Clara M. Oetzel1,2

Family Chart
ID# 3726, (1890 - 1963)
FatherAdam Oetzel3,4 (15 Jul 1852 - 13 Mar 1903)
MotherCaroline Glabe3,5,6 (8 Nov 1852 - 24 Mar 1927)

Key Events:

Birth: 11 Jun 1890, Illinois7,8,9
Death: 14 Jul 196310,3,11
Burial: Farmdale Cemetery, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., Illinois10
ChartsDescendants of Jakob and Anna Katharina Glebe
AncestryThe Glabe Family

Copyright Notice

Narrative:

     Clara M. Oetzel was born on 11 Jun 1890 in Illinois.7,8,9
     She appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., Illinois, in the household of her parents, Adam Oetzel and Caroline Glabe.4
Clara Oetzel tombstone
courtesy Amelia Crombie, Washington, Illinois

     Her father died on 13 Mar 1903, when Clara was 12 years old.12,7,13 Clara appeared on the 1910 Federal Census of Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., Illinois, in the household of her mother.6 She appeared on the 1920 Federal Census of Washington, Tazewell Co., Illinois, in the household of her mother.14
     Clara completed seven years of elementary school. She never married and lived with her mother until her mother's death in 1927. After that she lived with her eldest sister and her husband for a time.15,16 She appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of Washington, Tazewell Co., Illinois, in the household of Margaret and George Henry Stumpf, her sister and her husband.17
     By 1935 she was committed to the Jacksonville State Hospital.18 Clara appeared on the 1940 Federal Census of Jacksonville, Morgan Co., Illinois, at Jacksonville State Hospital, enumerated 13 Apr 1940.19
     The Jacksonville State Hospital was authorized by the Illinois Legislature in 1848 as the Illinois State Asylum and Hospital for the Insane. Only two other states at the time had state-operated facilities for the mentally ill. The center build was five and a half stories tall, with wings extending outward for male and female patients. The first patient was admitted in 1851. It became the Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane in 1869 when two other facilities were authorized, in Elgin and Anna. In 1910 it was renamed the Jacksonville State Hospital.20
     Clara appeared on the 1950 Federal Census of Peoria, Peoria Co., Illinois, enumerated 15 Apr 1950, listed as a lodger at St. Joseph Home for Aged, at 405 Smith St. She was shown as one of 21 maids there, reporting she had worked 40 hours the prior week. There were also 12 attendants, supporting a population of about 100 inmates.21
     Clara died on 14 Jul 1963 at age 73.10,3,11 She was buried in Farmdale Cemetery, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., Illinois.10

Citations

  1. [S3479] Farmdale Cemetery, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., ILL, online, shows name as Clara M. Oetzel.
  2. [S54] Pound, Glabe Family, shows name as Clara Oetzel.
  3. [S54] Pound, Glabe Family.
  4. [S3496] Adam Oetzel household, 1900 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois.
  5. [S3496] Adam Oetzel household, 1900 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois, shows the girl as daughter of Carolina's husband and that the parents had been married longer than the age of the child.
  6. [S3497] Caroline Oetzel household, 1910 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois.
  7. [S3479] Farmdale Cemetery, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., ILL, online, shows date.
  8. [S54] Pound, Glabe Family, shows date.
  9. [S3496] Adam Oetzel household, 1900 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois, shows month, year, age 9 and state.
  10. [S3479] Farmdale Cemetery, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., ILL, online.
  11. [S1000] "Social Security Death Index," Ancestry.com, record for Clara Oetzel, Soc. Sec. No. 320-28-1121, shows date and last residence as Illinois.
  12. [S54] Pound, Glabe Family, shows date, place, murderer as "a fanatic named Minch," Oetzel was working on his barn, and that Minch was shot while trying to excape.
  13. [S3186] "Diabolism of Minch," Muskegon Daily Chronicle, 14 Mar 1903, dated Peoria, 14 Mar, shows name of murderer and Adam was Minch's brother-in-law.
  14. [S3798] Caroline Oetzel household, 1920 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois.
  15. [S3800] Jacksonville State Hospital, 1940 U.S. Census, Morgan Co., Illinois, shows she completed 7 years of school.
  16. [S54] Pound, Glabe Family, shows she never married.
  17. [S3500] George Stumpf household, 1930 U.S. Census, Tazewell Co., Illinois.
  18. [S3800] Jacksonville State Hospital, 1940 U.S. Census, Morgan Co., Illinois, shows she was living there in 1935.
  19. [S3800] Jacksonville State Hospital, 1940 U.S. Census, Morgan Co., Illinois.
  20. [S1265] Wikipedia, online, "Jacksonville Developmental Center," viewed Sep 2012.
  21. [S13213] St. Joseph Home for Aged, 1950 U.S. Census, Peoria Co., Illinois.