Biographical Sketch

Charles Frank Claybourn was born 15 November 1865, at Texico, Illinois, in his father's large two story house. He lived all his life in the same neighborhood, engaging in farming and stock raising and working a portion of the original farm of his father.

On 6 August 1885, he was married to LaVada Jane Williams who was born 4 March 1867, and, as noted in the biography of Reuben Cicero, was a sister to two other girls who married Claybourn men. Her family lived in a house on the north side of the road just past the little group of buildings that make up Texico. They had a large circle of friends and as Charles' son Harley once told Harriette Threlkeld, "My Dad was well liked by most people and was sure good to my mother."

Six children were born to Charles and LaVada, but in 1918 tragedy struck this happy family. In the influenza epidemic that swept the country during World War I, the mother and the oldest daughter were stricken and died within the same month. (Ethel Claybourn Hawkins, a niece, also died from it two months later.) At this time one of the sons, Harley, was overseas in France where heavy fighting was taking place. He had not had any news from home for two months, and on New Year's Day, 1919, he received a packet of mail informing him that he had lost his mother and sister. He went into a state of shock at the news.

The youngest daughter, Eula, kept house for her father after her mother's death and continued to live on the homestead after her marriage. She and her brother, Harley, later owned part of the farm her father had. Eula nad her husband Glen Osborn farmed and raised cattle there.

Harriette Threlkeld writes:

"I recall visiting Uncle Charley many times, sometimes with my grandfather. We usually found him working in the field but glad to stop for a visit. I remember him as a small man with a friendly smile. He had black hair and very black eyes, characteristic of his mother and ones that were passed on to several of his children. As a child, I often rode with my grandfather when he drove his horse and buggy to Texico and Divide - that was one day's trip - to sell flour. I always liked to go on that trip for we ate dinner at Aunt Vade and Uncle Charley's, and I got to play with Eula."

Pedigree Chart

						Joshua Clyburn 1758 - 1799
				Ephraim Claybourn 1788 - 1850
						Sarah
		William Divine Claybourn 1819 - 1896
				Mary "Polly" Browning 1792 - 1874
						Sally Browning
Charles Frank Claybourn 1865 - 1939
				Reuben Hawker b. 1794
		Frances Alla Hawker 1820 - 1863
				Nancy Hawker b. 1796

Descendants

1. Mabel Pearl Claybourn was born 28 December 1886 in Texico, Illinois. She died just before her 22nd birthday on 8 November 1918. She died unmarried.

2. Frank Williams Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

3. Sophia Jane Claybourn was born 14 January 1890 in Texico, Illinois. She married on 20 December 1906 to Pearl Howard (born 30 March 1885 in Kell, Illinois). Pearl farme for many years and then worked for the C&EI Railroad. They always lived in or near Kell, Illinois. They had two children:
   1. Maurice Earl Howard was born 3 January 1911 in Kell, Illinois. He married on 3 September 1933 to Blanch Adams (also born 3 January 1911 at Kell). Blanch was a farmer and the two lived in Sibley, Illinois. They had three children:
      1. Dewaine Howard, born and died on 8 September 1942
      2. Linda Kay Howard, born 30 October 1945
      3. Sandra Gay Howard, born 8 March 1947
   2. Clydia Pauline Howard was born 4 October 1917 in Kell, Illinois. She married William D. Byars, but the two separated. Clydia lived at 1017 Oklahoma Avenue in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. They had one child:
      1. William Robert Byars, born 31 May 1938. He served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Wisconsin.

4. Harley Paul Claybourn was born 20 September 1894 in Texico, Illinois. He served in the U.S. Army from September of 1917 to July of 1919, which included 18 months in France. Thereafter he worked 38 years for Sinclair Refining Company, living in Centralia and Lincoln, Illinois. Later he worked as Maintenance Superintendent for Central Illinois, retiring on 30 September 1959. He married on 13 Dcember 1919 to Eula Blossom Howard (born 30 September 1959 in Kell, Illinois). They had two children:
   1. Billy Dwain Claybourn was born 4 July 1922 and died 2 September 1922
   2. Glenadean Claybourn was born 14 April 1927 in Lincoln, Illinois. She graduated from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, majoring in aviation and was a licensed pilot. The family enjoyed flying together. She married on 27 June 1948 to Lyman Garrison, a part owner in the Lincoln Transfer Co. Fright Lines with branches in Peoria and Chicago. They lived in Lincoln, Illinois and had one child:
      1. Jimmy Paul Garrison, born 28 January 1953

5. Montie Ephraim Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)

6. Eula Belle Claybourn was born 3 January 1905 in Texico, Illinois. Eula and her father are the only ones of the family who have lived continuously on part of the land which originally belonged to William Divine Claybourn. Eula married on 25 October 1924 to Charles Genn Osborn whose people received a grant of land near the Claybourns in 1855 from the Shawneetown land office. They farmed and raised stock - white faced beef cattle and also dairy cattle. They had one child:
   1. Imogene Jane Osborn was born 9 February 1932 in Texico, Illinois and married at the age of eighteen on 20 May 1950 to Ralph S. Gorline of Benton, Illinois, who worked for Cheatham Trucking Service. Imogene was killed in a tragic truck accident at the age of twenty-six on 4 November 1958, near Greenville, Illinois. The trailer from a tractor-trailer came loose and demolished the pick-up truck she was driving. She is buried at Jordan's Chapel. Before her death she and Ralph had one child:
      1. Sharon Joyce Gorline was born 16 February 1954. She was reared by her grandmother, Eula, in Texico, Illinois.