Esther (Beatty) Clarke
1919
– 2004
It is with a heavy heart that I report
the death of Esther (Beatty) Clarke my very dear cousin. Esther was born in
1919 in Glendive, Montana. She is pictured here with her husband (of almost
64 years) Bill Clarke. She was a daughter of Amos and Kathryn (Schuld)
Beatty.
Amos ran away from home when he was
but 15 years old because of the harsh treatment he received from his
step-mother. He first went to Illinois then to Wisconsin, finally
homesteading on a farm in Glendive, MT. It was here that he married Kathryn.
He never talked much about his home life so his children only knew that he
came from French Lick, IN.
I was on my
last job in 1985 for Fleur Corp. on a project for Union Oil Co. inLemont,IL.
I was the night superintendent on the project.
All my life I
wondered what happened to Amos Beatty. I could not pick him up anywhere. One
night when I came home from work Billie had waited up for me to tell me the
good news. Esther and her brother, Floyd, called her from the Holliday Inn
explaining who they were and they had come to see me, all the way from
Seattle, WA. Billie explained to them that I was working so they invited
her out for dinner. Arraignments were made for all of us to have lunch out
at the country club the next day.
When Billie told me about it I was so
excited I could hardly get to sleep.The next day at lunch I told them what I
could about where their Dad came from but there wasn’t time to go into much
detail. It was then that I came up with a great idea. I told them if they
would come to French Lick the following May I would round up as many of
their family members as possible and we would have a reunion. They readily
agreed. They said they would come and stay for a week. I had been wanting to
start a Beatty reunion but I was afraid to, in case no one would came. I
thought this would be a perfect way to get one started and it was. We had 62
people at that first one and we held one each year for 15 years until I was
no longer able to get up there.Billie and I went down and stayed a week with
them and we both had an absolute ball! Every day we went someplace. I showed
them the log cabin that their great grandfather had built in 1848 and where
he raised all 12 of his children. I took them to all the cemeteries that
contained Beatty
family members, and I also showed them
the grave of their great grandmother who lived to be 103 years old. We
capped off the week with dinner and a night out at the big hotel.
Esther and Bill spent two nights at
our house later on and Billie and I just fell in love with those people.
Billie didn’t have much family and she always said the Beatty’s were her
family. One thing for sure, they have met one another again up in Heaven and
I look forward to the day when I can join them.
Paoli News – June 27th 1950
Funeral services for Joe E. Ellis, of
Indianapolis but formerly of this community will be held Saturday morning.
June 24th, at ten o’clock at the Farley Funeral Home, 1604 W.
Fourth Street, Indianapolis. Following which the body will be brought to
Paoli for burial in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. His death occurred early
Wednesday morning, June 21st, at his home following a long
illness. He was born and reared near Cuzco, later going to Paoli where he
owned and operated a store until about 1920 when he moved to his farm south
of Orleans on Road 37. After selling the farm he moved to Indianapolis in
1946 where he had since resided. Surviving are the widow, Grace Alexander
Ellis, one son John Ellis, Indianapolis; four daughters, Mrs. Gordon Sutton,
Wilmette, IL, Mrs. Bradford Ellsworth, Great Neck, N.Y., Mrs Chester Satkamp
and Mrs. E. A. Chatham. He was a son of Jim and Mary (Beatty) Ellis.