Challenging Myself - What Can I Find With Minimal Information? - Updated

So the other day, we had dinner with my cousin and his wife in their lovely old farmhouse.  They were telling us what they knew of the history of the house.  It had been owned by a Dr. Kramer and his wife.  Dr. Kramer had his medical practice out of the house.  The story they had was that the house was built in 1908 as a wedding gift to the couple.  The wife's maiden name was Clevenger and her family were farmers in the area.  The house is near the little Indiana town of Windsor and is in Randolph County.

So I wondered if I could find anything about the couple to fill in the information for the current owners of their house.  Not much to go on, really.  Two surnames, a general time frame, a location, an occupation.

So first I looked for a cemetery in the area.  Sure enough, I found Mrs. Kramer very quickly.  Thank you, Find-A-Grave!  Glea Clevenger Kramer  died Dec. 2, 1983 and is buried in Union Cemetery near Windsor, Randolph Co., Indiana.  The Find-A-Grave Memorial includes her obituary, and the obit has lots of information.  Glea was born May 13, 1891 near Parker City, Indiana.

Her husband was Dr. J. A. Kramer and Glea moved to Muncie, Indiana 28 years before her death, after the death of her husband.  So she moved to Muncie about 1955 and her husband died sometime before that.  They had lived in Blountsville, Indiana; Roanoke, Virginia; and Columbus, Ohio.  I have not found Dr. Kramer's burial in Find-A-Grave.

Glea's father was Harrison Clevenger (1863-1939)  and he is also buried in Union Cemetery.  Her mother was Sarah Arwilla Hewitt Clevenger; I believe she is the Arwilla Clevenger (died 1933)  buried in Union Cemetery; the Find-A-Grave memorial says she was born 1886, but looking at the photo of her tombstone, it looks like it might really says 1866.  And the stone is clearly with the one for Harrison.  If this was a family I was researching for my own family history, I would make a trip to the cemetery in Windsor and look at the tombstones.

UPDATE:   So, I was just too curious and so today we drove out and found Union Cemetery.  It is about 3 miles or so from Windsor.  Here is a shot of the large memorial stone and the group of smaller individual tombstones:

Closer, the big monument looks like this:

And here are the individual tombstones, starting with the one closest to the camera in the first cemetery picture and moving away from the camera:

So what we have here, based on other information that I had gathered is the Clevenger family plot with children and their spouses.  Harrison and Arwilla are the parents.  Lee H. and Glea C. are their children.  Maude J. is Lee's wife.  Joseph A. is Glea's husband.  Kramer is on the large monument to indicate the other surname in the plot: Joseph A. Kramer and his wife, Glea Clevenger Kramer.
End of update.


So next I decided to see what I might find on J.A. and Glea.

The Social Security Death Index verified Glea's birthdate and death.
Then I found this:

The marriage license of Joseph Arthur Kramer to Orilla G. Clevenger on 13 January 1911 in Randolph Co., Indiana.

I also found a marriage record for their daughter, Sara Lee.  I will not include that here.  However, on it the mother's name is listed as Glea Orwilla Clevenger, verifying that the marriage record shown above is indeed the couple I wanted.

So now I know the doctor was Joseph Arthur Kramer and that they were married in January 1911 in Randolph Co., Indiana.  A little more searching and I found this:

This marriage license application gives us more new information:  Joseph was born October 22, 1876 in Lithopolis, Ohio.  I found him in Ohio Birth records as born Oct. 22, 1875.  His residence in 1911 was Blountsville, Indiana and he was a physician.  His parents were Frank Kramer, a blacksmith and Mary Elizabeth Fisher, a housewife.  His parents were living in Columbus, Ohio in 1911.  The bride, Orwilla G. Clevenger, was born May 13, 1891 in Randolph Co., Indiana.  Her parents, Harrison Clevenger and Arwilla Hewitt were both born in Randolph Co., Indiana.  Her father was a farmer.

I found Glea's parents marriage: Harrison Clevenger to Arwilla Hewitt on 9 November 1888 in Randolph Co., Indiana.  

Next I found Joseph's WWI draft registration from 1918.  The couple was living in Roanoke, Virginia.

I found Joseph on the 1910 census in Stoney Creek Township, Randolph Co., Indiana.  He was single, age 33, living alone.  On the 1910 census, Glea is 18 and living with her parents in Randolph Co. This fits correctly with the marriage license information.

A Columbus, Ohio city directory for 1925, shows the Kramers there.  The 1930 census shows the family in Columbus, Ohio living on Linwood Ave.  They owned the home.  Joseph was a physician, age 55.  His wife, Glea, was 40.  Daughter, Sara, was 5.  The 1940 census shows the family in Columbus, Ohio.  They were living in the same house in 1935.  Joseph was 64.  His wife is listed as Glea, age 48.  And their daughter, Sara, was 15.

During this time, Joseph was a doctor who worked for the railroad.

The 1960 city directory for Muncie, Indiana, shows Glea C. Kramer, widow of Joseph A. Kramer, living at 815 Wayne, Apt. 101.

So now it looks like this:  Joseph & Glea were married in Randolph Co., Indiana in 1911.  By 1918, they were living in Roanoke, Virginia.  By 1925, they had moved to Columbus, Ohio, and they were still there in 1940.  Sometime between 1940 and 1960, Joseph died and Glea moved to Muncie, Indiana.  It seems most likely that they lived in the farmhouse near Windsor sometime during that 20 year time span.

I did find Joseph and Orwilla listed in the rural route section of the Muncie City Directory in 1936.  If I am reading the entry correctly, it indicates they jointly owned 123 acres at that time.  I find them again in Muncie city directories for 1919 (40 a), 1921 (40 a), 1923 (123 a), 1927 (j. 123 a), and 1934 (j. 123 a).  But at the same time, I find Joseph and Glea listed in Columbus, Ohio city directories.  It is possible that they owned land in Delaware Co., Indiana, but did not live on it and were indeed in Columbus, Ohio.  Or perhaps there are two Joseph A. and Orwilla Glea Kramers?  Seems unlikely.  I suspect they lived in Columbus and owned land in rural Delaware County.  After all, the censuses and their daughter's birth put them in Columbus.  But one must consider all the possibilities.

Their daughter, Sara, was born in 1925 in Columbus, Ohio, married William H. Smith and died in 1986.

I wasn't finding much else to move things along, so I went to some of my newspaper sources. I found this obituary in the Maryville Daily Forum (Maryville, Missouri) for Thursday, Jan. 31, 1957 (page 2):

So now we know that Joseph died on 31 January 1957 in Randolph Co., Indiana. And this confirms his parents names.  Too bad it does not name his wife and daughter.

 Then in Past and Present of Randolph County, Indiana (1914), I found:

"Kramer, Joseph A., was born in 1876, at Lithapolis, Ohio; graduated from Louisville Medical College in 1908, and is since located at Parker City, Indiana. School of practice is Regular."
  and
"Joseph A. Kramer, Windsor, in 1914;" as a member of the Randolph Co. Medical Society.

 OK.  So how does this work out?

Joseph Arthur Kramer, son of Frank and Mary Elizabeth (Fisher) Kramer,  born in Lithopolis, Ohio, Oct. 22, 1874 or 1875.
Glea Orwilla Clevenger, daughter of Harrison and Sarah Arwilla (Hewitt) Clevenger, born in Randolph Co., Indiana, May 13, 1891.
Joseph lived in Maryville, Missouri as a young man, with relatives of his mother.
Joseph graduated from Louisville Medical College in 1908.
Joseph was living in Stoney Creek Township, Randolph Co., Indiana in 1910.
Glea Orwilla was living with her parents in Stoney Creek Township, Randolph Co., Indiana in 1910.
Joseph and Glea Orwilla married January 1911 in Randolph Co., Indiana.  At that time, Joseph was living in Blountsville, Indiana.
Joseph's address was listed as Windsor (Indiana) in 1914.
Joseph and Orwilla G. were living in Roanoke, Virginia in 1918.  He was working as a physician for the Norfolk and Western Railroad.
By 1925, they were living in Columbus, Ohio.  Their daughter Sara Lee Kramer was born there in January 1925.
They were living in Columbus, Ohio until at least 1940.
Daughter, Sara, married William H. Smith, in December 1946 in Delaware Co., Indiana, so the family was probably back in Indiana by then.
By January 1957, they were living near Parker City, Indiana, when Joseph died there.  His burial has not yet been found.   He is buried in Union Cemetery near Windsor.
Glea Orwilla moved to Muncie, Indiana, before 1960 when she is found living on Wayne Ave.
Glea died in Muncie in December 1983 and is buried at Union Cemetery near Windsor.
Daughter, Sara L. (Kramer) Smith, died in 1986.

So, was the farmhouse a wedding gift?  Maybe.  If it was built about 1911 instead of 1908, it could be.  Or if Joseph & Glea were engaged and her parents built the house before the couple married.  Or perhaps the house belonged to Glea's parents and Joseph and Glea lived there when they were first married and inherited it once her parents died.

The entries for them in the city directories for both Muncie and Columbus, Ohio, seem confusing.  But the Muncie entries don't indicate their residence there, just the ownership of property.  I suspect they owned the farm and house but did not move back there until after 1940.


If this were my family and I wanted more information, I would go to the courthouse in Randolph Co. and look at property records for the house.  I would check the library there to see what records were available.  I would walk the cemetery in Windsor and see if Joseph is actually there.  If not, I'd check cemeteries in Parker City.

It is possible that I am totally on the wrong track, since the story is that the couple lived in the farmhouse their whole lives and the doctor practiced medicine out of the house.  But so far, this is the only family I've found that comes close to the clues.  I will probably keep working on it, as I can, to see if anything clarifies.  Anyway, that was a fun exercise.