A Most Worthy Family
The Mentelles' daughter Mary marries Henry Clay's son Thomas Hart Clay in 1837. Many letters pass between Henry and Charlotte, and later her daughter Mary, especially when he is away in Washington as Secretary of State and Senator. In 1840 Thomas Hart Clay and Waldemar Mentelle, Jr. form a partnership in the hemp business, but suffer such a financial loss in 1842 that Henry Clay is forced to mortgage Ashland. Waldemar Sr. publishes articles on agriculture and equine medicine. In letters to friends, both Charlotte and Waldemar look back on their years in Gallipolis as the happiest, or at least the most carefree, of their lives. He dies in 1846.
