Hello all and welcome back to The Hogue Connection! In today’s post, we are going to look at the life of Clara Brown, my wife Jane’s great aunt. She led quite the life and somehow kept it a mystery from most of the family for years. At least until I started digging into it.
I touched on one of those mysteries in a previous article that you can read again by following this link.
I didn’t have all the facts about Clara straight on that post, but after several days of additional research, I think I can present a pretty good picture of who she really was. Uncle Harold Timmerman did a great job putting together his family history, but that was before the internet. Using modern tools, I found out a lot more about Clara Brown.
The Life of Clara Brown Starts in Iowa…
Clara was born 31 July 1888 in Ida Grove, Ida County, Iowa. She was the youngest child, of four, born to Ulric Segendorf Brown and Rosalie Hallam, who married in Iowa on 26 Nov 1877…
Leona May Brown (1879-1948)
Lamar C. Brown (1882-1947)
Jane Rosalie “Jennie” Brown (1885-1968)
Clara Ida Brown
The family lived in Iowa until 1902, when U.S. Brown moved them to Piedmont, Oklahoma Territory. He took a job there editing the Daily American newspaper in El Reno, outside of Oklahoma City. Leona married Julius Timmerman in 1903 and started raising their family. Jennie and Clara opened a millinery parlor there in 1904:
U.S. Brown was a decorated veteran from the Civil War, reaching the rank of brevet Colonel, and had many years of experience in journalism since. He ran several successful papers throughout the Midwest in his career. Their only son, Lamar, entered the Army as well, and served in the Philippine Islands before returning home wounded in 1905.
Clara Brown Gets Married (A Familiar Theme Develops…)
On 11 Jan 1908, Clara married Jacob Clinton Leukens in Winfield, KS. How they met is not documented. According to the 1910 census, they both lived at the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Newkirk, Kay County, Oklahoma. The 1910 census indicates their age as Jacob, 42, and Clara, 20. He was employed there as a harness maker. The school was about 130 miles north of the Brown home in Piedmont, Canadian County, OK.
This school was in its heyday at the time, gaining students and buildings to accommodate them. Things weren’t so rosy for the newly married couple, however. Jacob had been married before and had three daughters by his first wife, who apparently split with their mother in 1906. By 1913, Jacob had moved to Escondido, CA and opened a livery and shoe business of his own there. After surviving a house fire in 1918, Leukens died in Los Angeles County in 1923, aged 58. Clara likely returned to Piedmont around 1912.
Marriage #2…Another Brown Sister Marries Another Timmerman…
Left to Right: Julius Timmerman, George Burghart, Leona Brown Timmerman, Harold Timmerman, Rosalie Timmerman, Lamar Brown, Jennie Brown Smith, Clara Brown Burghart
This picture shows a family get together, probably at Jennie Brown Smith’s house in Glendale, CA, in 1939. Uncle Harold and Clara are in the same shot, but he was apparently unaware of Clara’s history at the time. Perhaps he didn’t remember it when he started work on his family genealogy in his later years.
Anyway, Clara, in 1917, heads to the west coast, Portland, Oregon specifically, to marry husband #2. Clara and Herman Timmerman, the older brother of Leona’s husband Julius, traveled across the newly completed Interstate Bridge to Vancouver, WA to tie the knot in a civil ceremony, on 11 Jun 1918.
Obviously, the two had previously met, since the families lived near each other in the Oklahoma Territory. In fact, Herman married his first wife in El Reno in 1899 and moved with her to Minneapolis, MN. Did they meet again at Julius and Leona’s wedding? Was there secret correspondence between the two for years? No evidence exists of that. Herman left his wife and daughter in 1917, too, and moved to Portland.
As far as I know, no one in the family knew about this marriage until I was researching the previously mentioned Spanish Flu article in 2019. Herman died of that flu on 28 Oct 1918 and is buried in a pauper’s grave in Multnomah Park Cemetery in Portland. His FindAGrave memorial is here. Clara and Herman were married for only 139 days. There is no evidence to suggest Clara stayed in Oregon long, but there is some that indicates she was in California in 1920.
Marriages #3, #4, an #5…in Rapid Fire Succession!
On 20 Dec 1920, Clara married husband #3, William Henry Seebolt. There are some clues that she may have lived in Fresno, CA after this marriage. She is listed in the city directory there in 1923 as Clara I Timmerman. Here’s an ad from the Fresno morning Republican on 6 Aug 1924:
Perhaps this marriage was quickly annulled. No info on that or a divorce. Seebolt was married next to Elma Kramer in 1923, and divorced from her in 1943. He died 8 March 1966 and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Jennie, Frank, and Clara, c. 1925
We know that Clara’s sister Jennie, and her husband Frank, moved to Alhambra, CA, coming from Denver, CO, around 1922. Their father, U.S. Brown lived with Frank and Jennie starting in 1923 until his death in their home on 3 Apr 1926, aged 86. His obituary lists his surviving daughters, including Mrs. Clara Hansen, of Alhambra.
So, husband #4 is this Hanson guy. I can’t find anything about him except this mention in the obituary. That’s okay, though, because there’s always husband #5:
Clara Brown married Jacob P. Leu on 5 Sep 1928. Note how her official name here is Clara Timmerman Hansen. The witness to the event is her sister, Jane (Jennie) Smith. Both women are from Alhambra, CA. Weirdly, this guy’s name is similar to Husband #1.
So, Between 1918 and 1928, Clara Brown gets Married Four Times…
…but she wasn’t done. Most people in the family recognize George Burghart as Clara’s husband. Although I can’t find a record of it, they were married about 1934 and remained so for the rest of her life. Sure, there was that Hansen fellow mentioned in the obituary, but other than him, George was her “true” husband. True husband #6, that is.
Boy, what a whirlwind story this is. Clara Brown was a mysterious woman who, at times, led a secretive, private life. Clara and George moved to San Gabriel, CA in 1936. George was also in the publishing business, and according to Clara’s obituary, she was there by his side through the end of his career. She was also a seriously practicing Catholic in her later years.
Clara Ida Brown Leukens Timmerman Seebolt Hansen Leu Burghart passed away on 6 May 1955 from a heart attack at Los Angeles County Hospital. She is buried in the Resurrection Cemetery in the current city of Rosemead, CA. George Burghart died in 1965 and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
My research on Clara turned up no divorce records. I’m not insinuating anything here; I don’t think she was a polygamist. Many California divorce records weren’t made available until the 1940’s. Leona Brown Timmerman was the only child of U.S. Brown and Rose Hallam to have children of her own. Lamar, Jennie, and Clara all died childless. That being said, any of you cousins out there who might have additional info, please drop me a note.
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