Will the real Charles F. please stand up

On January 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th, I wrote a little about my hobby, genealogy, and my great grandparents on my father’s side, Charles F. Henderson and his wife Clara (Gustafson) Henderson. While I was writing that stuff, I went back and took a second look at the clues and records that I had found and have come to some further conclusions. Ever since I was a young man there had been a question about whether Clara’s maiden name was Gustafson or Johnson, and I was never able to convince myself that Charles had been counted twice during the 1880 census until I found other ancestors that I was able to confirm had been counted twice. After that, and after much ciphering and cogitating, here’s my reassessment of the chronological story of Charles F. Henderson and Clara Gustafson.

1860-Moline, Illinois
After arriving in this country in 1854, we find 36 year old Charles Henderson (Charles F. Henderson’s father) living with his 32 year old wife Mary (Nelson) Henderson and their 4 children, Charles F. (8), William (4), John (2), and Frank ( 5 mos.). Charles Sr., Mary, and Charles F. are all listed as being born in Sweden, and William, John, and Frank were born in Illinois.

1870-Moline, Illinois
We find that Mary is now a widow. She is with her sons Charles who is now 18, John who is 12, and Victor, 7, who was born shortly after the last census. It is fair to think that Charles Sr. was probably killed in the Civil War, but we have not confirmed that as yet. Sons William and Frank did not survive and are both deceased. We know that these sons did not survive and were not just off visiting somewhere because on the 1900 census, two of the questions asked were “Mother of how many children,” and “Number of these children living.” Clara stated that she had seven with only two surviving.

1880-Moline, Illinois
Mary is now 52 years old and is “keeping house and managing the farm.” She has lost another son, John who died sometime during the previous 10 years. Listed in the same census with her is her two surviving sons, Charles (28) and Victor (17). Also, on the same census page, we find the remnants of the Storm family in the person of Susan Storm who is living with another family. This confirms that the Hendersons and the Storms were neighbors, and knew each other. During this census, Charles F. was temporarily helping the Storm family on their newly acquired farm in Bluegrass, Iowa, just across the river and only ten miles from Moline. It is normal for census takers to list family members who are only temporarily away, and this is what happened.

This is the part that kept me so confused for the past two years! Charles F. Henderson was counted twice in the 1880 census! Once, as noted above, and again as noted below.

1880-Bluegrass, Iowa
We find 30 year old Charles Storm and his 26 year old wife Lotte (Gustafson) Storm living with their 3 sons Albert (6), Henry (4) and Julius (1). Living with them, is Lotte’s sister Clara Gustafson, and Charles F. Henderson, who is now being counted for the second time. Clara and Charles F. “hooked up” and moved 80 miles south to Keokuk, Iowa where Charles got a job with the Keokuk brewing company.

A sad blow was stuck to genealogy in 1921, when almost the entire 1890 census was lost to fire. The information that is pieced together here was gleaned from the City Directory of Keokuk, Iowa for the years 1887, and 1890.

Between 1880 and 1886, Charles and Clara manage to produce 4 children, Raymond Oliver, Oscar Carl, John Victor, and Edward. By the time Edward was born, Charles had sunk into the cycle of drinking and being in and out of jail as told by his son John in the narrative he produced years later. By 1887, Charles and Clara are already having trouble, and they are living apart. Charles is with a friend, Thomas Corcoran, living at 1513 Morgan Street in Keokuk, Iowa, and Clara is working as a domestic for the Jewell family and is using the surname Johnson! This is the name Clara used on the birth certificate of her youngest son Edward, who is also the only son who was not given a middle name. It makes one wonder if Edward was not the product of the Johnson/Gustafson relationship and not a Henderson at all!

In 1890, Clara is seen in the Keokuk city directory, living with a John Marks. Whether Mr. Marks was a lover or a boarder is unknown but, apparently, Mr. Johnson had abandoned her also and she is with another man. According to her obituary, Clara’s husband, Charles F. ran off with another woman in 1889. It is possible, in his mentally weakened condition from years of drinking, that he was not able to deal with the loss of his two youngest children, Harry and Eleanor, both of whom died that same year. It is also possible that Clara, after putting up with Charles’ drinking for so long, took up with Mr. Johnson and that is what motivated Charles to leave her. In either case, life for the Hendersons got complicated and before either Charles or Clara could come to their senses, Clara died and all the kids were sent to live with others.

1900-Moline, Illinois
By now, Mary has had a total of seven children but only two of them survived past childhood, Charles F., and Victor. Victor appears to have never left his mother’s side, and stayed with her on the farm, and we now know about the escapades of Charles F. between 1880 and 1887. After 1887 and before 1900, it appears as though Charles came to his senses and returned home to be with his mother and brother. In the 1900 census, we find all three of them living together again in Moline, Illinois.

1910-Moline, Illinois
In 1910, the family is still together and Mary is celebrating her 82 year! Her brother, Alexander Nelson (69) is also living with the family on the farm in Moline (this is how we discovered Mary’s maiden name!), and Alexander’s son, Charles R. Nelson is living on the adjacent farm with his wife Maria C. and their five daughters, Lillian M. (12), Linda C. (10), Ruth E. (8), Clara U. (6), and Anna L. (3).

1920-Moline, Illinois
Only Charles and Victor remain on the farm. Their mother, Mary, and Uncle Alexander are both gone. Charles is 68 years old, and Victor is 57. Victor, the younger brother, never married and is listed as head of household.

1930-Moline, Illinois
Charles is 78 years old and is listed as the head of household, and Victor is 67. This is the last time we see them in the records. There is no indication that Charles ever looked for his wife and children or that he even knew what happened to them. It seems that he just turned his back on what was obviously a difficult and sad chapter in his life and never looked back.

If you read my postings of late January, you know what happened to them all, so I won’t go into that again here.

There is plenty of conjecture in this scenario, but there is also a lot of circumstantial evidence to support it. The fact that Edward, Clara’s youngest son, was the only one of the four brothers who was lost track of after Clara’s death, and was the only one without a middle name makes me believe he was only a half-brother to the others. He stayed in Keokuk long after the others had left, and may have found sanctuary with Johnson relatives? There is a military draft registration card filled out by Edward Henderson of Keokuk Iowa in 1917. He states that his birthday is November 10, 1887, which is the same birth year I have in my records. The registration card also states that Edward was tall, slender, with blue eyes and light hair, and was a Starch Worker. The physical description certainly fits that of a lot of the Hendersons. The registration card also mentions that Edward had lost one leg.