Early Oregon Cousins - Irene (Bond) Clingman

Pine Grove Cemetery, near Halsey, Oregon

Yesterday (20 Apr 2017)  I wrote about Emma Bond and the death of her mother, Hannah (Hayes) Bond. Today my subject is Emma's half-sister, who is also my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

Emma's father, William Bond, who was a widower after his wife died in 1853 on the Oregon Trail, is shown on the census of 1860 with his 3 sons living in Linn County Oregon. Two years later, 11 Sep 1862, William married a widow, Talitha (Belknap) Starr, in neighboring Benton County. Talitha had 8 children from her first marriage. It was after William's only daughter Emma had died that William and Talitha had a daughter, Irene Grace Bond, born 2 Aug 1864. Sadly it was less than a year later, 1 May 1865, when William died.

I was glad to learn that Irene did grow to adulthood. Irene's mother Talitha married a third time to another widower, Washington Waltz, so Irene at age 6 was in that household in 1870 in Benton County Oregon with her mother, step-father, 4 Starr half-siblings and 3 Waltz step-siblings. By 1880 the family has moved to Spokane County, Washington Territory. Irene is listed as 15 and there is 1 Starr half-brother and 1 Waltz step-brother living in the household. Another Waltz step-brother is living next door.

It was in Spokane County 20 Apr 1882, a few months before her 18th birthday that Irene married Horace Clingman, a farmer who was about 10 years older than her. Irene and Horace had no biological children, but they did adopt a baby girl, Lillian Irene Clingman. Lillian was born in July 1899 and was in their household in the 1900 census. The family continued to live in Spokane County and appeared on both the 1910 and 1920 census.

On the 1930 census they had moved to Linn County Oregon. It was there that Horace died in 1936 and was buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery west of Halsey. A newspaper clipping from 1939 told of the Bond Reunion that year and Irene was named as one of those attending from Halsey. Before the 1940 census, Irene moved to Salem, Marion County Oregon. Around 1945 she moved to the Methodist Home there where she died 16 Oct 1955. She was buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery where Horace had been buried.

Although I don't remember meeting her, I do remember hearing the Clingman name when I was living in the Halsey area. If you were reading my blog a few months ago, on 23 Jan 2017, I posted about my father having Lillian Clingman as his 8th grade teacher in 1921-22. At the end of last December, I noted that Irene had submitted 2 recipes to the same WCTU cookbook as my mother and my grandmother. Sometimes relatives pop up where you least expect them.