In September 1953, my aunt, Gladys Whalen Stoddard (1893-1973), wrote about her paternal grandfather, Thomas Whalen. Gladys was my father’s sister and the eldest child of Thomas’s only son, Charles C. Whalen and his wife Leta Mary Clarke Whalen. A photocopy of Gladys’s four-page document is included at the end…
Category: Clarke
Leta Clarke Whalen’s 150th Birthday
Today, January 19, 2024, marks the 150th birthday of my paternal grandmother, Leta Mary Clarke Whalen. Grandma Whalen was born on January 19, 1874, in the town of Hounsfield, New York, to George Roswell and Mary Elizabeth “Libbie” Maxson Clarke. Her father’s farm was located on a no-longer existing road…
Leta Mary Clarke Whalen’s Cake Recipe
Today, January 19, 2023, would be my Grandmother Whalen’s 149th birthday. Grandma was 91 years old when she died in 1965, so she was able to celebrate a lot of birthdays! This photo is from one she celebrated in 1955 or ’56. Grandma had what today we would call a…
Some Ancestors’ Portraits
Many in our family have copies of the following four portraits. This is thanks to our dear brother, Charles Howard Whalen. Charlie made copies of these and other photos and made sure our dad and siblings each had a framed set. Charlie was devoted to family history, and we are…
Leta Mary Clarke Whalen
Today is our grandmother’s birthday! Leta Mary Clarke Whalen, daughter of Elizabeth Maxon and George R. Clarke, was born 147 years ago today on January 19, 1874 on Maxon Road, Town of Hounsfield, Jefferson County, New York. Grandma Whalen lived 91 years, passing away on October 29, 1965 in Watertown,…
Happy 106th Birthday Kendall Charles Whalen
Happy Birthday Dad! We love you always!
Clean Up Days
Genealogy can be a messy subject! I’ve spent the past 2 days sorting through boxes and notebooks containing family group sheets, handwritten notes, interview write-ups, newspaper clippings, photos, how-to articles, maps, and all the other stacks of ephemera connected with doing genealogy the way we did it before computers came…
A Clarke-Whalen Wedding Anniversary
Happy anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Whalen! We’ve had many Gm and Gp Whalen’s of course, but this particular anniversary message regards Leta Mary Clarke and Charles Clarke Whalen, married 136 years ago today. Grandma Whalen mentioned her anniversary in her 1937 diary listing. “Tuesday, March 16, 1937 Married 45 yrs…