Subject: Claude Elmer Smothers Posted by: Judy Smith Message: Claude Elmer Smothers (A.K.A. Elmer Claude Smothers) Born in Clayton County, Iowa Circa November 1897, to James A. Smothers and Elizabeth Josephine Swisher (Daughter of Benjamin Lafayette Swisher, and Sarah Jane Day). Besides his half brother William John Smothers, and half sister Mary E. Smothers, Claude had five other siblings. James Smothers, Jr., Mary A. Smothers, George A. Smothers, Sarah Smothers, and Oliver Bertsel Smothers. According to Grant Smothers (son of William John Smothers), Claude was left handed. He also told me that Claude was an old time fiddle player, and a "Darn good one at that." I had also been told that he always had a "fancy" horse drawn buggy. At the age of twenty-three he married Bertha Westpfahl (daughter of John Westpfahl and Dora Held), on the 8 day of September 1904. Bertha was then 18 years of age. They were married in Windsor Township, Fayette County, Iowa. In the 1905 census for Fayette County Claude and Bertha were living in Hawkeye, Iowa. On the 1st day of June 1906, a son, Sidney Earl Smothers was born. Bertha died when Sidney was just an infant/toddler (date has not yet been discovered), and Claude took his young son to live with his half brother William and his family. I was told by Grant Smothers that Claude came one rainy night in the Fall (in a horse drawn buggy), and took "Earl" (as Grant called him), never to be seen again (at least by Grant). On the 12th day of March 1908, in Fayette County, Waucoma, Iowa, Elmer Claude Smothers married my grandmother, Myrtle Ella Monroe (daughter of Norman Monroe and Minnie Appleby Parker). To this union a son (my father) Cecil Bert Smothers was born, 7th day of January 1909. Elmer left Myrtle and their son when Cecil was just an infant (for reasons unknown), never to be heard from once again. Several years later Myrtle divorced Elmer (24th day of April 1913), and in the divorce decree she was granted back her maiden name of Monroe. Young Cecil was also granted the last name of Monroe. She then married a man named Paul Haus, and somewhere down the road Cecil assumed the last name of Haus (thus becoming Cecil Bert Haus). Meanwhile, according to personal letters and post cards, it seems young Sidney had been taken to live with Claude's brother James and his wife Maggie. Claude corresponded with them asking Maggie to find a someone to adopt "the boy." On the 6th day of January 1912, he was adopted by A. Prudhome and his wife Margaret, in Marinette County, State of Wisconsin. The letter Claude wrote to Maggie was postmarked February 8, 1911 from St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Mailed to Mrs. Maggie Smothers, Mt Hope, Wisconsin. In the letter Claude stated that he was going to Chicago to become a policeman. During my interview with Grant Smothers (8-5-1986) he told me that he had heard "Elmer" had quit drinking and went to Minneapolis, Minnesota to become a policeman. Also during this interview he stated that he thought Elmer died in 1943. However he did not know for certain. Where did he go? Is there another family after his marriage/divorce from Myrtle? When, where, and how did he die? Hopefully someday we will find the key to unlock this mystery. Submitted by Judy Smith (Nee Haus) (Information obtained from court documents, letters/postcards sent to family members, and interview with Grant Smothers.