Fourth Generation

64. Mary "Mud" CLAY was born on 5 January 1893 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.^{20,26,148,149} She appeared in the census in 1900 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.²⁶ She appeared in the census in 1910 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.³⁰ Mud graduated in 1912 in Tomah, Tomah Township, Monroe County, WI.^150,151 from Tomah High School. Her nickname was "Mud." She appeared in the census in 1920 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.²⁰ She appeared in the census in 1930 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.⁴⁶ She was the head of household for her two sons and was listed as "Divorced." She lived next door to her sister Anne and her husband Sam Griggs. Mud appeared in the census in 1940 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.⁶⁷ Her household was on "State Highway 12" and her occupation was "Operator, Farm." She died on 27 February 1967 at the age of 74 in Tomah, Tomah Township, Monroe County, WI.^{87,148,149,152} Her cause of death was listed as "total heart failure and uremia." She was buried in La Grange Township, Monroe County, WI.^{35,68,149,152} in the LaGrange Township Cemetery.

Mary "Mud" CLAY and Emile Peter "Emil" VANDERVORT were married on 11 June 1915 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.^{20,152,153,154,155} "We know absolutely nothing concrete about the marriage of Mary Clay and Emil Peter Vandervort except a few dates and what their divorce papers tell us. The rest is the stuff of family legend and local gossip. Emil is represented in the Clay family account books as a hired man in the year just before Mr. Clay died. Mary was, by all accounts, three months pregnant when her father died. Her elder son Lawrence was born on June 4, 1915, and Mary and Emil were married at the Clay home on June 11, 1915, with Ellen Elizabeth Clay and Francelia Bennett Clay as witnesses.

One could interpret these facts in a number of ways: Emil recognized his responsibility and was brought to fulfill it; Emil, although not responsible for the pregnancy, felt sorry for Mary and came to the rescue; Emil, having worked at the Clay farm, knew that Mary's father had made a settlement with John and Frank before he died, and that his will left the balance of his estate to his wife and three daughters--that is to say, Emil married a farm.

We will never know. Lawrence burned all their correspondence after Mary's death. What we do know is this: John and Frank Clay contested their father's will, a legal proceeding that dragged out until 1922. The United States entered World War One in 1917, and Emil enlisted. He spent the next two years as a wagoneer on a casualty detail in France and the Meuse-Argonne, that is to say, picking up disembodied bits of soldiers and carting them back to field hospitals.

He was mustered out at Ft. Dodge, Iowa in 1919. By mid-1920, he had filed for divorce, citing his wife's infidelity. A jury refused to grant the divorce, so he left the family and moved to Black River Falls. After two years, Mary was able to claim desertion and was granted a divorce and about $200 in settlement. Emil was not present at the proceedings. Lawrence never saw him again."
They^{20,152,153,154,155} were divorced before 1924.⁴⁶ Emile Peter "Emil" VANDERVORT, son of Martin Luther VANDERVORT and Phebe Jeanette HUNT, was born on 14 January 1894 in Grant Township, Monroe County, WI.^20,152,154 (In the 1920 Census, his name is spelled "Amiel.") He appeared in the census in 1900 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.²⁶ He appeared in the census in 1910 in Grant Township, Monroe County, WI.¹⁵⁶ Emil appeared in the census in 1920 in Lincoln Township, Monroe County, WI.²⁰ He appeared in the census in 1930 in Black River Falls, Jackson County, WI.¹⁵⁷ He died on 10 December 1931 at the age of 37 in Black River Falls, Jackson County, WI.^75,152,154 Emil was buried in Black River Falls, Jackson County, WI.¹⁵⁸ in the Riverside Cemetery.

Mary "Mud" CLAY and Emile Peter "Emil" VANDERVORT had the following children: