Clara Jenners Butler Sweetser, 1838-1925

Clara (Jenners) Butler Sweetser (photo courtesy of Tippecanoe Co. Historical Assoc.)

 

 

Clara Jenners was born 2 January 1838 in a log cabin on the corner of 3rd and Ferry Streets, Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.  Her parents were David Jenners and his wife, Maria Simpson.

She is found in her father's household in Lafayette on the 1850 and 1860 censuses.  

On 27 December 1864, Clara married George Butler in her father's home.  They were married by Daniel Rice.  Clara was 26 years old.

Marriage Certificate (image courtesy of Lina Liberace)

George Butler was born 1 January 1830 in Lincolnshire, England and came to the U.S. with his parents as a child.  

The 1870 census shows Clara and her husband, George, living with Clara's parents in Lafayette.

By March 1878, Clara and George had moved into the home owned by her uncle, Alba Jenners, at the corner of 4th and Ferry streets.  A letter written 17 March 1878 by Clara Richards to Laura V. Braden says, "Clara Butler and husband are keeping house now in Uncle Alba's house, corner fourth and ferry.  She painted and papered the inside, and it looks real nice and cosy [sic]." 

On 16 August 1878, Clara's husband, George, died.  He died of complications four years after a railroad accident in which he was squeezed between boxcars as he worked as a conductor on the Wabash Valley Railroad.  George was 48 years old.  Clara and George apparently had no children.

The 1880 census shows Clara once again living with her parents, David and Maria Jenners.

On 3 February 1881, Clara married a second time to William Upton Sweetser.  

Marriage Certificate (courtesy of Lina Liberace)

On 26 February 1881, Clara's father, David Jenners, died.  

On 3 February 1899, Clara's mother, Maria (Simpson) Jenners, died.

And on 13 April 1900, Clara's second husband, William Sweetser, died.  He was 70 years old.  There is no indication that Clara and William had any children.

I have not yet found much about William.  This is an area for more research.  However, it is strange that he is buried in South Bend Cemetery, Jasper Co., Illinois.  

By 1907, Clara was living at 521 Waldron St., Lafayette, Indiana.  And in 1918, she was boarding at 131 Park Ave., Lafayette.

Clara was an avid collector of newspaper clippings related to her family and friends.  Many of these papers she put in her Bible which ended up in the family of her cousin, James D.  Jenners and has been passed down among his descendants.  I now have scans of many of these clippings (thank you, Lina!) and will include them where appropriate.  Clara also kept a scrapbook of newspaper articles and clippings.  She left this scrapbook to her niece, Georgianna Jones.  Georgianna married William Hiller.  The scrapbook was, at some point, donated to the Tippecanoe County Historical Association and is now available to researchers.

Clara died 9 May 1925 in Lafayette.  She was 87 years old.  She is buried in the family plot in Greenbush Cemetery near her parents and several siblings and next to her first husband, George Butler.  

Clara's tombstone (photo taken Nov. 2015)