Charles Grant Clemens - Part 1

Many family researchers use someone else's research as the source for their family tree without questioning whether the other person has documented the relationship. I've been guilty of this a well - at least for Charles Grant Clemens. Since the Clemens had many children – at least as far back as John and Mary Catherine – and each of the children had many children, there are many researchers and most of them have Charles Grant Clemens conflated with Charles Gerald Clemens. I believe this is as well-documented and correct as we may ever know.

Most family trees have Charles G Clemens married to Jessie (nee Rostron) Clemens in Eastern Pennsylvania in the Montgomery County / Philadelphia area. While this is true; there is plenty of documentation, it is not Charles Grant Clemens. It is Charles Gerald Clemens. Charles Gerald Clemens married Jessie Rostron in 1917.  This date helps unravel the mystery.

What started me down this path was mentioning to my Mom that I found an obit for Charles G's son and I was going to try and track down a living male Clemens to take a DNA test. I told her Grant moved east, married, lived there, and was buried in eastern Pennsylvania. She said, "Huh, Mom always told me he went to Ohio." and "No one knew why he didn't come around [the family]."

After that, I was thinking about it and I remember talking to Grandma (Eleanor) about the family in the Fall of 1992. She told me that she had a brother in Iowa that she hadn't seen in over fifty years. (NOTE: In the fifteen years I've been researching the family history, I haven't made any connection to Iowa and I think she meant Ohio.) I'm pretty certain she was talking about Grant. I feel like I can remember her using the name Grant when she talked about him.

I started re-checking the documentation that I do have and found on Grant's WWI Draft Card that he was living in Cleveland, in 1917. He said he's married with a four-year-old as his reason for being exempted from the draft. I'll write more about his wife and child later. But he's not in Philadelphia getting married to Jessie Rostron.

WWI Draft Card

Also, his mother Anna Belle (nee Marshman) Clemens' obituary has him still living in Cleveland, Ohio in 1930.

Altoona Mirror, 3 January 1930

Finally, the obituary that I mentioned at the top, says that one of Charles G's sons was named Charles Gerald Clemens Jr. I have found other documentation indicating Charles Gerald is the name the person in the obituary. But at this point, it's two different Charles G Clemens.

Charles Gerald Clemens can be traced back to his birth in Philadelphia and I do not believe he is any relation so I will not mention him again to try and prevent confusion.

                |          Part 2

Charles Grant Clemens - Part 2

Grant and Elenora

The back of this photo says, "a bird dumped on my face haha Grant and Eleanor". I suspect the caption is due to the damage of the photo on his face. I believe this is really his wife Elenora because this is a pretty intimate pose and there is a 21-year difference between Grant and his sister Eleanor. This couple seems to be about the same age.

As indicated in the Part 1 post for Grant, he was not married to Jessie Rostron. While looking through the Lafferty-Tobias Funeral Home 1907-1918 book in the Blair County section of the Genealogical Department at the State Library I happened upon an entry for the death of Grant's infant daughter, Mary Belle.

Lafferty-Tobias Funeral Home 1907-1918

In the obituary, the mother is named as Emma, but I suspect this is just a nickname. Elenora is her given name, as it is the name used on censuses and the funeral home register. Her maiden name is Pressel.

Altoona Tribune - 12 Apr 1913

Altoona Mirror - 12 Apr 1913

The change in surname indicates that she and Grant were married. She was also named as Mrs. Clemens in her Father's obituary. Her Father's obit also says the family was members of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church which closed in 2009. I would suspect this is where they would have been married. Perhaps one day the church records will be available.

Altoona Tribune - 19 Jun 1915

Grant said he was married with a four-year-old on his WWI Draft Card. Was he referring to Emma and Mary Belle hoping it wouldn't be checked? Mary Belle would have been about six-years-old when he filled out his draft card. I have not been able to find any records or newspaper articles that show he had another child. In fact, the 1920 Census shows him having a wife named Elizabeth. They were living with others as lodgers and the owner probably provided the information to the census-taker. Did she not know Grant's wife's name? Was he no longer with Elenora? The ages are correct for it to be Elenora.

1920 Census

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Charles Grant Clemens - Part 3

Grant

Why did he alienate himself from the family? Why did he not come around? These are questions I can't answer; I can only speculate. I can tell you what happened to Grant and while he ended up in Eastern Pennsylvania, he wasn't buried in Montgomery County.

There are a few things I noticed while researching Grant. While I have not found a record of his birth or a birth announcement, both of his draft cards have his birthdate as September 12, 1892. Most of the other records corroborate this or are close enough to believe it's an accurate date.

I found a couple articles about Shade Family Reunions that have Bruce and Anna Belle's wedding date. It has their wedding date as November 23, 1895. The Shade's are Bruce's Mother's family. Click the images for the entire article.

Shade Reunion -Altoona Tribune, 09 Aug 1897

Shade Reunion - Mount Union Times, 16 Aug 1901

Notice Grant is not listed. He would have been the oldest child. I wanted a better confirmation of the wedding date. I was unable to find any church records and the State and Counties were not registering marriages in 1895. So, to the paper! It was in both the local papers about two weeks later on December 5, 1895. The Lewistown Gazette had a typesetting error;

The Lewistown Gazette, 5 December 1895

But The Lewistown Democrat & Sentinel got it right;

The Lewistown Sentinel & Democrat, 5 December 1895

I don't really find it unusual there was not an announcement for a child born out of wedlock in this time period. I did find this in the County News section of The Lewistown Gazette on September 16,1892, four days after his birth. Anna Belle did have two younger brothers, James, 12-years-old and Andy, 10-years-old. when Grant was born. Maybe one of them is an 'interesting boy'?

The Lewistown Gazette, 16 September 1892

We know he was living with at home in 1900. Since the Census Day in 1900 was June 1st, he would have been 7 years old.

1900 Census

According to both Bruce and Anna's obituaries, they moved from Newton Hamilton / Wayne Township, Mifflin County to Altoona, Blair County about 1901. The next record I could find for Grant was the 1910 Census and he had already left home. He was living with another family, the Hoover's, a few miles away in Tyrone, Blair County. He was working as a clerk at a drug store.

1910 Census

So was Grant adopted? Was Bruce not his biological father? Did he feel unwelcome? Maybe one of these reasons or a combination of them is the reason he alienated himself from the family? We'll likely never know.

Part 2          |          Part 4

Charles Grant Clemens - Part 4

Grant

So what happened to Grant? We know by his WWI Draft Card by 1917 he's living in Cleveland. And as we saw from the 1920 Census he's living as a lodger with an Elizabeth (Elenora/Emma?) in Cleveland. On the 1930 Census he's still living in Cleveland, but he's moved and is living as a lodger with other people and now it says he's single. What happened to his wife? I've not been able to find her yet, so I don't know if he's separated, divorced or a widower.

1930 Census

One of the questions on the 1940 Census was "Where were you living in 1935?" In 1935 Grant was back in Pennsylvania; Conemaugh, Cambria County to be exact. By 1940 he had moved to Pittsburgh. He was in a homeless shelter named Improvement of the Poor. He is now shown as a widower.

1940 Census

It seems to be about 1938 when he went to Pittsburgh. He spent October 1938 in jail for vagrancy.

Prison Register 3 October 1938

Prison Discharge Register 1 November 1938

In 1942 he registered for the WWII draft as was required. I know this is his draft card because the person he has listed as a permanent contact, Mrs. L. B. Hartman, is his sister Effie Clemens. From his WWI draft card and the prison registers, he was tall - 6'. He put his height as 5' 4" on this draft card. I think this was another attempt to make sure he wasn't drafted.

WWII Draft Card

In 1949 he was arrested for vagrancy again. I know the name is spelled differently, but the description is the same and the life he was living makes me believe this is him.

Prison Register 15 June 1949

Sadly, he died in 1951. The 1950 Census has not been released to the public to learn if he's still in Pittsburgh, but I'm pretty certain this is his death certificate. There are a couple of reasons. He seemed to be mostly homeless while in Pittsburgh. The address listed as his Usual Residence is a doctor's office. The Doctor's name is James William MacDonald. The Informant did not have much information about his family, for instance, his birthdate or his parent's names. Her name is Marie MacDonald. I suspect she is the Doctor's wife.

Doctor's Office Address

And his death certificate.

Death certificate

The "Name of Cemetery or Crematory" is shown as SAB Phil. SAB is "Sent Anatomical Body". In other words, his body was donated to medical science.

This is the story of Charles Grant Clemens as best as I can tell. These are the best pictures I have that have identified him.

Part 3          |