ANCESTOR SPOTLIGHT: ALEXANDER SMITH & CLARA
DESGRANDCHAMP
I’ve read & learned a lot of crazy things during my years of research,
but never about my own great, great grandparents. This is a long read, but I
wanted to share with everyone all the information that I found.
Alexander Aloyisius Smith was born Nov 21, 1865 in Warren,
MI. Alex was the 8th born of 13 children to John Christian Schmidt
& Barbara Hettinger.
Clara Margaret Desgrandchamp was born on Aug 13, 1878 in MI.
She was the 2nd child, and 1st daughter, of 14 children
born to John Desgrandchamp & Malvina Margaret “Maggie” Peters.
Alex & Clara were married on Sept 21, 1896 in MI.
Together they had 14 children:
Helen –married Andrew Maitland
Grover Alexander—married Mary Anna Hayes
Oscar John—married Nettie Brown, Freida Dietrich &
Agnes Kennedy
Genevieve –died of scarlet fever at age 11
Mildred --married John Shannon
Grace Mildred—married Frank Dunn
Ida--died at age 7 of Scarlet Fever, 11 days after her
sister Genevieve
Lawton John (Mike)—married Rose Goike
Robert Lawrence—married Estella Deboodt
Russell—married Veronica Cajka
Theresa Elizabeth (Lillian)—married John Brooks
Bernard J –died at 4 days old of a heart spasm
Maud --died of congenital heart disease at 6 days old
and an Unknown Named Baby Girl who lived less than 1 day
Alex was listed as a farmer in the 1900, 1910, 1920, &
1930 census records. He was a “truck farmer”, also known as a vegetable farmer.
The Smith family lived on a farm on Ryan Rd & 11 Mile Rd. in Warren, MI.
Clara died on Feb 4, 1933. According to her death
certificate, she committed suicide by drowning herself in a cistern while
staying at her daughter’s house. In
trying to figure out why a 53 year old woman, and mother of so many children,
would commit suicide, I discovered that it wasn’t a suicide…Alex murdered
her!!! It was documented that Alex was abusive to Clara. Clara must have had
enough, and turned him in. He was arrested for assault & battery. She then
stayed with her daughter, Grace, for the next week. It was that Saturday in the late night hours that her body was found. The death was investigated and an autopsy
performed. A few months ago, my grandma’s brother confirmed that he has heard
this story before! Oh my!
Alex must have had a temper, because a few months after
Clara’s death, there is a newspaper article stating that he was fighting with 2
of his sons, Russell & Robert. This article also states that recently they
had fought over some rhubarb plants on the Smith farm.
I also learned that Alex
might have been a police officer, which would explain how he got away with
murder.
Alex died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 17, 1939 in MI.
There are still many missing details to this story that I
hope to find out!
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