Clerenda "Clara" Trotter was born into enslavement sometime between 1820 and 1834 in Missouri. By the 1840s, Clara was in a relationship with Phillip Herron, also enslaved. After emancipation, Phillip and Clara were legally married in Greene County, Missouri, on January 20, 1866. They declared six children born to them while enslaved. Phillip and Clara lived in Cedar County, Missouri in the 1870s, with several of their children. By 1880, Phillip had died and Clarenda had moved in with her son James Aaron Herron, who lived near Cave Springs, Missouri, just a few miles from Ash Grove. In 1900, Clarenda was living with her only other surviving son, Johnson, on East Main Street in Ash Grove. By 1910, Clarenda had moved back in with Aaron’s family, which was now also living in Ash Grove. Clara died on March 8, 1911. (Russel 2012)
Grave marker: Clerenda Trotter's specific place of burial within the Berry Cemetery is unknown and there is no known individual headstone for her. However, Clerenda is memorialized by the inscription of her name (shown below) on the monument, installed in 2017, for individuals interred in unmarked graves in the Berry Cemetery.
