Gladwin Clark

Gladwin (sometimes shown as Gladwyn) was born in abt. 1901 in Michigan (probably in Adrian). He is the son of Leland and Celia Mae Clark. The earliest document I have is the 1910 Census. I will need to get my hands on Gladwin’s birth certificate from the state.

I believe he was a fraternal twin, as the records I have show Gladis who was the same age as Gladwin. They were both 9 years old. The family lived in Hillsdale, Michigan.

In 1920, Gladwin was still living at home. He was not working yet, though his sister Gladis was. The family lived on Orange Street. I do not see the house on google maps. And the weird thing, to me, is there is a tree in the spot between the two houses where the house could have been. The reason it feels weird is that the tree is so large. Possibly it could have been planted not long after they’d lived there. If the tree is 100 years old, it’s small for its age, so it’s possibly, if there had been a house there, the tree wasn’t planted as soon as the house was removed. There is also a possibility that the census taker took down the wrong house number. The other option is 323 Orange Street. But I’m guessing the tree I see in that spot between the houses was planted after the house was gone.

Gladwin and Gaynell Robinson married on March 19, 1921. I like that one of the witnesses was Gladys Clark. In a way this shows to me that she and Gladwin were fraternal twins.

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Gladwyn and Gaynell lived in Lansing, Michigan for several years. The family lived at 2113 S Pennsylvania Ave. I imagine this time in Lansing was during Gladwyn’s apprenticeship for the electrician trade. He worked at Bluelight Electric, Hatzel & Buerel, and Barker-Fowler during his time living in Lansing.

In 1930 Gladwin and Gaynell were living on Seymour Street in Jackson, Michigan.

At the time of the census they had their three oldest children, Enola, Elaine, and Dorothy. Gladwin was an electrician working at an electrical shop. It happened to be the year the census asked households if they had a radio. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gladwin could fix any radio they had.

Gladwin was still an electrician in 1940. In 1942 the city directory said he was working for Kirkhof Electric Company. He could have possibly been working there in 1940. The family lived in Grand Rapids at the time.

I found out that they lived on one of the block I lived on as a child. I wonder if it used to have a nice porch when my family lived there.

Gladwin and Gaynell with their younger children moved to another house in the same side of town. This looks like a smaller house, but would make sense since at least two of their children had already moved out.

Come the 1950’s Gladwin and Gaynell had moved back near Jackson, Michigan, to a town called Michigan Center. They now owned their own home. It was located on the shores of Center Lake.

Gladwin and Gaynell celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on March 19, 1921.

Gladwin died February 18, 1981.