Person:Clarence Clare (1)

Death

A Young Man Drowned

From the 25 Aug 1898 edition of the Daily State Gazette (Trenton, NJ), page 5:

A Young Man Drowned

Unable to Swim, Clarence Clair, of Philadelphia, Sinks to His Death in the Delaware River.

Clarence M. Clair, aged 19 years, of 2635 Germantown avenue, Philadelphia, was drowned in the Delaware river, near Devil's Rock, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

Before going into the water he kissed his sweetheart good-bye and told her that, should the two not meet again, he should like to have her prayers.

The young woman is Miss Olivia Klauser, a granddaughter of Charles Booz, of No. 222 North Feeder street. She and Clair had been in Trenton almost two weeks, and were spending their vacation with Mr. Booz's family. Clair could not swim, but was trying to learn during his sojourn in this city. On Tuesday afternoon two friends of Mr. Booz took him bathing, and were to have accompanied his again yesterday. They did not put in an appearance, however, but seeing a few boys playing near the bank the Philadelphia[n] ventured in. He waded out about 200 feet from the shore and suddenly sank from view.

The boys who saw him gave an alarm, and in a few minutes there was quite a crowd along the bank. One of the men from the engine-room of the State House swam out to the rock and dived off several times in the direction the boys said the Clair was going when he disappeared, but no traced of the body could be found. Later on Coroner Disbrow, arrived, and he immediately began grappling in the vicinity of the rock. John Simpson, one of the Coroner’s assistants, succeeded in location the dangerous spot that had caused the young man’s sudden dinging, and a few moments afterwards his body was discovered. After stepping into the hole, which was fully ten feet over his head, Clair had pitched headlong into the opening under one side of the rock, and from the position in which the body was found it could easily be seen why he did not rise the customary three times. It was after 6 o’clock when the remains were removed to Paulson & Colemans’s morgue. There Miss Klauser furnished the necessary identification, and the parents of the unfortunate youth were notified of the accident. When the Coroner asked the young woman what she knew about the drowning, she acquainted him with the fact that Clair could not swim and that he had been very anxious to learn. She said that he had promised not to go into the water unless he knew some one who was bathing, and that she had gone with him as far as the Delaware street bridge.

“There we parted,” she said, “and I watched him until he was out of sight behind the old saw mill. This was about 3:30 o’clock. Some of us at the house had been joking with him about not being able to swim, and when we separated he smiled and asked me to pray for him if he should happen to drown. He gave me his money, his shirt studs, cuff buttons, ring and watch, and told me to wait for him at home.”

Clair, it was learned, was a clerk in Youngman & Wall’s brokerage establishment, on South Fourth street, Philadelphia, and was prominent in Christian Endeavor work. The body will, in all probably, be taken home for burial.

Pathetic Side of the Drowning of a Philadelphian at Trenton

From the 26 Aug 1898 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, page 11:

Pathetic Side of the Drowning of a Philadelphian at Trenton

Was to be Married

Well Known in Insurance Circles and With a Bright Future Before Him

The body of young Clarence L. Clair, who was drowned on Wednesday, while bathing at the Devil’s Rock, in the Delaware, at Trenton, was brought home yesterday morning and will be buried from the residence of his parents, 2635 Germantown avenue, on Sunday afternoon.

There is a most pathetic side to his loss of life in the fact that Clair was engaged to be married to Miss Olivia P. Klauder, of 407 Berks street, and the ceremony was to have been performed after the summer days were past. Young Clair had been spending his vacation in Trenton because his sweetheart was there visiting her grandfather. The young man could not swim, but two friends were to take him out on Wednesday to teach him how to do so.

They failed to keep the appointment made, however, and yet Clair resolved to go alone. Miss Klauder accompanied him part of the way to the river and before she left him, he handed her his watch, ring and studs and kissing her good-bye said lightly, “If you do not see me again, pray for me.” Later on he undressed and went into the water, wading out to the big rock whose treacherous surroundings are said to have been the scene of many drownings. It is thought that when he jumped from the rock he believed the water to be only a few feet deep, because that is the case on the one side of it, where he went in, while on the other side where he jumped, it is twelve feet deep. No one saw him go down, but it is surmised that he completely lost control of himself where he found he was beyond his depth.

HAD MANY FRIENDS

Miss Klauder returned to Philadelphia yesterday shortly after the body of Clair had been sent on. She was almost distracted because of the sad occurrence. At the home of [the] young man the scene was also distressing. The father said that his son had been employed by Youngman & Maul, insurance brokers, at Fourth and Walnut, since he left school, about four years ago. He was a graduate of the John Welsh Grammar School in the Nineteenth Section, and since he became connected with the insurance business, had come, young as he was, to be regarded as an expert in certain lines of the work.

He was on of the most prominent of the young members of the Susquehanna Avenue Presbyterian Church, at Susquehanna avenue and Marshall Street, being a secretary of the Christian Endeavor Society, a member of the choir and of all the societies connected with the church. Yesterday the flag at the church was placed at half-mast as a tribute of respect and at the church on Sunday the services will be held at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. All the organizations with the young Clair was connected will attend. The interment is to be at Lafayette Cemetery. As the lay in the Germantown avenue residence yesterday afternoon the face looked as if the young man were only sleeping.

Obituary

From the 27 Aug 1898 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

"CLARE. -- Suddenly, on August 24, 1898, Clarence M., son of Ralph B. and the late Margaret Clare, aged 19 years. The relatives and friends of the family, also members of the Susquehanna Avenue Church and Sunday school, are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, on Sunday at 1 o’clock, from his father’s residence, 2635 Germantown avenue. Services at the Church at 2 P. M. Interment private."

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T9)
   Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T9_1167; Family History Film: 1255167; Page: 345.2000; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 0111.

   Birth date: abt 1879; Birth place: Pennsylvania; Residence date: 1880; Residence place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Clarence M. Clare, in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). Board of Health. Death registers, 1860-1903. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

   [New Jersey - Report of a Death, included in Philadelphia collection with body transportation information]
   Clarence M. Clare; age: 19 years 2 months; color: W; occupation: Clerk; Single; birthplace: Penn; residence: 2635 Germantown Av - Phila Pa; place of death: Trenton NJ; father: Ralph Clare; father's country of birth: U.S.; mother: Margaret; mother's country of birth: U.S.; "I hereby certify that I viewed the deceased and that he died on the 24 day of August 1898; and that the cause of death was Drowning accidental"[Philadelphia Untertaker's Certificate]occupation: Clerk; place of birth: Phila; father: Ralph; mother: Margaret; buried from: 2635 Germantown Av; date of burial: Aug 28 1898; place of burial: Layfayette