Orley at the age of 12

Orley at about the age of 22

Orley Frank Claybourn was born on 4 January 1877 in Jefferson County, Illinois. Orley was the only boy with six sisters and was greatly loved by them all. When he was about two years old, his life was saved by his sister Norah. Orley had fallen into a spring on the place where they were living in Farrington Township and Norah, who was only three years older, caught hold of his clothes and pulled him out. No adults were near at the time.

Orley started working when he was 16, helping the custodian at the west side school in Mt. Vernon. He worked for a while at the foundry of the Car Manufacturing Co., but suffered bad burns on his feet there. In 1896, when he was 19, he began working as a fireman for the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad in Mt. Vernon. In 1901 he advanced to engineer, then passenger engineer, and was transferred to Howell, a neighborhood community of Evansville, Indiana.

Orley's wife, Jennie Mae Wene, was born on 25 November 1884 to William Wene and Mattie Stull in Nashville, Tennessee. Jennie's father, William Wene, was a conductor on the L&N Railroad and worked at its station in Howell. Jennie attended Daniel Wertz School in Howell around 1895, but her father was eventually transferred to Nashville, and with him the family. Jennie finished her schooling there and graduated from Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville in 1904.

Jennie and Orley, date unknown.

After graduating Jennie returned to Howell where she met Orley, and the two married on 5 July 1905. About the same time the couple began attending Howell Methodist Episcopal Church (later Howell United Methodist Church), along with numerous other Claybourns, including Orley's two sisters Alma Crowder and Lena Heggy. Orley served on the church's Official Board (as Chairman, among other things), President of the Brotherhood, and was on the building committee when the new church was built. Orley's name can still be seen etched on the cornerstone of the church's historic building. Jennie was a member of the Dorcas Society and often helped cook at church dinners.

For the bulk of their life Orley and Jennie lived at 1615 Delmar in Evansville, Indiana. Orley's job with the railroad required him to take part in regular "runs" where he would only be home every other day. He was a very formal man who was usually dressed up. While most railroad workers and engineers would typically wear bib overalls, Orley would wear coveralls with a white shirt and bow tie underneath. Similarly, Jennie Mae was, in the words of her daughter-in-law Betty Jean, "always a lady". Indeed, Jennie had such a penchent for living an upright and dignified life that she indicated to fellow chruch members that as a middle-aged woman she was too refined to have intimate relations with her husband. So when she did end up getting pregnant with her second son at the age 40, she briefly moved back to Nashville to give birth to him.

Orley loved people, loved to talk to them, and was always a pleasant and friendly man. When he came to Mt. Vernon to visit family, he always called on his lifelong friend, Roy Rutherford, for whom he named his older son. Roy's family had been friends of the Claybourns for three generations. Orley belonged to Reed Lodge No. 316 of Free & Accepted Masons, was a Knight's Templar, and a member of the Hadi Shrine Temple. He was also first president of the L&N Railroad Veteran's Club.

Orley died of pneumonia on 22 December 1938 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Orley had worked for the same railroad for a total of 42 years. Jennie outlived him by nearly 17 years and died on 25 August 1955. She too is buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

Pedigree Chart

						Ephraim Claybourn 1788 - 1850
				William Divine Claybourn 1819 - 1896
						Mary "Polly" Browning 1792 - 1874
		James Harrison Claybourn 1843 - 1920
						Reuben Hawker b. 1794
				Frances Alla Hawker 1820 - 1863
						Nancy Hawker b. 1796
Orley Frank Claybourn 1877 - 1938
				Elihu King Maxey
		Harriet Ann Maxey 1845 - 1916
				Rachel Smith

Descendants

Orley and Jennie Mae had two children:

1. Jim and William (brothers) in May of 1942.

   William Rutherford Claybourn was born 22 September 1906 in Evansville, Indiana. He graduated from Reitz High School and went to work almost immediately for Howell Bank. Later he worked for the north side branch which merged with Old National Bank in 1951. He was manager of Old National's east side office in November of 1953. In 1958, as a Vice President, he was named to manage the bank's new branch office in a rapidly growing commercial area at 2230 U.S. 41 North at Diamond Avenue. William married on 3 February 1931 to Colice Lorene Piper of Evansville (born 22 December 1907). Lorene was called "Rene" by the family but "Susie" by her husband and friends. The two lived at 2901 Igleheart Road in Evansville, Indiana.

   William was a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason (of Reed Lodge No. 316 of Free & Accepted Masons), President of the Hadi Shrine Temple in 1944, and Potentate of the Hadi Shrine Temple in 1956. He received the Fez at the Potentate's Ball on 3 February 1956, on his 25th wedding anniversary. He was a member of the Rolling Hills Country Club, the North Side Kiwanis Club, one of the original members of the North Side Businessmen's Association, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (of which he was treasurer in 1959). In January of 1959 he was appointed to the Metropolitan Plan Commission and the Evansville City Zoning Appeals Board. He was a member of the Bank Auditor's and Comptroller's Association and the National Office Manager's Association.

   William died at a hospital two hours after suffering a heart attack while driving his car on the 10th of December in 1964. He had made a turn from Delaware south onto St. Joseph Ave. in Evansville when the attack occurred, causing his vehicle to bump into parked cars. His physician attributed his death to the heart attack and not the car wreck. Overcome with grief and despair from William's death, Lorene took her own life some months later on 10 July 1965 by turning on her car in a closed garage; the carbon monoxide posining eventually took her life. They had one child:

   1. Judith Mae Claybourn Howard (click name for separate biographical sketch)

2. James Frederick Claybourn (click name for separate biographical sketch)