Merritt, Claire Mae

1897 - 1976  (79 years)

• Name	Merritt, Claire Mae
  Birth	11 Sep 1897	Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA
  Gender	Female
  Birth	11 Sep 1900	Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA   [1]
  	date on headstone, not actual date of birth -jcw
  Death	25 Oct 1976	Manhattan, Kings, New York, USA   [1]
  	age 79
  Burial	Aft 25 Oct 1976	Hawthorne, Westchester, New York, USA   [1]
  LDS	31 Mar 2026
  	• KLVD-RHG Claire Merritt Hodgson Ruth, born Clara Mae Merritt (September 11, 1897 – October 25, 1976), was a native of Athens, Georgia, United States, who is most famous for having been the second wife of Babe Ruth.
  	20260330GHLn- Claire Mae Merritt Female 1897–1976 • KLVD-RHG Claire Merritt Hodgson Ruth, born Clara Mae Merritt (September 11, 1897 – October 25, 1976), was a native of Athens, Georgia, United States, who is most famous for having been the second wife of Babe Ruth. Biography Claire's first husband, Frank Hodgson, died February 16, 1921, leaving her with a daughter, Julia. She met Ruth in 1923. Ruth was still married to Helen Woodford, his first wife, at this time. Woodford died in a house fire in January 1929, and Ruth and Hodgson married that April 17, staying together until Ruth's death in 1948. In later years, she indicated her responsibility, in part, for the poor relationship between her husband and teammate Lou Gehrig. According to Claire, Gehrig's mother indicated that the Ruths' adopted daughter, Dorothy, was not as well dressed as Claire's biological daughter, Julia; when Ruth was informed of this, he angrily demanded that Gehrig never speak to him off the ballfield again. Ruth and Gehrig did not make up until the day of Gehrig's famous "I'm the luckiest man on the face of this earth" speech in 1939. Later, Claire admitted that she had overreacted, apologetically accepting full responsibility for the rift between the two players—which, however, had numerous other causes besides the one indicated by Claire. Claire lived to see two of Ruth's most famous records broken: his single season record of 60 home runs, superseded by Roger Maris in 1961; and his career record of 714 home runs, which was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. In her twilight years, she sometimes attended games that Aaron was playing, and was supportive of Aaron's effort. Ruth was quoted as saying: "The Babe loved baseball so very much; I know he was pulling for Hank Aaron to break his record." Mrs. Ruth was portrayed by Claire Trevor in the 1948 film The Babe Ruth Story, by Lisa Zane in the 1991 TV-movie Babe Ruth, by Kelly McGillis in the 1992 film The Babe, and by Renee Taylor in 61*. Claire Ruth is buried next to her husband at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. The inscription on the headstone lists her birth year as 1900, instead of 1897. November 8, 2020 C Christopher Camalick
  FSID	KLVD-RHG
  Name	Claire Ruth  [1]
  	20260331GHLn- Julia Ruth Stevens 1916 – 2019 • Saint Margaret of Scotland Memorial Garden Photos 11 Flowers 91 Julia Ruth Stevens Photo added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Brad Norwood Picture of Added by Erin + 6 more Birth 7 Jul 1916 Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, USA Death 9 Mar 2019 (aged 102) Henderson, Clark County, Nevada, USA Burial Saint Margaret of Scotland Memorial Garden Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire, USA GPS- Latitude: 44.0014428, Longitude: -71.1127366 Memorial ID 197437710 · Daughter of Babe and Claire Ruth (nee Merritt). Her biological father, Frank Bishop Hodgson, abandoned her and her mother shortly after her birth. ------ Julia Ruth Stevens, the last surviving child of baseball icon Babe Ruth, has died at the age of 102, her family said Saturday evening. Stevens died in her sleep overnight at a nursing home in Henderson, Nev., her only child, Tom Stevens, told the Globe. "She was the last authority on Babe the man," Stevens said in a phone interview Saturday night from his home in Nevada. Stevens was the elder of Ruth's two adopted daughters. She born on July 17, 1916 while her father was in the middle of his career with the Red Sox. Babe Ruth played the first six seasons of his storied career in Boston. In 1919, Sox owner Harry Frazee famously sold his contract to the New York Yankees. The move set in motion one of the most famous rivalries in sports history. Ruth was a championship pitcher for the Red Sox. But after joining the Yankees, the Sox suffered an 86-year championship drought that spawned a superstition known as "The Curse of the Bambino." His mother did not like the infamous phrase, Tom Stevens said. "There was no such thing as 'The Curse,'" he said. "It was just clever construct." Her friend, Joe Brill of Quincy, said she had a ready answer whenever asked about 'The Curse.' "'Daddy loved baseball. He'd never put a curse on a baseball team,'" Brill recalled her saying. Stevens loved the Red Sox and "was thrilled when they won the World Series," Brill said. The Stevens family announced Julia Ruth Stevens' death in a Facebook post on Saturday night. "Julia was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who lived a wonderful, full life during the 102 years that she was with us. As the daughter of Babe Ruth, she had many amazing experiences, which she was pleased to share with eager reporters and fans alike. "Until the very end, she was very proud to call him "Daddy" and she particularly loved recalling events from 1934 when she went on a "round the world" tour with her parents. The tour began with a series of 15 exhibition baseball games played in Japan," the family said. Brill said he first met Stevens when she visited Quincy in 2003 for the Babe Ruth World Series. She was offered a ride to the field in a limousine, but turned it down, saying she preferred to ride with someone who could "talk baseball," Brill said. He picked her up her hotel and the pair hit it off, he said. "We became real good friends," Brill said. He traveled with Stevens to many baseball appearances, including Fenway Park. Her last appearance there was on July 9, 2016, when she threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game to celebrate her 100th birthday. Stevens would have been 103 years old in July, Brill said. Mark Matanes, the state commissioner of Babe Ruth Baseball in Massachusetts, said Stevens was supportive of the league. "She was always stopping by and telling stories," Matanes said, noting Stevens only slowed down about a year ago. "Her mind was sharp as a tack." Stevens was always friendly and warm, especially around children, Matanes said. "The children loved her," he said. "It was all about the kids for Julia and continuing her father's name," Brill added. Julia Ruth Stevens had a true love of baseball. And she rooted for the home team, wherever she was, her son said. She was threw out the first pitch of the last game played at Yankee Stadium in 2008, Tom Stevens said. "I know she liked the attention," Tom Stevens said. Stevens's final resting spot will be in New England. She lived for many years in Conway, N.H., where she and her first husband ran Cranmore Mountain Lodge in the 1940s. After his premature death, she became the "post mistress" of a general store in Eaton Center, N.H., her family wrote on Facebook. She later married Brent Stevens, a local poultry farmer. "For many years, she was known throughout the Mount Washington Valley as "the egg lady," according to the Facebook post. Julia will be laid to rest in Conway, alongside her late husband, Brent. The burial will take place once the ground thaws, Tom Stevens said, around the start of the baseball season. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/09/julia-ruth-stevens-babe-ruth-last-surviving-child-dies/6xkrTF96hvUqLSY5FR0mDK/story.html Family Members Parents Babe Ruth 1895–1948 Claire Merritt Ruth 1900–1976 Spouses Richard Wells Flanders 1908–1949 (m. 1940) Brenton Maurice Stevens 1920–2004 (m. 1956) Half Siblings Dorothy Helen Ruth Pirone 1921–1989
  Person ID	I116913	WetzelAncestry

  
  

  Father	Merritt, James Monroe
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Rylee, Cornelia Lou,   b. Mar 1872   d. 13 Apr 1943 (Age 71 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F65459	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Ruth, George Herman Jr,   b. 7 Feb 1895, Baltimore, Independent Cities, Maryland, USA d. 16 Aug 1948, Manhattan, Kings, New York, USA (Age 53 years)
  Marriage	17 Apr 1929	Baltimore, Independent Cities, Maryland, USA
  	Babe's 2nd marriage
  Children	1. Ruth, Julia,   b. 7 Jul 1916, Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA d. 9 Mar 2019, Henderson, Clark, Nevada, USA (Age 102 years)  [Father: Adopted]  [Mother: Stepchild]
  Family ID	F65453	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Hodgson, Frank Bishop,   b. 25 Dec 1883, Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA d. 16 Feb 1921, Atlanta, De Kalb, Georgia, USA (Age 37 years)
  Children	1. Ruth, Julia,   b. 7 Jul 1916, Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA d. 9 Mar 2019, Henderson, Clark, Nevada, USA (Age 102 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F65454	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 11 Sep 1897 - Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA Birth - date on headstone, not actual date of birth -jcw - 11 Sep 1900 - Athens, Clarke, Georgia, USA Marriage - 17 Apr 1929 - Baltimore, Independent Cities, Maryland, USA Death - 25 Oct 1976 - Manhattan, Kings, New York, USA Burial - Aft 25 Oct 1976 - Hawthorne, Westchester, New York, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos

  !Merrit-Ruth,Claire_Mae_LDS.jpg 20260330GHLn- Claire Tagged People Claire Mae Merritt Female 1897-1976 • KLVD-RHG Claire Contributed By A Annamary 18 April 2016 Upload File Name Clara Mae Merritt.jpg 20260330GHLn- LDS Biography Claire's first husband, Frank Hodgson, died February 16, 1921, leaving her with a daughter, Julia. She met Ruth in 1923. Ruth was still married to…

  
  

• Notes

  20260330GHLn- Claire Mae Merritt Female 1897–1976 • KLVD-RHG Claire Merritt Hodgson Ruth, born Clara Mae Merritt (September 11, 1897 – October 25, 1976), was a native of Athens, Georgia, United States, who is most famous for having been the second wife of Babe Ruth. Biography Claire's first husband, Frank Hodgson, died February 16, 1921, leaving her with a daughter, Julia. She met Ruth in 1923. Ruth was still married to Helen Woodford, his first wife, at this time. Woodford died in a house fire in January 1929, and Ruth and Hodgson married that April 17, staying together until Ruth's death in 1948. In later years, she indicated her responsibility, in part, for the poor relationship between her husband and teammate Lou Gehrig. According to Claire, Gehrig's mother indicated that the Ruths' adopted daughter, Dorothy, was not as well dressed as Claire's biological daughter, Julia; when Ruth was informed of this, he angrily demanded that Gehrig never speak to him off the ballfield again. Ruth and Gehrig did not make up until the day of Gehrig's famous "I'm the luckiest man on the face of this earth" speech in 1939. Later, Claire admitted that she had overreacted, apologetically accepting full responsibility for the rift between the two players—which, however, had numerous other causes besides the one indicated by Claire. Claire lived to see two of Ruth's most famous records broken: his single season record of 60 home runs, superseded by Roger Maris in 1961; and his career record of 714 home runs, which was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. In her twilight years, she sometimes attended games that Aaron was playing, and was supportive of Aaron's effort. Ruth was quoted as saying: "The Babe loved baseball so very much; I know he was pulling for Hank Aaron to break his record." Mrs. Ruth was portrayed by Claire Trevor in the 1948 film The Babe Ruth Story, by Lisa Zane in the 1991 TV-movie Babe Ruth, by Kelly McGillis in the 1992 film The Babe, and by Renee Taylor in 61*. Claire Ruth is buried next to her husband at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. The inscription on the headstone lists her birth year as 1900, instead of 1897. November 8, 2020 C Christopher Camalick

  
  

• Sources

  [S1115] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;). Record for Julia Stevens (28) facts 20260331GHLn- 20260331GHLn- Julia Ruth Stevens 1916 – 2019 • Saint Margaret of Scotland Memorial Garden Photos 11 Flowers 91 Julia Ruth Stevens Photo added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Brad Norwood Picture of Added by Erin + 6 more Birth 7 Jul 1916 Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, USA Death 9 Mar 2019 (aged 102) Henderson, Clark County, Nevada, USA Burial Saint Margaret of Scotland Memorial Garden Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire, USA GPS- Latitude: 44.0014428, Longitude: -71.1127366 Memorial ID 197437710 · Daughter of Babe and Claire Ruth (nee Merritt). Her biological father, Frank Bishop Hodgson, abandoned her and her mother shortly after her birth. ------ Julia Ruth Stevens, the last surviving child of baseball icon Babe Ruth, has died at the age of 102, her family said Saturday evening. Stevens died in her sleep overnight at a nursing home in Henderson, Nev., her only child, Tom Stevens, told the Globe. "She was the last authority on Babe the man," Stevens said in a phone interview Saturday night from his home in Nevada. Stevens was the elder of Ruth's two adopted daughters. She born on July 17, 1916 while her father was in the middle of his career with the Red Sox. Babe Ruth played the first six seasons of his storied career in Boston. In 1919, Sox owner Harry Frazee famously sold his contract to the New York Yankees. The move set in motion one of the most famous rivalries in sports history. Ruth was a championship pitcher for the Red Sox. But after joining the Yankees, the Sox suffered an 86-year championship drought that spawned a superstition known as "The Curse of the Bambino." His mother did not like the infamous phrase, Tom Stevens said. "There was no such thing as 'The Curse,'" he said. "It was just clever construct." Her friend, Joe Brill of Quincy, said she had a ready answer whenever asked about 'The Curse.' "'Daddy loved baseball. He'd never put a curse on a baseball team,'" Brill recalled her saying. Stevens loved the Red Sox and "was thrilled when they won the World Series," Brill said. The Stevens family announced Julia Ruth Stevens' death in a Facebook post on Saturday night. "Julia was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who lived a wonderful, full life during the 102 years that she was with us. As the daughter of Babe Ruth, she had many amazing experiences, which she was pleased to share with eager reporters and fans alike. "Until the very end, she was very proud to call him "Daddy" and she particularly loved recalling events from 1934 when she went on a "round the world" tour with her parents. The tour began with a series of 15 exhibition baseball games played in Japan," the family said. Brill said he first met Stevens when she visited Quincy in 2003 for the Babe Ruth World Series. She was offered a ride to the field in a limousine, but turned it down, saying she preferred to ride with someone who could "talk baseball," Brill said. He picked her up her hotel and the pair hit it off, he said. "We became real good friends," Brill said. He traveled with Stevens to many baseball appearances, including Fenway Park. Her last appearance there was on July 9, 2016, when she threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game to celebrate her 100th birthday. Stevens would have been 103 years old in July, Brill said. Mark Matanes, the state commissioner of Babe Ruth Baseball in Massachusetts, said Stevens was supportive of the league. "She was always stopping by and telling stories," Matanes said, noting Stevens only slowed down about a year ago. "Her mind was sharp as a tack." Stevens was always friendly and warm, especially around children, Matanes said. "The children loved her," he said. "It was all about the kids for Julia and continuing her father's name," Brill added. Julia Ruth Stevens had a true love of baseball. And she rooted for the home team, wherever she was, her son said. She was threw out the first pitch of the last game played at Yankee Stadium in 2008, Tom Stevens said. "I know she liked the attention," Tom Stevens said. Stevens's final resting spot will be in New England. She lived for many years in Conway, N.H., where she and her first husband ran Cranmore Mountain Lodge in the 1940s. After his premature death, she became the "post mistress" of a general store in Eaton Center, N.H., her family wrote on Facebook. She later married Brent Stevens, a local poultry farmer. "For many years, she was known throughout the Mount Washington Valley as "the egg lady," according to the Facebook post. Julia will be laid to rest in Conway, alongside her late husband, Brent. The burial will take place once the ground thaws, Tom Stevens said, around the start of the baseball season. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/09/julia-ruth-stevens-babe-ruth-last-surviving-child-dies/6xkrTF96hvUqLSY5FR0mDK/story.html Family Members Parents Babe Ruth 1895–1948 Claire Merritt Ruth 1900–1976 Spouses Richard Wells Flanders 1908–1949 (m. 1940) Brenton Maurice Stevens 1920–2004 (m. 1956) Half Siblings Dorothy Helen Ruth Pirone 1921–1989 !Ruth_Stevens_Flanders,Julia_cheers_fag.jpeg 20260331GHLn- Julia Ruth Stevens 1916 – 2019 • Saint Margaret of Scotland Memorial Garden Photos 11 Flowers 91 Julia Ruth Stevens Photo added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Erin Picture of Added by Brad Norwood Picture of Added by Erin + 6 more Birth 7 Jul 1916 Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, USA Death 9 Mar 2019 (aged…

  
  

TEST MARKER

TNG ID: I116913

FSID: KLVD-RHG