(Compiled by Clara's granddaughter Beverly Byrd Loomis. Based on remembrances, family letters, written family interviews, and official records.)
Clara Isabel Alsbury (1882-1973) was born in San Antonio, Texas, the fourth of ten children. The Alsburys of Texas were a long-established Texas family who had been recruited to come to Texas in the early 1820s as part of Stephen Austin's original colony. Clara's great-grandfather and three of her great-uncles were members of the "Old Three Hundred" original Texas settlers--Thomas Alsbury (1773-1826) and his 3 eldest sons Charles, James Harvey, and Horace. Clara's grandfather, Young Perry Alsbury (1814-1877), was a hero in the 1836 Texas War for Independence. Clara was very proud of her Alsbury heritage.
She was reportedly born on Dec. 7, 1882 but as an adult claimed she found records showing she was actually born on Dec. 8, which was also her father Thomas Jefferson Alsbury's birthday. Clara was extremely fond of her father, but felt her mother was too strict.
Clara was a "free spirit", who did not follow the typical path for women of her era, marrying five times and moving to many different homes in many different states. Her life was often filled with drama.
As a young woman, Clara worked in San Antonio photo studios, both as a receptionist and as a model. She was a handsome woman who took great pride in her personal appearance and had dreams of becoming an actress.
Clara met her first husband, Erasmus Aaron Byrd, in May 1902 in San Antonio. He was smitten when he saw her returning from a tennis game while he was at the house next door, and contacted her to arrange a meeting. Clara and Erasmus became inseparable and married the next month, on June 14, 1902, in San Antonio, Texas. Clara's parents did not approve of the marriage because of Erasmus's reputation as a gambler.
Clara and Erasmus soon had three children close together in age:
Helen May Byrd (1903-1993), married 1st Jack Green, 2nd Thompson W. Burnam, had 1 child
Russell Aaron Byrd (1904-1995), married 1st Ethel Robertson, had 2 children, married 2nd Lillie Mae Hall, had 1 child
Oliver Erasmus Byrd (1906-1998), married Jennie Christine Sonnichsen, had 2 children
Erasmus Aaron Byrd died of typhoid fever and pneumonia in 1907 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was only 28 years old. He and Clara had moved to Little Rock because Erasmus had a job there working as a salesman for a food company. Clara was left a young widow with three small children. After her husband's death, she returned to her hometown of San Antonio.
About 1909, Clara was married for a second time, to Claud M. Bennett, a medical practitioner in charge of the dispensary at Fort Sam Houston. Clara suffered a miscarriage during this brief marriage. Family members say Bennett's mother did not approve of Clara because she was not Catholic. An undated (probably 1940s) handwritten page of notes found in a box of family records states that this marriage was annulled because Claud was found to have another wife and children. The notes say that Claud told Clara that his first wife and 2 children were "presumed dead" in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These notes were taken during a talk with Clara by her son Oliver. The notes also say that Claud was "a very sweet person who made a little cage for birds for the children."
In September 1910, Clara put her three young children into St. John's orphanage in San Antonio, as she felt she could not care for them on her own. Her family was unable or unwilling to help her at this time.
In 1911, Clara married again, to Archie W. Crandall. Archie was a friend of Claud Bennett's who contacted Clara after the annulment. Clara went back east with Archie and they were married in Massachusetts. They lived for awhile in Providence, Rhode Island where Archie's father was said to have owned a factory and where Clara worked for a while.
During the time she was back east, Clara's children were taken out of the orphanage by different members of the Alsbury family. Each child was brought to live in a different Alsbury household. The two oldest were assigned work responsibilities. A few months after the children were taken from the orphanage, on October 30, 1912, it burned to the ground and several nuns and children died. (See story in New York Times: "Heroic Nuns Die Saving Children".)
About 1915, Clara and Archie returned to San Antonio and took Clara's three children back to live with them. The children took the last name of Crandall, but as adults changed their surnames back to Byrd. They lived in several different houses in San Antonio, including one at 225 Kayton Ave. Clara's son Oliver remembers her making chili and hot sauce and going door to door to sell jars of her home cooking to help make money.
On August 14, 1915, the house where the family lived at 104 Drexel Ave caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire truck overturned on the way to the fire and the fire chief, Gilbert L. Hovey, age 36, was killed. Clara's son Russell reportedly pulled her out of the burning house and was written up in the newspaper as a hero.
By 1918, Clara and Archie separated. Archie, who was by then working as a detective for the Department of Justice, had committed a crime and was sentenced to time in Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. Clara moved to the Westbrook Hotel in San Antonio.
In the early 1920's, Clara divorced Archie and moved to Los Angeles to be near Hollywood, where she hoped for a career in the movies. She re-married Archie after he got out of prison, but they divorced a second time.
Clara's daughter-in-law, Jennie, recalls the first time she met Clara in Los Angeles in 1929 or 1930. Clara lived on South Hobart at that time, and Jennie recalls that Clara reminded her of an exotic "gypsy." She had dark bobbed hair, and her apartment was dark, candlelit, and perfumed.
Clara moved to Albuqurque, New Mexico for a short time about 1930 to live with her son Russell and his family. They eventually returned to the southern California area.
Clara's fifth and final marriage was to Raymond Ballinger, a former railroad man who was then working as a conductor on the local trolley in Los Angeles. Clara never did find lasting happiness in marriage. Her last marriage was often tumultuous. Once Ray ran over Clara's leg with his car, which caused her to walk with a limp the rest of her life. She claimed he had tried to kill her. About 1938, Clara found Ray dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide, as Ray reportedly had cancer. However, he was shot in the left temple although he was right handed, and there were no powder burns. Clara's son Russell wondered if Clara had "expedited" Mr. Ballenger's demise. After Ray's death, Clara collected his railroad pension for the rest of her life.
Clara's son Oliver recalls that, in spite of her difficult and unconventional life, she always instilled in him the motto on the old family coat of arms, which was "Virtue Evermore." All three of Clara's children were highly intelligent and grew up to be honest, upright citizens who lived respectable and productive lives.
After Raymond's death, Clara moved to 831 Edith Ave. in Alhambra, California where she lived for many years. About 1954, she moved to 521 Everett Ave. in Palo Alto to be near her younger son Oliver, who was a professor at Stanford University.
To earn extra money, Clara sold Avon products and did sewing. She was an excellent seamstress, and worked well into her 70s. In her 80s she had several small strokes and became somewhat delusional. She died in a nursing home in August 1973, at age 90, after two major strokes. She is buried in Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto, California.
Her granddaughter Beverly recalls that in the 1940s Clara would send her comic strips that were in the Los Angeles newspapers but not in Beverly's local papers. Clara also sent Beverly pictures of dogs, cats, and horses, which Beverly collected at this age. Beverly remembers the excitement of sleeping outside with her grandmother on two adjoining chaise lounges on a warm summer night in the backyard of Clara's Alhambra Ave. home, and of looking forward to the daylong summertime train trips, from Palo Alto to Los Angeles, to visit her.
Clara Isabel Alsbury (1882-1973) was born in San Antonio, Texas, the fourth of ten children. The Alsburys of Texas were a long-established Texas family who had been recruited to come to Texas in the early 1820s as part of Stephen Austin's original colony. Clara's great-grandfather and three of her great-uncles were members of the "Old Three Hundred" original Texas settlers--Thomas Alsbury (1773-1826) and his 3 eldest sons Charles, James Harvey, and Horace. Clara's grandfather, Young Perry Alsbury (1814-1877), was a hero in the 1836 Texas War for Independence. Clara was very proud of her Alsbury heritage.
She was reportedly born on Dec. 7, 1882 but as an adult claimed she found records showing she was actually born on Dec. 8, which was also her father Thomas Jefferson Alsbury's birthday. Clara was extremely fond of her father, but felt her mother was too strict.
Clara was a "free spirit", who did not follow the typical path for women of her era, marrying five times and moving to many different homes in many different states. Her life was often filled with drama.
As a young woman, Clara worked in San Antonio photo studios, both as a receptionist and as a model. She was a handsome woman who took great pride in her personal appearance and had dreams of becoming an actress.
Clara met her first husband, Erasmus Aaron Byrd, in May 1902 in San Antonio. He was smitten when he saw her returning from a tennis game while he was at the house next door, and contacted her to arrange a meeting. Clara and Erasmus became inseparable and married the next month, on June 14, 1902, in San Antonio, Texas. Clara's parents did not approve of the marriage because of Erasmus's reputation as a gambler.
Clara and Erasmus soon had three children close together in age:
Helen May Byrd (1903-1993), married 1st Jack Green, 2nd Thompson W. Burnam, had 1 child
Russell Aaron Byrd (1904-1995), married 1st Ethel Robertson, had 2 children, married 2nd Lillie Mae Hall, had 1 child
Oliver Erasmus Byrd (1906-1998), married Jennie Christine Sonnichsen, had 2 children
Erasmus Aaron Byrd died of typhoid fever and pneumonia in 1907 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was only 28 years old. He and Clara had moved to Little Rock because Erasmus had a job there working as a salesman for a food company. Clara was left a young widow with three small children. After her husband's death, she returned to her hometown of San Antonio.
About 1909, Clara was married for a second time, to Claud M. Bennett, a medical practitioner in charge of the dispensary at Fort Sam Houston. Clara suffered a miscarriage during this brief marriage. Family members say Bennett's mother did not approve of Clara because she was not Catholic. An undated (probably 1940s) handwritten page of notes found in a box of family records states that this marriage was annulled because Claud was found to have another wife and children. The notes say that Claud told Clara that his first wife and 2 children were "presumed dead" in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These notes were taken during a talk with Clara by her son Oliver. The notes also say that Claud was "a very sweet person who made a little cage for birds for the children."
In September 1910, Clara put her three young children into St. John's orphanage in San Antonio, as she felt she could not care for them on her own. Her family was unable or unwilling to help her at this time.
In 1911, Clara married again, to Archie W. Crandall. Archie was a friend of Claud Bennett's who contacted Clara after the annulment. Clara went back east with Archie and they were married in Massachusetts. They lived for awhile in Providence, Rhode Island where Archie's father was said to have owned a factory and where Clara worked for a while.
During the time she was back east, Clara's children were taken out of the orphanage by different members of the Alsbury family. Each child was brought to live in a different Alsbury household. The two oldest were assigned work responsibilities. A few months after the children were taken from the orphanage, on October 30, 1912, it burned to the ground and several nuns and children died. (See story in New York Times: "Heroic Nuns Die Saving Children".)
About 1915, Clara and Archie returned to San Antonio and took Clara's three children back to live with them. The children took the last name of Crandall, but as adults changed their surnames back to Byrd. They lived in several different houses in San Antonio, including one at 225 Kayton Ave. Clara's son Oliver remembers her making chili and hot sauce and going door to door to sell jars of her home cooking to help make money.
On August 14, 1915, the house where the family lived at 104 Drexel Ave caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire truck overturned on the way to the fire and the fire chief, Gilbert L. Hovey, age 36, was killed. Clara's son Russell reportedly pulled her out of the burning house and was written up in the newspaper as a hero.
By 1918, Clara and Archie separated. Archie, who was by then working as a detective for the Department of Justice, had committed a crime and was sentenced to time in Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. Clara moved to the Westbrook Hotel in San Antonio.
In the early 1920's, Clara divorced Archie and moved to Los Angeles to be near Hollywood, where she hoped for a career in the movies. She re-married Archie after he got out of prison, but they divorced a second time.
Clara's daughter-in-law, Jennie, recalls the first time she met Clara in Los Angeles in 1929 or 1930. Clara lived on South Hobart at that time, and Jennie recalls that Clara reminded her of an exotic "gypsy." She had dark bobbed hair, and her apartment was dark, candlelit, and perfumed.
Clara moved to Albuqurque, New Mexico for a short time about 1930 to live with her son Russell and his family. They eventually returned to the southern California area.
Clara's fifth and final marriage was to Raymond Ballinger, a former railroad man who was then working as a conductor on the local trolley in Los Angeles. Clara never did find lasting happiness in marriage. Her last marriage was often tumultuous. Once Ray ran over Clara's leg with his car, which caused her to walk with a limp the rest of her life. She claimed he had tried to kill her. About 1938, Clara found Ray dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide, as Ray reportedly had cancer. However, he was shot in the left temple although he was right handed, and there were no powder burns. Clara's son Russell wondered if Clara had "expedited" Mr. Ballenger's demise. After Ray's death, Clara collected his railroad pension for the rest of her life.
Clara's son Oliver recalls that, in spite of her difficult and unconventional life, she always instilled in him the motto on the old family coat of arms, which was "Virtue Evermore." All three of Clara's children were highly intelligent and grew up to be honest, upright citizens who lived respectable and productive lives.
After Raymond's death, Clara moved to 831 Edith Ave. in Alhambra, California where she lived for many years. About 1954, she moved to 521 Everett Ave. in Palo Alto to be near her younger son Oliver, who was a professor at Stanford University.
To earn extra money, Clara sold Avon products and did sewing. She was an excellent seamstress, and worked well into her 70s. In her 80s she had several small strokes and became somewhat delusional. She died in a nursing home in August 1973, at age 90, after two major strokes. She is buried in Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto, California.
Her granddaughter Beverly recalls that in the 1940s Clara would send her comic strips that were in the Los Angeles newspapers but not in Beverly's local papers. Clara also sent Beverly pictures of dogs, cats, and horses, which Beverly collected at this age. Beverly remembers the excitement of sleeping outside with her grandmother on two adjoining chaise lounges on a warm summer night in the backyard of Clara's Alhambra Ave. home, and of looking forward to the daylong summertime train trips, from Palo Alto to Los Angeles, to visit her.
(Compiled by Clara's granddaughter Beverly Byrd Loomis. Based on remembrances, family letters, written family interviews, and official records.)
Clara Isabel Alsbury (1882-1973) was born in San Antonio, Texas, the fourth of ten children. The Alsburys of Texas were a long-established Texas family who had been recruited to come to Texas in the early 1820s as part of Stephen Austin's original colony. Clara's great-grandfather and three of her great-uncles were members of the "Old Three Hundred" original Texas settlers--Thomas Alsbury (1773-1826) and his 3 eldest sons Charles, James Harvey, and Horace. Clara's grandfather, Young Perry Alsbury (1814-1877), was a hero in the 1836 Texas War for Independence. Clara was very proud of her Alsbury heritage.
She was reportedly born on Dec. 7, 1882 but as an adult claimed she found records showing she was actually born on Dec. 8, which was also her father Thomas Jefferson Alsbury's birthday. Clara was extremely fond of her father, but felt her mother was too strict.
Clara was a "free spirit", who did not follow the typical path for women of her era, marrying five times and moving to many different homes in many different states. Her life was often filled with drama.
As a young woman, Clara worked in San Antonio photo studios, both as a receptionist and as a model. She was a handsome woman who took great pride in her personal appearance and had dreams of becoming an actress.
Clara met her first husband, Erasmus Aaron Byrd, in May 1902 in San Antonio. He was smitten when he saw her returning from a tennis game while he was at the house next door, and contacted her to arrange a meeting. Clara and Erasmus became inseparable and married the next month, on June 14, 1902, in San Antonio, Texas. Clara's parents did not approve of the marriage because of Erasmus's reputation as a gambler.
Clara and Erasmus soon had three children close together in age:
Helen May Byrd (1903-1993), married 1st Jack Green, 2nd Thompson W. Burnam, had 1 child
Russell Aaron Byrd (1904-1995), married 1st Ethel Robertson, had 2 children, married 2nd Lillie Mae Hall, had 1 child
Oliver Erasmus Byrd (1906-1998), married Jennie Christine Sonnichsen, had 2 children
Erasmus Aaron Byrd died of typhoid fever and pneumonia in 1907 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was only 28 years old. He and Clara had moved to Little Rock because Erasmus had a job there working as a salesman for a food company. Clara was left a young widow with three small children. After her husband's death, she returned to her hometown of San Antonio.
About 1909, Clara was married for a second time, to Claud M. Bennett, a medical practitioner in charge of the dispensary at Fort Sam Houston. Clara suffered a miscarriage during this brief marriage. Family members say Bennett's mother did not approve of Clara because she was not Catholic. An undated (probably 1940s) handwritten page of notes found in a box of family records states that this marriage was annulled because Claud was found to have another wife and children. The notes say that Claud told Clara that his first wife and 2 children were "presumed dead" in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These notes were taken during a talk with Clara by her son Oliver. The notes also say that Claud was "a very sweet person who made a little cage for birds for the children."
In September 1910, Clara put her three young children into St. John's orphanage in San Antonio, as she felt she could not care for them on her own. Her family was unable or unwilling to help her at this time.
In 1911, Clara married again, to Archie W. Crandall. Archie was a friend of Claud Bennett's who contacted Clara after the annulment. Clara went back east with Archie and they were married in Massachusetts. They lived for awhile in Providence, Rhode Island where Archie's father was said to have owned a factory and where Clara worked for a while.
During the time she was back east, Clara's children were taken out of the orphanage by different members of the Alsbury family. Each child was brought to live in a different Alsbury household. The two oldest were assigned work responsibilities. A few months after the children were taken from the orphanage, on October 30, 1912, it burned to the ground and several nuns and children died. (See story in New York Times: "Heroic Nuns Die Saving Children".)
About 1915, Clara and Archie returned to San Antonio and took Clara's three children back to live with them. The children took the last name of Crandall, but as adults changed their surnames back to Byrd. They lived in several different houses in San Antonio, including one at 225 Kayton Ave. Clara's son Oliver remembers her making chili and hot sauce and going door to door to sell jars of her home cooking to help make money.
On August 14, 1915, the house where the family lived at 104 Drexel Ave caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire truck overturned on the way to the fire and the fire chief, Gilbert L. Hovey, age 36, was killed. Clara's son Russell reportedly pulled her out of the burning house and was written up in the newspaper as a hero.
By 1918, Clara and Archie separated. Archie, who was by then working as a detective for the Department of Justice, had committed a crime and was sentenced to time in Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. Clara moved to the Westbrook Hotel in San Antonio.
In the early 1920's, Clara divorced Archie and moved to Los Angeles to be near Hollywood, where she hoped for a career in the movies. She re-married Archie after he got out of prison, but they divorced a second time.
Clara's daughter-in-law, Jennie, recalls the first time she met Clara in Los Angeles in 1929 or 1930. Clara lived on South Hobart at that time, and Jennie recalls that Clara reminded her of an exotic "gypsy." She had dark bobbed hair, and her apartment was dark, candlelit, and perfumed.
Clara moved to Albuqurque, New Mexico for a short time about 1930 to live with her son Russell and his family. They eventually returned to the southern California area.
Clara's fifth and final marriage was to Raymond Ballinger, a former railroad man who was then working as a conductor on the local trolley in Los Angeles. Clara never did find lasting happiness in marriage. Her last marriage was often tumultuous. Once Ray ran over Clara's leg with his car, which caused her to walk with a limp the rest of her life. She claimed he had tried to kill her. About 1938, Clara found Ray dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide, as Ray reportedly had cancer. However, he was shot in the left temple although he was right handed, and there were no powder burns. Clara's son Russell wondered if Clara had "expedited" Mr. Ballenger's demise. After Ray's death, Clara collected his railroad pension for the rest of her life.
Clara's son Oliver recalls that, in spite of her difficult and unconventional life, she always instilled in him the motto on the old family coat of arms, which was "Virtue Evermore." All three of Clara's children were highly intelligent and grew up to be honest, upright citizens who lived respectable and productive lives.
After Raymond's death, Clara moved to 831 Edith Ave. in Alhambra, California where she lived for many years. About 1954, she moved to 521 Everett Ave. in Palo Alto to be near her younger son Oliver, who was a professor at Stanford University.
To earn extra money, Clara sold Avon products and did sewing. She was an excellent seamstress, and worked well into her 70s. In her 80s she had several small strokes and became somewhat delusional. She died in a nursing home in August 1973, at age 90, after two major strokes. She is buried in Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto, California.
Her granddaughter Beverly recalls that in the 1940s Clara would send her comic strips that were in the Los Angeles newspapers but not in Beverly's local papers. Clara also sent Beverly pictures of dogs, cats, and horses, which Beverly collected at this age. Beverly remembers the excitement of sleeping outside with her grandmother on two adjoining chaise lounges on a warm summer night in the backyard of Clara's Alhambra Ave. home, and of looking forward to the daylong summertime train trips, from Palo Alto to Los Angeles, to visit her.
Clara Isabel Alsbury (1882-1973) was born in San Antonio, Texas, the fourth of ten children. The Alsburys of Texas were a long-established Texas family who had been recruited to come to Texas in the early 1820s as part of Stephen Austin's original colony. Clara's great-grandfather and three of her great-uncles were members of the "Old Three Hundred" original Texas settlers--Thomas Alsbury (1773-1826) and his 3 eldest sons Charles, James Harvey, and Horace. Clara's grandfather, Young Perry Alsbury (1814-1877), was a hero in the 1836 Texas War for Independence. Clara was very proud of her Alsbury heritage.
She was reportedly born on Dec. 7, 1882 but as an adult claimed she found records showing she was actually born on Dec. 8, which was also her father Thomas Jefferson Alsbury's birthday. Clara was extremely fond of her father, but felt her mother was too strict.
Clara was a "free spirit", who did not follow the typical path for women of her era, marrying five times and moving to many different homes in many different states. Her life was often filled with drama.
As a young woman, Clara worked in San Antonio photo studios, both as a receptionist and as a model. She was a handsome woman who took great pride in her personal appearance and had dreams of becoming an actress.
Clara met her first husband, Erasmus Aaron Byrd, in May 1902 in San Antonio. He was smitten when he saw her returning from a tennis game while he was at the house next door, and contacted her to arrange a meeting. Clara and Erasmus became inseparable and married the next month, on June 14, 1902, in San Antonio, Texas. Clara's parents did not approve of the marriage because of Erasmus's reputation as a gambler.
Clara and Erasmus soon had three children close together in age:
Helen May Byrd (1903-1993), married 1st Jack Green, 2nd Thompson W. Burnam, had 1 child
Russell Aaron Byrd (1904-1995), married 1st Ethel Robertson, had 2 children, married 2nd Lillie Mae Hall, had 1 child
Oliver Erasmus Byrd (1906-1998), married Jennie Christine Sonnichsen, had 2 children
Erasmus Aaron Byrd died of typhoid fever and pneumonia in 1907 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was only 28 years old. He and Clara had moved to Little Rock because Erasmus had a job there working as a salesman for a food company. Clara was left a young widow with three small children. After her husband's death, she returned to her hometown of San Antonio.
About 1909, Clara was married for a second time, to Claud M. Bennett, a medical practitioner in charge of the dispensary at Fort Sam Houston. Clara suffered a miscarriage during this brief marriage. Family members say Bennett's mother did not approve of Clara because she was not Catholic. An undated (probably 1940s) handwritten page of notes found in a box of family records states that this marriage was annulled because Claud was found to have another wife and children. The notes say that Claud told Clara that his first wife and 2 children were "presumed dead" in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. These notes were taken during a talk with Clara by her son Oliver. The notes also say that Claud was "a very sweet person who made a little cage for birds for the children."
In September 1910, Clara put her three young children into St. John's orphanage in San Antonio, as she felt she could not care for them on her own. Her family was unable or unwilling to help her at this time.
In 1911, Clara married again, to Archie W. Crandall. Archie was a friend of Claud Bennett's who contacted Clara after the annulment. Clara went back east with Archie and they were married in Massachusetts. They lived for awhile in Providence, Rhode Island where Archie's father was said to have owned a factory and where Clara worked for a while.
During the time she was back east, Clara's children were taken out of the orphanage by different members of the Alsbury family. Each child was brought to live in a different Alsbury household. The two oldest were assigned work responsibilities. A few months after the children were taken from the orphanage, on October 30, 1912, it burned to the ground and several nuns and children died. (See story in New York Times: "Heroic Nuns Die Saving Children".)
About 1915, Clara and Archie returned to San Antonio and took Clara's three children back to live with them. The children took the last name of Crandall, but as adults changed their surnames back to Byrd. They lived in several different houses in San Antonio, including one at 225 Kayton Ave. Clara's son Oliver remembers her making chili and hot sauce and going door to door to sell jars of her home cooking to help make money.
On August 14, 1915, the house where the family lived at 104 Drexel Ave caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire truck overturned on the way to the fire and the fire chief, Gilbert L. Hovey, age 36, was killed. Clara's son Russell reportedly pulled her out of the burning house and was written up in the newspaper as a hero.
By 1918, Clara and Archie separated. Archie, who was by then working as a detective for the Department of Justice, had committed a crime and was sentenced to time in Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. Clara moved to the Westbrook Hotel in San Antonio.
In the early 1920's, Clara divorced Archie and moved to Los Angeles to be near Hollywood, where she hoped for a career in the movies. She re-married Archie after he got out of prison, but they divorced a second time.
Clara's daughter-in-law, Jennie, recalls the first time she met Clara in Los Angeles in 1929 or 1930. Clara lived on South Hobart at that time, and Jennie recalls that Clara reminded her of an exotic "gypsy." She had dark bobbed hair, and her apartment was dark, candlelit, and perfumed.
Clara moved to Albuqurque, New Mexico for a short time about 1930 to live with her son Russell and his family. They eventually returned to the southern California area.
Clara's fifth and final marriage was to Raymond Ballinger, a former railroad man who was then working as a conductor on the local trolley in Los Angeles. Clara never did find lasting happiness in marriage. Her last marriage was often tumultuous. Once Ray ran over Clara's leg with his car, which caused her to walk with a limp the rest of her life. She claimed he had tried to kill her. About 1938, Clara found Ray dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a suicide, as Ray reportedly had cancer. However, he was shot in the left temple although he was right handed, and there were no powder burns. Clara's son Russell wondered if Clara had "expedited" Mr. Ballenger's demise. After Ray's death, Clara collected his railroad pension for the rest of her life.
Clara's son Oliver recalls that, in spite of her difficult and unconventional life, she always instilled in him the motto on the old family coat of arms, which was "Virtue Evermore." All three of Clara's children were highly intelligent and grew up to be honest, upright citizens who lived respectable and productive lives.
After Raymond's death, Clara moved to 831 Edith Ave. in Alhambra, California where she lived for many years. About 1954, she moved to 521 Everett Ave. in Palo Alto to be near her younger son Oliver, who was a professor at Stanford University.
To earn extra money, Clara sold Avon products and did sewing. She was an excellent seamstress, and worked well into her 70s. In her 80s she had several small strokes and became somewhat delusional. She died in a nursing home in August 1973, at age 90, after two major strokes. She is buried in Alta Mesa Cemetery in Palo Alto, California.
Her granddaughter Beverly recalls that in the 1940s Clara would send her comic strips that were in the Los Angeles newspapers but not in Beverly's local papers. Clara also sent Beverly pictures of dogs, cats, and horses, which Beverly collected at this age. Beverly remembers the excitement of sleeping outside with her grandmother on two adjoining chaise lounges on a warm summer night in the backyard of Clara's Alhambra Ave. home, and of looking forward to the daylong summertime train trips, from Palo Alto to Los Angeles, to visit her.
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