Friday, September 26, 2014

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 16th 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


[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


7 comments:

  1. Grant Clark's father, Edward C. Clark, served in B Company, 33rd Ohio Volunteers. This is spelled out in 1890 Veterans Schedule where he is listed in Bratton Twp., Adams County, OH, which is where he and wife Sarah J. and youngest daughter were enumerated for 1900.

    His pension index card states he applied in 1874 for an invalid's pension [NARA T289. Pension applications for service in the US Army between 1861 and 1900, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served. (http://www.fold3.com/image/249/5905043/)]. The card gives his death date as ov. 29, 1917 -- you would have to verify that this corresponds with your other research. His pension certificate number was 238,410. The card further states that his widow applied for widow's pension 6 March 1918 [certificate W-868,809]. Familysearch.org has pension payment cards uploaded, arranged alphabetically and the collection listed under "Veterans Administration". I think the cards have been pretty well indexed with links; they were very tedious to browse. If you have not used these, there is both front and back of each card -- the back is in the image after the front. These are often sources of death dates that can be found nowhere else but possibly in the actual pension files.

    Have fun :D

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    Replies
    1. Hello :D, thanks much for the military background for Edward Clark. Such a head start you've provided. I will of course have to verify all this! Thanks for being so helpful and reading my post. --Denise

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  2. Just one more tidbit. Ancestry.com also has US Civil War Union Pension Index cards that is a different series [NARA T-288] than the index cards on fold3.com. The T-288 cards nearly always give the name of the applying widow, which the T-289 cards do not. T-288 sometimes also give name of a guardian if one was appointed for orphaned children under age 16 whose father died while in service. T-288 cards, however, do not give death dates for veterans, which the T-289 cards do. So it can be very helpful to get both :D Fold3.com has a free trial period. What it does *not* have is the Compiled Military Service Record Cards for any Ohio, PA or Indiana units. The CMSRs give summaries from each muster- or payroll for each soldier, and are great for tracking military careers of our relatives. Sometimes they include enlistment papers too, with birth dates or at least ages, places of residence, etc. You can, however, order copies of these from NARA for $, in addition to actual pension files.

    In my summaries above I did not give complete data from what I found. So there is more detail for you to note and interpret yourself.

    Good hunting!

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks again Geolover. I appreciate your RAOGK. I've got lots of work to do! - Denise

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  4. Hi Denise,
    Great example of following up on a newspaper article! Using the city directories and the census together confirms relationships and location. Love the reply and followup from D.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Glenda, I couldn't have done it without help from you, my best ever in the whole wide world genealogy teacher! --Denise

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