ST. CLAIR IN CANADA, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, NEBRASKA, NEW YORK, GEORGIA, AND
THE VIRGINIAS
I have in front of me at this very moment my grandfather and grandmother's
original marriage certificate. It's odd that the minister, W. S. Hung, wrote
in my grandfather's initials backwards as F. W. St. Clair. Nor did he insert
my grandmother's full name, Sarah Maude Van Alstine. She is merely listed as
Maude Van Alstine (she's either 23 or 24 yrs. old at the time of the
marriage). The certificate is witnessed by Mrs. Nettie V. Paxton (my
grandmother's sister) and a Mr. Frank M. Van Alstine (I have no idea who he
is but guess he is my grandfather's brother). The place of marriage is
Columbus, Nebraska. The date is the 27th of May, 1891.
Maude Van Alstine was born in Belleville, Canada. Her father was Thomas
Butler Van Alstine; her mother, Maria Melvin. I also have their original
marriage certificate. It contains the following: On the 10th day of March in
1853 Thomas B. Van Alstine of the Township of Sidney in the county of
Hastings and Ann Maria Melvin of the township of Thurton (? barely legible)
in the county of Hastings were married by M. Fawult (?), a minister of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada in the presence of T(F)ilotson Bell and
William M. Lee.
More on the Rev.: He taught Greek and Sanskrit in New York at Columbia
University and in Columbia, Georgia. He had two honorary chairs in Greek and
Sanskrit at one or both of the Universities. He married a Tingley whose
family owned a store in Virginia or W. Virginia. They had two children:
Wilbur Fisk (my grandfather) and Stella. His plantation was located in either
W. Virginai or Virginia. The diary I mentioned in earlier postings was sold
around 1912. Reverend P. St. Clair and his wife lived in Exeter, Missouri
(where Wilbur later divorced my grandmother, Maude Van Alstine in 1912, the
same year he sold many, many possessions.)
Wilbur Fisk St. Clair (my grandfather and the Rev.'s son; I repeat this info
because it gets confusing sometimes) owned and edited the "Adams Review"
newspaper in Adams, Minnesota. He had a string of papers in Iowa and
Missouri. He also owned oil wells in the Texas panhandle but sold them for
taxes. The following is a true story: A woman fell through the floor of an
outhouse and Wilbur wrote the headline, Woman Interred Alive. All relations
with the woman's family were severed because of it.
I hope this is enough to light some flames of recognition out there. I am
particularly interested in Wilbur Fisk St. Clair. As I have mentioned before
he disappeared in 1912.
Johnnye St. Clair-Gerhardt
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