Clara P., George, & Othelia Roth, Kankakee & Champaign County

Clara P. Roth (1863 - 1941) came to Illinois in 1879 and was place with the Reverend Cephas Williams. He praised her in his 1880 letter to the Asylum as a lady-like girl who would "scorn to do a wrong action." She stood at the top of her class in Kankakee and was well respected in the community.

She was the daughter of Daniel Roth and Josephine Rinehart. Daniel was a jeweler in New York City and came from Germany. They had six children, Emil, Robert, Catherine (Clara), Tilly (Othelia), George and Josephine. Only three of their children would ride the orphan train to Illinois.

Clara married in 1882 to Dr. W H Wilson. They lived in Nebraska and Colorado when they had their two children, Maud and Ralph. They returned to Kankakee to raise their children and Clara died there February 26, 1941, eleven years after the death of her husband.

George Roth (b. 1873) was sent to Compromise, Champaign County when he came to Illinois. He lived with Orren B. Sawdey, a harness dealer there. George moved to Iowa later and married Jennie Cavanaugh. They had four children: Bernard, Kate, William and John. Although the 1925 Iowa census asked for the names of the parents of each respondent, George Roth did not know the names of his parents. He was working as the proprietor of a livery barn in Des Moines -- an occupation he was prepared for after being apprenticed to a harness maker by the Asylum. No death date could be established for George.

Othelia/Tilly Roth could not be traced in the genealogy records, although her name appears in a list of orphan train riders commended for their good behavior. Othelia wrote to the asylum in 1884 from Beulah, Kansas, where her guardians, the Kincaids, had moved. Her brother, George was also living with the family. Othelia had stayed in contact with her sister and was in Nebraska on a three month visit to Clara.