Frank Clements RR #1 – Our First

By: Karen Zach

As promised, this week you will meet the other of the first two rural mail carriers in Montgomery County (Crawfordsville’s first two). So, this week here’s Frank Clements! His parents, Henry and Mary (Hamilton) were both immigrants. Henry born in Armagh, Ireland and Mary in Liverpool, England. Henry’s parents (John and Rebecca Coulter Clements) came here as well with their six sons and three daughters. Henry was a local contractor and built several of the county’s early roads. His brother, George E. Clements was one of my favorite doctors I have researched!

Frank was born 18 Sept 1878 right here in C’ville, educated here and at age 19 (1 Aug 1897) was assigned as the mail carrier for RR #1 at the same time WP Daggett was appointed to RR #2. Their pay was $400 that year. In their first month, Frank carried 1,773 pieces of mail although in an interview a few years later, he said he carried 1,800 which was reported at the time as Daggett’s total (1,802). Within just a couple of years, Frank and WP were joined by Stan Jones, John Skidmore, James Hamilton, Robert Larsh, Sam Linn, Ollie Watson, Albert Yount and Frank Vancleave for C’ville’s ten routes and adding 15 more for the county towns covering over 700 miles/day and most of the routes were right at 20 miles per day.

On Sept 16, 1898 in the Crawfordsville Weekly Journal our two boys had a warning to all that tampering with rural mail boxes was a penalty of the US Postal laws so don’t “put bills, advertisements and other unauthorized papers” in the boxes!

Don’t think their job was easy, please as it wasn’t particularly so. Daggett RR #2 suffered from heat exhaustion more than once and Frank received a painful accident when he was alighting from his mail wagon, catching his foot in the hitch strap, falling hard on the pavement, breaking his face and two teeth breaking off. (CWJ 2 Feb 1900 p 12). Frank’s route was out in the Shannondale area.

In June 1906, Roxie Blanche Peterman became the bride of Frank with Rev. JJ Fisher pronouncing the ceremony at her mother and stepfather’s (Charles Davis) home on Liberty St. There were about 150 guests at the celebration, Roxie wearing “a charming gown of silk mull trimmed in valenciennes lace and Irish point lace.” (CDJ 11 June 1906 p1). I looked that up and wow, it must have been gorgeous. She carried an arm full of roses entwined in smilax banked with ferns and palms. Dainty refreshments were enjoyed in the dining room and two parlors (one decorated in greens and white, the other pink and white with roses throughout the home). They honeymooned in Chicago and returned to their home at 610 Liberty Street (which is now the northside of Wabash’s baseball field), although they lived many years at 618 E. Wabash.

Frank noted not long after he began carrying the mail that some of his patrons took five daily papers plus monthly magazines and wrote/received many letters. “The rural patrons read much and are well posted on all current news.

Frank’s brother, Charles Ira “Dutch” served during WWI in the YMCA work having been described at 5’10”, brown eyes, straight, medium nose, scar under his pointed chin with black hair and fair complex. Judge Jere West wrote, “I have known Charles Clements all his life and he is well-educated, moral in every way, has no bad habits, his character and reputation above reproach. He can be trusted in every occasion. His family are loyal and patriotic to this country.” It sounded very much like Frank, only he was a couple inches shorter and had blue-eyes. Dutch worked in France and Great Britain. He later was in the grocery business.

Their brother, Harry moved to Lakewood, Ohio where he was a manager in an auto factory. He and wife, Crystal Carter had Evelyn and Frank, named for our Frank. Their brother John Henry “Jack” was a cement contractor here and was the father of Pauline, Ray, Elizabeth Ruth and John William. The oldest brother James (b 10 May 1869 here) married Tessie Grimes and they had at least two sons, James and Fred. He too was a grocer. There was one sister, Jennie who married at an older age to William Clarence Dodds and lived in Greencastle and later in Wright, Greene County. They had one daughter Erma.

Frank and Roxie were active in St. John’s Episcopal Church and were parents of but one daughter, Thelma “Faye” who married Norman McDougall in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They mainly lived in the Chicago area and had one son, Norman A. Roxie was very sick for several years, unable to do much of anything. Frank cared for her every need. However, when he passed at age 88 in December 1966, after decades of working as one of the first two county rural carriers, all of his family had passed and he was cared for in Bowles’ Nursing Home. He, Roxie and his brother Frank are buried together at Oak Hill (thanks to R&S Fine for the FindAGrave photo). Rest in Peace, dear Frank and thanks for trooping forward in introducing the rural mail system in Montgomery County!

– Karen Zach is the editor of Montgomery Memories, our monthly magazine all about Montgomery County. Her column, Around the County, appears each Thursday in The Paper of Montgomery County. You can reach her at [email protected].