1930:

Year	Household	Location
1930[7]	Clark, Grant: head, born 1869, Ohio. age 61, blacksmith -------- Mary, wife, age 58	Cincinnati, Ohio
1920[8]	Clark, Grant: head, born 1869, Ohio. Age 51, blacksmith -------- Mary E. Clark, wife, age 49 -------- Daisy D. Clark, age 24, daughter Abernathy, Charles, age 47, lodger Wieman, John R., age 54, lodger	Norwood Twp Ward 4, Hamilton, Ohio
1910[9]	Clark, Grant U. S.: head, born 1870, Ohio, age 40, blacksmith -------- May [Mary] E., wife, age 38 -------- Icie M., daughter, age 17 -------- Daisy D., daughter, age 14	Cincinnati Ward 23, Hamilton, Ohio
1900[10]	Clark, Gray [Grant]: head, age 31, born Dec 1868, farmer -------- Mary, wife, age 30 -------- Icy M., daughter, age 7 -------- Daisy D., daughter, age 6, born May 1894 Daulton, Syvilla, mother-in-law, age 61	Huntington, Brown, Ohio
1890	Not found
1880[11]	Clark, Edward: head, laborer, born 1840, age 40 -------- Jane Clark, mother, age 30 -------- Mary Clark, daughter, age 14 -------- Grant, son, born 1869, age 11 -------- Raymond, son, age 8 -------- Nannie Clark, daughter, age 5	Jackson, Highland, Ohio
1870[12]	Clark, Edward C: head, age 29 , -------- Sarah J Clark, wife, age 22 -------- Mary E Clark, age 4 -------- W [U] Grant, age 2	Scott, Adams, Ohio
1860[13]	Clark, David [Daniel]: head, age 44 -------- Irena, wife, age 40 -------- Mary, daughter, age 23 -------- Adah, daughter, age 21 -------- Edward, son, age 20 -------- Martha, age 18 -------- Adam, age 16 -------- Jane, age 13 -------- Joseph, age 11 -------- Mahalon, age 8 -------- Sarah E, age 8 -------- Daniel, age 5 -------- Drousilla, age 3	Franklin, Adams, Ohio

Analysis

The city directories showed that Grant, his wife Mary and Daisy lived at the same addresses.  Grant was a blacksmith on each listing.  Grant’s middle initial was U or V.  Mary’s middle initial was E on three of the four listings.  Daisy’s middle initial was D or B.

The 1900-1930 censuses showed that Grant and Mary were married, Daisy was one of their daughters and they lived in Cincinnati (of which Norwood was a suburb) from 1910-1930.  Grant was a blacksmith during this period.  His middle initial was U or U S on a couple censuses.  Mary’s middle initial was E on the 1910 and 1920 census.  Daisy’s middle initial was D on the census years 1900, 1910 and 1920.

The 1860 census showed that Daniel Clark had several children, including Jane (my great-great grandmother) and her brother Edward.  The 1870 census showed that Edward was married and had a son named Grant with middle initial U.[14]   

Conclusion

City directory and census research results have reasonably convinced me that Mrs. Mary Clark was Mrs. Kendall’s cousin by marriage.  Mrs. Clark had a daughter named Daisy and they lived in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1917 at the time of their visit with Mrs. Kendall.   Mary Clark was married to Grant U. Clark, whose father was Edward Clark and one of Edward’s sisters was Jane Clark.  Jane Clark married Thomas Brown and one of their daughters was Ida May Brown Kendall. 

Grant Clark was Mrs. Kendall’s first cousin (blood relative).[15]  Uncle Louie’s newspaper article in 1917 was accurate.  I won’t pick at the absence of the precise cousin relationship – that only matters in genealogical research.

The visit by Mary and Daisy Clark intrigued me.  It inferred a level of interaction by my great-grandmother with her cousin Grant and Uncle Edward Clark.  Could one of the descendants of Edward or Grant hold more clues about who raised her after her parents were divorced?  More threads for future research.

I sure hope I'm related to someone reading the many names in this post.  Whether you are or not, add a Comment below or send me an email by clicking on the Contact Me tab above.  Thanks!

Sources

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[1] Digitized editions of the Covina Argus newspaper included available on Newspapers.com.  The article of this posting was on newspaperarchive.com.

[2] Know that my grandma Ethel May Kendall was married to Alba Hibsch whose mother’s (Martha Bashor Hibsch) sister (Cordelia Bashor), was married to the publisher, James Lewis Matthews.

[3] Year 1917 - Publication Title: Norwood, Ohio, City Directory, 1917; Publisher: Williams; Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[4] Year 1919 - Publication Title: Norwood, Ohio, City Directory, 1919; Publisher: Williams; Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[5] Year 1922 - Publication Title: Norwood, Ohio, City Directory, 1922; Publisher: Williams; Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[6] Year 1924 - Publication Title: Norwood, Ohio, City Directory, 1924; Publisher: Williams; Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[7] Year: 1930; Census Place: Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio; Roll: 1806; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0411; Image: 671.0; FHL microfilm: 2341540.

[8] Year: 1920; Census Place: Norwood Ward 4, Hamilton, Ohio; Roll: T625_1395; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 473; Image: 1177.

[9] Year: 1910; Census Place: Cincinnati Ward 23, Hamilton, Ohio; Roll: T624_1194; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 0268; FHL microfilm: 1375207.

[10] Year: 1900; Census Place: Huntington, Brown, Ohio; Roll: 1242; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0009; FHL microfilm: 1241242.

[11] Year: 1880; Census Place: Jackson, Highland, Ohio; Roll: 1033; Family History Film: 1255033; Page: 335A; Enumeration District: 044; Image: 0050.

[12] Year: 1870; Census Place: Scott, Adams, Ohio; Roll: M593_1167; Page: 183A; Image: 372; Family History Library Film: 552666.

[13] Year: 1860; Census Place: Franklin, Adams, Ohio; Roll: M653_928; Page: 250; Image: 495; Family History Library Film: 803928.

[14] The transcriber identified the middle initial as W but I think it's U and submitted a correction to Ancestry.com.

[15] Relationship Calculator by Steve Morse  http://stevemorse.org/relation/calculator.html