Clarence Driver, a descendant of black slaves of central Missouri, was born 27 July 1908 at Eldridge, Laclede County, Missouri, a son of William A. Driver (1881-1986) and Violet Mae (Williams) Driver (1886-1957). The Driver family moved out of Laclede County and relocated in southern Miller County, southwest of Iberia in the Pleasant Hill community.

It was during this era of time that William "Bill" Driver married Violet Mae Williams who was born in Miller County. For many years the Driver children grew to adulthood in the Iberia vicinity. William "Bill" Driver was famously known as a gifted and talented musician who played the fiddle to perfection! He was very popular in central Missouri where he performed at many barn dances, etc. with his fiddle music (photo 01).

01 William Driver, Jr.

I heard my mother speak so often of the Driver family who lived in the same neighborhood where she grew up and even though the Driver children did not attend schools, they were taught at home by their loving mother, Violet Mae.

I once had a conversation with Sylvia Howser Irwin and she recalled in fond memory the years she and her family (a sister and blind brother) played stringed instruments with Bill Driver and the many dances where they all entertained. What great memories arose as she talked at length and Sylvia was a great yarn weaver and storyteller! I learned so much in my extended talks with her before her death several years ago.

William "Bill" and Violet were parents of 8 children including:

1. Clarence Driver 1908-1984 m. Ruby Katherine Sears at Camdenton, MO
2. Gladys Driver m. _______Holmes and lived in Kansas City
3. Maude Mandy Sarah Driver 1911-2000 m. (1) Amos Milton Sears
                                                    (2) Robert Tatum - lived in Jeff. City
4. Minnie Mae Drive 1921-2006 m. Andrew Jackson Fulcher - lived in Jefferson City
5. Gertrude Driver m. _________Rolen - lived in St. Louis
6. Grace Driver m. _________Tyree - lived in Omaha, Neb.
7. Blanche Driver m. _________McKenzie - lived in Los Angeles, CA
8. an infant child died and was buried near their home in southern Richwoods township near an old church called OakView.

After Bill and Violet left Iberia and moved to Cole County, MO (near Jefferson City) they watched their children and grandchildren grow into adults and over the years I have had the pleasure of knowing some of the grandchildren who now live in Jefferson City and the state of Georgia.

Bill Driver lived until 1986 when he passed on at the advanced age of 105 years. I had contacted a daughter, Minnie Driver Fulcher, in the early 1980s, to see if I could visit with Mr. Driver, but she said he was in very poor health and blind, so I never had the pleasure of visiting and interviewing him… Many older folks in the Iberia area remembered this family so well and before his death, Eugene Keeth made a wooden cross grave marker and placed it on the gravesite of the Driver infant child who was buried at the old Oak View Church on Hwy. EE a few miles southwest of Iberia.

I had intended this story to be about Clarence Driver but once I got started remembering the wonderful stories about Bill and Violet (Williams) Driver, I realized their life story is so unique and memorable. Clarence was their only son and it was through him and his family that the name Driver was extended out into newer generations.

Note: You can read more about the Driver family and even listen to a few fiddle tunes by William Driver, Jr. at this previous Progess Notes narrative.

Elizabeth W. Brightwell was born near Trenton, Tipton County, Tennessee in 1834. She was a daughter of John Claybrook Brightwell and Elizabeth Rice, both born in Virginia... Her parents died in Gibson, Tennessee when she was a young girl and she went to live with her oldest sister and husband, Mary (Brightwell) and John Thomas Richardson.

In 1854, Elizabeth accompanied the Richardsons to Arkansas where she married Thomas J. Marchant in 1856 when she was about 22 years old. They lived in Arkansas until 1862 when the Marchants moved to Miller County and settled in the new town of Iberia. Thomas Marchant, a member of the Masonic Order, opened a mercantile store and became a merchant in Iberia. He was a son of Wyley/Wiley Marchant (1808-1862) and his wife, Susan (1809-1858).

Elizabeth and Thomas were parents of five children including:

1. William W. Marchant b. 1860- no record of his death or a marriage
2. Sarah Ellen Marchant 1862-1930 m. Charles K. Clark
3. Anderson Sherman Marchant 1864-1947 m. never married
4. Amanda E. Marchant 1869-1893 m. never married
5. Anna Ruth Marchant 1877-1960 m. never married

Elizabeth Brightwell-Marchant, known by many as 'Grandma Marchant,' died at Iberia in 1923. She was survived by four children, and a niece, Bertha Fancher. Bertha was a member of the Brightwell family and had lived with Elizabeth and Thomas since her childhood.

Thomas had died in 1918 and was buried at Iberia Cemetery.  Grandma Elizabeth Marchant had her funeral services conducted at the Iberia Baptist Church, conducted by Rev. R. B. Cornett of Lebanon and she was also buried at Iberia Cemetery.

Until next week!

Peggy Hake

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