The Life Story of Santa Clause
Now for
all of you doubters of whether or not there really is a Santa Clause this is a
fact, “there is a Santa Clause!” Santa Clause was born April 4, 1887 in
Liberty, Saline County, Missouri, to William and Henrietta S. Clause. Missouri
is a great place for him to be born because he didn’t have to travel from far
to deliver all the children’s toys. The best I can tell is that Santa had nine
siblings and their names were Emma, William, Pearl, Nellie, Earl and Harvey.
Yes, I know this is a bit confusing for you since initially Santa employed six
elves. But the more help available the better for Santa Clause! Right!
Santa's father tells the census taker that his father's birth place was Germany. If the family was of German descent this brings to mind interesting questions. How was Clause pronounced in German? How did this family pronounce the Clause? Was the name originally Klaus? Or Claus?
As you can
tell from the census in 1900 Santa was living in Liberty, Missouri with his
parents and siblings and he was thirteen years old. Both of Santa’s parents
were born in Missouri. In 1910 Santa Clause was twenty-three years old and
working as a hired hand on a farm, and still living in Liberty, Missouri. On
June 9, 1912 Santa Clause found the woman of his dreams who would be a lifetime
partner and a helpmate. As you can see on the certificate her name was Minnie Mabel Hill and they were married in
Marshall, Saline County, Missouri.
He signed
up for the draft and he is listed on the U. S. World War I Draft
Registration Card 1917-1918 living in Powers, Colorado on Lamar Route A. He
states he is a natural born citizen of the United States. At that time, he was
a farmer and employed by J. W. Paste. He was married and his wife and two children living
with him. He states he is a Caucasian. Contrary to what we all believe Santa
Clause had light brown hair, medium build (not short and not heavy built), medium
height, not tall and not short. His eyes were blue, and he wasn’t bald. And
there was no mention of a white beard! I know that this is disappointing to us
but that is his description of himself. Therefore, it is a fact!
Well, by
1920 he was back in Missouri living as a border in his brother Earl Clause’s
household. Dear old Santa Clause was thirty-one
years old and living in Blackwater in Pettis, Missouri and the census states
that he was single. Where is Minnie? Or is that a census taker’s error that he
was single? He might have been; he might have been away working; they could
have been separated at the time of the census taking; or he might have been
divorced. We don't know his marital status at that time, so we just have to save the information on that census and continue our fact hunting of Santa Clause.
Whatever
the case in 1920 by the taking of the 1930 census Santa Clause was back in
Saline County, living in Marshall on South Redman Avenue and he was married with
six children living in his household with him and Mabel his wife. Santa Clause
was a laborer working in River Construction and forty-two years old. Santa and
his wife didn’t own a radio at that time. His home value was $15.00 so he most
likely couldn’t afford a radio. Remember that one of the questions added to the
1930 census was do you own a radio?
On the 1930
census Santa’s age at the time of his first marriage was twenty-four years old.
The census showed that poor Santa didn’t attend school; however; on the
previous censuses it stated he was in school. His wife was giving the census
taker the information and she probably didn’t know since she was busy taking
care of her husband and seven children. How did I know that his wife gave the
census taker the information for the census? On the census if there is an x
looking mark by the person’s name, that is the person who gave the census taker the information for that household. Anyhow, Santa could read and write so, he
either attended school or was self-taught. Santa’s occupation was a laborer in
River Construction as shown on this census, so was he a minister or not? He possibly was a minister and just worked on the weekend and Wednesday for Wednesday night service.
In 1940
Santa Clause is living on West Jackson Street in a house that he was renting
and his house number was 796. He was no longer living on a farm near town. His
occupation was a sewer man and the industry was drainage work in private work. That
is what it stated on the census, and that would be a job where you get your
hands dirty unlike his job as a minister. In 1936 though he worked sixteen
weeks, and his income was $268.00. His wife didn't work outside the home and her employment as shown on the census was housework. Anyone who has a family as large as the Clause family knows housework is a full time job. It stated on the census that Santa had no other
source of income and was looking for work. Mrs. Clause was not getting paid but she was most likely frugal with their resources. Santa was giving the census taker the information, and there was nothing stating that he was a minister. Maybe Santa had given up the
ministry. His age on the 1940 census is fifty-two years.
Santa Clause had three
sons who signed up for the World War II Draft Registration. William Clause son of Santa's Army discharge card shows the person who will always know your address is Rev. Santa Clause, his father. During those war years families went through some difficult times so he probably was working and another job to support the Clause family.
In 1942
Santa Claus signed up for the World War II Draft Registration and he signed his
name as Rev. Santa Claus. He was a minister in Saline County. He was fifty-four
years old. This draft is what some call the “old man’s draft registration.” The
question is was he a minister or not? Will look for records to determine if he
was a licensed minister. This particular draft was needed in case they had to
start calling up these men during World War II. I was conflicted as to why
Santa Clause would be in Colorado in 1917-1918, well I concluded after
analyzing the 1940 census and the World War II Draft Registration Cards for himself
and his sons that he was a minister when he was living in Colorado. Why else
would he be so far away from Missouri? He
lived in Missouri the remainder of his life.
His son Raymond Claus is shown as the name and address of person who will always know Rev. Santa Claus' address. On this form Santa's birth year is 1888; however, I am leaving the birth as 1887 since the 1900 had his birth year as 1887 this year was closer to the event and he was living in his parents household and the father gave the information to the census taker.
In
September 10, 1953 things were getting tough for dear old Santa Clause and and he was getting up in years so he
went to the Social Security Office and made a claim. Santa was now sixty-five
years old and had worked most of his life and was ready to retire. His
social security number was 487161823. Santa Clause is ready to relax and enjoy
life now. However, his retirement was short lived because in three years Santa Clause is dead.
Santa
Clause died at the age of sixty-eight in Marshall, Saline County, Missouri. Was he ill when he retired? Did he die suddenly? If you look at the death certificate the cause of death is on there. Whatever his health was during those last three years Santa left a legacy. Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause had seven children and that is enough heirs to carry on
his work. He had nine siblings so their descendants are left to continue what he started so many years ago. Santa is buried in the Blue Lick
Cemetery in Saline County, Missouri where he lived most of his life. According to a comment on Ancestry from the contributor who shared Santa Clause's headstone, "The "E" was added to the headstone around 2005." He didn't know if the family added the "E" to the end of the surname or if the church officials.
His death
date on his Find A Grave memorial is April 1, 1957. Dates needs to be verified
using other records. In his memorial it states his occupation: Retired
Minister. Santa Clause is now at peace and can rest after all his many years of
hard work and sacrifices as a laborer and minister. One can only surmise how shocked folks were when they heard that Santa Clause had died. His lifetime partner and helpmate Minnie Mabel Hill Clause died January
29, 1944 at the age of 49 in Marshall, Saline County, Missouri.
Sources
1900-1940 United States Censuses
U.S. Social Security Applications
and Claims Index, 1936-20007
Missouri, Marriage records,
19=805-2002
U.S. World War I Draft Registration
Cards, 1917-1918
U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young
Men, 1940-1947
U.S. World War II Draft
Registration Cards 1942
U.S. Find
A Grave Index, 1600-Current
Online Family Tree with sources as a guide in my research
Photo from Ancestry tree originally shared by wilmclause 4 Jul 2012
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| Santa Clause |
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