Clarence Vosburg

Biography

Timeline

1. January 28, 1884

   Olive Wooster marries Clarence Vosburg

   The passage gives Olive's age as 17 and Clarence's as 20.

   History of the Guild Family

2. immediately after their January 28, 1884 marriage

   The Vosburgs travel to a North Dakota farm

   Migrated on horseback; Clarence grew grain crops and corn.

   History of the Guild Family

3. December, 1887

   Birth of Florence

   Described as Olive's first birth, at age 19.

   History of the Guild Family

4. 1898

   The Vosburg family returns to Minnesota

   The passage says they returned after 15 years in North Dakota and rented near the farm of Dan and Bernal Guild.

   History of the Guild Family

5. summer of 1899

   Clarence Vosburg's fatal field-clearing accident

   A wedge pole broke while Clarence was tipping a huge field rock onto a horse-drawn stoneboat; the falling boulder killed him instantly. Myrtle Mae Vosburg Prescott's account, relayed by Orville, rejects rock-slide, dynamite, and lightning reports. The passage says Olive was then 30, after fifteen years of marriage, with children aged 4, 6, 11, 12, and 14.

   History of the Guild Family

6. 1917

   Bessie's diphtheria quarantine

   The sheriff quarantined Ira, Olive, and Dan at the farm when Bessie contracted diphtheria. Ira nursed her; Floyd and Clarence ran away to avoid quarantine.

   History of the Guild Family

7. Perhaps about 1918

   Dan Guild family receives a bachelor's estate

   Township elders selected the family as the poorest in the township, qualifying them to inherit 160 wooded acres, an operating sawmill, and outbuildings.

   History of the Guild Family

8. 1925

   Dan leaves for the shop and returns to Olive

   Dan moved in with Clarence and published notice that because Olive had left his bed he was no longer responsible for her debts. Olive walked to town, ordered him home, and said he was forgiven. He returned; they never divorced.

   History of the Guild Family

9. When Clarence was fourteen; nine months of recuperation

   Clarence's truck accident and recovery

   A truck tire ran over his lower abdomen while the family was taking pigs to market. He survived after recuperating in a stone shed behind the house without medical care.

   Barbara's Chapter

10. The next trip after Chicago

    A visit to Clarence’s farm

    Dad took the family to his brother Clarence’s farm. The narrator remembers tractor rides, fresh milk, feather beds, and relatives.

    Dee's Chapter

11. the years just before Daddy got sick and passed away

    Visits from Uncle Clarence and Francis

    They visited a few times with their five unnamed children, whom Carol came to know well.

    Carol's Chapter

12. date not given

    Clarence Vosburg's death

    Mentioned as a family-history subject that Orville Prescott helped clarify.

    Iris's Chapter

13. date not given

    The decision to sell the black walnut trees

    Grandpa Dan Guild decided to cut down and sell the black walnut trees for lumber. Daddy and Clarence became dissatisfied living at home afterward.

    Iris's Chapter

14. date not given

    Clarence dies after sharing family recollections

    Clarence recounted facts about Dan and Olive Guild to his son Arnold before he died.

    Iris's Chapter

15. Before Olive sought help in the 1898 snowstorm; Olive was 30 when widowed

    Accidental death of Clarence Vosburg

    His tragic accidental death left Olive unable to farm or pay rent, with eviction imminent and food running out.

    History of the Guild Family

16. During childhood

    Floyd and Clarence’s schooling

    The family thinks both attended through about sixth or seventh grade.

    History of the Guild Family

17. After the inheritance, perhaps about 1918

    The family makes a home in the granary

    With no residence on the land, they sealed the windowless granary's open slat-work for winter and camped inside.

    History of the Guild Family

18. Soon after the dairy venture around 1918

    Foreclosure costs Dan the inherited farm

    The bank foreclosed after one missed regular payment. Dan refused to sell birch trees for pulp to repay the loan. The passage says he lost everything for want of $200, but subsequently says he retained the sawmill.

    History of the Guild Family

19. During the foreclosure dispute

    Floyd and Clarence leave home

    The brothers left after Dan rejected their plan to cut trees to save the property and told them to go if they did not like his decision.

    History of the Guild Family

20. date not given

    The mysterious driveway inscription

    The passage attributes 'The Devil is buried here' to Floyd and Clarence, but says neither admitted why or even whether they wrote it.

    History of the Guild Family

21. After Dan lost the property

    Clarence joins Bessie's household

    Clarence traveled to live with his sister and her husband.

    History of the Guild Family

Stories mentioning Clarence

• Clarence's Long Recovery in the Stone ShedDad's favorite full brother Clarence was helping take pigs to market when he jumped out of the truck on a hill, ran alongside it, and fell beneath a tire. After his lower abdomen was run over, the family took him home rather than to a doctor or hospital. He survived nine months of recuperation in a small stone shed without medical care.
• Midwest Seasons, Family Outings, and the First School BusDee recalls gardens, suntanning, summer treats, drive-in movies, and Fourth of July fireworks. Family trips took her to Chicago’s Museum of Art and Science and The Loop, then to Clarence’s farm in Worthington, Minnesota. Halloween brought homemade treats and Bernie’s prizewinning window paintings; winter brought sledding, snow figures, and Bernie and Bob’s newspaper-worthy igloo. Her earliest school memories are of crying before the kindergarten bus and refusing warm milk at Roosevelt school, where Mrs. Johnson played piano.
• Summer Visitors and Backyard MemoriesCarol remembers meeting Floyd's three sisters from Brainerd and his warning that they might think the family rich and stay forever. Uncle Clarence, Francis, and their five children visited before Floyd's illness and death. Other memories include wartime hand-rolled cigarettes and smoke rings, later chewing tobacco, hunting trips with Bernie and Bobby, and playing house in Floyd's former backyard workshop after he moved into the new garage.
• Minnesota Visits, Grandma's Sandwiches, and Northern LightsBernard recalls visiting Dan Guild's Minnesota grave, where aunt Myrtle seriously suggested digging him up. He remembers attending Dan's funeral at eleven in 1947, Grandma Olive's kindness over a fried egg sandwich, and visits with his father's relatives around Brainerd. His memories include attic sleeping, fresh warm milk at Uncle Clarence's farm, glowing swamp gas, brilliant Northern Lights in 1947, fishing, and mosquito bites.
• Dad's Beginnings and Family ResemblancesThe family recounts Floyd Raymond Guild's farm birth, parents, inherited appearance, and full and half-siblings. They remember the infant death of Harold Herman and state that eight of Olive's ten children lived well into old age. The passage contains conflicting ages and dates for Olive and calls the Vosburg children both half-siblings and stepsiblings.
• Olive and Clarence's Farm Years and a Sudden LossAfter marrying in St. Mathias, Olive and Clarence Vosburg traveled on horseback to a North Dakota farm, raised five children, and returned to Minnesota in 1898. In summer 1899, Clarence was crushed by a boulder while clearing a field. Myrtle's account, relayed by Orville, attributes the accident to a broken wedge pole and rejects other reported causes. Olive was left with five children.
• Gus Falk's Friendship and a Fresh Start in MolineGus Falk met Daddy, Uncle Clarence, and the other sons through stops at Grandpa Dan Guild's radiator repair shop in Brainerd during his annual Minnesota hunting and fishing trips. He offered to help them find jobs at John Deere in Moline. Upset by Grandpa's decision to cut down and sell the black walnut trees, Daddy left for Moline at sixteen. Gus secured him a job at John Deere Plow Works, where he worked for thirty-nine years. Iris also recalls Daddy driving a truck for a WPA road-building company during some early Great Depression years. He jokingly claimed his inexperienced crew built a particularly bumpy road section on the way to Chicago, but the family never believed him.
• Gathering the Family's Memories, Facts, and First-Class MythsBernie introduces accounts of Floyd, Ethel, and Edward Williams compiled after family members had already written their memories. Earlier impressions were deliberately left unchanged. Bernie credits relatives' recollections, photographs, grave-site work, genealogical tracing, and oral-history interviews, including Diana's margarita-assisted conversations with Mom. Although initially described as true stories based on the most reliable information available, the accounts are also explicitly called anecdotal, possibly allegorical, and unprovable.
• A Snowstorm, an Open Door, and a Growing FamilyDrawing partly on Floyd’s accounts, the family recounts Dan and Bernal’s rented farm and Olive’s desperate appeal after Clarence Vosburg’s accidental death. Dan offered shelter in exchange for cooking and housekeeping, initially unaware of her two oldest daughters. Olive and Dan married in 1899 and had five children, two of whom died young. The account also recalls Carrie’s devout household and Bernal’s departure after Newton’s death to sell sewing machines, including his meeting with Belle Woodley.
• Hard Work, Strong Tempers, and Lasting Family TiesThe family describes poverty, shared winter coats, uncertain meals, Dan’s mechanical ingenuity and repair shop, and the heavy household work borne by Olive and her daughters. Severe arthritis and unproved suspicions of infidelity colored Olive’s marriage and behavior. Recollections differ sharply: some emphasize harsh discipline and complaints, while grandchildren recall kindness and others see a devoted couple with stubborn tempers. Dan’s brief 1925 departure ended in his return, and they never divorced. The narrative also remembers affectionate sibling bonds, Floyd’s signature practice, and Olive’s willingness to shelter daughters between marriages. Sweeping judgments about the Vosburg and Guild children are presented as family opinions rather than independently established facts.
• An Unexpected Inheritance and a Granary HomeAn elderly bachelor left his wooded 160-acre property and operating sawmill to the poorest family in St. Mathias Township. The township elders chose the Dan Guild family. Floyd and Clarence saw a hopeful future, while Olive feared Dan would ruin their good fortune. Dan, Olive, Floyd, and Clarence made the windowless granary livable by sealing its open slat-work. Bessie had already left home to marry Ira Ringering, recently returned from World War I, and Pearl had died of diphtheria at 16 a year earlier.
• The Trees Stayed, but the Sons LeftDan mortgaged the inherited land for $800 to buy eight dairy cows, but the herd failed to turn a profit. After a missed payment the bank foreclosed. Floyd and Clarence wanted to sell birch trees for pulp to pay the mortgage, but Dan refused to cut them. His sons left home, and the account says Dan lost the farm, land, trees, and cows for want of $200.
• From the Old Farm to a New Start in MolineFamily memories follow Dan and Olive on the Falk property, the mysterious driveway inscription, Myrtle's minnow sales, and Bessie's diphtheria quarantine and marriage. After Dan lost the property, Clarence moved to Bessie's home and Floyd stayed with Uncle Bernie, learning horse care and practical jokes. Gus Falk helped Floyd move to Moline and find work in 1921. Relatives admired his success, and visits and reunions continued through his parents' later years. The passage preserves contradictory dates in Olive's calendar account and the boys' refusal to admit writing the inscription.

In the family geneagram

Recorded in the geneagram kept with the book. Where the corrected pages and the master run differ, both readings are shown and the corrected one is the reading the archive follows.

Referenced in

• Barbara's Chapter — CAPTAIN MERLIN RINGERING
• Dee's Chapter — SICK DAYS
• Carol's Chapter — LASTING MEMORIES
• Bernie's Chapter — MOSQUITOES BITES
• Iris's Chapter — GUS FALK
• Iris's Chapter — DEAR JEFF,
• History of the Guild Family
• History of the Guild Family — DAN AND OLIVE
• History of the Guild Family — THE SAW MILL
• History of the Guild Family — THE SAW MILL