The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-03-10
Truth Stranger Than Fic-
ton.
A Mother and Son Reunited After .
Lifetime Of Separation-The
Good Luck OF . Former
Wheelingfte.
From the st. Louis Republican.
CHAPTER I.

From the 81. LOUIS ncpuDiicahs
CHAPTER 1.
Some eighteen years ago there died
in Chicago Mr.. William Mcmillan,
grand lecturer of the grand lodge of llli-
nois Masons, wing widow and two
Young children, boy of three and girl
of five. Through the influence of Gar
den City Lodge No. l4l the boy, Louis
Sherley Nc MILAN, was adopted by Mr..
James Clarkson, of Chicago. Soon after
Mir. Clsrkson suddenly removed from
Chicago, and all efforts on the part OF
Mrs. Mcmillan to discover the where
abouts of her son failed. She soon re-
tired with her daughter 10 the home OF
her relatives in Peoria, Illinois, subse-
euently remarked, moved to Newport.
Ky, aud again became widow.
CHAPTER II,
When Mr.. Clsrkson removed from
Chicago he went to Piqua Ohio. Here,
with young Mcmillan, now renamed
Louis N. Clarkson, he lived five years,
Subsequently he lived four years in Col
umubus, Ohio, and again in Wheeling,
w. Va, some seven years, the boy grow
ing to msnooud IN the firm belief that Mr..
Clsrkson, then local editor of the Wheel
Ing REGIsTER) was his father, and that
his mother had died when he was babe.
In September, 1876, young Clsrkson, left
home and came to settle in St. Louis, &C.
cepting the position of chief book-keeper
of the Scottish Commercial Insur-
ance Company, lin the Cham.
Der of Commerce building), which posi-
ton he holds to-day.
CHAPTER III.-THE DISCOVERY.
During his boyhood young Clarkson
had several times made inquiries Of his
father concerning his mother but was
ALWAYS met with a complete rebuff. Being
of somewhat afiectionate disposition he
desired to know the circumstances of the
death of the mother he could not remem-
Der, her maiden name and the where
abouts of her relatives. The complete re-
fusal of hi. father TO tell him anything
made him suspicious He pondered the
matter for many months, and finally last
December wrote to his adopted father
and entreated and demanded particulars,
and threatened to use all the money at
his command to discover bis mothers
relatives. He received then the infor-
nation that Mr.. Clarkson was not his
own father, that his real name was Nc
MILAN, but that MIR. Clarkson had never
seen Mrs. Mcmillan and knew nothing
of her whereabouts, or her maiden name
also that his real father had been prom
inent Chicago Freemason.
On this slender clue slone-of McMil.
Ian and Masonry-young Clsrkson went
to Chicago IN January and spent many
days in trying to get information OF him
self IN Masonic records, and meeting, OF
course, with many rebuffs. The parties
to his adoption seemed to have all died
or moved away, and the records were de.
stroyed in the great fire. One of these
parties, Mr.. Hurd, he eventually traced
20 Michigan and induced him to come to
Chicago and join him IN the starch for
his relatives. Thus accompanied, partly
by luck and partly by perseverance,,
he at length met Mr.. Thomas Shirley, the
old particular friend of the departed Nc
MILAN, and the very man for whom the
orphaned boy (Louis Shirley McMillan)
had been named. From MIR. Shirley he
learned that his mother WAS indeed dead;
that his sister mad married and gone to
California, and that for further psrticu-
lars he must 90 to Peoria, Ill. He went to
Peoria and found numerous relativesi
found his mother still lived in Newport,
hot with
her. He hastenened to Newport. Before
he had chance to introduce himself to
his mother Mrs. Montfort), she recog-
nized him as her long lost son, from his
resemblance to his father. There was,
of course, the greatest mutual JOY, and
the third chapter closed in the State OF
Daniel Boone, with colors flying and
calcium lights.
Mr.. Clarkson has since returned 70 St.
Louis, and expects soon to bring his
mother and sister (of whom he is very
proud) here to live. He has also dis
covered two own COUSINS in st. Louis,
Mrs. Belle Hatcher and Miss Nellie
Gregg. Having also found himself he
has resumed his original name, and is
now Louis Shirley Mcmillan.
Having large circle of acquaintance
in the city, Mr.. Mcmillan has found 1t
an almost impossible task to relate to
everybody the cause and story OF his sud
den transition from Clarkson TO McMil-
Ian. On this account he was induced to
surrender the above particulars to the
Republican, for publication. Be it re-
membered, therefore, that the Scottish
Commercial Insurance Company has dis
charged its old book-keeper, Louis n.
ClarKson, and hired new one, Louis 5.
Mcmillan. The story is told. After all
it is comfortable thing to know just
who you are, and it's sweeter to be your
self than to be somebody else by mistake.