1.014 Sketches of Clemens Family

My Father’s Family (Carl John Clemens):
Pa (Mathew Sylvester Clemens), my Dad’s father, was a year old when his family moved from Mazeppa to the new house in Rochester in 1875. He grew up in this house, and when he married, his children were all born and raised here. It was their root, where they developed and grew physically, mentally, and spiritually (the babies all baptized in the same white dress made by their Aunt Lena Nigon).

In the spring of 1898, Mathew Sylvester Clemens, Jr., (the youngest of ten in his family) and Barbara Nigon (the oldest of thirteen in hers and whose family farm lay just a mile away) were married in St. John’s Catholic Church in Rochester. Blessed with ten living children, they raised their crops and their kids for the next forty-some years on this farm.

Born in 1905, Carl Clemens, my father, was the middle child of eleven, born between 1898 and 1914 (a set of twins were stillborn, a sister died at four months), all in the same two-story stone farmhouse. You weren’t considered a good Catholic unless you had a child at least every other year. Four generations of Clemens were raised within those four stone walls, surrounded by cows, company, and Catholicism.

***************************

Sketches, pictures, and clippings of the Clemens children:

00. (Stillborn twins, female and male)
1898–1898

1. Mary Ann Clemens
1st of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Oct 29, 1899, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: May 7, 1994 (age 94); Wabasha, Wabasha Co., Minnesota
Buried: May 10, 1944, Saint Felix Cemetery in Wabasha, Wabasha Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Ran farm w/husband, housekeeper for priests of St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Married: Sep 9, 1924, Francis Peter “Frank” Wallerich, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Five children: Joseph Matthew Wallerich, Mary Lou Wallerich, Robert Michael Wallerich, Francis Carl Wallerich, Norbert John Wallerich

Mary, the oldest child, was the first to wed. At the time, all the eligible neighboring farm boys were already spoken for, so at twenty-two, she didn’t know anyone to marry. Her mother had been in Wabasha and found out about a nice fellow there who needed a wife. Frank was a fourth cousin of the Nigons on Grandma’s father’s side of the family. They too lived off the land, selling their cream and the pigs they raised. She grew medicinal herbs in her garden, was up early morning to milk the cows, then back in the kitchen to make breakfast, continuing the cycle of a Minnesota farm wife.

2. Elizabeth Barbara Clemens
2nd of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Oct 15, 1900, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Dec 21, 1996 (age 96), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; from pneumonia after a hip break
Buried: Dec 24, 1996, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Education: Attended Mankato Commercial College in Mankato, Blue Earth Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Medical Secretary at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and at St. John’s Hospital in Lynwood, California
Never married, no children

Elizabeth’s first love was Joe Adamson, Paul’s oldest brother, and he broke her heart. She never gave it away again, and it was her one great regret that she never married. When she was a young woman, she moved to town and roomed with her best friend, Betty Rose, where they walked to their jobs at the Mayo Clinic. She still came home on weekends, with Betty joining her and becoming part of the family. For more than 20 years she worked at the Clinic for Dr. Harrington, a fellow in surgery and later internationally known, as his secretary and surgical stenographer. She talked about him all the time, what a great doctor he was, what a good family man, how much she respected and admired him. When the good doctor retired, Elizabeth retired too, getting a decent pension of $37 a month. Years later she and Betty Rose moved to Southern California together, working for the hospital in Lynwood. But Betty Rose fell in love and married and moved away. It devastated Elizabeth, as she lost her best friend. Years later, when her husband died and Betty Rose herself became ill, they reunited, and Elizabeth cared for her until Betty Rose’s death.

3. Amelia Rose “Mele” Clemens
3rd of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Jan 17, 1902, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Jul 7, 1972 (age 70), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; stroke
Buried: Jul 11, 1972, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Employed by John E. McGovern Insurance Company
Married: Nov 22, 1927, Patrick Henry “Pat” Conway, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Nine children: Patrick Henry Conway, Daniel M. Conway, Gerald William Conway, John J. Conway, Bernard Michael Conway, David Laurence Conway, Marilyn Ann Conway, Terence James Conway, Elaine Margaret Conway

Amelia married Patrick Conway at St. John’s Catholic Church. They raised their nine children on their farm not too far from the Clemens’ farm, Amelia barking orders, attempting to keep order; if you were a kid, you stayed out of her way. The Clemens, Conway, and Hauser cousins grew up together, getting into all kinds of trouble, just as the generation before them had.

Newspaper wedding announcement:
The bride was gowned in white satin with trimmings of white silk lace and wore white kid slippers. Her veil was of white tulle held in place by a wreath of intertwined orange blossoms and pearls. The bride’s attendant, Cecelia, wore a dress of powder blue crepe with a matching hat. The bride carried a bouquet of pompom chrysanthemums and swansonia, and the bridesmaid a bouquet of butterfly roses. John Conway, the brother of the groom, acted as best man. After the ceremony a three-course wedding breakfast was served to sixty guests at the home of the bride’s parents. After a wedding trip, Mr. And Mrs. Conway will reside on a farm eight miles west of the city. The bride is a graduate of St. John’s High school and has been employed in the John E. McGovern insurance office. The groom has been engaged in farming west of the city.

4. Dorothy Clemens
4th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Feb 16, 1903, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Jun 18, 1903 (age 4 months), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Buried: Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota

Upon excavating Joe Clemens’ grave (child #13) in preparation for his burial, there were fragments of two additional caskets, just pieces of wood. The family surmised that these could be Dorothy and perhaps Joe and Betty’s infant son, William Joseph Clemens, who died in 1947. Nearly all the family is buried in the Clemens family plot in Calvary Cemetery in Rochester.

5. Aloysius Michael “Louie” Clemens
5th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: May 5, 1904, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: May 5, 1929 (age 25), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; auto accident
Buried: May 7, 1929, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Auto mechanic at Buick garage
Never married, no children

The Clemens brothers were altar boys at St. John’s. As a child, Louie had a terrible stutter. He would squint and not be able to get the words out, except when reciting his prayers in church or while saying the rosary. He died in a car accident on his twenty-fifth birthday. While the Clemens and Conways were gathered at the farmhouse for his party, he’d gone into town for the forgotten candles. The newspaper clipping read as follows:

YOUNG MAN, 25, KILLED HERE ON HIS BIRTHDAY
Aloysius Clemens, 25 years old, of St. Paul, son of Mr. & Mrs. Clemens of Cascade Township, was fatally injured shortly before noon yesterday, his birthday. The coupe he was driving collided with a car, struck the guy wire of an electric light post, hit a tree, seemed to jump in the air fifteen feet, then turned turtle and landed upside down at the north end of the street. His brother, Lawrence, who was with him at the time of the original impact, was uninjured save for slight lacerations of the legs.

Dr. H.E. Robertson of the Mayo Clinic gave more information regarding the post mortem examination following Aloysius Clemens’ death. The chief injuries were about the face and head, he said. There was a deep gash in the left cheek left of the nose and below the eye. On touching the bones of the face and skull it could be seen that there was not a single bone not fractured. On moving the scalp, the bones of the cranium were found to be fractured in a half a dozen fragments. The brain was lacerated, and there was a large amount of hemorrhage. There were practically no injures save those about the head. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict that Clemens’ death was caused by an automobile accident. The blame was not fixed.

Clemens is survived by his parents and a number of brothers and sisters. Arrangements for the funeral had not been made yet this morning. The young man had come down from St. Paul Saturday night for the purpose of celebrating his twenty-fifth birthday at his home a mile west of the city. All was in readiness for the birthday dinner when it was found that candles were lacking for the cake, and the brothers, Aloysius and Lawrence, volunteered to drive to Rochester to get them. Following the accomplishment of this mission, they were hurrying back to the birthday party when the crash appeared.

6. Carl John Clemens (my father)
6th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Sep 25, 1905, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Sep 16, 1986 (age 80), Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., California; prostate cancer
Buried: Sep 1968, Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., California
Occupations: Farmer, construction laborer, iceman, store owner, managed Sprouse Reitz stores
Married (1): Feb 4, 1933, Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield, Colusa, California
Divorced
Five children: Gordon Lawrence Clemens, Carleen Barbara Clemens, Elizabeth Ann Clemens, Claudia Clemens, Catherine Frances Clemens
Married (2): 1957, Irene Venita (Tregear) Whitehed
Married (3): Sep 25, 1961, Marie Lenore (Macdonald) McCartney, San Francisco, California

Everyone had their place at the table and everyone had good table manners. As she was left-handed, Cecelia sat on the end next to Carl. She was his pet. He called her “Chub” and he got all her desserts. “Now Chub, if you don’t want your ice cream, I’ll eat it.” She thought he was pretty grand. When Carl left home, she stepped into his shoes with the chores and the milking.

The kids had nicknames. Lawrence was Mans, Agnes was Tops, Louie was Bunny, and Carl was Pinkie, maybe because he held it skyward when he drank his tea. Carl was strong and healthy. He recollects being sick only a couple of times when he was small, and remembers them as the only time his mother comforted him and where he felt like she loved him. He was happy, the most happy-go-lucky child of the family. He could also be a little rascal, getting in trouble at school for jumping from desk to desk, making all the kids laugh; he thought he was kind of cute. Carl enjoyed life. He made you feel good, he never picked on the other kids, and he never complained… well, except about farming.

7. Cecelia Helen (Sister Ann) Clemens
7th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Jan 25, 1908, on the family farm outside of Rochester in Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Nov 1, 2003 (age 95), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; acute leukemia
Buried: Nov 5, 2003, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; acute leukemia
Vocation: Sisterhood in 1929; Catholic Nun, Sisters of St. Francis
Education: BSE in Elementary Education; Bachelor of Arts in History in 1959 at College of Teresa in Winona
Occupation: Educator (teacher, educator, principal, religious superior); Assisi Heights bursar/professional financial administrator, and seamstress

Graduating from St. John’s in 1927, Cecelia entered the novitiate, wanting to join the convent, but she honored her mother’s request to wait a year. “Will you stay home until Agnes gets out of school?” Standing side-by-side in the kitchen washing dishes with Amelia and discussing what Saint’s name would be assigned to her, Amelia worriedly asked, “What if you get Sister Kundegunda?” Both were relieved when Sister Ann was the name chosen for her, and another girl was stuck with Sister Kundegunda. Cecelia fared well in her new surroundings, although she found the food unusual when she left home, not like home-cooked farm fare. “The first time I had canned peas, I was so amazed that every pea was the same size.”

Sister Ann joined the Sisters of St. Francis in Rochester in 1928, and began her teaching ministry at St. Pricilla Parish in Chicago. She served as teacher, religious superior, and principal at schools in Austin, Winona, Chatfield, Sleepy Eye, Owatonna, Waseca (all in Minnesota), and Portsmouth, Ohio. She also served as Postulant Mistress and assistant novice mistress from 1946 to 1949. In 1971 she became a member of the Assisi Heights congregation, serving as bursar for 10 years, assisting in the infirmary, working as sewing room coordinator, and continuing in the sewing department until her retirement in 2002. She celebrated 75 years as a Franciscan Sister in 2003. My aunt died of acute leukemia, diagnosed only two weeks before her death.

8. Agnes Catherine Clemens
8th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Jun 27, 1909, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: May 21, 2005 (age 95), Seal Beach, Orange Co., California; old age, suffered from dementia
Buried: May 25, 2005, Good Shepherd Cemetery in Huntington Beach, Orange Co., California
Education: Secretarial school
Occupation: St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester (food dept); worked at Torrence High School in California
Married: Aug 18, 1932, William Francis “Bill” Hauser, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Three children: Richard Francis Hauser, Barbara Ann Hauser, William John Hauser

Agnes graduated from secretarial school, then worked in the food department at St. Mary’s Hospital. She married Bill Hauser, who also worked there as an outside maintenance man. He had five acres of lawn to mow in the summer and four miles of streets and parking lots to keep clear in the winter; he worked there for 32 years. They lived in Rochester for the first year of their marriage, then moved back to the farm in 1933 to take care of Grandma who was getting on in years. Grandma died in 1937. They raised their three children on the farm and lived there until Grandpa died in 1948, then built a house on an acre up along the woods that they were given from the estate. They lived there until moving to California sometime in the 1960s.

9. Anna Frances Clemens
9th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Jan 9, 1911, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Jun 14, 1995 (age 84), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; heart attack
Buried: Jun 17, 1955, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Hospital purchasing department, advertising company accountant
Married: Jun 17, 1933, Francis Sylvester “Frank” Walsh, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Three children: James Lawrence “Jim” Walsh (twin), Joseph Matthew “Joe” Walsh (twin), Leonard Francis “Len” Walsh

Anna, the youngest Clemens girl, went to Normal School (secretarial school) and worked at the Mayo Clinic. She was the last girl at home and the last to wed. She married Frank Walsh, a truck driver, an auto salesman, and a grain elevator man, which was as close as he came to farming. After their boys were born, she and Frank moved to Iowa. Anna, Frank, and all three of their sons died of heart attacks, not a common cause of death in the family. Anna was pleasant, kind, and always had a smile. She and her sister Agnes were best friends.

10. Lawrence Matthew Clemens
10th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Jul 28, 1912, Cascade Township, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Sep 1, 1978 (age 66), Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota; heart attack
Buried: Sep 5, 1978, Grandview Memorial Gardens in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Married: Jul 15, 1942, Pearl Louise Herrick, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Four children: Ruth Ann Clemens, Darlene Mary Clemens, Thomas Lawrence Clemens, Richard Matthew Clemens

At age 30, Lawrence, who worked hard at farming, married Pearl, who worked in the laundry at St. Mary’s. On Saturday nights they danced into each other’s hearts at the Pla Mor Ballroom in Rochester. After Ma died, they lived on the family farm for many years. Along with Agnes, Bill and their three kids, and Joe, the youngest Clemens, they too took care of Grandpa and ran the place. Lawrence had a big John Deere to haul hay and one day made the mistake of putting Agnes’ son in the driver’s seat. Dick, who was 12, could barely reach the clutch nor quite strong enough to operate it, drove it across the field and into the barn. Lawrence caught hell from his sister for putting her son in that dangerous position.

Obituary: Lawrence Clemens, City Resident, Dies
Lawrence M. Clemens, 66, of Rock Creek Estates, a retired employee of Rochester Fertilizer Plant, died Friday of cancer at Rochester Methodist Hospital. He had been ill six months. He was born July 28, 1912, in Rochester, and married Pearl Louise Herrick on July 15, 1942. He lived in Rochester his entire life. Surviving are his wife; two daughters, two sons, five grandchildren, five sisters, Mrs. Mary Wallerich of Lake City, Elizabeth Clemens of Florida, Mrs. Anna Walsh of Rochester, Sister M. Ann Clemens of Assisi Heights, and Mrs. William (Agnes) Hauser of California; two brothers, Carl of California and Joe of Rochester. One brother and one sister preceded him in death. The funeral is 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Pius X Catholic Church with the Rt. Rev. Msgr. J. Richard Feiten officiating. Burial will be in Grandview Memorial Gardens. Friends may call at Macken Funeral Home after 2 p.m. Monday. Rosary will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.

11. Joseph William “Joe” Clemens
11th of 11 children of Mathew Sylvester “Matt” Clemens & Barbara Nigon
Born: Oct 1, 1914, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Died: Aug 7, 2010 (age 95), Chatfield, Fillmore Co., Minnesota; polycythemia vera (bone marrow cell mutation cancer), old age
Buried: Aug 11, 2010, Calvary Cemetery in Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Occupation: Farmer
Married (1): Apr 20, 1942, Elizabeth Ann “Betty” McGeary, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota
Ten children: Joan Elizabeth Clemens, Martha Jean Clemens, William Joseph Clemens, Michael James Clemens, James Matthew Clemens, David Joseph Clemens, Charles Paul Clemens, Neil Robert Clemens, Katherine Barbara Clemens
Married (2): Dec 7, 1991, Rita (Pyffereon) Rhoten, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota

Joe lost his eyesight in his right eye as a kid, a spark catching him from standing too near a welder. At 76 years old, in 1989, he had surgery that corrected it, and for the first time, a tree did not look like a solid mass to him. All those years, they thought he had cataracts. You never knew if Joe was happy or sad, as he was so intent on trying to see through his coke-bottle glasses.

For a time, Joe and Lawrence rented the farm from Grandpa, then they had their own farms in 1943; Joe had a lease with his father to buy the farm for $100 an acre. In 1942, at the age of 27, Joe married Betty McGeary, a woman of his stature who would give you the shirt off her back. Betty wore Joe’s clothes, his boots, and his old overcoat, even to church; she wasn’t interested in how she, or her house, looked. With ten kids, her hands were full, except when smoking a cigarette. Years later, at her funeral, Jerry Conway commented he had never seen his aunt not smiling. Betty’s sister told him why. “As a young woman, Betty worked in the laundry at St. Mary’s, one of the worst jobs a woman could have, and she wasn’t happy there. As she was going up the elevator, the doors opened, and in walked Eleanor Roosevelt. When she got out, Mrs. Roosevelt turned to her, looked her right in the eye, and said. ‘Girlie, stand up straight and smile, and the world will go better.’ She paid attention to the woman who knew what she was talking about, and lived her life that way thereafter.”

Nine years after Betty’s death from cancer in 1981, Joe married Rita, a childhood friend.

The passing of Matt and Barbara Clemens ~ In November of 1937, at the age of 64, Grandma passed away. While visiting her daughter, Mary, she had a stroke in the middle of the night and died within two hours. Ten years later, in March of 1947, at 73, about the age when most farmers wore out, Grandpa passed. He’d been suffering for some time and died after having surgery for lip and throat cancer from smoking cigars and pipes his whole life.

Nov 8, 1937: Death of Barbara (Nigon) Clemens (age 64), 1st of 13 children of Nicholas Nigon & Barbara Leinen, wife of Mathew Sylvester Clemens, and the mother of Lawrence Matthew Clemens, in Pepin Township, Wabasha Co., Minnesota; of a stroke

Nov 8, 1937: Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota (pg 5):

Mar 31, 1947: Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Olmsted Co., Minnesota (pg 6):

As they thought that Grandpa had left no will, his estate wasn’t settled easily or harmoniously. Quite a fight ensued as to what was going to happen to the farm. Hands were raised against one another, along with screaming, hollering, and cussing one another out. Elizabeth slapped Amelia, or was it Amelia who slapped Elizabeth? Elizabeth was involved in taking care of Grandpa’s finances, and the sisters were in great disagreement; it didn’t matter that it was Sunday. Bill Hauser spoke up as he and his father-in-law were good friends. Shaking his head, he said Grandpa and Grandma would not want to witness this. When he announced he and Agnes didn’t want anything, things settled down. Carl, who’d come from California to help settle the estate, suggested to his brothers and sisters that Bill and Agnes get an acre of land for taking care of Grandpa and Grandma, for which they were forever grateful. When the disbursement issues were worked out, the farm took on a different landscape. Joe, along with Amelia and Pat Conway, purchased a portion of the land, Elizabeth owned an acre, Agnes and Bill Hauser had their gifted acre, the golf club purchased four, and Mr. Vincent Lilly purchased five acres and all the buildings. The kids received equal proceeds from the sale.

Mr. Lilly was a cattle buyer, living on the farm from 1947 until his death in the 1980s. His estate was not settled for some time, and like all empty buildings not kept up and cared for, it fell into ruin. The whole section was overgrown with trees, weeds, and bushes, and the house was constantly vandalized. Kids broke in and had a bonfire in the kitchen. When the Lilly estate was settled in the 1990s, the Stuart Corporation purchased the land from Mr. Lilly’s estate for $6,490,000, leveled the buildings, and built a three-story, 108-unit apartment complex. A fire station was built on one section; on the other, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

to be continued …

© 2017. Catherine Sevenau.
All rights reserved.

1. Francis Peter “Frank” Wallerich 1890–1953
2. Margaret Nigon (cousin) 1892–1992
   (was caring for Don & Betty Kleist)
3. Annie Schabo? 1869–1962
4. Joseph William “Joe” Clemens 1914–2010
5. William Francis “Bill” Hauser 1913–1996
6. Amelia Rose (Clemens) Conway 1902–1972
7. Betty Rose 1906–1994
   (lifelong friend of Elizabeth Barbara Clemens)
8. Joseph Matthew “Joe” Wallerich 1926–2018
   (son of Mary & Frank Wallerich)
9. Robert Michael “Bob” Wallerich 1930–2022
   (son of Mary & Frank Wallerich)
10. Mary Ann (Clemens) Wallerich 1899–1994
    (married to Frank Wallerich)
11. Sister Ann Clemens 1908-2003
12. Donald F. Kleist 1928-2007
    (cousin, son of Elizabeth “Jane” Nigon & Clarence Kleist)
13. Mathew “Matt” Clemens 1874–1947
    (father of the clan)
14. Agnes Catherine (Clemens) Hauser 1909–2005
    (married to Bill Hauser)
15. Elizabeth Barbara Clemens 1900–1996
16. Norbert John Wallerich 1930–living
    (son of May & Frank Wallerich)
17. Barbara Ann Hauser 1939–1986
    (daughter of Agnes & Bill Hauser)
18. Elizabeth Margaret “Betty” Kleist 1930–1962
    (cousin, daughter of Elizabeth “Jane” Nigon & Clarence Kleist)
19. Francis Carl Wallerich 1934–2017
    (son of May & Frank Wallerich)
20. Richard Francis “Dick” Hauser 1932–2024
    (son of Agnes & Bill Hauser)

***************************

It takes a village to raise these dead, gathering and breathing life into them again as far back as we can. We greet those who came before us, restoring their place in line, as they are the sum of who we are, for without them, we would not exist. Thank you to my Uncle Joe Clemens for sharing our family stories for these first four posts of our history, and to my cousins Dick Hauser and Terry Conway for correcting the details.

© 2017. Catherine Sevenau.
All rights reserved.
updated 2023