Photo supplied by Bill Darrow, Belle’s great-grandson.

Clara Belle Ware (1867-1947), from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the daughter of Emmor (1831-1886) and Elisabeth Ware (1837-1883), first cousins and Quakers who married in Ohio. Clara and her two big brothers, Joseph Bruff (1860-?)and Ezra Jones (1862-?), were all born in Butlerville, Indiana, where Emmor and Elisabeth moved and opened a country store. In 1868 the young family moved to Michigan to a farm near Kalamazoo. Belle later wrote that her father Emmor wanted a farm of his own, but discovered after two years that he was no farmer. Emmor then entered the lumber business in Kalamazoo, which proved successful. He developed three Michigan mills, one in Grand Rapids, one in Sand Lake, and one in Paris. After three years in Kalamazoo Emmor moved the family to Grand Rapids.