Virginia Dell (Cassidy) Clinton (1923 - 1994)

Born 6 Jun 1923 in Bodcaw, Nevada County, Arkansas, United States

Ancestors

Wife of William Jefferson Blythe II — married 3 Sep 1943 (to 17 May 1946) in Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas, United States

Wife of Roger M. Clinton — married 19 Jun 1950 (to 8 Nov 1967) in Hot Springs, Garland, Arkansas, United States

Wife of George Jefferson Dwire — married 3 Jan 1969 (to 1974) in Hope, Hempstead, Arkansas, United States

Descendants

Died 6 Jan 1994 at age 70 in Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas, United States

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Biography

This profile is part of the Cassidy Name Study.

Virginia was the mother of 42nd US President Bill Clinton.

Virginia was born Virginia Dell Cassidy in Hope, Arkansas to James Cassidy, an ice deliveryman, and Edith Grisham, an aneasthetist. On her paternal Cassidy line Virginia descends from Lucas Cassidy who emigrated from Rosslea, County Fermanagh in Ireland to Cheraw, South Caroline in 1750.^[1]

After her high school graduation, she moved to Shreveport, Louisiana to study nursing. It was here that she met a traveling salesman named William Jefferson Blythe II. The two were married on September 3, 1943^[2], and Bill II shipped out to serve in World War II shortly thereafter. In the meantime, Virginia finished nursing school and moved back to her hometown.

When her husband returned from the war, the two moved to Chicago, Illinois for a few months, then decided to return to Hope. Virginia moved back in with her parents while she and Bill looked for a new home, and it was on his way back to Hope from Chicago that Bill was killed in a car accident in Missouri. He would never get to meet his son and namesake, William Jefferson Blythe III, to whom Virginia gave birth three months later on August 19, 1946. She was later introduced by her father to a Buick dealer from Hot Springs, Arkansas named Roger Clinton Sr.. The two married in 1950,^[3] and on July 25, 1956, Virginia gave birth to their son,Roger Jr..

The marriage was a rocky one, and the couple divorced in 1961, but remarried soon thereafter. It was about this time that Virginia's son Bill III legally took his stepfather's last name, now going by William Jefferson Clinton. Roger Sr.'s years of alcohol abuse had taken their toll, however, and he contracted liver cancer and died in 1967.

Two years later, Virginia married hairdresser Jeff Dwire, who died of complications from diabetes in 1974. In 1982, she wed her fourth husband, brokerage executive Richard Kelley. Their marriage lasted until her death from complications of breast cancer on January 6, 1994 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She was laid to rest next to her first husband, Bill Blythe II.

Sources

1. ↑ Speculated Truth: A Genealogical Journey of Truth and Speculation; Author Brent Cassidy; Publisher Author Solutions Incorporated, 2004; ISBN. 1412024196, 9781412024198, p118.
2. ↑ Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N973-T2D : 24 June 2016), William J Blythe and Virginia Cassidy, 1943.
3. ↑ "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMYY-36J : 18 March 2019), Virginia Blythe in entry for Roger M Clinton, 16 Jun 1950; citing Marriage, Garland, Arkansas, United States, county offices, Arkansas; FHL microfilm 1,927,583.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMLW-TC4 : accessed 26 December 2020), Virginia Cassidy in household of J E Cassidy, Hope, Hempstead, Arkansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 6, sheet 12A, line 46, family 263, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 76; FHL microfilm 2,339,811.
• Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 25 December 2020), memorial page for Virginia Dell Cassidy Kelley (6 Jun 1923–6 Jan 1994), Find A Grave: Memorial #4566, citing Rose Hill Cemetery, Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas, USA ; Maintained by Leonard Shevlin McCann (contributor 49309870).
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Clinton_Kelley