MY LINEAGE research is currently at the forefront of my interest, with my Clemens line (my father’s ancestors) now in the queue. Along with information and photographs I’ve compiled over the years, my brother Gordon Clemens’ extensive records, and others’ family research, I’m posting our familial lines, one ancestor at a time. I also manage 8,000+ pages of kin on Find A Grave. My Chatfield and Chamberlin lines are completed, along with the Sevenau line, my sons’ paternal heritage.
I’ll make note of those briefly from whence I did come:
the Redings and Reilands and Leinens are some;
the Chamberlins, Smiths, and Shades I give due,
the Sumners and Surdams, must mention them too.
I descend from the Clemens, the Nigons, and Hoys,
along with the Chatfields, my mother’s deploys.
Peter left Consdorf and sailed ‘cross the sea,
laid roots in Mazeppa—my father’s history.
Herein lie their stories, varied records, and lore,
and all manner of photos that show what they wore.
We’re scattered and distant all over the place,
though still all related by marriage or grace.
Those gone before are a part of me still,
a dram of my blood, a slice of my will.
I’ve sat on their headstones—these relations of past
and pondered and wondered how I am like cast.
I sense all their voices, they touch me in dreams,
I glimpse at their lives to unearth what mine means.
They watch over me with wonder and trust
to guide me from birth till I, too, turn to dust.
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Five generations with my brother Gordon on our paternal side:
Gordon Lawrence Clemens (1934–living)
Our father, Carl John Clemens (1905–1986)
Our grandfather, Mathew Sylvester Clemens (1874–1947)
Our g-g-grandfather, Mathew Clemens (1836–1920)
Our g-g-g-grandfather, Peter Clemens (1808–1871)
Four generations of our maternal side at about the same ages, upper and lower panel:
Catherine Frances Clemens (1948–living)
Our mother, Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield (1915–1968)
Our grandmother, Nellie Belle Chamberlin (1873–1956)
Our great-grandmother, Emily S. Hoy (1850–1940)
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Author:
Through Any Given Door (a family memoir posted here on my website)
Tales about sin and prayer, good intentions and unattended sorrows, and about finding my way back home.
Passages from Behind These Doors: A Family Memoir
20 chapters from the full family memoir, published in paperback and audio.
Queen Bee: Reflections on Life and Other Rude Awakenings
A compilation of short pieces I’ve composed over the years
Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau
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