Picking Up On An Important Clue for Clarence Hayes in Detroit

Frederick H. and Minnie M. (nee Hayes) Woodard gravestone

Sometimes, little things mean an awful lot in the family history game. It is often difficult to know if what is staring you in the face is a clue or a distraction. You have to keep triangulating your data to find the right patterns. This can take years of searching. It can also require that important information surface at just the right time. Finally, it requires patience and perseverance. If you are only content to get things right the first time, you will miss out. You have to be willing to visit and revisit the data and the data sources. They change through time.

Some years ago, I found a Clarence Hayes in Detroit. He was divorced and living with his cousin. His occupation was home decorator. Now, this could have been our Clarence. He was not with Otis Arthur who had married Verona Irene Bulman in September 1929. Otis was living with his mother-in-law, Lena, in Flint, Michigan in the 1930 Census. [Tracking down Frederick Albert Bulman, Lena's husband, at this point is another story.] Lucy is back with her father and brother in Wexford during this census. Her obituary says that this return to Buckley occurred in 1927 and she is referred to as being widowed.

I heard many stories about Clarence while growing up. Some less savory than others. I got the impression that he had gone off the rails in a big way. But, you can never know whether the story is helpful until you've heard all sides. I know that Percy, Verona's older brother, was great friends with Otis. In 1930, they built a mono-winged plane in Flint. Verona told me that Percy introduced Otis to her when they were both teenagers. And, there is evidence from the 1920 Census that Clarence and Lucy were in Flint with Clarence Cecil and Otis Arthur. There is also evidence from the street directories that they were there before that census.

According to the evidence, Clarence is a street car conductor. But, something else was happening. Verona said that Otis disappeared from the Bulman circle for some time. I am not sure if he actually left Flint or if his father's behavior caused him problems. But, there seems to have been a fairly lengthy gap in Verona and Otis' relationship. Perhaps he had accompanied Lucy back to Buckley. Verona was more than pleased when Otis came back into their lives. I have often wondered whether there might be a subtext around second families and so forth; but, this might just be a fertile imagination.

I have always thought of Clarence as a failed farmer who because a street car conductor (nothing wrong with that!). But, recently, street directory information has become available that lists Clarence M. Hayes (Lucy) as a painter in Flint during much of the 1920s. In fact, Lucy and Clarence are listed together until the end of the decade. So, their effective split and Clarence's non-support and desertion may stem from this period.

It is the clue about painting that opened up a new set of possibilities to be explored. If Clarence was a house painter, then, listing himself in a Detroit enumeration district in 1930 as a home decorator is a perfectly reasonable way of managing your image. This is especially true, if you have separated from your family and find yourself living with your cousin.

That leads me to the next little bump. For years, I thought the cousin was the person listed as the head of the household, Frederick H. Woodard. I spent a little bit of time trying to find Woodards listed Hayeses and found nothing.

Then, recently, I thought I would seek out the marriage documents for Frederick and Minnie M. hoping that this might indicate that the relationship had been through Frederick's mother. It was an 'uffda' moment when I discovered that a Minnie M. Hayes had married Frederick according to "Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925, image 438 of 606". Her father was Hiram and her mother was ... E. Soper.

Hiram was either a brother of John or a cousin. Or, was he? How would I be able to make a connection between the families? That is the difficulty.