Tombstone Tuesday - Laura May Clements

LAURA M. SPARKS

MAY 12, 1890

Oct. 6, 1969

Laura May Clements Sparks was born to James CLEMENTS and Annie TENNILLE. She was the 8th-born of 11 children to the couple. She was born in McCullough Co., TX.

Laura May married William Jacob SPARKS [1883-1944] in 1906. The couple had 4 children, Beulah, Lela, Newton and Ora Lee, and then divorced.

Laura May married Jack Langford [b. 1893] in 1930. There was no issue, and the couple divorced.

She went on to marry a Mr. CLEWIS, and that marriage, too resulted in no issue and divorce.

Laura May is buried in Sunset Cemetery, Mountain Home, Kerr County, Texas.

Amanuensis Monday - Laura May Clements Death Certificate

StateFile Number: 69481

County: Bexar

State: Texas

City: San Antonio

Length of Stay: 1 month

Precinct#: Precinct #2

Name of Hospital or Institution [and address]: Hilltop Convalescent Home

7602 Louis Pasteur Rd.

Street Address: Milsa Road (San Antonio)

Placeof Death Inside City Limits? Yes

Residence Inside of City Limits? No.

Is Residence on a Farm? No.

Name of Deceased: Laura May Sparks

Date of Death: 10-6-1969

Sex: Female

Color or Race: White

Widowed

Date of Birth: 5-12-1890

Age: 79

Usual Occupation: Housewife

Kind of Business or Industry: Home

Birthplace: Edwards County, Texas

Citizen of What Country? USA

Fathers Name: James Clements

Mothers Name: Annie Tinelle

Was Deceased Ever in Armed Forces? No

Social Security Number: None

Informant: Newton Sparks - Son

Cause of Death: Immediate Cause: Pneumonia

Due to: cerebrovascular accident

Was autopsy performed? No

Death occurred: 6:30a.m.

Signature: Donald W. Orvis, M.D.

Burial, Cremation, Removal: Removal

Date: 10-6-1969

Name of Cemetery: Sunset Cemetery

Location: Mountain Home, Texas

Treasure Chest Thursday--- Four Generations

This old black and white snapshot is taken from my husband's photos. It shows four generation of women in his family!

Left to Right: [Listed by maiden names]

JoAnn Hartman, daughter of, Betty Langford/Rotge, daughter of, Ora Lee Sparks, daughter of, Laura May Clements

This photo was taken in San Antonio about 1959 or 1960.

Betty Rotge [1930-2003]

Ora Lee Sparks [1914-1982]

Laura May Clements [1890-1969]

Tombstone Tuesday - Laura May Clements Sparks

Laura May Clements was born 12 May 1890 in McCullough County, Texas. She was the youngest of 11 children born to old west bad boy James “Jim” Clements and Annie Caroline Tennille. [Jim was first cousin, and side-kick to gunslinger John Wesley Hardin.]

Laura married William Jacob Sparks [1883-1944] on 15 Apr 1906 in Bandera, Texas. The couple had four children: Beulah Bessie, Lela, Newton and Ora Lee.

After William’s death in 1944, Laura May married Jack Langford in 1930. It is uncertain the length of that marriage. And sometime later, Laura May married a man whose last named was “Clewis”.

Laura May died 6 Oct 1969 in Hilltop Convalescent Home, in San Antonio, Texas.

She is buried at Sunset Cemetery, Mountain Home, Kerrville, Kerr, Texas.


Laura May Clements Sparks was the Texican's maternal great-grandmother.

Wordless Wednesday - 9/30/09

Wild West "bad boy", James Thomas Clements [1843-1897], and first cousin to Wild West gunman, John Wesley Hardin.

"Jim" was my husband's great-great-grandfather.

Jim rode with John Wesley Hardin for quite some time. He was reported to have abused his wife, Annie Caroline Tennille, which resulted in a rather sudden, and unsolved mysterious disappearance of Jim from the hill country of Texas. [His body, nor proof of his murder was ever proven in a court of law. Annie was considered a suspect for a while, as were her brothers. None were indicted.]

John Wesley Hardin also died a gruesome death in 1895, just two years before Jim's disappearance, in El Paso. Sheriff John Selman walked into a saloon and shot him in the back of the head.

Annie lived to the age of 78, dying in 1936 in San Antonio. Her daughter Laura May was my husband's great-grandmother, whom he knew quite well. He listened to stories of the famed gunfighter and her father from the time he was a toddler. Laura May died in 1969.