Category Archives: Chicago

Roy Clarke, at 15 he already looks like a future accountant

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Roy Clarke, Manierre School, 1910

Roy Clarke, Manierre School, 1910

Lest you think I’ve been focusing too heavily on the young ladies, here’s a male student from the Manierre school. Like his classmate, he was about 15 in this photo (born January 9, 1896) and lived in Ward 22. Roy Clarke was actually Leroy Rudolf Clarke, and yes he would grow up to be a bookkeeper (among other things).

Roy never married and had no children so I doubt there are any descendants searching for him, but he deserves a little history nonetheless. Roy was the son of John H. Clarke and Louise Dahnke. Born in Illinois, he had one older brother Harry. I don’t know if Harry ever married. In 1900 and 1910 the family lived in Ward 22 of Chicago where dad John was a teamster. In 1900 his aunt Alta also lived with them.

By 1920, Roy was working as a bookkeeper, still living with his parents, as was his brother. Both dad and brother were chauffeurs. 1930, in Ward 39 now, Roy was keeping books, Harry had moved on, but grandma Dahnke (maternal grandmother) lived with the family. She would die in 1935 and is buried in Montrose Cemetery in Chicago.

1940, maybe because of the depression, who knows, Roy was no long a bookkeeper but doing “odd jobs, house cleaning”. Even on his WWII draft reg card he listed his profession as “odd jobs”. This could not have been very fulfilling for the no-longer-so-young 44 year old Roy. He was still at home and unmarried.

According to the Social Security Death Index, Roy died in Peoria, IL in October of 1975. His brother had died about 10 years earlier in 1964.

Evelyn Klumpp: following the lure of California like many, but missing in 1900

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Evelyn Klumpp, 1910 Chicago (age 16)

Evelyn Klumpp, 1910 Chicago (age 16)

Evelyn Klumpp doesn’t look too happy in this 1910 Manierre school picture from 1910 Chicago. That’s right, we’re back to Ward 22 if you’ve followed any of the other Manierre school posts. But Evelyn wasn’t so easy to find. One, although Klumpp seems like a very unique name, the number of misspellings have made her harder to track down (Klemp, Klump, etc.). Two, her parents may have just divorced or her mother died before this photo – hard to know so her world was a bit topsy-turvey.

Here’s what I know: The year this photo was taken, 1910, Evelyn lived with her uncles (her father’s brothers) Albert, Edward, and Gustav Klumpp (spelled Klemp) in Ward 22 of Chicago. They are her uncles despite the fact that she’s listed as a sister rather than a niece on the census. According to her birth record, she was born to William and Mamie Klumpp on January 15, 1894 in Cook County, Illinois. You’ll find William with his brothers, sisters and parents in 1870 and 1880 in Cook county with all the same names and near same birth years listed as the 1910 census. A marriage record has William Klumpp marring Mary O’Brien in 1886.

BUT, we never see Evelyn in a census record with her parents – they seem utterly lost in 1900. The rest of her family (at least on her father’s side) is in – you guessed it – Ward 22 of Chicago. Grandpa Christopher, now a widow lives with son Edward. Christopher would die 2 years later. Uncle Albert and Gustav live together as well. Gustav would die in an Insane Hopstial in 1945, Albert died in 1932. All, including some sisters, are buried in Rose Hill cemetery in Cook co.

Now, based on father William’s parents (Christopher and Caroline Klumpp) we know that William died in Seneca, Ohio of all places in 1923 – he is listed as divorced on the death record. He is also in Seneca in 1920, and thank goodness he was living with daughter Evelyn. She and husband Milo Long married in 1912 (Klumpp/O’Brien are parents) in Indiana. That was just 2 years after this photo, Evelyn would have been 18. At some point, they moved to Ohio and cared for her father before his death. When and where mom went/died is unknown.

Evelyn and Milo with one son William continued to live in Seneca, Ohio at least through 1940. But at some point moved to California. Evelyn Long died on March 27, 1972 in Los Angeles. I’d love to solve the mystery of the location of the family in 1900!