Charles William Clark (1915 - 1997)

Born 3 Feb 1915 in Eudora, Desoto, Mississippi

Ancestors

Died 24 Jan 1997 at age 81 in Golden, Jefferson, Colorado

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Biography

Charles William Clark

Charles William Clark, or Charlie as he preferred to be called, was born in Mississippi Feb 3, 1915 and died Jan 24, 1997 in Golden, Jefferson, Colorado (Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration).

1917 June 5, 1917, when Charlie was only 2, his father registered for the draft, in Clay, Mississippi. (ref: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005).

1920 Three years later in 1920, with circumstances presently unknown, Charlie at 5 years old was already not living with his parents. Charlie’s father and mother were living in Richton, Perry, Mississippi, where his dad died that year. ( Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Richton, Perry, Mississippi; Roll: T625_889; Page: 26A; Enumeration District: 128; Image: 102) Charlie’s mother died in 1923

1930 While I have been unable to find corroborating information, my personal recollection is my dad saying he and his 2 siblings, Maurice and Nellie, were raised by a “mean old aunt” in Eudora, Mississippi. The 1930 US census does show the three of them living with their widowed uncle Charlie Gowdy on Bluff Rd in Desoto County , but the census work apparently recorded their last name as Gowdy, their mother’s and uncle’s last name.

(Sometime prior to 1941, Charlie married Gladys Gaia and had a daughter that he claimed was not his until a few years before he died.)' ' 1940 On April 11, 1940 Charles W Clark was single, 23 and boarding with the Dowdle family on Tucker Street in Memphis, TN, working as a clerk in a retail shoe store making $700 a month. (Seems like an awful lot for 1940!)

1941 While married and still living in Mississippi, Charlie was enrolled as an unassigned Private (Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA) on Oct 4 1941 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was shown as 6’ tall and weighing 125 pounds. (ref: World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.)

1942 Charlie’s wife, Ina Faye Odenbaugh, delivered their first child, Sandra Lee Clark on Nov 8, in Memphis, TN.

Sources

1930 United States Federal Census

1940 United States Federal Census

Social Security Death Index

U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1

U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Acknowledgments

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