The Clemens school house, built prior to 1872 on what was once part of the Chester Clemens farm, was located on the northwest corner of Crystal Lake Road and Bull Valley Road in what is actually Nunda Township.
In 1872, the property where the school was located belonged to Amos Whiting. The Clemens farm was located on the east side of Crystal Lake Road as seen on the map below.
A tragic event occurred on 20 October, 1927 at the Clemens Farm.
Occupied by the Christopher Schumacher family, the first murder in McHenry in 20 years, took place at this location.
While milking his cows on the evening of 20 October, a shot rang out, hitting Christopher Schumacher in the head and killing him on the spot. Two of his young children were in the barn with him at the time.
For 36 hours, it was not known who fired the shot that killed the 54 year old farmer until his oldest son, William Louis Frederick Schumacher made a full confession.
According to articles in The McHenry Plaindealer, William had been planning this for 7 years.
In November of 1927, William plead guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 1 - 14 years in Joliet prison.
After serving 2 years and 39 days of his sentence, William was released from Joliet and restarted his life as a farmer. In 1936, he married Eleanore Mirecki. They lived in the Barrington Illinois area and had 3 children.
William passed away on 22 April, 1951 in Wauconda, Illinois.
So what was William's motive for the murder of his father? Further reading will answer that question.
Further Reading:
The McHenry Plaindealer 27 October, 1927 Page 1
The McHenry Plaindealer 27 October, 1927 Page 5
The McHenry Plaindealer 27 October, 1927 Page 8
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