Ed Hemingway

Clarence Edmonds Hemingway is the father of author Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway graduated from Oberlin College in 1893 and later received his medical degree from Rush Medical College. He married Grace Hall on October 1, 1896 and they had six children together.

Clarence Hemingway was a very devoted husband and father. Biographer Jeffrey Meyers explains: "When Ed was courting the rather reluctant Grace, he promised that she would never have to do housework and kept his word. He always prepared the children's breakfast and served Grace in bed. He bought the groceries, did most of the cooking, took care of the laundry and managed the servants despite his medical responsibilities."

When not fulfilling domestic obligations, Clarence Hemingway spent much of his time enjoying the great outdoors. He shared his love for the outdoors with his son Ernest. He instructed the young and naturally inquisitive boy in the precise arts of fishing and shooting and brought him along on hunting expeditions in the Michigan woods. Ernest Hemingway's recollections of the boyhood adventures he shared with his father are vividly recreated in his literature through the fictional guise of Nick Adams.

Suffering from severe diabetes and concerned about his financial future, Clarence Hemingway shot himself on December 6, 1928 with his father's Smith and Wesson .32 revolver. In The Sound of the Trumpet, Leicester Hemingway, Ernest's younger brother, described the scene: "There on the bed lay his father, making hoarse breathing noises. His eyes were closed, and in that first instant as he saw him there in the half-dark, nothing looked wrong. He put his hand under his father's head. His hand slipped under easily and when he brought it out again, it was wet-warm with blood."