Clemmons Family History

I have updated the Obituary Database. I have put in about 225 obituaries from the Wayne County Press. These updates are from the newspapers from June through today.

I added 218 more obits to the index. I plan on adding 100-200 per week. I am also looking into ways of putting my pictures database online. I am scanning in the pictures that Thelma Landrum had (even though they will be scanned from photocopies). This will allow everyone to search for pictures by a persons name. Have to work out the logistics but will keep everyone informed.

We are less than a month away from the annual Clemmons Family Reunion down in Lebanon, TN.

This is about a month old, but the Wayne County Press printed an article (5/4/06) about Champion Laboratories Moving 100 jobs back to West Salem, IL from Mexico. They would also be closing the plant in Mexico. This is good news for people looking for work down in southern Illinois. For those of you that don’t know, my grandfather, Harry Clemmons, was one of the 4 original founders of Kleen Pak Manfuacturing (which is now Champion Labs).

When the four founding members got together, my grandfather was already doing this as a business. He and his brother, Howard, would go around to filling stations and take their old oil filters, take them back to the shop, clean out the cotten and then repack the filters and resell them. Harry and Howard started this business with only $14 back in 1948/49. In 1956, Harry went in with three others to form a new company. Harry’s 25% contribution was the equipment and existing clientel. They moved the operation to West Salem. A few years later, they aquired Champion Labs.

Here is the short story from the Press:

100 Jobs – Champion Closing Mexico Plant, Moving to Albion
State Senator John O. Jones says there is some good news for southeastern Illinois as Champion Laboratories, Inc. plans to close its facility in Mexico and move those jobs to the Albion location.

Champion Laboratories, Inc. will close its Mexico plant on June 1. The move is expected to create about 100 new jobs at the Albion facility.

“Most of the time we read about how companies are moving jobs and opportunities to foreign countries,” Jones said. “Herre, we have a company that is moving those jobs back to Illinois. We are talking about a substantial number of good-paying jobs coming to southeastern Illinois. After seeing so many companies leave this state, finally we have some good news.”

Champion Laboratories, Inc. is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automotive and heavy duty filters. The company has been in business for more than 50 years. Their filters can be found in heavy-duty trucks construction equiment, mining equiment, and marine and farm machinery.

Carmel (in Indiana) is building a new 146,000 sq ft facility that they see as a “hub”. This facility sits on the Monon Trail which is a long walking/biking path. Inside, it will have a family pool, a vortex pool, computer rooms, three full sized gyms, child care center, pottery for kids, and a genealogy room. It is suppose to be ready next spring. I need to find out who will be in charge of the genealogy section.

Diana over at the Wayne County IL Roots Web site has updated thier Delayed Birth Index’s.

“During the 1940s when the Social Security Administration started. Many court house did not have records so the ‘Delay of Birth Certificate’ began. In order for a person to get one, they had to have a relative sign and document that the person who he/she was and their date of birth. Besides the normal information on a Birth Certificate, sometimes it gives other helpful information for your research.”

I have been working on a project for the past couple of months. The project is to compile an index of obituaries that are published in the Wayne County Press. You can search the obituaries by clicking on the link to the right or you can just click here. At the moment, I have about 1800 obituaries in the database and have several hundred more about ready to go in.

I got the idea to do the index when I visited the Anderson Public Library in Anderson, IN. They have a number of books that are just indexes to obituaries and I found them to be very, very helpful.

I have created a couple of pages for viewing Death Certificates. I got the idea from the Kentucky Vital Records Project and wanted to do something similar for Wayne County and the surrounding areas. Another reason is that it is becoming way to expensive to order these from the court houses. I just ordered a marriage certificate from Wayne County and they are asking for $12 per copy! I am hoping that this database will grow and be a resource for everyone. If anyone has any certificates that they would like to add, please send me a scanned image to: mclemmons@c3-software.com

Currently, there are only a few records. I have more to add once I am sure the bugs are out of it. You can get to it by clicking on the link to the right, or you can click here to get to the data.

I have been updating the web pages for the cemetery listings. I have converted over the format of the page so that it is consistent with the rest of the site. I am also going to be adding more cemetery information and linking of obituaries to the people that are in the cemetery.

I will also be adding a search tool so that you can search by last name for everyone that is in the cemetery listings. That will make it easier to find everyone with the same last name and to see all the cemeteries that they are listed in.

You can get to the listings by clicking on the link to the right called: Wayne County Cemeteries

I’m 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I’m just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
I’m 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we’re on fire
Making our way back from Mars
15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live
I’m 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I’m a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind
I’m 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I’m heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life
15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
15 I’m all right with you
15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live
Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We’re moving on…
I’m 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I’m just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
15 there’s still time for you
22 I feel her too
33 you’re on your way
Every day’s a new day…
15 there’s still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there’s never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live