In a book,” The History of Fayette County”,
in the Oelwein Public Library on page 569, a paragraph about pioneers
states, “ The additions in 1854 were John Burch, Walter Sparks, E. W.
Clark and James Holroid and others.”
Also the 1856 census of Jefferson Township shows the family of Sylvester
Bell, Francina, Louisa, Adnah G. and Lydia Ann living next to E. W. Clark,
his wife Laura Jane Bell Clark and their children. The Sylvester Bell
family and Laura are all listed as being from Ohio and appear to be
related. The 1850 census of Richland Township, Wyandot County, Ohio lists
E W Clark and Laura living there.
After the death of Laura Jane Bell Clark in 1874, Edward W. Clark married
Melissa Hartford Shippy, widow of Andrew Zebulon Shippy who died February
5, 1874, leaving a widow and five children: Edward A., Benjamin, George
Ambrose, Martha and Andrew. After Edward’s death in February 1909,
Melissa was married a third time to a Mr. Porter.
Edward Clark is buried near his first wife Laura Bell Clark and two of
their children in Otsego Cemetery, south of Oelwein. Nearby are the graves
of Fred and Laura Clark along with several of their children.
Melissa and Andrew Shippy are buried separately in the old section of
Fairbanks Cemetery Fairbanks, IA.
Melissa and Edward W. Clark had two more children, Fredrick Sylvester b
11-2-1876 and Charles Jesse b 6-13-1879. Both grew up on Edward’s
farm about one mile east of and slightly south of Oelwein. Later they both
married girls that grew up in Grove Hill, IA, six or seven miles from
their home. On July 31, 1900, Fred married Laura Cecilia Fuhr, and at a
close but unknown date, Charles married Ethelyn Pearl Rella Shippy. I have
almost no information as to the children of Edward or Melissa’s first
marriages but have the following information on the families of Fred and
Charles.
Charles and Ethelyn moved in the twenty’s or early thirty’s to
near Landsford, North Dakota and they had six children, Alice, Clyde
Russell, Ray, Wilbur, Marjory and Clair Jesse. Later in the thirty’s
after the death of Ethelyn, Charles remarried and either before or after
that, the family moved to Holden, MO where Charles is buried.
Fred and Laura made their home on a farm in Jefferson Township, near the
south county line and just east of Oelwein. They had eight children there,
four of them surviving to adulthood. The children were Otho Alma, Adna
Russell, Edward and Laura Mae. In the twenty’s Otho married Emma
Godfrey Adna married Bernice Evert of Strawberry Point, Edward married a
cousin Marjory Clark and Laura Mae married Carl Rasmussen. Also during the
twenty’s, Fred and Laura ceased farming and moved to a house at 222
7Th Avenue SW, Oelwein where they lived out their lives. Throughout the
thirty’s, Fred worked at the Oelwein Grain Elevator, near the
railroad tracks on South Fredrick Street. Fred passed away July 9, 1956
and Laura on October 25, 1959.
Some time around 1930, Otho, Emma, and their children and Edward, Marjory
and their children moved to near Independence, MO. Otho and Emma had five
children, Richard Jerry, Betty Jeanne, Robert Otho, Fredrick Ray and David
Adna. About 1934 Otho, Emma and a partner started a business making farm
equipment. They named it Clark Equipment Company. The business thrived,
grossing in excess of 6 million dollars about 1966. It was quite
successful until the early seventy’s, when the addition of several
new partners each with their own agenda caused the company’s demise.
Emma passed away March 1984 and Otho in April of 1994, both near their
home near Independence. Adna and Bernice resided in Oelwein where their
five children were raised. The children were Shirley Ann, Clair Donald,
Ronald Adna, Richard James and Darrel Ward. Just before the crash of 29,
Adna started a Blacksmith and Machine Shop. The shop soon failed as the
depression made it impossible to collect payment for work. Adna then went
to work for the King Brothers Oelwein Implement Company, the local dealer
for International Harvester farm equipment. He was employed there as shop
foreman until WW II started. In the summer of 1942 he moved to Chicago
where he worked for International Harvester. He continued working for I H
C in various locations for the rest of his life and when he passed away in
1960 he was working as an Advanced Refrigeration Engineer at the I H C
truck factory at Fort Wayne, IN. His wife Bernice passed away in
Evansville, IN where they were living at that time on July 4, 1951 of
leukemia.
In 1928, Laura Mae married Carl Rasmussen in Oelwein, where their two
children Carl and Marjory were born and raised. About 1938 Carl and Laura
Mae were divorced and in October 1939 she married Laverne [Jim] Madole.
They had five more children, Jannette Mae. Jimmy, Jerry Lynn, Joann
Marlene and Jeanne Marie, most of them born in Oelwein. In the mid sixty’s
Laura Mae and Laverne divorced and in 1968 Laura Mae married Homer
Tomerline of Hondo, Texas where they resided. Homer died there November
1982 and Laura Mae November 1992. Edward and Marjory and their two boys
Edward Loren and Wendell Jesse during the thirty’s, lived near
Independence, MO where Edward worked for the U.S. Postal Service. Early in
the thirty’s, Edward learned to fly airplanes and in 1934 flew his
plane and his family home to Oelwein to visit his parents, siblings and
friends he grew up with. He made several flights there throughout the
thirty’s. I can still recall his red and black Waco Biplane landing
and taking off from a pasture north west of Oelwein on the north side of
highway 3. about 3 miles out. It was the same pasture used by Adna’s
friend Vern Warthan, to fly his 1929 Spartan Biplane in 1938, 39 40 and
41. During the thirty’s, Vern worked at the Chevrolet Garage just
across South Fredrick Street from the Oelwein Implement Company. Early in
WWII Edward became a Navy fighter pilot and was stationed in the Aleutian
Islands during the war. After the war he resided in Washington State where
he passed away about 1970.