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