Gaspar Christopher Clemens
M 1849 - 1906| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Gaspar Christopher Clemens |
| Born | 1849-04-23 Xenia, Green County, Ohio |
| Gender | M |
| Died | 1906-10-07 1241 Clay St., Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas |
| Buried | Topeka Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas |
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Father | William E. Clemens b. (1807, Augusta County, Virginia) d. (1877-11-10, Xenia, Green County, Ohio) |
| Mother | Eliza Jennie Barnes b. (1810-05-11, Xenia, Green County, Ohio) d. (1889-04-10, Xenia, Green County, Ohio) |
| Married | 1827-12-07, Green County, Ohio |
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Family | Virgil Grace Mortur b. (Ohio) |
| Married | 1868-00-00, Ohio |
| Children | 1 Grace Virgil Clemens b. (1871-02, Missouri) d. (1965) 2 Ada Clemens b. (c. 1873) |
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Family | Carrie E. Kirkpatrick b. (c. 1857) |
| Married | 1876-04-01, Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas |
| Children | |
| Photo |
Gaspar Christopher Clemens and Carrie E. Kirkpatrick Marriage License Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas 1876-02-01 Map |
| Type | Value |
|---|---|
| Family | Stella Mary Carberry b. (1858) d. (1918-09-15, Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas) |
| Married | 1881-00-00 |
| Children |
Photos
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Gaspar Christopher Clemens |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Headstone Topeka Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas Map |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Gaspar Christopher Clemens |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Gaspar Christopher Clemens |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Passport Application for Gaspar Christopher Clemens Dated 25 June 1877 Washington County, OH 1877-06-25 Map |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Gaspar Christopher Clemens Obituary Pg. 1 of 2 Topeka, KS 1906-10-08 Map |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Gaspar Christopher Clemens Obituary Pg 2 of 2 1906-10-08 |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens Portrait picture |
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Gaspar Christopher Clemens |
Portrait photograph
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| Gaspar Christopher Clemens
In parlor
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| Gaspar Christopher Clemens
Law picture
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| Gaspar Christopher Clemens
Portrait photo at a young age
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| Gaspar Christopher Clemens
Back of Picture: Papa in parlor of home Topeka KS
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| An Appeal to True Populists - Page 1 of 5
Written by GC Clemens circa 1896
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| An Appeal to True Populists - Page 2 of 5
Written by GC Clemens circa 1896
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| An Appeal to True Populists - Page 3 of 5
Written by GC Clemens circa 1896
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| An Appeal to True Populists - Page 4 of 5
Written by GC Clemens circa 1896
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| An Appeal to True Populists - Page 5 of 5
Written by GC Clemens circa 1896
Note GC Clemens home address, 1241 Clay Street, Topeka, KS, at the bottom of the page. This is the same address that was written in on the backside of the first picture above and the place of death shown on his obituary.
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas
Map
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| Gaspar Christopher Clemens
News clippings showing GC Clemens as a cousin of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
This relationship has not been proven anywhere. It appears to be rumor due to the name only.
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Notes
1850 census shows Gaspar C. Clemens age 1 residence of Xenia, Green Co. Ohio
McCracken History Notes October 1906 G. C. Clemens, a cousin of Mark Twain, died at his home in Topeka. He once ran on the Socialist ticket for governor of Kansas.
From Topeka State Journal Monday, October 8, 1806 (Partial)
Shawnee County KSArchives - Topeka Cemetery (Partial) - Surnames CHU through COL Sec 83 Photo Yes Clemens G. C. b. 1849 d.1906 . H/O Mary Clemens Sec 70 Photo Yes Clemens Mary b.1858 d.1918 HIS WIFE W/O G.C.Clemens
GASPER CHRISTOPHER CLEMENS, who occupies a leading position as a member of the Topeka bar, is a notable example of the self-made man. He was born April 23, 1849, at Xenia, Ohio, and is a son of William E. and Eliza J. (Barnes) Clemens.
The father of Mr. Clemens was born in Virginia, and the mother in Kentucky, the latter being a daughter of Henry Barnes, who was a lieutenant of dragoons in the War of 1812. William E. Clemens was a pioneer in Ohio, where he was first a farmer and latterly a merchant. Both he and wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Family misfortunes brought about conditions which threw life's responsibilities upon our subject when he was a lad of 13 years. With only a rudimentary education, but with a far-reaching purpose to attain success, the child took up his burden, working at first as a laborer in a brick-yard during the day-time and spending his evenings in study. He thus mastered the English common branches, unaided and alone and, still ambitious, secured for himself an enviable classical education.
In 1866 he began teaching a country school and in the following year took up the study of the law, providing for his necessities by continued teaching, and on January 5, 1869, he was admitted to practice by the Superior Court of Ohio. He practiced in his native city for a period of 14 months, but March, 1870, found him established at Topeka. Here he at once entered upon a successful and lucrative practice which he has maintained and increased up to the present time. That all of his energies have not been devoted to the practice of his profession was demonstrated by the issuance of a valuable work published in 1877, which is entitled "Corporate Securities," the only work on that subject extant. It has been most favorably received by the best law authorities of the country and has met with a heavy sale. It was favorably reviewed by law publications, meeting hearty commendation from the American Law Review and the Chicago Legal News, the standard journals of law.
Mr. Clemens has not sought political favor, his tastes being literary and professional. The deep scholarship which he possesses he has secured by his ownefforts, but in addition to this he combines the practical qualtities [sic] and the professional ability which have brought him ample success and a large measure of public esteem.
Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEN
The following is from the 1880 census at LDS. Is this the same person? Birth place of mother and father is correct. The date of birth does not match the information from the report from Kansas on Gaspar Clemens but I think there is other information that shows he was born in 1841 instead of 1849. More research is necessary Jasper CLEMENS Household Male
Other Information:
Birth Year <1841>
Birthplace OH
Age 39
Occupation Plasterer
Marital Status S <Single>
Race W <White>
Head of Household Jasper CLEMENS
Relation Self
Father's Birthplace VA
Mother's Birthplace KY
Note NOT HD; 1ST OF BDR'S
Source Information:
Census Place St. Joseph, Buchanan, Missouri
Family History Library Film 1254674
NA Film Number T9-0674
Page Number 68A
Xenia Ohio 1830 census shows Gaspe? Clemmons. Is this the same family with a change to the spelling. The 1840 census shows a G. Clemmons.
Dr. Gene Clanton sent Roger Horstman a copy of the book he published, “A Common Humanity - Kansas Populism and Battle for Justice and Equality 1854-1903” which has many references to Gaspar C. Clemens. Inscription: “For Roger, To honor one of my favorite Kansas Populists, G.C. Clemens! Gene Clanton 03/25/2008”
Actually little information was handed down concerning Clemens’s family or his early years. His parents were Eliza J (Barnes) Clemens, a native of Kentucky, and William E. Clemens, a native of Virginia. It was on April 23, 1849 in Xenia, Ohio that the couple celebrated the birth of their son. The elder Clemens, a “pioneer” of Ohio, farmed for a period and then became a merchant. According to one account, some “misadventures” plagued his business career. Apparently because of this, the Clemens boy, at the age of 13, was “thrown on his own resources.” In any case, Clemens was denied a college education. But exceptional abilities, expanding horizons, and great determination, all of which Clemens obviously had, made for a combination difficult to deny. Various jobs came his way. He labored in a brickyard, learned the trade of cigarmaker, and taught school. Along the way he prepared himself for a career in law, and in 1869, at 20 years of age, the supreme court of Ohio admitted him to the state’s bar after he had, according to one account, “passed a very brilliant and remarkable examination.”
In line with the great degree of diversity that Clemens’s personality was able to accommodate, he was also an enthusiastic member of the Elks. In December, 1904, he delivered a memorial address for a departed lodge member. He focused his listener’s attention on the question of immortality. Admitting that science and reason seemingly refuted the possibility of an afterlife, he contended that man must not doubt immortality simply because he did not understand it. “Let us get back to Nature, and trust once more our spiritual sense, which God gave us that we might know what reason nor sense can not teach – that death is not the end of life, but only a change.” [116] Philosophically, at least, Clemens was prepared for his own death, which came less than two years later, on October 7, 1906. Not only did his wife and daughter mourn the loss of their “Dearie Clemens,” [117] but the community of Kansas reformers and the bench and bar of the state expressed profound and sincere sorrow.
Overmyer to Brodhead, January 19, 1970; see, also, Clemen’s notebooks, K. S. H. S., archives division.
As a young man Clemens had written that he intended to live the kind of life that would merit him the following epitaph: “Here is one who was as free as the eagle above the mountains, who never feared the face of man, and never feigned what he did not feel from either fear or hope.” [118] If ever a man earned that epitaph G. C. Clemens did. But Clemens would probably have settled for the tribute his legal colleagues supplied in their memorial: “He fulfilled the maxim of Rufus Choate as to the fate of lawyers ‘who lived well, worked hard, and died poor.’” [119]
A contemporary of Mark Twain’s who did share the same family name and likeness was Gaspar C. Clemens – more commonly called “G. C. Clemens,” a prominent Kansas lawyer known as one of the ablest constitutional lawyers in the west. For a short time he was also editor for the publication Whim-Wham. He was known as “Topeka’s Mark Twain.” G. C. Clemens was prominent in state politics during the era of populism, and was Governor Lewelling’s legal adviser during the 1893 legislature. He was later candidate for governor on the socialist ticket. Research into Gaspar C. Clemens’s background by Michael J. Brodhead and O. Gene Clanton was published in G. C. Clemens: The “Sociable Socialist” Kansas Historical Quarterly in Winter 1974. While Gaspar C. Clemens enjoyed capitalizing on his resemblance to Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and endorsing products in advertisements as “Mark Twain’s cousin,” a family tie was never proven.
U.S. Western and Prairie States - Census Index (1880) State: Kansas County: Shawnee Township: Topeka Relationship to Head: Something other than a direct relationship Age: 35 Gender: Male Race: White Marital Status: Divorced Occupation: Lawyer Birthplace: Ohio Birth Year: <1845> Mother Birthplace: OH Father Birthplace: OH Roll: T9_397 Page: 78A ED: 4
The 1912 Topeka KA city directory shows Stella Clemens (wid Jasper) 1241 Clay. If this was the widow of Gaspar it would help explain the divorced status. Was he married to someone after Virgil Grace? I have a picture of GC Clemens with a newspaper obit for him on the back and also written on the back it has the address of 1241 Clay
Did Gaspar get divorced from Virgil Grace and remaired? The following census is based on a boarding house or hotel with many other borders. Who is Ada? Daughter? and who is Stella Clemens? Mother of Ada?
1880 census shows G. C. CLEMENS Other D Male W 35 OH Lawyer OH OH Ada CLEMENS Other S Female W 7 KS OH OH
COMMERCIAL CLUB 1905 MEMBERSHIP - FROM THE HISTORY OF TOPEKA 1905 A great factor in promoting the business growth and material interests of the city is the organization known as the Commercial Club of Topeka, of which Charles K. Holliday is president, T. F. Garver, vice-president, L. M. Penwell, treasurer, and Thomas J. Anderson, secretary. The membership roll of the Commercial Club for 1905 includes the following firms and individuals : One of many entries - Clemens, G. C, Lawyer.
FROM THE HISTORY OF TOPEKA PUBLISHED 1905
STATE OFFICERS. In looking over the list of State officers, the surprising fact is encountered that no citizen of Topeka, or of Shawnee County, has had the honor of being elected to the office of Governor. Three of the Governors, Samuel J. Crawford, Thomas A. Osborn and George T. Anthony, became residents of the city after the close of their terms. Only two Topeka men have filled the office of Lieutenant Governor: James A. Troutman, 1895-97, and A. M. Harvey, 1897-99. Jacob Safford is the only Topeka man ever elected to the Supreme bench (associate justice), 1865-71. George W. Clark was a judge of the Court of Appeals, 1895-97. B. F. Simpson was a Supreme Court commissioner, 1887-93. Gasper C. Clemens was Supreme Court reporter, 1897-99. Topeka has had three of the clerks of the Supreme Court: Andrew Stark, 1861-67; E. B. Fowler, 1868-70; and John Martin, 1897-99.
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher @yahoo.com November 20, 2006, 10:57 pm
Author: James L. King (1905)
GASPER CHRISTOPHER CLEMENS.
GASPER CHRISTOPHER CLEMENS, who occupies a leading position as a member of the Topeka bar, is a notable example of the self-made man. He was born April 23, 1849, at Xenia, Ohio, and is a son of William E. and Eliza J. (Barnes) Clemens.
The father of Mr. Clemens was born in Virginia, and the mother in Kentucky, the latter being a daughter of Henry Barnes, who was a lieutenant of dragoons in the War of 1812. William E. Barnes was a pioneer in Ohio, where he was first a farmer and latterly a merchant. Both he and wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Family misfortunes brought about conditions which threw life's responsibilities upon our subject when he was a lad of 13 years. With only a rudimentary education, but with a far-reaching purpose to attain success, the child took up his burden, working at first as a laborer in a brick-yard during the day-time and spending his evenings in study. He thus mastered the English common branches, unaided and alone and, still ambitious, secured for himself an enviable classical education.
In 1866 he began teaching a country school and in the following year took up the study of the law, providing for his necessities by continued teaching, and on January 5, 1869, he was admitted to practice by the Superior Court of Ohio. He practiced in his native city for a period of 14 months, but March, 1870, found him established at Topeka. Here he at once entered upon a successful and lucrative practice which he has maintained and increased up to the present time. That all of his energies have not been devoted to the practice of his profession was demonstrated by the issuance of a valuable work published in 1877, which is entitled "Corporate Securities," the only work on that subject extant. It has been most favorably received by the best law authorities of the country and has met with a heavy sale. It was favorably reviewed by law publications, meeting hearty commendation from the American Law Review and the Chicago Legal News, the standard journals of law.
Mr. Clemens has not sought political favor, his tastes being literary and professional. The deep scholarship which he possesses he has secured by his own efforts, but in addition to this he combines the practical qualtities [sic] and the professional ability which have brought him ample success and a large measure of public esteem.
Additional Comments: Extracted from:
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
EDITED AND COMPILED BY JAMES L. KING TOPEKA, KANSAS
“History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples”
PUBLISHED BY RICHMOND & ARNOLD, GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1905.
File at: http://files.usgwarchives.org/ks/shawnee/bios/clemens200gbs.txt
This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/
File size: 3.3 Kb
1601 SE 10th Ave # 1 Topeka, KS 66607 (785) 233-4132 Lowell Manis and Crystal
Dear Mr. Horstman:
Thank you for your e-mail message. We would like photographs of Gaspar Christopher Clemens. Can you send us at least 300 dpi, Tiff files? You can e-mail the images or save them to a CD or DVD. Will you allow me to put the images in our photograph collection and put them on Kansasmemory.org?
I checked with our museum and they have an oil portrait of Gaspar Clemens. It was donated by the estate of Mrs. George (probably Mrs. G. Clemens) Clemens. Unfortunately, we do not have a slide or scan of the portrait.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Nancy Sherbert
Nancy Sherbert Curator of Photographs and Special Collections Acquisitions Library/Archives Kansas State Historical Society 6425 SW 6th Topeka, KS 66615
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