By Derek Smith
By Dr. Charles Kempf.
Copy edited by Derek Smith
This is a story by Dr Charles Kempf. It is a wonderful manuscript which I recently discovered, squeezed between hundreds of documents, housed in a group of historical archives, contained in the basement of the Port Huron Public Library. It is a story that calls out to you and states “I am interesting, informative, and full of historical nuances.” The story draws you back into the early 1900’s, and contains many idiosyncrasies, uncovered by the author, who was witness to those historical moments.
Part 2
I don’t recall the year when the Saint Clair Golf Club burned down, but shortly after the fire I stopped in at noon, through the kitchen entrance on the east side of the club, to get one of Clara’s famous hamburgers that she made for the golfers.
Clara took a beef tenderloin, cut off a piece one inch thick, and pounded it flat on a wooden table. She put two cubes of butter on the stainless grill, cooked the flattened tenderloin in it, and placed the meat on a hamburger bun. She had replaced the hamburger with the tenderloin, and sold it to the golfers for $1.00, business was great. Yes, the Murphy’s had a social membership at the Saint Clair Golf Club.
Please find some information below, this writer found on major fires, and their dates at the St Clair Golf Club.
May 12 , 1934. June 28, 1961
Helen and I would often visit Clara in the evenings. When she finally gave up the catering and her work at the golf clubs. She moved out of the Chateau and bought a house on 6th and White streets, taking two of her teacher/ renters with her. One evening Helen and I went to see Clara’s new home. We visited with her in the living room where we heard some noise coming from the kitchen. Clara remarked that that was just Murphy eating his dinner. His chauffeur George had been waiting in his pickup, to drive Murphy home. Another time we were at Watsons, Clara asked us to deliver a basket to Murphy’s back door. He was waiting for his dinner.
She had sent him a big chicken dinner with all the trimmings. The chicken usually provided Murphy with more than one meal as he liked to nibble on cold chicken in the days following.
Watson missed her friends that had patronized her at the Chateau. At least 25 of her old customers urged her to prepare their holiday dinners. They would each furnish the turkey, chicken, or roast, along with their electric roaster, and deliver it to Clara’s home. Clara would then prepare the dinner, along with its dressing, to be picked up on the holiday. To accommodate these holiday requests, Watson re-arranged her kitchen with two tables set against two walls. She placed ten cookers on one table and six on the other. They were plugged in with their timers set for meal pick up at three different hours,12 noon, 2:00 PM, or 4:00 PM.
I don’t remember the year but the next Christmas our kids were all home attending parties with their friends. About 9:00 PM on Christmas Eve we went to Clara’s home to see how she was making out with her food preparations. Clara put us to work. There were about 50 to 60 pounds of “Land O’ Lakes” butter, and 80 to 100 loaves of Coppinger’s bread piled on a table. Clara had a butcher’s wooden table, and Helen started to cut the bread. The wrappers were removed and tossed into a cardboard box on her right. The crusts were cut off and tossed into a container on the floor opposite her. The bread was cubed and tossed into a galvanized bushel container, sitting on the floor to her left. When the container was about two-thirds full, Clara took over. She had her own formula of spices to season the dressing and chicken or turkeys. Clara never measured anything, she poured her melted butter, a handful of seasoning, and with two big spoons she would stir up the dressing and taste it. If needed, she added more butter or seasoning, and again stir it up. After which, we would all taste it. When she was satisfied with the flavor, she and Helen would stuff the poultry. When the stuffing ran out, we repeated the process until all meals were prepared.
Clara always added extra stuffing to be cooked with the turkey.
As a side dish Clara had me wash and cull about 25 pounds of cranberries.
She would cook them up and put them in pint jars. Each customer took home a jar with their turkey, compliments of Clara.
She continued to prepare dinners for their holidays, until she had she finally had to give it up.
Clara never bothered with their money; they were old friends. Clara would tell them just to mail her a check. We never did know what she charged for these preparations.
It was 1:00 am when Helen and I finally made our way home.
When Clara Watson finally retired, and was able unable to continue working, she moved into the Evangelical Nursing Home north of Port Huron. Her only son John was a career soldier in the US army. Clara had not seen her son for 25 years. He was stationed in Germany with the army of occupation, rebuilding that country. When he retired from the service, he brought his German wife back to Port Huron. They lived in Clara’s home.
Clara and her son did not get along. He wanted to live in California, and finally did buy a home there. Clara told her son that she wanted Helen to have some of her pictures and dishes, but in the months following he cleaned out her home of all its valuables and shipped them to California.
When Clara died her son sold the furniture and the house. He then cleaned out his mother’s bank account and moved to the West.
John never knew that his mother had a second bank account in Helen’s name. Over the years this account with interest, reached five figures.
Knowing little about Clara’s early years, and her eventual passing, I took a moment to research some additional information about Clara and the Watson family outside of this manuscript.
Clara’s father, William Haggerty, was born September 10th ,1869 in Glencoe, Ontario. William would pass on May 20th ,1951. His wife Mary McCully was of Irish descent. Mary was born in Port Sanilac on March 8th, 1873. She died on January 13th, 1938.
Family Gravesite, Port Hope, Michigan Cemetery
The family lived in Huron, County, Michigan There were 4 daughters in the family, Clara, Marguerite, Bessie, and Zulu. (It is interesting to note that Clara was listed as a stepdaughter in the obituary of her mother and as a daughter in the obituary of her father.)
Clara married John Watson on June 10 ,1920. They would have a son, John in the year 1921.
Clara and John were granted an absolute divorce on September 1, 1922.
She was chef at several different restaurants other than the Chateau, and the three area golf clubs, during her cooking career in the Port Huron area.
She was also chef at the Harrington Hotel, the Fogcutter, the St Clair Inn, and she owned and operated the dining room at the Algonquin Hotel,
Clara died March 12 ,1985, having lived a long and interesting life. It was a life filled with an insatiable appetite for the culinary arts, and a caring love of her friends and her community.
“During David McMorran’s later days, I made occasional house calls for him.
He did not come to my office”. On one occasion, I noticed two unopened boxes of toothbrushes on the table beside his bed. He told me that he never used the same toothbrush twice. McMorran’s chauffeur was a patient of mine and I asked him if the toothbrush story was true? He told me that it was a fact, and that he salvaged the slightly used brushes from the trash, to clean around the spark plugs and chromed areas of McMorran’s Packard automobile.
Let us digress for a moment, so I can share a brief introduction of David McMorran.
David McMorran was born in Port Huron December 3, 1870. He was one of five children to Henry McMorran and Emma Caroline Williams McMorran. He had a brother Charles Frederick who passed at age three, a sister Mary who died when 10 years old, a sister Emma who would marry Andrew Murphy and a sister Clara, married to Norman McKenzie.
David wed Charlotte Cheney Holden in December of 1898. Together they would have two children, Henry Gordon McMorran, and Charlotte Cheney McMorran.
McMorran was involved in many commercial activities, including the milling, the seed, and the chicory businesses, along with his father Henry.
David passed away on January 8th, 1945, at the age of 74, following a brave fight with cancer.
To be continued……
