Harry Henry Moore & Esther Lillian Clark

My grandparents

Married on August 15, 1912
at the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Their Marriage certificate

Marriage Announcement from the Minneapolis newspaper

For most of his working life my grandfather was employed on the railroad, and as early as 1916 he was working as a fireman on the C M & St P Railroad. Later he went to work for the Northfield Southern & Pacific Railroad. He worked his way up to the position of Conductor which job he held at the time of his early death at age 63. My personal memories of my grandfather are of a very stern and strict man who had very little patience with children. He loved to fish and was quite a gambler.

My grandmother, Esther Lillian Clark, was a very kind and passive mother and grandmother. Everyone adored her. She was the daughter of Frederick Albert Clark and Lizzie Erickson, born April 22, 1887 or 1888 in Richfield, Minnesota in a little house on Minnehaha Creek. The house was located near where 58th and France Avenue South is. and now a part of the city of Edina. Her grandparents, John & Esther Clark, had purchased this property in May of 1887 with intentions of building a house there as well. My grandmother's family, along with her uncle, Luther Clark, and his wife and children lived on this property in two pre-existing homes. Records found in Hennepin County show the property was lost due to foreclosure and sold at a Sheriff's sale in July of 1888. My grandmother talked about this property often, but she claimed, or possibly just assumed, that her father had owned it and always agonized over the fact he sold it. Many times she said "Had he kept it we'd all be rich today".

My grandmother weighed only 3 lbs at birth and her parents kept her in a shoebox on the warmer of the cook stove. She said her mother's wedding band fit on her arm as a bracelet. Because she was so small she claimed an article was published in the newspaper about her birth. However, I haven't found the article after having checked local newspapers. I also found a discrepancy regarding her year of birth. She claimed she was born in 1888, but there was no actual record of her birth filed in Minnesota or Hennepin County. Some of the census records, and her mother's probate record, give her year of birth as 1887. I don't know if she lost track or if the records were wrong.

As an adult my grandmother was only 4' 11" and wore a size 4 shoe. She always walked with a little bounce, moved like lightening and had more energy than most people her age! Her favorite things were Bingo, playing cards and doing jigsaw puzzles. I don't ever remember there not being a puzzle on her card table and some times it was weeks before it was finished. She always wore little house dresses or skirts and blouses, never pants, and a handkerchief was always tucked in her sleeve or under her bra strap to wipe her eyes that watered constantly. She had problems with her tear ducts and some times she looked as though she was crying they watered so badly.

She was loved by all and missed dearly after her death. She died on her birthday, April 22, 1969. Was she 81 or 82 years old? Just two weeks before she passed away she wrote a letter to her son, Bud. She was hoping to get to Calif. to see him, but never made it. See her letter - click here. My grandfather died on August 3, 1956 and both are buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis.