Wayfarers and Such: The Clinton-Wolfe 'Saga'

This post is originally from my blog that I kept while I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria and was originally posted on 31 March 2007. There have been several "discoveries" in the search for the Clinton-Wolfe family since then, which I've posted. Just moving it from that blog since I've made it private and the post is genealogy-related.

Nope, this post has nothing to do with any travels that I've done or that any volunteers have done. However, it has everything to do with the travels and family of my great-grandfather Charles Everette Clinton, Sr. (nee. David West Wolfe) and his wife Belle Crenshaw Clinton (her first name was Rebecca, but she didn't care much for it). Oh, them and the 13 kids they had between 1898 and 1920, when my grandfather Robert H. Clinton was born in Los Angeles. The pictures, in this post and others are mostly of Charles (I'll call him Grandpa Clinton). There are two of his parents and a couple of their oldest children Nellie & Dessie.

Just a few 'quick' facts to explain why I'm as interested in this 'case' as I am (as if them being my direct ancestors weren't enough). Grandpa Clinton was born in Delaware in 1860 as David West Wolfe--we think his middle name was West, but in the various census records (before 1910), his middle initial is either W., S., L., or R., go figure. Anyway, by 1898, he's living in Texas and married on Christmas day of that year to Belle, who was 20 years his junior. The reason we know nothing about him between 1880 & 1898 is that they 1890 census records burned and for some reason had no copies anywhere.

So, from that point, Grandpa Clinton, David at that point in time, and Belle start their journey, staying in Bonita, Montague County, TX just long enough for Nellie to be born in 1899. By 1900 they are living in Jacksboro, TX and it goes from there. So as to spare you the entire litany, from that first move to Jacksboro until they finally 'settled' in Los Angeles in 1920, they moved at least 13 times, living in five different States, and with almost every move it was California-Arkansas or Arkansas-Kansas or Texas-California. Moves that would be logistical nightmares even today, but that would have been monumental in that time period, not to mention that they were having 13 children along the way, 9 of whom lived to adulthood. No cars, no planes, no personal movers, you get the idea. And even after they 'settled' in Los Angeles they moved 3 times within the city of LA itself. Ok, that's about it for now here are the pics . . .

I almost forgot . . . For some unknown reason (there are 3 stories, but I won't get into that just yet), he changed his name from Wolfe to Clinton. Likely, the change came by 1904 when his second son (first to live) was given for his newly chosen name, i.e. Charles E. Clinton, Jr.

And oh, by the way, he was employed as a butcher, as you could probably gather from the pictures.

All of these are scans that Dad did of the originals that we have at the house in Vidalia. If you want to download them click on them to open up the full sized picture and right click & 'save image as'.
Charles E. Clinton (Grandpa) probably in Oklahoma: Some of the pictures have the information for location and all that written on the back or in the picture. This one I'm not sure about. As you can see the man kept a massive mustache. For those of you who call me 'The Beard', now you know where I get it from
'That's not a knife! THAT'S a knife!': Grandpa Clinton in a very well stocked store, the one holding the knife. MAYBE in California.
Again, possibly OK: As you can tell, this is a cropped & lightened picture of the one above. Grandpa Clinton again, no wonder I like big knives.
When the pictures label themselves: This is quite possibly one of my favorite pictures, not just of Grandpa Clinton, but in general. He's in the middle. We know this is Mangum, OK based on the letters on the right hand side above the over-hang 'MANG' and based on the fact that Grandpa Clinton & Belle's 3rd child, Sanford Wolfe, was born there in 1902 and died within the same year.
Again, labeled on the picture: This one has the label written in pencil on the back. Grandpa Clinton is behind the counter.

I'll post a couple other pics that I talked about above a little later today.

Books: Kind of on a rest/hiatus from the books for the moment. I've been doing a lot of genealogy 'work'/investigating lately so my time for reading has been replaced by that.

Weather: Never thought I'd WANT it to be January again, but it was actually warmer in Jan . . . go figure.

AFN
DCC 31 March 2007
V. Preslav, apartment