Amos Townsend Claycomb

Amos Townsend Claycomb is my paternal grandfather.  My Monday posts have been taken up for the last year (on AlwaysBackroads.wordpress.com) with transcriptions of his diaries, starting in 1900 when he was 13.  The diaries will continue on this blog for another year or two!  Today I want to share a little more about him

He was born January 29, 1886 in Monmouth, Warren county, Illinois to Anna Sarah Townsend and Frank Erwin Claycomb.  He was the second child and first son for them.

Amos Townsend Claycomb June 1886 age 6 months

His mother died in 1892 shortly after the birth of her 5th child, Edward Denman Claycomb.  Amos was six years old.  The children were raised by their father with the help of nearby relatives and housekeepers.

Eleanor, Louise, and Amos Claycomb, about 1888.

Amos graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana in 1909.

Amos Claycomb 1909

His father purchased land for him in Wildorado, Texas near Amarillo.  He moved there on his own to farm it in 1909.

He met Ruth Bressler in Texas when she was visiting her sister, Maude Bressler Harker.

The house he built on the Wildorado land about 1910.

In Texas he had a Victrola record player which he took to friends’ homes when he visited – he was a very popular guest.  He loved to listen to Enrico Caruso.

Ruth Bressler, about 1910-11

He married Ruth Bressler June 15, 1912 in Wayne, Nebraska, her hometown.  They lived in Marengo, Illinois where their first son, John, was born in 1913.  Their second son, Frank (my father), was born in Sycamore, Illinois, probably at Amos’ father’s home.

Working on the Wayne, Nebraska farm with the team of Flory and Nellie, 1930

The family moved to Ruth’s hometown, Wayne, Nebraska in 1916 to a farm that her father, John Tannehill Bressler, had bought for the children.  Amos did not own this land.  George, Barbara, and Richard were born in Wayne.

The family in Wayne 1948.
L-R: Amos Claycomb; Frank (son) with Tom (grandson) in front; Harriet Duncan Claycomb with Donna (granddaughter) in front; Ruth Bressler Claycomb (wife); seated: Barbara Claycomb Davis (daughter), Roy Davis, George Claycomb (son), Richard Claycomb (son), Jeanie (granddaughter), John (son).

He visited us in southern California several times.  He liked to fish off the Oceanside Pier and loved to go to movies.

Visiting friends in Oceanside, California, 1951

He died December 29, 1958 in Wayne, Nebraska.  He was 72 years old.

1957