09/01/2026
Today marked the 70th memorial year of the passing of Adella Doble (Grant) Clay, who died on this day in 1956.
Born Oct. 17, 1888 in Lawrence, Massachusetts as the first child of Russell Streeter Doble, 36, and Minnie Mae (Kyle) Doble, 26, her original legal name is listed in Massachusetts vital statistics as Adelle M. Doble, but we have not found record of what the M stood for -- perhaps Minnie, after her mother?
In July of 1891, when Adella was only 2 years old, she welcomed a younger sister into her life -- Minnie L. Doble, the second child of Russell and Minnie Mae, born in Chester, Maine.
Adella's time with her original family would be a short period, however, as she learned the pain of loss early.
On Oct. 18, the day after Adella's third birthday, her sister Minnie L. passed away in Chester. Two months later, on Dec. 30, her mother Minnie May passed away at age 29 in Chester, and two months after that, on Feb. 28, 1892, her father Russell also passed away at age 39 in Kingman, Maine.
A letter within the family exists, from a dying Russell writing that he wanted his friend Wilbur A. Grant, and Wilbur's wife Adelaide B. (Griffin) Grant, to raise his daughter as their own.
Whether Adella was legally adopted by the Grants is unclear, but from 1892 on, most records and sources identify Adella as Adella Doble Grant, with no further references to a middle name initial of M.
Adella Grant, with new parents to take care of her, was not done with experiencing the pain of family loss. On Dec. 12, 1898, when Adella was only 10 years old, she again lost a mother figure when Adelaide died in Kingman less than a week before she would have turned 53 years old.
Wilbur and Adella lived together, father and daughter, in Kingman until Adella got married Oct. 17, 1911, to Charles William Clay, 27, on Adella's 23rd birthday.
The couple were wed in the home of Wilbur Grant, where Adella wore a dress "of white messaline silk with pearl trimmings" and a pearl necklace, and "carried a bouquet of pink roses."
One can only imagine the bond that Wilbur and Adella must have formed together as father and daughter after having each lost their respective nuclear families -- they were all they had left, but at least they had each other.
Charles and Adella named their second child and first son, born in 1916, Wilber Samuel Clay, likely in paternal honor to both Adella's adoptive father Wilbur Grant and Charles' father, Samuel Hiram Clay.
Charles and Adella moved to the Town of Lincoln, Maine within the first year of their marriage, living at the address of the time that was considered to be 5 Lee Street, and had five children together.
When Adella was 37, she lost the only father she ever really knew, when Wilbur Grant died on March 17, 1926.
The couple lived in Lincoln for decades, where Charles worked for more than 30 years as the town clerk, before he passed away on Sept. 5, 1951.
Adella lasted another five years after her husband died, but lived those final years in Milo, Maine, where she could receive medical care for her declining health conditions.
Despite beginnng her life with a significant loss of family, her life ended with a strong and closely-bonded family that she and Charles built together.
Adella is buried with her husband Charles toward the front of West Broadway Cemetery in Lincoln, and just one small section away, and parallel to the couple's plot, their five children and their spouses all have resting spots lined up in a row, within view of their loving parents' plot -- a complete family that remained together in life and continues to remain together in death.
When Adella died, she had nine grandchildren, who are today, among many of Adella's living descendants. Those living grandchildren were of age enough at the time of Adella's death, to be able continue to remember their grandmother to this day.
It was our privilege to honor the memory of Adella Doble Clay, on this 70th year marking her departure from this world, with a cleaning of her stone, installation of colorful bouquets of permanent botanicals, a pinwheel, a pot of real purple flowers, and a small stone memento recognizing this significant date marking her passing.
She may have struggled with establishing a family identity early in her life, but she made up for it throughout the rest of her life, and today, has living grandchildren to third-great-grandchildren, all close to home -- a family that she built from scratch, with a little help from a loving adoptive father to help her get there.
-- If anyone among Adella's living descendants has pictures of her, or knows what her middle name at birth that begins with M was, please contact us. We would like to know more about this woman and her remarkable life.
