Notes for: Clara Barton Bodine
From Ronny Bodine (May 13, 2020):
From Mercer County, New Jersey Marriage Records:
T. Carl Reese AND Clara B. Bodine, 24, were married 23 Dec 1890 in Princeton.
From New Jersey Birth Records:
Clarence B. Reese was born 15 Sept 1892 in Elizabeth, Union County to Thomas C. Reese and Clara B. Bodine.
1895 Hightstown, Mercer Co., NJ: Hart W. BODINE 20-60, Emma 20-60, Clara B. REESE 20-60, Ermie C. REESE 0-5, Clarence REESE 0-5, Fred Y. BODINE 20-60.
1900 Hightstown, Mercer Co., NJ: Hart W. BODINE June 1838 NJ carpenter, Emma July 1845 NJ wife, Clara B. REESE June 1866 NJ dau, Erma C. REESE Nov 1891 gdau, Clarinda B. REESE May 1893 NJ gdau, Fred BODINE March 1868 NJ son. Hart & Emma married 35 years, 4 children born/3 living. Clara married 9 years, 2 children/2 living.
1905 Hightstown, Mercer Co., NJ: Hart W. BODINE Jan 1838 NJ pension, Emma July 1844 NJ, Fred Y. Mar 1868 NJ, Clara B. REESE June 1866 NJ, Erma C. Nov 1901 PA, Clarance B. May 1903 NJ.
1910 Hightstown, Mercer Co., NJ: Hart W. 72 NJ carpenter/own income, Emma 65 NJ wife, Clara B. REESE 43 NJ dau, Fred Y. BODINE 41 NJ son single, Erma C. REESE 18 PA gdau, Clarence REESE 16 NJ gson. Harrt & Emma married 44 years, 3 children born/2 living. Clara married 19 years, 2 children born/2 living.
The Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) of 18 Nov 1910.
HART W. BODINE TELLS HOW CLARA BARTON CONQUERED HIM
Clara Barton, the venerable former president of the Red Cross Society, who has been a leading spirit in that organization since her distinguished services on the battlefields in the Civil War, is remembered by some of the older residents of Hightstown and vicinity as having taught school at Cedarville, near that place. One boy of that neighborhood, later to be enrolled with the "Boys in Blue," became convinced of that quality of mercy for which she afterward became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." He is Hart W. Bodine, who is living at Hightstown at an advanced age. He is a veteran of Company A, Sixth New Jersey Volunteers, and cherishes pleasant recollection of the woman philanthropist, connected both with his schooldays and his war experience. In honor of the woman who so strongly influenced his life, Bodine named his oldest daughter for her. She is Mrs. Clara Barton, also of Hightstown.
There were some formidable looking fellows among the pupils who greeted Clara Barton when she arrived at the school house in the hamlet of Cedarville, in 1851. The School house was a crude affair in those days. Against the sides and rear of the room were roughly built desks, fenced in by benches made of heavy log slabs that were among the obstacles which the boys and girls were obliged to surmount in the performance of their daily tasks. In the middle of the room stood a large tin platestove, partly surrounded by seats for the smaller children. In front of the window was the teacher's desk, and there was just room enough beside the door for a water pail. Both the wit and patience of Clara Barton's predecessors had been exhausted by the unruly spirits that inhabited this place, prominent among them was Bodine. He and his associates had vowed to make the place so uncomfortable that no teacher would remain there. Many had attempted the task of teaching this unruly gang and had abandoned it in despair. The young woman had been warned of the trouble that she might expect, and was self-possessed.
At the first outbreak of unrulyness on the part of Bodine, she went to his seat, stood beside him with an expression of kindliness on her face, and gently stroked his cheek. More abashed than if the teacher had approached him with a hickory stick, the boy burst into tears, at once gave up his determination to persecute the young teacher, and became her ardant champion from that time. In relating this incident he says: "I bellowed like a calf."
From that hour there was a weakening in the opposition to good government in the school. The other leaders of the unruly gang were so impressed by the little incident that they gave the teacher but little cause for annoyance and gradually abandoned their antagonism to education. Bodine became a model of obedience, and so great was his teacher's gratitude that all the changing scenes of the following ten years were not sufficient to efface it.
In the midst of her work of mercy among the soldiers in Virginia, she learned of Bodine's presence in the army, and ordered an ambulance to take her to Brandy's Station, where his regiment was encamped. She took a bundle of clothing, cakes and jellies for her former pupil. A few years afterward, when the war was over and Bodine's home was blessed by the advent of a baby girl, the father's pride could only find expression by giving her the name of Clara Barton.
From The Freehold (NJ) Transcript of Fri., 10 Sept 1915:
Mrs. Thomas C. Reese and daughter, Miss Erma, have returned from a visit with relatives in Philadelphia.
1920 Hightstown, Mercer Co., NJ: Clara C. REESE 53 NJ widowed, Erma V. 27 PA dau, Clarence B. 26 NJ son, Emma BODINE 75 NJ mother widowed, Charley P. PULLIN 58 NJ uncle, Ada B. PULLIN 26 NJ dau-in-law.
From New York Death Records: Clara B. Reese died 1 Oct 1936 in Rochester.
Obituary, Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, N.J.) of 2 Oct 1936.
HIGHTSTOWN, Oct. 2.--Mrs. Clara B. Reese, a resident of Hightstown for many years, died yesterday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Benjamin B. Swetland, at Rochester, N.Y., where she had been visiting for several weeks. Mrs. Reese had been ill for several months. The immediate cause of death was a heart attack. The body has been shipped to Hightstown and funeral services are to be conducted from the home of her son, Clarence B. Reese, of Ward Street, tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock. The Rev. Walter Nickless, pastor of the Hightstown Methodist Church, will officiate. Interment will be made in the Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of A. S. Cole, Son and Company of Cranbury. Mrs. Reese was 70 years of age. Besides her son and daughter she is survived by a brother, Fred Y. Bodine of Hightstown; a sister, Mrs. H. V. McCue of Westville, N.J., and two grandchildren.
Burials in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hightstown, Mercer County, New Jersey.
(For grave marker photo see Find A Grave Memorial No. 24059241)
H. W. BODINE Co. A 6th Regt N.J. Vol. 1838---1911 EMMA P. BODINE His Wife 1838---1924 CLARA B. REESE 1866---1935
Children: Erma (8 Nov 1891-July 1976), Clarence (24 May 1893--15 Sept 1962).