Sunday’s Obituary – Clara Jennings

Clara Jennings, my second cousin twice removed, was the youngest daughter of Mary E Lewis (daughter of George J Lewis and Eliza McVey) and Alexander Jennings. (If you remember my Saturday Surname post from yesterday, then you know that George J Lewis was the brother of my great-great-grandmother Julia Ann Lewis House.)

Clara was born on June 8, 1877 in the township of Tuscarawas in Coshocton county, Ohio. Her mother Mary was about 36 year old at her birth. Alexander was about eight years older than Mary. The couple already had six children. When Clara was six years old, her father died. Seven and a half years later, Clara’s mother died.

On September 7, 1893 as seventeen year old Clara was visiting her older brother, Leander James Lewis’ home in the Flint Hill area of Coshocton county, she died of typhoid fever. Two days later after her funeral at Mt. Zion church, she was laid to rest in the cemetery. A cemetery where some of my Amore ancestors are also buried.

For me, it is a shame that a young girl died without her mother being there to wipe her brow or tell her good-bye. But perhaps, it was her mother who said “hello” as Clara departed one life and in to an everlasting life.

As an interesting aside, I am related to Clara in two different ways. First, is via her mother, Mary E. Lewis, my great-great-grandmother’s niece (the House side). Second, is mainly through half-sibling and in-law relationship via my great-grandmother on the Amore side. My great-grandmother, Mary A. (Werts) Amore’s half-sister, Sarah Ellen Simon, married another Alexander Jenning (they dropped the “s” from the end of Jennings). Ellen’s husband, Alexander, was the nephew of Mary E. Lewis’s husband’s father – making him the husband of my first cousin three times removed!

Obituary: The Democratic Standard (Coshocton, Ohio), 15 Sep 1893, pg 6, Ancestry.com, digital images, accessed 12 Mar 2016.

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New Discovery

As I was checking out all the updated census records on Family Search yesterday, I made a new discovery – my paternal great-grandmother had a half-sister I hadn’t found before!  My 2nd great-grandmother, Louisa Bookless, married William Washington Werts in Coshocton County, Ohio on August 24, 1852.  Their first child, George Wesley Werts, was born on January 27, 1853, five months after they were married.  My great-grandmother, Mary Angelina Werts, was born on February 16, 1855.  When Great-Grandmother Annie was three years old her father passed away.  Louisa than married neighbor, John Simon (or Simons depending on the document), April 28, 1861.  All of that I had discovered through the census records or information passed down through the family.

Yesterday, I was looking at the Ohio Death records on Family Search and came across a name – Sarah Ellen Jenning (or Jennings depending on the document), whose parents were John Simon and Louisa Bookless.  So I dug further into the census records.  There she was in the 1870 US Census living in Lafayette Twp, West Lafayette, Coshocton County, Ohio.  They were enumerated as the 105th dwelling and 88th family visited and are listed as John Simins, Louisa, and Sarah E.  When I went to check the 1880 Census, Sarah was no longer in the household.  But I knew she was alive because the death certificate said she died in 1936 – so where was she?  I thought maybe she was living close to the Jennings family since she had eventually married Alexander Jennings.  Not exactly close – she and Alexander were already married.  Sarah listed her age as 16 and the couple had a one year old daughter, Lucy.  I wonder how John and Louisa felt about their daughter marrying a man who was 28 years old at such a young age?  Apparently the marriage lasted, for they went on to have 12 children – 7 who were living at the time of the 1920 Census.

So I went back and re-read the news clipping I had of the first Amore-Werts reunion in 1924.  The lists of guests included: “Alex Jennings and family, Mr. and Mrs. John Jennings and family, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Jennings and family.” 

I found the death certificate for Alexander – he died two years after Sarah.  Their son, Sheldon Leroy Jennings, died in 1916.  His was the only other death certificate I found so I think the other children died prior to 1908 or died outside of the state of Ohio. 

Sarah wasn’t listed as a “sister” on Great-Grandmother Annie’s obituary because Annie died 5 years after Sarah. 

So I think I need to look at the reunion attendees again and see if I can figure out how the other guests might be related – just in case!

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