Clem Bray's Orchestra

Clement Elliott Bray, Jr. was born on 27 Jul 1896 in Brooklyn, New York, to Clement Elliott and Benna Bray. His father was a newspaperman and his mother taught piano.

Based on a 25 February 1914 article in the Cumberland Evening Times, Clement was a classically trained musician, who performed along with his mother at the Second Annual Concert of the G Clef Club:

"The club was assisted by Miss Ernestine Wittig, Mrs. A. K. Rarig, Miss Beatrice Holmes, Mr. Clement E. Bray, Jr., Mrs. Clement E. Bray and a string quintette, composed of Dr. S. Lua Sykes, Mr. Clarence Spitnas, Mr. Russell Paupe, Mr. Lloyd Rawlings and Mr. Robert Colony. The work of this quintette was most excellent and was a most enjoyable part of the program." During Part I of the concert, Clement played two violin solos -- "Inconstancy" written by Chadwick and "The Elephant and Chimpanzee," an arrangement by Lyons.

"Inconstancy" was written in 1910 by George Whitefield Chadwick. It is in the first set of Four Choruses. In that chorus Chadwick set the text "Sigh no More Ladies" from Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing to music he composed.

Fascinating, isn't it? But I digress...

Clement married Della Virginia Jennings, my third cousin once removed on 21 May 1918 in Lynchburgh, Virginia. Her father had killed her mother and them himself in Toledo, Ohio, five years before. At the time of their marriage, Clement was an orchestra leader and his band played at several venues throughout the mid-Atlantic states. By 1920 Clem and Della were living in Easton, Maryland, on 19 Glenmore Avenue, not far from his parents. His occupation was listed as bookkeeper, which surprised me greatly. I have often wondered if Della wanted a less nomadic life, or if work had merely dried up for the time being.

On 23 March 1923, Clem was in Cumberland, Maryland, presenting Cliff Hosken's Orchestra at the Great Easter Festival and Bazaar at the State Armory.

As published in the Cumberland Evening Times

On 11 July 1924, Clem and his orchestra were in Garrett, Maryland, making their second appearance at the Old Trails Inn. They were fresh off B. F. Keith's vaudeville in New York City.

In 1925 Clem and Della were living at 324 South Water in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

On 22 November 1927 Clem was back in Cumberland, Maryland, directing an orchestra that performed at the Police and Fireman's Annual Dance. He was described as a well known orchestra leader.

In 1927 he and Della were living in Fairmont, West Virginia on 609 Jamison and Clem was the leader of the Fairmont Theatre orchestra.

On 22 December 1928, Clem and the Fairmont Theatre orchestra participated in the historic inaugural broadcast of WMMN radio station. According to the Fairmont Times, "Robin Hood of this city sent a wire from far Hot Springs, Arkansas, announcing unequaled receptivity and asking that Clem Bray and his Fairmont Theatre Orchestra play 'Hail West Virginia'."

But perhaps trouble was brewing already in 1929. The city directory listed Clem Bray as still living in Fairmont, West Virginia, but for the first time Della was not listed. And in 1931 Clem was living in Tampa, Florida, with a new wife named Inez R.

A little digging revealed that Inez R was in fact Ruhamer Inez Bosserman. She was the daughter of Walker Greenleaf and Helen (Burruss) Bosserman and was born in Fairmont, West Virginia. At the time she must have met Clem, she was married to Clarence R Kuner.

Article and photograph of Clem Bray
published in the Harrisburgh Telegraph

In 1934 Clem and Ruhamer were living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he managed Club Lido and led their in-house orchestra. In 1935 they were living in Baltimore and in 1940, they were living in Washington, DC, with a daughter named Jo Clare Bray, who I believe but have not yet proved was actually the daughter of Clarence and Ruhamer Kuner.

A photograph that was published in the Harrisburg Telegraph; Ruhamer
is on the far left

In 1930 Clem and Ruhamer received a copyright for "Living in the World of Tomorrow." He also wrote "Ruhamer," which the Harrisburg Telegraph described as "distinctive."

I lost track of Clem in Ruhamer after 1940. And so I have yet another mystery on my hands. But I wonder if this is my Clem:

As published in the Upper Des Moines Algona

If so, he was performing, along with his Jolly Lumber Jacks at Iowa's Wonder Show Place in Cedar Lake, Iowa, on 25 May 1973!

I would so like to find the sheet music for his songs, but as yet have been unable to find them. Any suggestions?

Finding Della...Again (The Power of Offline Records)
Yet More Woe for Della (Your Family Tree, Autumn 2014)
Wordless Wednesday: I'm Published!
Finding Della (The Power of Social Media)
I'm Published
Murder-Suicide in Toledo

Finding Della...Again (The Power of Offline Records)

Earlier this week I blogged about finding my third cousin, once removed, Della Virginia (Jennings) Bray Borgard, after her father killed her mother and then himself in 1913. A reader of Your Family Tree magazine in the United Kingdom found a record of Della's marriage to Clement Elliott Bray, Jr. She contacted me through my public genealogy Facebook page.

Della's marriage record on Ancestry.com. The indexer has
certainly made a hash of Clement's first name

I sent my Jennings research collaborator, Ann, an email with the marriage information. We both started researching Della immediately. I quickly discovered a Della Bray, who died in Hancock County, Ohio, in 1931. From the index I could not definitely determine if it was our Della. That same year Clement and his second wife, Ruhamer Bray, were living in Tampa, Flordia, and, in 1940 Clement and Ruhamer Bray were living in Washington, DC. Clement worked as a composer. A 16-year-old daughter named Jo Clare was living with them. So the death date made sense as Clement could have remarried soon after Della's death. I was able to find Ruhamer's birth registration and a marriage registration for her first marriage on the West Virginia Division of Culture and History's website.

But Ann found a different Della, one who didn't die in 1931. Her record trail indicated Della had married Eugene Alexander Borgard, Jr., in the 1930s and they lived together with a daughter, Maxine Elliott Bray, in Pittsburgh. The blended family took several vacations to Bermuda together in the mid 1930s. Maxine married James Patrick Lennon and moved to Miami. They divorced in 1967 and Maxine moved to Colorado and died there in 1998. Della moved to Miami, likely following her daughter, and died in 1959.

Passenger list from Ancestry.com with Della, her daughter, and
second husband Eugene Borgard

Ann's information seemed more likely to be correct than the Della I had found. Maxine having the same middle name as Clement was one small clue. I also discovered several newspaper articles, using Newspapers.com and NewspaperArchive.com, which confirmed Clement Bray was a musician, composer and orchestra leader. He wrote and copyrighted several songs, including one entitled, "Ruhamer," which seemed to confirm the name of his second wife. That little bit of trivia didn't really help determine which Della Bray was the correct one, however.

So I ordered Della Bray's 1931 death certificate from the Ohio Historical society. It arrived a few weeks ago. When I first read the death certificate, I was crestfallen. The father and mother for this Della Bray were unknown. So I read more of the certificate. This Della Bray was almost 66 years old, which was too old to be our Della. She also was African-American, and her husband's name was Willis Bray, which ruled her out, confirming Ann had found the correct Della.

Death certificate for the Della Bray who died in Ohio
in 1931, confirming she was not our Della.

Twitter enabled me to connect with the editors of a British magazine and write the article that a reader found interesting enough to stop and look for Della. She contacted me on Facebook with information she found about Della's marriage. That's the power of using social media to aid your family history quest. However, there is still a place for offline records and old-fashioned research. Without it, we would have lost the trail of Della again and not known for sure which Della Bray was the correct one.

There are still a few marriage and divorce records to be ordered and I have not yet found the entire cast of characters in the 1930 census, but I made a lot of progress, thanks to a lovely Your Family Tree reader in the U.K.

Murder-Suicide in Toledo
Finding Della (The Power of Social Media) 
Tangled Roots and Trees on Facebook
@TweetTRnT on Twitter
Your Family Tree magazine

Wordless Wednesday: I'm Published!

My article in Your Family Tree magazine about a random act of genealogical kindness that helped me find Della, missing since the tragic death of her parents in 1913.

The idea for this post came from Geneabloggers.

Finding Della (The Power of Social Media)

During Dad's research of the Jennings family, he worked occasionally with another family researcher who discovered that Dad's second cousin once removed, Samuel Lee Jennings (1863-1913), killed his wife and then himself. Samuel and his wife, Emma, had two children, Della, 14, and Clifford, 4. Della was the informant on her mother's death certificate, but that was the last trace of her I could find until a few months ago.

I blogged about the tragedy during the summer of 2013, and as I always do, tweeted a link to the post. One of the editors of the British magazine, Your Family Tree, asked if I would write an article for their magazine. The article appeared in the December 2013 edition and was entitled, "Skeleton in the Cupboard: Murdered by Her Husband."

My article about Samuel and Emma's murder-
suicide in Your Family Tree magazine

In late August of this year, someone posted on my Tangled Roots and Trees Facebook page. She said she lived in the U.K. and was re-reading the magazine prior to throwing it out. It struck her that Samuel and Emma's daughter had disappeared after the death of her parents. So she went looking for Della and found a marriage record!

We exchanged email addresses and she sent me the link to the record. Once I had that bit of information, the brick wall that was Della Virginia Jennings (1899-1959) came tumbling down!

Virginia Select Marriages, 1785-1940 on Ancestry.com

I knew from my one of my Jennings research collaborators that Della was born on 26 January 1899 in Columbus, Ohio. Her family moved to Toledo before her brother was born in 1909. Her father killed her mother and then himself in June 1913. Della and Clifford's Uncle Charles Jennings traveled to Toledo to see to shipping his brother's body back to Virginia and about the care of the children. Clifford was placed in the Baptist Orphanage in Salem, Virginia. I do not know what happened to Della until 1918.

She married Clement Elliott Bray, Jr., on 21 May 1918 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Clement was a professional musician, composer, and orchestra leader, specializing in popular dance music. During their marriage, they lived in Easton, Maryland; Martinsburg, West Virginia; and Fairmont, West Virgina.

As published in the Harrisburg Telegraph
on 15 September 1934

While they were living in Easton, they had a daughter, Maxine Elliott Bray, born on 23 January 1920. However, things went bad for Bray marriage sometime between 1927 and 1931. It likely went bad in Fairmont where Clement perhaps met a young married woman named Ruhamer Inez (Bosserman) Kuner as Ruhamer was born and married in Fairmont. Clement and Ruhamer were living together in Tampa, Florida. by 1931.

Through the power of social media -- blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook -- I was able to solve the mystery of what happened to Della immediately after the tragic death of her parents. What happened to Della after she and Clement Elliott Bray, Jr., were no longer together? Had I lost her again? Staying on Della's trail, however, required the use of different tools.

To be continued, so stay tuned!

Murder-Suicide in Toledo
Tangled Roots and Trees on Facebook
@TweetTRnT on Twitter
Your Family Tree magazine