Lenawee County history: Family ‘lifelong bachelor' who was not

Dan Cherry
·3 min read
Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.
Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.

Growing up, I heard of a cousin who died a few years I was born, a man with a name that reminded me of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.

Sweyn MacDonald Clemons was born Nov. 27, 1888, in Toledo, the son of Charles Eliza Clemons and Francis MacDonald Clemons. He was named for his uncle, Sweyn Thomas MacDonald. In early September 1968, Sweyn was visiting the Cherry families, his cousins, at Cherry Point, Devils Lake, when he fell ill and was taken to Addison Community Hospital. It was there that Sweyn died Sept. 15, 1968.

Sweyn Clemons
Sweyn Clemons

According to the generation of my family who knew him, the former telegraph operator for Western Union was a "lifelong bachelor." When he died, his obituary in The Daily Telegram listed he only had surviving cousins: my grandfather and his siblings.

I do family research regularly and monitor lineage websites. I was a tad puzzled, and admittedly annoyed, for example, when someone last year posted my great-aunt and great-uncle, who married shortly out of high school, had other subsequent spouses. I knew them both personally and it is well-documented they were never married to other people. That's the problem with some of the genealogy sites. Often, nonrelatives make incorrect connections.

Recently, the same was done for Sweyn. It listed him as having a wife and stepdaughter. So I respectfully asked the contributor to post a primary source backing up the claim the family's "lifelong bachelor" title was incorrect. In genealogy, it's a standard request, and nearly 100% of the time, I get some form of "oops" from the other person.

This time, my challenge was met with a surprise. Before me was placed an official entry from the Lucas County, Ohio, marriage record books. Sweyn MacDonald Clemons married Elizabeth Ginn Love Dreher Oct. 10, 1942. It was his first marriage; she had been widowed the year before and had a 21-year-old daughter, Kathryn Ada Dreher. The signature I recognized as being Sweyn's appears on the marriage notation.

The columnist's cousin, Sweyn Clemons, was always said by family to be a lifelong bachelor. However, research provided by other genealogists proved he was actually married at one time.
The columnist's cousin, Sweyn Clemons, was always said by family to be a lifelong bachelor. However, research provided by other genealogists proved he was actually married at one time.

The scan of the official record book page is sound evidence. Facts don't care about preconceived notions or feelings. Additionally, I was presented with his 1968 burial record. The authorized contacts on that record? Wife, Elizabeth G. Clemons, and cousin, Willis Cherry.

Sweyn, as it turns out, was not a lifelong bachelor; the things you learn. I have read about surprises people found while doing their own genealogy: long-lost cousins or previously unknown siblings, or DNA ancestry tests that reveal their father was, well, not.

What happened to Elizabeth as she pertains to Sweyn is the latest question. How come members of my family who knew Sweyn in the last 20, 30 years of his life had no inkling of an Elizabeth Clemons? Despite her being on Sweyn's 1968 burial notice card, there is no other clear connection. I found another marriage record for her in 1948, showing her to be divorced from Sweyn, listed as her previous husband.

Elizabeth died in April 1970 in Manatee, Florida, using her first husband’s last name. Her daughter, Kathryn, died in November 2004 in Hemet, California. Kathryn's son, Daniel of Indiana, died in 2021, so for now answers to this rabbit hole of how Sweyn’s brief marriage, like other research mysteries, has yet to show bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Dan Cherry: Family ‘lifelong bachelor' who was not