Person:Clarence Hershey (1)

Personal History

Jacob Clarence Hershey (1882-1954)

Obituary:

J CLARENCE HERSHEY, aged 72, of Blue Ridge Summit, died at Waynesboro Hospital Monday at 3 pm. A retired executive of the Hershey Manufacturing Company, Chicago, manufacturers of auto door locks, he had been confined to the hospital for two weeks.

Born in Washington County, Md, he was the son of Winfield Scoot and Mary (Wolfkill) Hershey. He spent his boyhood in Washington County, and for a number years resided in Hagerstown. As a young man he lived in Arizona, and for ten years he lived in Colorado. He had lived in Chicago 28 years, and had retired from his job in 1947. He moved to Blue Ridge Summit in 1949.

He was a member of the Hawley Memorial Church, Monterey, Pa; and Oriental Lodge AF & AM, Denver, Colorado. Besides his wife, Helen Forrest Hershey, he is survived by: sister, Miss M Louella Hershey, Hagerstown; brothers, John and Roger, both of Hagerstown; and Orville, Evanston, Illinois. Services from the home in Blue Ridge Summit Wednesday at 4:30 pm, the Rev John McClain officiating. Interment in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Published in the Daily Mail, Hagerstown, Maryland, Tuesday, August 17, 1954

Memories of Jacob "Clarence" Hershey (1882-1954) from his nephew Joseph Murdock (1898-1985)

Relationship to Joseph Murdock:
"Clarence" was a good friend of Joseph Murdock (1898-1985) for whom "Clarence" and Helen Forrest were his uncle and aunt. Helen Forrest, was the granddaughter of Maria Forrest (1810-1852) who married Israel Kepler (1807-1886) who was Joe's great-grandmother, hence the relation. From the Clarence obituary, he started his career in Chicago about 1920, when Joe was 22. It seems reasonable that, as somewhat distant relatives, they were friends with Joe's parents, Forrest Murdock and Helen "Mocco" Wright, and thus became friends with their son, Joe.

Joe's memories of Clarence and his appearance in Joe's home-movies:
Clarence took a home-movie of himself and Helen with Joe, his wife Eleanor Smith, and their young children, Joellen and Margot, while visiting Joe at his cottage at Indian Lake, Michigan, in spring 1929. A short time later, 7-29-1929, Eleanor tragically died of strep throat at Indian Lake just one year after penicillin was discovered but not yet widely available.

This is very rare footage of Eleanor and the movie is available from Lucius Donkle III, Joe's grandson, upon request.

According to Joe's memories of Clarence and some research, he was a successful inventor in the 1920's of the Autolock for a car steering wheel and ignition to prevent theft. He also invented the Vitabrush, an electric scalp massage brush that Joe used regularly. That brush remains in the family and still works, but it's claims of "preventing baldness" remain unproven, unless Joe's lifetime head-of-hair proves otherwise.

Joe believed that Clarence was related to the Hershey Chocolate family, but did not know how. Supposedly he retired in Hershey, PA (Joe has movies of a trip to Gettysburg, near Hershey, that may show Clarence?). He was quite a friend of Joe Murdock's from at least 1929-1946 when he may be intermittently in Joe's home movies (is the old guy in the movies Clarence Hershey-Tweedy's guess, or Dad Smith, Eleanor's father-Margot's guess?).

WikiTree.com Page [1]
Family Search ID LC8M-R1Y

Joe Murdock's Vitabrush, invented by Clarence, Joe said it saved his hair! It still works!

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} FamilySearch Family Tree
   "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 17 July 2020, 17:50), entry for Jacob Clarence Hershey(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LC8M-R1Y); contributed by various users. PersonID LC8M-R1Y.

   Jacob Clarence Hershey _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LC8M-R1Y

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 FamilySearch Family Tree
   "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWWY-YXT : 8 January 2021), Jacob Hershey, Evanston, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 16-184, sheet 3A, line 35, family 45, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 778.

   Jacob Hershey, "United States Census, 1940" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWWY-YXT

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 FamilySearch Family Tree
   "United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V1KS-VPG : 14 March 2020), Jacob Clarence Hershey, 1942; citing NARA microfilm publication M1936, M1937, M1939, M1951, M1962, M1964, M1986, M2090, and M2097 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

   Jacob Clarence Hershey, "United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V1KS-VPG

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 FamilySearch Family Tree
   "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZK8-PFB : 23 February 2021), Jacob Clarence Hershey, 1917-1918.

   Jacob Clarence Hershey, "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZK8-PFB

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 FamilySearch Family Tree
   "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2N7-7ST : accessed 18 March 2021), Jacob C Henshey in household of Scott W Henshey, Hagerstown Ward 3, Washington, Maryland, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 147, sheet 12A, family 271, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 569; FHL microfilm 1,374,582.

   Jacob C Henshey in household of Scott W Henshey, "United States Census, 1910" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2N7-7ST

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} FamilySearch Family Tree
   "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q243-MTQQ : 6 August 2020), Clarence, ; Burial, Lewisburg, Union, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Lewisburg Cemetery; citing record ID 164075688, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

   Jacob Clarence Hershey, "Find A Grave Index" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q243-MTQQ

7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 FamilySearch Family Tree
   "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M32J-TTH : accessed 18 March 2021), Jacob C Hershey in household of Winfield Hershey, Hagerstown city Ward 3 (west part), Washington, Maryland, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 91, sheet 6A, family 123, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,629.

   Jacob C Hershey in household of Winfield Hershey, "United States Census, 1900" _LINK: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M32J-TTH

8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Find A Grave
   Jacob Clarence “Clarence” Hershey 16 Aug 1954.

   _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/164075688/jacob-clarence-hershey

9. ↑ Find A Grave
   Helen Forrest Hershey.

   _LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/164075633/helen-hershey