EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER SUMMER 2019

                                                            by

                                                    Carol May

Yes, still here and with news. I have been busy with Chandler Family Association business, the Chandler Y-DNA project, queries, Edmund research, which includes a strong lead on Edmund’s parents (see story below), and more.   Also, I have been attending DNA lectures — still so much more to learn! Both Barb and I have written stories for the CFA newsletter. The busier I get, the more the Courier gets neglected.

First, the Chandler Family Association, of which we are Chapter 13, will have its annual meeting at the Woburn Hilton in Massachusetts which is near Boston this September 6^th and 7th. For $20 you can join the CFA, if you have not done so already and bring guests and attend one or both days for research, assistance, and use the Chandler library. The formal part of the meeting will be on Saturday at 10 AM. All Chandler families not just Edmund’s descendants are welcome. Woburn is north of Duxbury, our Chandler ancestral home in the US. For more information contact me (Carol) and I will put you in touch with Helen.

Next issue, I will try to bring everyone up to date on my trip to Maine a while back, the Woburn meeting news, other Chandler research, DNA news, Billie’s book, news about the plaque, and about a book that was just published called “A World of Partings Excerpts from the Diary of Nancy Chandler Derby 1857-1869.” Nancy, an Edmund descendant, was the daughter of Joel Chandler of Maine.

Lastly, some of you may not have read about Dick Chandler’s passing in September of last year in the CFA newsletter. Dick was a tireless worker and an encyclopedia of worldwide Chandler knowledge. Although he did not descend from Edmund as Dick was English, he helped us so much with our Edmund research. We all miss Dick.

We have solved many Chandler mysteries and broken through many brick walls, but Edmund’s English origin is our biggest challenge. DNA research continues, English parish records have been researched, and now the search has been expanded into the history of the Separatists in England and Holland. If any of you still have John Chandler and Jane Gitton as Edmund’s parents remove them! They are not our Edmund’s parents. One of the members of the CFA researched them and their son, also named Edmund, and found that he was not our Edmund Chandler. You can read Dick’s story researching Edmund’s origins on this web site.

In a previous issue I mentioned that there was a book by James Battles entitled “Clinton Delos Bundy: his Ancestors and Descendants.” He claims that Roger was born in Colchester and that Roger Chandler and Edmund Chandler were brothers.  We think that they are probably related and likely brothers, but there are no records cited by Battles that they were brothers. Battles wrote that Edmund and Roger arrived in Leiden which included a group from Colchester in 1610. They well may have, but again there were no sources that I could find.

Battles also wrote that they had a sister named Catherine who whose will Edmund witnessed. There is a record of that will with Edmund witnessing it in Leiden town records, but the idea that Catherine was their sister came from an earlier, erroneous translation from the Dutch. In the corrected version there was only one Chandler and that was Edmund in that Dutch record. Dutch records do show Roger being from Colchester on the marriage record, but as Dick pointed out in his story about Edmund’s origins, that does not mean that he was born there. Dick also found a reference to Roger being born in Rochester, Kent, England. For a new and very promising lead about Edmund’s English origins, read the story below.

JOHN CHANDLER, SEPARATIST

Dick is the one who first mentioned that there was a John Chandler who was an English Separatist in London in the 1500s who had children and died in prison, but that was about all. Separately, I came across a Deaconess Chandler in Amsterdam, but could not find anything more about her other than she kept children in line in church with a stick. Both were just tantalizing bits of unconnected information.   Amsterdam is where the Pilgrim Separatists first moved to before going to Leiden.

John Chandler was a Separatist who was probably born in the 1530s as he had eight children by 1587. He was a shipwright. Unfortunately, we don’t know the names of his children, although writer and scholar, Leland H. Carlson, speculated that he may have had a son named Edward Chandler. John’s wife was Alice, or Alyce, but we don’t know what her last name was. John was from Stepney which then was in Middlesex, but today is part of the East End of London. If you watch the TV show “Call the Midwife” on PBS, Stepney is next door to Poplar in the East End. Stepney, on the Thames River, was the home to many shipwrights in the 1500s. Edward was also a shipwright and preached in secret in the woods in the same area. Ordinary people would preach and share Separatist teachings much to the displeasure of the educated ministers of the Church of England and to the Crown.

John and Alice were “Brownists” or “Barrowists” which was what the early Separatists were called. Although later on, the pastor of the Pilgrims, John Robinson rejected the term “Brownist” because he thought it seemed like the worship centered on a man rather than God. Also, the Separatists considered Browne a Judas and “backslider” after he left the Separatists and returned to the Church of England. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims called the members of his congregation “saints.”

Robert Browne is considered the founder of Separatism during the Elizabethan era of England. Both John Greenwood and Henry Barrow wrote tracts on Separatism based on Browne’s teaching and kept notes on what was going on with the Separatists. These preserved writings can be found in “The Writings of John Greenwood and Henry Barrow 1591-1593” edited by Leland H. Carlson.

It wasn’t long after King Henry the Eighth split from the Catholic Church and declared himself the head of the Church of England in 1533, that a movement started by those who wanted to “purify” the Church of England of Papist trappings. They were called Puritans. Browne was originally a Puritan, but later opposed them saying that they were worse than the “tyrannical bishops” of the Church of England and believed that the only solution was to completely separate from the Church. Browne also had been imprisoned by the Puritans which probably added to his dislike of them. More extreme Separatists even wanted to destroy the Church of England.

The Separatists were trying to get back to what they felt were the teachings of the Bible. Out went vestments, ornamentation, alters, fancy churches, the church hierarchy of bishops, and sacraments other than baptism and the Holy Supper which were mentioned in the Bible. The power remained in the congregation not in a church hierarchy of bishops. The Bible came before the King which was treasonous. The Congregationalist Church is the descendant of the Separatist churches.

As they did not recognize the Church of England as a valid church, they refused to be baptized or married in that church. They felt that wedding rings were a “circle of the devil.” Marriage was considered a civil matter and if recorded at all, was recorded in government records. Church parish records are incomplete when Edmund and Roger were born, but if their parents were Separatists their births would not have been recorded in the parish records, because their parents would not have had them baptized in the Church of England. We see Roger’s marriage recorded as a civil document in Holland, but so far have not found a record of Edmund’s marriage. If he married in England and was a Separatist at the time, there would be no record of the marriage in parish books.

Robert Browne took his congregation which consisted of 30 to 40 people and left England for Middelburg, Netherlands in 1579. This group included John Chandler and most likely his wife and family. They didn’t stay long in Middelburg. Browne and some of his group first went to Scotland briefly (1583-1584) and then the congregation re-grouped in London, England which proved to have deadly consequences for John Chandler.

When Robert Browne left the Separatists in 1585 and re-joined the Church of England leaving his followers behind, Francis Johnson became their pastor in London. Francis Johnson was an alumnus of Corpus Christi College of Cambridge as was Robert Browne, John Greenwood and John Robinson. John Robinson became the pastor of the Pilgrims in Holland. This was the church that both Edmund and Roger belonged. Johnson came down from the Scrooby, Nottinghamshire which was where many of the Pilgrims came from to be the pastor of the London Separatist church. The Separatists in John Robinson’s congregation came from all over England, but the main group which included Elder William Brewster, came from  Scrooby.

The Pilgrim Separatists followed the writings of John Calvin. They believed in pre-destination and that the ones who were to go to heaven were chosen before they were born. However, they felt that God would not have chosen people who do bad things to be part of the elect. This caused a lot of scrutinizing and speculating on one’s neighbors for ungodly behavior.

From the book “John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition,” by Timothy George he quotes Barrow and Greenwood’s writings about what happened to John Chandler and Alice.”

“On Oct. 8, 1587, twenty-one so called “Brownestes” were arrested and examined for holding a private conventicle (secret, forbidden meeting) in Henry Martin’s house in St. Andrews in the Wardrobe (where king’s accoutrements were stored) near St. Paul. One of them was John Chandler, a former member of Browne’s Middelburg church.” The leader of the conventicle was John Greenwood, a Norfolk clergyman.

John Chandler was imprisoned in the Counter Poultry (aka Poultry Counter or compter). It was a prison for petty criminals, not the infamous Tower of London where royalty and aristocrats were incarcerated. Other Separatists were jailed in the “Clink” and in Fleet Street. He was soon joined in prison by his wife Alice. John died before May 1589. John and Alice’s older children may have already been either apprenticed or on their own, but were the younger ones taken in by relatives other Separatists? We don’t know. His wife was released on bond after he died.

One writer called imprisonment of dissenters in those days “judicial murder” as conditions there were so appalling – filth, disease, chains and leg irons.   They were treated even worse than the common criminals. They were not given bedding or even straw to sleep on. Friends and relatives had to bring them food. John Chandler’s only “crime” was attending a Separatist service. He and others were held for months or years without being charged or tried. These kinds of injustices were the reason that our Constitution guarantees people a speedy trial.

On April 4, 1593 (and several years after the death of John Chandler) from the writings of Greenwood and Barrow came this passage about Edward Chandler, “Edw William Mason of Wappinge shipwright was examined in prison. He said that he was persuaded by Edward Chandler shipwright and went into the woods with Roger Drippon and had been at their assemblies at Nicholas Lane, Roger Drippon’s house (at Southwark) at Detford Wood and woods by Ishington also Danyell Buck, a scrivener by Aldgate. He heard Edward Chandler and read some of Barrows and Greenwood”.

This Edward appears to have been too old to have been our Edmund, although Dick wrote that sometimes the names Edmund and Edward were interchanged. However, could he have been Edmund’s father and John and Alice have been Edmund’s grandparents? This is speculation.

Both Greenwood and Barrows were imprisoned and then hung in 1593 for their beliefs. It was the law that all people over the age of 16 must attend the Church of England or be subject to arrest. Distributing and printing Separatist literature was forbidden, which got many Separatists in trouble including Elder William Brewster. Persecution of the Separatists waxed and waned depending on who was in power, but the persecution was intensifying. Separatists began fleeing in greater numbers to Holland. Some were banished, some got permission, but many had to sneak out and some of them were arrested trying to leave.

Women were in an odd position during those times because they were considered, along with their children, as the property of their husbands. A group of Separatist women were captured trying to flee England, but were finally sent on their way to Holland to join their husbands because the authorities couldn’t prosecute their husbands who were considered responsible for the women and they couldn’t send them “home” because their homes were sold to finance the voyage.

Alice most likely fled to Holland with the London congregation about 1593. Did she go with some of her children? Did she join another Separatist household? Could Edmund and Roger have gone with her if they were her children? Could some of her children, now maybe adults, have come over later? We don’t have answers to those questions. No record has been found so far showing that Edmund or Roger lived in Amsterdam, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t there. This merits further research.

It is the opinion of several authors of books written about the Separatists that Alice was the widow Chandler who served in a Separatist church in Amsterdam as the deaconess. She used her “birchen rod” to keep the small children “in great awe” from disturbing the congregation. Carlson is more cautious writing that he believes that while Barrow and Greenwood’s writings refer to an ancient “widow Ch” Carlson writes that she may be Alice. The congregation was originally was small so it is unlikely that there were other ancient widows with the “Ch’ as the first letters of their last name. Apparently, the original text was not completely readable and only the “Ch” was visible. The Deaconess was considered “mother in Israel and an officer of Christ.” She also tended to the women in the congregation. The practice of having a deaconess apparently died out with the Pilgrims.

Francis Johnson’s congregation was not the only congregation who fled to Holland. Separatists on their own, and in groups, had been fleeing to Holland for years. However while the members of the congregations may have been able to flee, their leaders weren’t. The leaders were arrested and imprisoned in England and had to continue to lead their congregations from jail through letters and instructions given to their visitors. This continued for several years until they were released and could join their congregations in Holland. The pastor of Alice’s church, Francis Johnson, arrived in Amsterdam to lead the congregation in 1608. This church became known as the Ancient Church and William Bradford, the governor of the Pilgrims, referred to it as such many years later when he wrote his book. The Ancient Church is considered the forerunner of the Pilgrim church led by Pastor John Robinson.

Holland and especially Amsterdam was a bustling tolerant city, rich with trade and commerce. It was attractive to not only English Separatists, but other religious dissenters such as the Walloons and Huguenots.

There were several Separatist congregations in Amsterdam. There was the Ancient Church and also the Pilgrim congregation. Both Edmund and Roger were documented as members of this congregation later in Leiden.

While the Pilgrims were only in Amsterdam a short time and shared a church, they probably did not combine the churches. The time in Amsterdam was tumultuous and filled with controversy. There was scandal, there were petty attacks, and there were religious arguments especially about baptism. The scandals and trouble did not stay contained in the churches, but spilled out into the Dutch records. Some of the arguments were silly and petty. Francis Johnson married a well-off widow of a haberdasher. She wore five gold rings, fine clothes and got up at 9 o’clock in the morning which really stirred up the ire of members of the congregation. The scandals were much worse involving sex and money management. Then there were religious arguments. One of the ministers declared that his baptism by the Church of England was not valid because they were not truly a church of God and re-baptized himself. Half of one congregation ex-communicated the other half then argued over who was entitled to the church. One Separatist accused another of having a “crak’ed brain.” Francis Johnson was very authoritarian and did not get along with the Dutch Reformed Church.

John Robinson, according to historians, had a gentle nature and quickly had enough of the scandal and fighting amongst the other Separatists and took his congregation, the Pilgrims, to Leiden c. 1609 where they remained peacefully and according the Dutch, were good members of the community who stayed out of trouble and kept their word. Robinson was highly thought of by the Dutch and by the Separatists back in Amsterdam. He was educated at Cambridge, but commenced further study at the University of Leiden. John Robinson also took a more moderate tone and eventually did not consider meeting with members of other churches forbidden and eventually did not believe that all members of other churches were damned.

The Pilgrims decided to leave Holland for several reasons, they were afraid that their children were being too influenced by the Dutch and that they were so overworked that even the “children were decrepit” according to Plymouth Colony governor, William Bradford. Lastly, although not mentioned frequently, the Dutch treaty with the Spanish was about to run out. There was worry that there could be a war. If the Spanish invaded Holland the Spanish Inquisition could be upon them.

The first group of pastor, John Robinson’s congregation came on the Mayflower, more came in subsequent boats. Edmund and Roger left Leiden and arrived in Duxbury c. 1630 probably on the last, or one of the last boats, to take the remaining members of the congregation who wished leave. John Robinson had planned to come, but sadly died in 1624.

This is not the definitive answer as to where Edmund Chandler came from nor who his parents were, but a strong possibility. He and Roger may have been born in Colchester or elsewhere and he may not be related to John, Alice or Edward, but they are strong candidates and deserve further research.

THE LIFE OF OLIVE COOPER

OLIVE C. CHANDLER COOPER

My great-great grandmother

Wife of Edward Bryant Cooper

Mother of Edward Lee Cooper

                              THE LIFE OF OLIVE C. CHANDLER                                 

© 2018 by Caroline Cooper Olson

Phoenix, Arizona

OUR CHANDLER ancestors speak to us through the mists of time by their names, their faces in old faded photographs, and fascinating stories about their lives ~ uniting us across the generations as a very special family.

I’m pleased to share a story about my paternal great-grandmother, who was Olive C. Chandler, born 9 May 1859 in Cambridge, Story County, Iowa, the daughter of Sereno Chandler and his wife Laura Tillotson. Olive is a direct descendant of Ichabod Chandler.

Lineage: Ichabod Chandler (1762-1838) had a son named Josiah “Little” Chandler (1792-1868) whose son was Sereno Chandler (1826-1898), whose daughter was Olive C. Chandler (1859-1928).

Olive C. Chandler was named in honor of her paternal great-grandmother Olive Fish who was married to Ichabod Chandler. Olive’s middle initial C. probably is for Catherine, the name of her paternal grandmother, Catherine Prior, who was the wife of Josiah “Little” Chandler.

It was Josiah Chandler who persuaded relatives and several friends to travel across country in 1855 to settle in the wilderness of Iowa. Josiah Chandler founded a new township that he named Cambridge in the center of the state. Early settlers included Josiah’s son Sereno Chandler and his wife Laura, who traveled from Maine in a covered wagon to make a new home in Cambridge.

Olive’s father Sereno Chandler was a landowner, farmer and served as a Private in the Iowa militia during the Civil War. Of special interest is that Olive is a direct descendant through her Chandler ancestors to Mayflower passengers John Alden, William and Alice Mullins and their daughter Priscilla Mullins who arrived in America in A.D. 1620 from England and founded Plymouth Colony.

Olive’s mother, Laura Tillotson, was a true pioneer woman who faced many hardships and challenges as she raised eight children while also caring for her three younger siblings. I traced Laura Tillotson’s ancestry back to Richard de Tilston, born circa A.D. 1040 in either Normandy, France or England. Laura Tillotson was also a direct descendant of kings in England and royalty in Wales, a distinction passed on to her daughter Olive Chandler and Olive’s descendants.

Olive has been described by relatives as very pretty, with warm blue eyes, a gentle nature, kind, with a sweet sunny disposition, and bright. She was well educated, knew the important social graces, and learned how to cook, entertain, manage a household and large family by helping her mother.

When Olive was 14 years old, she met her future husband. He was Edward Bayne Cooper, age 23, tall, handsome, and already a successful businessman. Edward was born in the village of Freethorpe in Norfolk, England on 13 October 1850. At age 5 he sailed with his parents, siblings and their servant girl across the treacherous Atlantic Ocean, a dangerous voyage with icebergs floating in the shipping lanes between England and North America.
Edward grew up on a large farm near Lake Ontario in New York. He was taught a strong work ethic, Protestant values, and was very intelligent. He received an academic education in New York, then journeyed west to seek his fortune, settling first in Cambridge, Iowa. There, he established a lumber business and livery stable and became acquainted with the Chandlers, who were the most prominent family in Cambridge.

A few years later, when Olive was 17, Edward Cooper was impressed that she was the young lady he wanted to marry. He asked her father for her hand in marriage and Sereno Chandler approved of their engagement, but insisted Olive should wait until she was 20 to marry.

Land opened to early settlers in the new village of Adrian, Nobles County, Minnesota, about 400 miles north of Cambridge, and Edward Cooper saw the opportunity. While his fiancé Olive taught school in Cambridge, he moved to Adrian where he prospered by raising livestock. Edward often returned to visit the Chandler family in Cambridge, and on New Year’s Day ~ January 1, 1880, he and Olive were married in a beautiful ceremony.

The happy newlyweds settled in Adrian, Minnesota. Nineteen days after their wedding, Edward and his bride received 80,000 acres of land in Nobles County, Minnesota. The land purchase was documented in the History of Nobles County, Minnesota, page 220.

Edward also owned the Olive Branch Stock Farm, named to honor his beloved wife Olive, that consisted of 160 acres, situated a quarter mile south of Adrian. It was fully stocked with purebred Galloway cattle, Shire and Standardbred horses, and Shropshire sheep. I saw an ad on the front page in the Homestead newspaper dated March 6, 1891 that described Edward Cooper’s Olive Branch Stock Farm as “Importers and breeders of pure bred stallions and mares – Percheron, Clyde, Shire and French coach stallions and mares from the best families in Europe. They are also winners of twenty-three First prizes in Europe and America, which is a guarantee of individual merit and soundness.”

Percheron, Clydesdale and Shire horses are enormous, powerful animals, used as war horses and for pulling heavy loads, much in demand at the time.

Olive’s husband Edward provided well for his wife and family. He bought a section of land at Adrian “on which he built a beautiful home which occupies one of the most prominent and picturesque sites in the city,” to quote the description in the Biographical History: Nobles County, Minnesota. Edward, a very strong, energetic man, also planted shade trees, a fruit orchard and large vegetable garden to provide for his family. It was an ideal place for Edward and Olive to raise their eight children, out in the fresh country air, close to nature. Old black and white photos show the family in front of their Victorian three-story mansion.

Olive Chandler Cooper was proud of her husband’s ability to prosper in their family businesses. History books recorded that, “Edward Cooper, one of the most extensive stockmen of Nobles County …. is one of the largest horse, cattle and hog buyers and shippers in southwestern Minnesota.” His family also owned several hundred acres of land for grain farming, and stores in Minneapolis.

Olive created a comfortable, cozy home for her husband and family of four sons and four daughters. She was talented with needlework, and known for her charity work helping others in the community and was active at church. She decorated her home with beautiful furnishings, including original Tiffany stained glass lamps that have been passed down in the family for decades, along with other antiques.

As the wife of a powerful businessman, Olive Chandler Cooper was a gracious hostess who entertained important dignitaries, relatives and friends with elaborate dinners in their formal dining room. The 1900 Census shows that Olive and Edward had a live-in servant girl who helped Olive with household chores.

Olive was 47 years old when she gave birth to her eighth child. She and Edward brought up their sons and daughters to “not boast about themselves, to not talk about private family matters to others, to be humble and always do the right thing, to be clean and neat, and to show generosity to others.” They and their children were described as “bright, with a witty sense of humor, intelligent, strong-minded, enthusiastic, friendly, and their sons were tall with blue or gray eyes, and handsome. Their daughters were very pretty, with gentle eyes and light hair, and were aristocratic, elegant, well-mannered, and knew the social graces,” like their mother, Olive.

Edward and Olive, always ready for new opportunities, moved the family to the boomtown of Great Falls, Montana by 1915. He built a spacious two-story home with six bedrooms in town, and claimed homestead land for a cattle ranch. Eventually, Edward’s family owned thousands of acres of land in Montana for wheat farming and grazing cattle and real estate investments that benefitted their sons and daughters and descendants.

Olive Chandler became acquainted with the famous Western artist, Charles Marion Russell, whose home and art studio were four blocks north of the Cooper home. Olive purchased several of his oil paintings showing the frontier life in the Wild West. I recall four of Charles Russell’s paintings hanging in our home when I was a child that were passed down in the family.

Edward Bryant Cooper owned several properties in Great Falls, including a tavern where he and his friends sometimes met for a friendly game of poker. One evening in 1921, the stakes were very high and Edward won 9,600 acres of land near Amarillo, Texas. Two years later, he discovered oil on that land which greatly increased the wealth for himself, Olive and their eight children and their descendants. The Cooper oil wells continue to pump “black gold” today – 95 years later – and many members of the family receive monthly royalty checks.

My family’s lineage includes Olive’s and Edward’s son named Edward Lee Cooper, who is my grandfather. He was born 22 May 1884 in Adrian, Nobles County, Minnesota and died December 1972 in Dallas, Texas. He married Mabel Corrine Stenson, born 27 August 1891 in Spring Valley, Minnesota and died 27 December 1970 in Great Falls, Montana. Their son Lee Edward Cooper II is my father, born 29 March 1916 in Great Falls, Montana and died 5 April 2004 in Arkansas. Lee Edward Cooper II married Emma Rose Jones, born 7 November 1921 in Denver, Colorado and died 18 October 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona. I am their daughter – Caroline Cooper, born in January 1941 in Denver, Colorado and was married to Dr. Dennis Olson. We have two sons, Stephen and Darren Olson and a grandson, Brennan Christianson.

My great-grandmother Olive C. Chandler Cooper passed away quietly on 26 August, 1928 at the age of 69. She was gently laid to rest in Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana. Olive is remembered as a lovely, gracious, kind, gentle, elegant, spirited and aristocratic lady who loved God and her family. She remains highly regarded by all who knew her.

Edward Bryant Cooper died at age 90 on 27 January, 1941 and lies buried beside his beloved wife, Olive in Great Falls, Montana. Their legacy of love and devotion to their family lives on. ❖

Thanks to Caroline Cooper  who sent me this story. Its nice to get stories about our Chandler ancestors. If you have a story about your ancestor and would like me to publish it please contact me: barb95831@gmail.com

NEW YEAR WISHES

CHRISTMAS WISHES

If you would like to share something about your Chandler ancestors or would like to see a specific topic related to genealogy appear in the Courier please write to Barb.

I was not aware of this bit of Christmas trivia and thought you all might enjoy it.

BANNED IN BOSTON

Christmas  was banned in Boston from 1658 to 1681. The puritans  believed it was an insult to God to observe a day associated with ancient paganism.

Christmas trees, decorations, and traditional Christmas foods such as mince pies and puddings were  banned traditional Christmas foods such as mince pies and pudding. Stores remained open all day on Christmas, and town criers walked through the streets on Christmas Eve calling out “No Christmas, no Christmas!”

Christmas did not become a legal holiday until 1856

 

 

 

 

Edmund’s Community Courier Fall 2017

Edmund’s Community Courier Fall 2017

By

Carol May

Yes, it has been a long time since a Courier was last posted, but a lot has been going on and my computer, actually AOL, did eat my homework! Fortunately, they were only e-mails, but they were about a thousand e-mails that I was saving and some pertained to Chandlers. I am also replacing my failing, old computer.

The Courier has been accessed world wide and now I get e-mails from all over. I am also finding bits of our research on family trees and also on the big Family Tree at www.familysearch.org. This is a good thing except the posters often annoyingly do not post the updates and corrections that we make. We started out, and continue to be, a research group, so updates and corrections are part of the game.

I have more stories backlogged for future issues. If any of you are computer savvy, I need help posting the Courier so pictures and maps can be included.

If you have not signed up for the Courier, you can sign up on the right hand side of the page as it is getting too complicated to also send out individual e-mail notifications.

If you have a change of address and are a Chandler Family Association member, make sure to contact Helen at: hchandler47@gmail.com

IN THIS ISSUE

Hale news, news and queries about Maine Chandlers, a great link to an English Daily News story on research about how the English are not all English, a summary of the different kinds of DNA tests and more.

NEWS AND UPDATES

THE ENGLISH ARE NOT ALL ENGLISH!

Did you know that the English don’t DNA test as all English? That in some areas of England 45% test as French and in other areas 25% test as German? That the Welsh are the most “English?” That there is little DNA trace of Scandinavians or Romans?

In the future there may be more studies updating these findings. However, if you have participated in an autosomal DNA test, this story may help explain, or further confuse you, about your own results.

Here is the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3000998/Are-Welsh-truest-Brits-English-genomes-contain-German-French-DNA-Romans-left-no-trace.html

or try

English genomes share German and French DNA while Romans and Vikings left no trace | Daily Mail Online

Ancestry.com also has an interpretation of how English or British the English are. Here is the link:

The British Are Less British Than We Think – Ancestry Blog

For a short summary of the different kinds of DNA tests see the last story in this issue.

HALE/CHANDLER NEWS

Out of the blue came an e-mail from Robyn and Paul of Australia seeking contact with our member, Angela, as Robyn shared the same ancestor, William Hale (1858-1926) as Angela. William Hale was the former Mayor of Botany, New South Wales.

For those of you who are new, we had a match between Angela’s father, an Australian with Northern Irish roots, surnamed Hale and our Y-DNA Chandler testees. That was a big surprise to all. We figure the common ancestor probably lived in the 1500s which was the century when Edmund was born.

We still don’t know if Hales were once Chandlers or vice versa centuries ago.

Angela updated me with what is going on with the Hale research. She hired genealogist in Northern Ireland who found Thomas Hale’s baptismal record in Tandragree in the Parish Church which was the Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland is the Irish equivalent of the Church of England. Both are Protestant. He was baptized April 1, 1831. His parents were William and Euphemia Hale of Lisbane Townland. That is where the research hit a brick wall.

On the DNA front, Angela is still waiting for the results of he Full Genome Y-elite 2 test. That test is more detailed and it is done by a different company than our regular Y-DNA tests. The results should available in December. Hopefully, it will help focus in on how close Edmund was to Angela’s Hale ancestors.

ESTHER ANN CHANDLER, DAUGHTER OF FREEMAN CHANDLER

We had an inquiry from Julie about Esther Ann Chandler. Her lineage is, starting with Edmund, the immigrant:

Edmund > Joseph Chandler+Mercy > Edmund Chandler+Elizabeth Alden > Capt. John Chandler + Bethiah Rickard > Jonathan Chandler +Rebecca Packard > Ichabod Chandler+Olive Fish > Freeman Chandler+Esther Austin > Esther Ann Chandler.

Julie is searching for Esther Ann’s birth record. Esther Ann was recorded in the US 1850 census in the household of Freeman and Esther, but that might not be enough for the DAR as proof of her lineage. Julie’s goal is to have Esther Ann Chandler’s lineage recognized.

Julie has searched the big genealogy library in Allen County, Indiana, the Indiana DAR, records in Iowa and Oklahoma where Esther Ann Chandler, now Bratcher, ultimately settled to no avail.

Most of Esther Ann’s siblings’ births were recorded in Foxcroft, Maine. Esther Ann and Freeman Chandler, Jr. were also born in Maine, but no record of their birth has been found nor has the birth of youngest sibling Olive Chandler, who was born in Ohio, been found.

I found a birth date in three My Heritage family trees for Esther Ann of March 6, 1831 in Poland, Maine, but no source for the information.

It was not unusual for Foxcroft Chandlers to also be recorded in Poland, Maine as that area was were they first settled before moving to Foxcroft.

If one of you has the source, let me know!

JULIA F. CHANDLER AND NANCY CUSHING CHANDLER

We had a story in the Courier about the Bible that belonged to Julia F. Chandler a while back. The Bible is now in the possession of the CFA.

Since then I came across a letter for sale on eBay authored by Julia’s mother, Almira (Webster) Chandler which probably was once in the same collection of memorabilia as the Bible. I bid $16.04 cents and lost to an antiquarian dealer. I did get to see bits and pieces of the letter when it was for sale on eBay.

Much to my surprise as a result of the story on the Julia F. Chandler Bible, I got an e-mail from Ginny Gross, a research assistant who works for the Oshkosh Public Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, who transcribed Nancy (Chandler) Derby’s diary – 309 single spaced pages! She is editing the diary and plans to send me a copy of the project in 2018 if all goes well. Many relatives are mentioned so we may be able to fill in more Maine Chandler blanks.

Nancy was Julia’s cousin. Technically, first half cousin. Their common ancestor was Rufus Chandler, but different grandmothers. In color are their common ancestors. See lineages below.

Nancy (Chandler) Derby’s lineage starting with Edmund, the immigrant is:

Edmund Chandler > Joseph Chandler+Mercy > Joseph Chandler+ Martha Hunt > Jonathan Chandler+Rachel Mitchell > Rufus Chandler+Nancy Cushing > Joel Chandler+ Eliza Stackpole > Nancy Chandler Derby.

Julia F. Chandler Allan’s lineage starting with Edmund, the immigrant is:

Edmund > Joseph Chandler+Mercy > Joseph Chandler+ Martha Hunt > Jonathan Chandler+Rachel Mitchell > Rufus Chandler+Abigail Dennison > Edward Chandler + Almira Webster > Julia Chandler

Surprisingly, Nancy mentions a letter telling the death of Capt. Edward Chandler. The news may have come from the same letter that was on eBay. Capt. Edward Chandler was a sea captain based out of New York, although his home was in Maine. According to both the diary and letter, “He died at sea, with the yellow fever”.

Nancy was born in 1830 in Freeport, Maine. Her birth was recorded in August 30, 1830 of the vital records of Phillips, Franklin County Maine and August 31, 1830 in Alexander, Washington County, Maine. In those days births were often recorded in several towns which leads to confusion today as to where that person was actually born. In the 1850 US census she was enumerated in Alexander, Washington County Maine.

According to Ginny Gross, Nancy married George Derby in Massachusetts. They moved to Oshkosh in 1854. In 1859 she and her husband moved temporarily to Sumter County Alabama where he worked for the North East and South West Railroad making bricks for the bridge trestles. They returned to Oshkosh in 1861. the diary covers 1857 to may of 1869. She probably continued to write in her diary, but those diary books are missing and probably were lost or destroyed over the years.

Nancy tells of visits by relatives including Julia’s brother, Augustine W. Chandler. He went back to Maine to get his wife and he worked in the pinery for at least a year. Lumber was a big industry in Oshkosh at that time.

Hopefully, we will have more about Nancy’s life and those of her relatives when the editing project is complete.

OUR TREASURY

Our former Edmund Chandler Association treasury has finally made the move over to the Chandler Family Association where we are now Chapter 13. Bob, our former treasurer when we were the Edmund Chandler Family Association, has handed over our treasury to Helen Chandler, the treasurer of the CFA. Our money will be kept in a separate account for dedicated to research related to Edmund Chandler.

SUMMARY OF DNA TESTS

DNA tests are additional tools, often essential tools, in the genealogy toolbox, but you have to find the right tool for the right job. Below is a short summary of the tests.

Y-DNA

Our Chandler Family Association sponsors the Y-DNA Chandler project which has over 500 participants. Go to the CFA main page and click DNA for more information about the project. It is for men only and follows the male line. Most of our Chandler testees have found matches among the many genetically different Chandler families. There is usually no fuzzy, gray area. Either you match and belong to that family or you don’t. It is an excellent tool to confirm or find your family.

There is also a Big Y-DNA test which is much more expensive and tests a different kind of marker. We do not use that test for our project. At this point, it is more for anthropological use rather genealogical and places testees on the phylogenetic family tree. It literally starts with “Adam” and moves forward in time, hopefully one day into genealogical time.

AUTOSOMAL TESTING

This is the test that you hear about on TV so frequently – Put away the lederhosen and bring out the kilt!

Test results are for both the male and female side of the family. It is also the least expensive DNA test. It is called Family Finder at FTDNA and AncestryDNA at Ancestry.

At this point those not familiar DNA testing are jumping out of their seats ready to sign up — genealogy made easy with one test and relatively cheap, too!

Not so fast. It really is only useful for about maybe 5 generations. Also, autosomal testing does not tell you which side of the family the match came from which is one of the reasons why it can get technical and require testing many people. It can help solve adoption and orphan mysteries, but it usually takes a lot of testing and help by experts to do that.

I met a couple of cousins through autosomal testing. One was from my Polish side who is doing extensive research in Polish records. We are still trying to figure out who the common ancestor was. The other was of New England colonial descent. We we know which ancestors we share, although more people would have to be tested to figure exactly which markers came from which ancestor. We did share pictures of our ancestors and family stories which ended up being the best part.

Then there is the part that most people get excited over – ethnicity! How much English, German, or French, etc. am I? Am I part Irish or Native American? This is what people want to know. Ancestry, FTDNA, and 23 and Me all give ethnic breakdowns.

Autosomal testing is accurate on a continental level, but not accurate for individual countries. Test accuracy may improve in the future, but it won’t change the fact that people migrated and boundaries changed over the centuries. Click the news item at the beginning of this issue for the link about the English not being all English which explains some the reasons why.

Ethnic breakdowns are a lot of fun, but should be taken with a grain of salt, maybe a pinch of salt.

I took the autosomal test at Ancestry, called AncestryDNA, and transferred a copy of the test results to FTDNA for a small fee (it may be free now) and also a copy to Gedmatch.com for free. That way I got access to three different databases and the tools at Gedmatch and FTDNA.

My ethnicity results varied widely between the different companies. For me, between Family Finder and AncestryDNA, Ancestry was closer.

Ethnic amounts can vary among siblings. Only exact twins have exact matches.

The other big surprise for many people is finding out that they are not Irish or Native American, or another ethnicity as was told in the family story. They might still have Irish or Native American ancestors, but it was far back enough so they might not have gotten any of their DNA, but the parent or sibling may have!

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA TEST

The MtDNA test test follows the mother’s line. It is more broad than the Y-DNA test for men. I will confess that I know very little about it, but it can be a useful tool in some cases following the mother’s line. Study up on it to see if it can help you.

Until next time, happy ancestor hunting!

ICHABOD, JOSIAH, JARIUS, ALPHONSE, HOWARD, AND RAYMOND CHANDLER

left to right
young man sitting on the ground is Raymond Chandler (1893- 1971) man standing is Howard Chandler (1869-unknown) and the older man sitting is Alphonse Chandler (1841-1908)

Happy 2017. Our member, Mike McDonough, shared this picture along with his lineage to Ichabod. If any member would like me to post their lineage information. Please send it to me along with any pictures you have. Thanks, Barb

PEASE NOTE–The information regarding Raymond Chandler I initially had written was incorrect. The correct information is below.  Thanks

———————————————————————————-

Mike McDonough> Marqaret Chandler (mother)> Raymond Chandler (grandfather)>Howard Chandler (great grandfather)>Alphonse Chandler (great great grandfather)> Jarius Chandler (great great great grandfather)>Josiah Little Chandler (great great great great grandfather>Ichabod Chandler (great great great great great grandfather)

JOSIAH “LITTLE” CHANDLER

Josiah “Little” Chandler was born 18 July 1792 in Poland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine was part of Massachusetts till it became a state in 1820) to Ichabod and Olive Fish Chandler. (1) His siblings were; Elihu  Elnathan (1795-1884), Ruth (185-?), Ichabod Jr. (1786-1856), John “Fish” (1789-1826), Judith (1791-1878, Abel (1796-1881), Sylvanus (1799-1882) and, Freeman (1801-?). (2)

It is not known if Josiah and Catherine were married. According to Vermont Vital Records Catherine’s last name was Prior.(3)

Both Josiah and Catherine are listed as living in Bonus, Boone, Illinois and Union, Story, Iowa in the 1850 and 1860 census. (4)

The children born to Josiah and Catherine were; James (1815-?), Amanda (1817-?), Olive (1819-?), Josiah L. (1822-?), Sereno (1826-1898), William (1830-1900), and Jarius (1815-1862), (5)

Josiah played a large part in the history of Cambridge Iowa. An excerpt from a town hisory reads; “In 1851 a Maine man, who had spent some years as superintendent in the Lake Superior copper-mines, and afterward located in Illinois, came to Story County site prospecting. This was Josiah Chandler. He looked over the Skunk bottoms, then water covered, and selected an elevated site, which was then surrounded by water, but above high-water mark, as that on which he should settle. This is now owned by J. Lee. He went back and persuaded Sylvanus and Jairus Chandler and others with families to come with him, and work a saw-mill in the midst of the valuable timber that lined the bottoms. Within a couple years after his first arrival, a log store and inn was built by Jairus Chandler. It is not known just when Josiah and Jairus, with Mr. Alexander, secured the site of the present town as above entered, but it may have been as late as 1854. Josiah concluded he would plat a town of about square dimensions, with its streets running parallel to the river instead of in cardinal directions. He did so, and named the new town Cambridge, and, of course, the plat is like the old French surveys. The center is near the school building in the park. The plat was not recorded, however, until November, 1856, although it is Dr. Grafton’s opinion, that it was laid out probably three years before. The saw-mill, built in 1854, did a good business, with J. Batterson as sawyer, and in August, 1855, the house now used by McKee’s meat market was built on the plat. The first store was built not far from the site of Baldwin & Maxwell’s.

In the winter of 1855-56 thirty-one persons were led to the new town by Mr. Chandler, and the entire company wintered in the McKee house, with curtains for partitions. Among these were Wallace Williams, G. A. Macy (a blacksmith), Isaac Mitchell, Esq., Joseph Jones, Esq., John Cook, Sebastian Rubar and others. On one of his trips that winter Mr. Chandler met in stage coach to Des Moines a young Baltimore physician, Dr. W. H. Grafton, and persuaded him to come to Cambridge and look over the site.” (6)

Josiah built a saw mill on Skunk River in 1853, which was the nucleus of the town of Cambridge. (7)

He died in 1868 and is buried in Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Story, Iowa. Catherine died in 1863 and is buried in Cambridge Cemetery.  (8)

An outdoor recreation area in Cambridge is named after Josiah Chandler. An excerpt from an article about the area reads: “The recreation area is named after Josiah Chandler, one of the first settlers in the Cambridge area. Chandler came to the area looking for minerals to mine, but instead found an unlimited supply of timber. After scouting the area, Chandler went back to Illinois and convinced his brothers to settle here with him and build a sawmill.” The full story is online at; http://www.amestrib.com/news/cambridge-dedicates-josiah-chandler-outdoor-recreation-area

1. Ancestry
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Ancestry
5. Ancestry
6. 1890 Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Story County, Iowa Page 207
7. History of Story County, p. 52
8. Ancestry

JARIUS CHANDLER

Jarius was born 14 April, 1815 in Minot, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine didn’t become a state until 1820) his parents were Josiah and Catherine Prior Chandler, (1) His siblings were; James (1815-?), Amanda (1817-?), Olive (1819-?), Josiah L. (1822-?), Serno (1826-1898), and William (1830-1900). (2)

He married Julia Blake about 1840 in Maine. (3) Their children were; Alphonse (1841-1909), Wallace Washington (1846-?), and Alice (1858-1944). (4)

Julia and Jarius are listed as living in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine and Union, Story, Iowa in the 1850 and 1860 census. (5)

Jarius played an instrumental role in the early history of Cambridge, Iowa as these excerpts show;

The first resident of the town of Cambridge was Jarius Chandler, building his house near the saw mill. (6)

“CHANDLER’S SAW MILL” was on Skunk River in, or at, the northeast corner of Cambridge, and was built in early times, 1853 or 1854, by Mr. Jairus Chandler. it was a water power saw-mill, and was built before the Grafton & Chandler flouring mill.  (7)

Within a few years after he arrived Jairus Chandler built a log store and inn. (8)

A (post office was also established at Cambridge, of which Jairus Chandler was the first postmaster. For a time, this office supplied mail to an office in Ballard Grove, but there was no regular carrier. (9)

He died about 1862 in Story county. It is not known where he is buried. (10) Julia remarried and died in  1878. (11)

1. Ancestry
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Nevada Historical Society
5. Ancestry
6. The History of Story County 1887 Page 52
7. The History of Story County 1887 Page 52
8. The History of Story County 1887 page 386
9. 1890 Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Story County, Iowa page 126
10. Nevada Historical Society
11. Nevada Historical Society

ALPHONSE CHANDLER

Alphonse was born 28 March, 1841 in Newport, Penobscot, Maine to Jarius and Julia Blake Chandler. (1) His siblings were; Wallace Washington (1846-?), and Alice (1858-1944). (2)

In 1862 he married Ellen J. Banks. (3) Their children were; Howard (1869-1913) and Edward (1864-?) (4)

Alphonse were listed in the 1870 census as living in Union, Story, Iowa, in 1885 Cambridge, Story, Iowa and in 1900 lived in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa. (5) Their children were; Howard (1869-1913), and Edward (1864-?).

He died 12 July, 1909 in Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa and is buried in Murdoch-Linwood Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Ellen died 17 Feb, 1930 in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois and is buried in Murdoch-Linwood Cemetery Cedar Rapids. (6)

1. Ancestry
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Ancestry
5. Ancestry
6. Find A Grave

HOWARD CHANDLER

Howard was born April 1869 in Story county, Iowa to Alphonse and Ellen J. Banks Chandler. (1) His sibling was Edward (1864-?). (2)

In 1891 he married Geraldine Guthrie in Nevada, Story, Iowa. (3)  Their children were; Raymond (1892-1971), Ellen (1895-1904). (4)

Geraldine and Howard are listed as living in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota in the 1900 census and in 1910 as living in Schenectady, Schenectady, New York. (5)

Howard died 14 July, 1913 in Bloomfield, Oakland, Michigan his place of burial is unknown. Geraldine died after 1940. (6)

1. Ancestry
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Ancestry
5. Ancestry
6. Ancestry

RAYMOND CHANDLER

Raymond was born in Iowa to Howard and Geraldine Guthrie Chandler. (1) His sibling was Ellen (1895-1904) (2).

He married Mary Welliver. (3) Their child was: Margaret (?) who married Mr. McDonough, Mary Ellen (1915-1990), and Raymond Jr.(1922-1989)  (4) Raymond and Mary Welliver divorced. In 1938 Raymond married Mary White.(5)

“Raymond and Mary moved to Levering Michigan and  buy a house, motel and bar called the Log Cabin.” (6)

He died 4 March, 1971 in Cheboygan, Cheboygan, Michigan, and is buried in Saint Clement Catholic Cemetery in Pellston, Emmet, Michigan.Mary died 15 Sept, 1982 and is buried in Saint Clement Catholic Cemetery.(7)

1. Ancestry
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Lineage given by Mike McDonough
5.  Information by Mike McDonough
6. Information by Mike McDonough
7. Find A Grave.

ICHABOD AND ELIHU CHANDLER by Barb Chandler

Happy holidays; I thought it would be interesting to make a list of all Ichabod’s descendants and their children. If you have stories, pictures, etc. could you send them to me (along with sources) and I will post them in the Courier. Also, please include your lineage to Ichabod; for example mine is; Barb Chandler>Paul Chandler( father)>Everett Chandler(grandfather)James Chandler Sr.(great grandfather)Elihu Chandler(great great grandfather) Ichabod Chandler(great great great grandfather).

I’m putting up the information I have on Ichabod and his son Elihu since they are two of my ancestors, if you have anything on these men that I have not included please let me know so I can post it.

By sharing our genealogical information we can get to know other members of CFA, and their ancestors a bit better

ICHABOD

Ichabod the son of Jonathan and Rebecca Packard Chandler was born 19 September, 1762 in Duxbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Ichabod was born Duxbury was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony since Massachusetts was not a state until 1788.  (1) His siblings were: Hannah 1769-? John A. 1758-1858, John 1756-1756, Nathaniel 1762-1854, Reuben 1765-? and Avira 1767-1860. (2)

He married Olive Fish 29 Jan, 1784 in Pembroke, Massachusetts Bay Colony. (3)

The children of Ichabod and Olive were; Elihu Elnathan (1795-1884), Ruth (185-?), Ichabod Jr. (1786-1856), John “Fish” (1789-1826), Judith (1791-1878), Josiah “Little” (1792-1868), Abel (1796-1881), Sylvanus (1799-1882) and, Freeman (1801-?). (4)

Ichabod fought in the Revolutionary War twice.  Once, when he was 13 years old he and his father served in the Lexington Alarms n 1775. (5) Two years later, in 1778, he spent 2 months and 4 days at Castle Island. (6)

Between 1783 and 1785 Ichabod followed his father and brothers to Bakerstown. Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Jonathan brought his sons to Bakerstown, Maine or Massachusetts had not become states yet. Maine was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony until 1820.  Even though there was no mention of Ichabod’s mother or his sister traveling to Bakerstown at the same time. Perhaps the men came to Maine before Rebecca and Hannah so they could get everything ready.  (7)

In 1806 Ichabod and Olive were received into the second Congregational Church in Minot, Massachusetts Bay Colony. (8)

Olive died in Maine 1832. Her place of burial is unknown.

Ichabod died in Maine in 1838. He is buried in Lee Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine (9)

1.  Ancestry
2.  Ancestry
3.  Ancestry
4.  Database of names in the library of Edmund Chandler Family Association (no longer available)
5.  Database of names in the library of Edmund Chandler Family Association (no longer available)
6.  F.W. Cook, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, May 11, 1929.
7.   The History of Androscoggin County Maine by Georgia Drew Merrill, editor 1891
8.  The History of Androscoggin County Maine by Georgia Drew Merrill, editor 1891
9.  Find A Grave

ELIHU ELNATHAN CHANDLER

“Elihu, was a man of sterling habits and absolute integrity deeply religious and true to his convictions in every sense of the word. He had very limited education, yet he could repeat many quotations from the Bible, letter perfect, and clothed his prayers with beautiful language.” (1)

He was the son of Ichabod and Olive Fish Chandler was born 27 January, 1795 in Poland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. When Elihu was born, Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since it didn’t become a state until 1820. (2) His siblings were; Ruth (185-?), Ichabod Jr. (1786-1856), John “Fish” (1789-1826), Judith (1791-1878), Josiah “Little” (1792-1868), Abel (1796-1881), Sylvanus (1799-1882) and, Freeman (1801-?). (3)

In 1832 Elihu came west to Henderson county Illinois. Where he helped build and guard the forts during the Blackhawk War. (4)

“In 1834 he crossed the Mississippi, and came to the little town of Burlington (known then as Flint Hills) and helped lay out Jefferson Street (the main thoroughfare in Burlington). At that time, there were only a few log houses. Late in 1834 he purchased 320 acres of rough hilly land 18 miles west of Burlington for $1.25 an acre. He chose the site so he could have wood to burn and wild game for food.” (5)

He married Jemima Mathis Dobson June 1835 at Augusta Township, Henry, Iowa, When Elihu married Iowa was part of the Wisconsin Territory since it didn’t become a state until 1846. (6)

Jemima came to Augusta Township with her mother, sister and brother-in-law from Green county Kentucky, and articles of religion from Bush Baptist church. They wanted to organize a community church, and invited a minister from Illinois to help them organize a Baptist Church. In 1834 people begin holding meetings in a cabin in Augusta 10 miles south of Burlington. In 1838 Elihu became one of the first members of the new church. The church, known as Long Creek Baptist, was the first Baptist Church in the State of Iowa now known as Danville Baptist Church. (7)

The children of Elihu and Jemima were; James (1836-1908), Elihu Jr. (1838-1843), Sophronia Jane (1841-1864), and Ruth Olive (1843-1887). (8) They both were on the 1850 and 1870 census as living in Baltimore Township, Henry, Iowa. (9)

Elihu died 1884 in Baltimore Township, and was originally buried on a farm in Henry county. His body was re-buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Pleasant Grove Henry, Iowa. (10)

Jemima died 1888 in Baltimore Township, and is buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Pleasant Grove, Henry, Iowa. (11)

1. Everett Chandler’s letter to his son Paul.
2. Ancestry
3. Ancestry
4. Obituary
5. Everett Chandler’s letter to his son Paul.
6. Ancestry
7. History of Danville Community
8. Family History
9. Ancestry
10. Find a Grave and Obituary
11. Find a Grave

EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

 

SUMMER 2016

 

By

Carol May

 

More DNA news this issue which includes an update on the Australian-Northern Irish match with the Edmund Chandler family.  So much going on behind the scenes both with the Edmund Chandler family and the CFA, it is hard to find the time to write the newsletter. Sorry, no pictures yet as Barb took care of that.

 

Watch for the excellent and award winning CFA newsletter which will be coming out in July.  It will feature interesting English travel tips and insights.  In addition there is a story on the Plymouth and Jamestown colonies compared and contrasted plus more. Make sure that you are a paid up CFA member to receive the CFA newsletter. There will also be an upcoming anniversary CFA edition with lots of pictures and diary excerpts of the just completed Chandler tour of England. This was described by many as a “trip of a lifetime” as it featured an elaborate formal dinner at the Wax Chandlers’ Guild, special tours, being announced by the Town Crier in full regalia and more.

 

I am looking for a descendant of Edmund’s son, Joseph, who has taken the 37 marker DNA test to upgrade to 111 markers. If money is an issue the test can be subsidized from our Edmund Chandler research treasury.  Prefer a member of Edmund Chandler chapter of the CFA.  This test is for research into the entire Edmund Chandler family so would not be solely for the benefit of the testee. Read more about it in “The Chandler Project and the U198 Project” below.

 

If some of the DNA stuff sounds confusing, you are not alone!  Ask, and I will try to get answers.

 

In this issue:

 

*MORE ON THE MATCH BETWEEN THE CHANDLERS AND THE HALES

 

*THE CHANDLER PROJECT AND THE U198 PROJECT – MORE DNA NEWS

 

*THE EDMUND CHANDLER TREASURY

 

*THE “BIG FOUR” NEW ENGLAND CHANDLER FAMILIES’ DNA NEWS

 

THE PATERNAL LINE: WHAT IS IT?

 

*A NEWLY DISCOVERED EDMUND CHANDLER LINE IN MAINE

 

*IRVING CHANDLER UPDATE: HIS MOTHER’S MYSTERY NAME SOLVED?

 

*JULIA CHANDLER BIBLE UPDATE

 

 

 

MORE ON THE MATCH BETWEEN THE CHANDLERS AND HALES

 

First, a quick summary, last issue we reported a Y-DNA match with our Edmund Chandler genetic Group 13 and Roger Hale of Australia who has Northern Irish roots.  This was a BIG surprise as we thought that when we got a DNA match with our Edmund Chandler group it would be with someone in England with the surname of Chandler.

 

Since the last issue, the Y-DNA results have come back from the other Australian Hale who was tested.  He does match our new member, Angela’s father, Roger and thus also our Edmund Chandler group.

 

This match, plus their paper trail, confirms that the common ancestor for the two Hales was William Hale of Northern Ireland who was born c. 1800. We don’t know if he was born there or elsewhere. So now we have moved out of Australia and into Northern Ireland with our Hale matches.

 

That still leaves an over 200 year gap between Edmund Chandler’s birth and William Hale’s birth plus two different surnames.

 

John Chandler, our DNA expert, wrote that William Hale is theoretically close enough to have descended from Edmund Chandler. However, the scenario of Edmund having an illegitimate son with the surname Hale is pretty farfetched considering how religious he was. John was not saying that this happened only he is that close genetically.   More likely, the common ancestor between Edmund and the Hales is farther back than when Edmund was born, although how far back we don’t know.

 

We can do further testing to try to see if the Hales and Chandlers can be separated into two groups, right now they are one group. We don’t know which one would be the off-shoot group which means who came first the Chandlers or the Hales.

 

We have traced the Hales through DNA to Northern Ireland, now the issue is to try to figure out where the Chandler/Hale connection is.  Very broadly we know that Edmund was a Protestant as was Angela’s, ancestor William Hale. More specifically Edmund was a Separatist. William Hale’s family was a combination of Church of Ireland and Presbyterian according to the analysis that Angela did.

 

I did a crash course on the history of religion of Northern Ireland to try to figure out through religious affiliations where the Hales came from before they migrated to Northern Ireland. I found that the Church of Ireland was the Irish version of the Church of England. The Presbyterians were mainly Scottish. We already ruled out the likelihood of William Hale being Irish because he wasn’t Catholic and Hale is considered mostly an English name.

 

There were more Presbyterians amongst the Hale wives. People do convert and their descendants may convert back, but there was no unified affiliation in the family with the Presbyterians who were mostly of Scottish origins. So that leads us back to the likelihood of the Hales being of English origins rather than Lowland Scottish.

 

We don’t know when the Hales migrated to Northern Ireland. Records are few and sketchy. The earliest Hale that we could find so far was John Hale who was murdered in the Irish Massacres of 1641/42.  We don’t know if he was an ancestor of  William Hale or not.

 

The religious conflicts of Northern Ireland are well known to the world. In the 1600s, the English king drove many of the Irish out of their own lands and created plantations settled by Scot Presbyterians (who later became known as the Scots-Irish), English and a few others to quell, to him, the troublesome Irish.

 

Then the Presbyterian Scots began being a problem to the English with their quest to be independent. As a result there was a crackdown on the Northern Irish Presbyterians with England wanting them to leave Presbyterianism and join the Church of Ireland which was affiliated with the Church of England.  Politics and religion were tightly intertwined.

 

All the while, both the Scots-Irish and the English were having trouble with the Irish Catholics some of whom became “woodkerns.” “Woodkerns” were marauding bandits who made life difficult for the Scottish and English Protestant migrants, or invaders, depending on whose side one was on.

 

Many of the Scots were already experienced fighters as some them came from the borderland region between Scotland and England which was filled with “reivers.” Reivers consisted of both Scottish and English raiders. Northern Ireland was a volatile place with clashing religions and peoples.

 

 

 

SOURCES:

 

Ireland in the seventeenth century, or, The Irish massacres of 1641-2 [ed … – Google Books

 

Dissenters in Ireland

BBC – Legacies – Immigration and Emigration – Northern Ireland – Irish Stew – Irish Stew – Article Page 1

Irish Ancestors

Researching Covenanter Ancestors : Return to the Cradle of Irish Presbyterianism

Free Irish genealogy websites. The 10 best free sites for Irish family history.

Hale | Irish Origenes: Use Family Tree DNA to Discover Your Genetic Origins | Clans of Ireland | Irish Surnames Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CHANDLER PROJECT AND THE U198 PROJECT NEWS

 

A few of our members are also involved in the U198 project in addition to our Chandler DNA project. For anyone looking to find out which Chandler family that they belong to, our Chandler DNA project, of which the Edmund Chandler family is a participant, is the place to go. Our Chandler DNA project is the clearing house, so to speak, for all Chandlers and most have found matches. Here is the CFA link: Chandler Family Association – The Chandler DNA Project

While the Chandler DNA project traces back through genealogical time (that’s when surnames began being used) the U198 project is more anthropological going forward in time starting from the first man.  Naturally no one knows the names of these early individuals, so it is really anthropology rather than genealogy.

 

Several million people have the U198 genetic marker and the project is working on dividing them into smaller and smaller groups. The Hales and Edmund Chandler descendants have the U198 marker. The Edmund Chandler family is the only Chandler family that I know of that has the U198 marker. The U198 project is trying to work its way forward into genealogical time.

 

Both of our projects are trying to figure out where the Hales split off from the Chandlers or vice versa.  Two Hales and one Edmund Chandler descendant of Edmund’s son, Benjamin, have upgraded their Chandler DNA project tests from 67 markers to 111 markers.  We need to upgrade a descendant of Edmund’s son Joseph for comparison.  The available male descendants of Edmund’s son, Joseph, have only taken the 37 marker test so upgrading one of those tests will be more expensive.

 

So, if you descend from Edmund’s son, Joseph, and wish to upgrade your test to 111markers, let me know. Upgrading is just a matter of telling the FTDNA and paying the additional money.  You don’t have to send in another sample. As we have a fund for research, if money is an issue we can subsidize or partially subsidize the upgrade from our treasury.  This upgrade is more for the benefit of the whole group rather than just an individual as we hope to find out if the descendants of the Hales, Benjamin or Joseph Chandler can be separately identified by markers. The project discount price for the upgrade from 37 markers to 111 markers is $220.00. Preference will be given to Edmund Chandler chapter members of the CFA.

 

We are presently waiting for more test results to come back, and hope to have the results next time from both the Chandler DNA project and the U198 project.

 

 

THE EDMUND CHANDLER TREASURY

 

The last financial report from Bob shows the same amount of money that we have now as we have not had expenditures.  As a reminder, we did not merge our treasury with the Chandler Family Association when we merged with them.  The money is still set aside for Edmund Chandler family research.  Some of which we plan to use for DNA research.   Our English CFA members are out there scouting for Chandlers in general. If anything promising shows up, we can consider sponsoring a DNA test.

 

Also, there is nothing so far on finding a place for the plaque in Duxbury.  Billie has been contacted by the new owners of Joseph (Edmund’s son) Chandler’s home as they are very interested in the history of the house.  They are in luck, as Billie was able to research the house and both go further back in time and correct the mistakes of past research.  It is a big deal in Duxbury to have one’s house history researched with an accurate chain of title that goes back to colonial times. It’s like “genealogy” for houses!

 

 

THE “BIG FOUR” NEW ENGLAND CHANDLER FAMILIES NEWS

 

Most New Englanders who have pre-1800 Chandlers in their family tree descend from one (or in some cases more) of four genetically unrelated Chandler families.  They are our Edmund Chandler of Duxbury, Mass, William and Annis Chandler of Roxbury, Mass, William Chandler of Newbury, Mass, and Roger Chandler of Concord, Mass. There are also a few other early smaller, but not as well-known Chandler families.

 

Questions have abounded over the years over whether some of the families are related and where they came from.

 

Just recently and surprisingly, William Chandler of Newbury, Mass descendants matched the descendants of John Chandler of 1610 Jamestown, Virginia and not another New England family in our Chandler DNA project. It is a close enough match for them to have shared a common ancestor in the past.

 

Both William of Newbury and John of 1610 Jamestown are part of genetic Group 7 which is divided into several sub-groups. The origins of Group 7 appear to be in Hampshire and Wiltshire, England.

 

Just previous to the discovery that William of Newbury and John of Jamestown share a common ancestor, it was discovered through Chandler DNA project testing that descendants of Roger of Concord matched Chandlers in England with Yorkshire roots. So now it seems quite likely that Roger Chandler came from Yorkshire as his wife’s family also came from Yorkshire which is in northern England.

 

For years it was speculated that Roger of Concord was the son of Roger Chandler of Duxbury, Mass, but the evidence gathered so far does not support that. Also, because we think that Roger of Duxbury and Edmund of Duxbury were related, Roger of Concord descendants should match Edmund, but they do not.

 

We know or at least have strong clues where all of the “Big Four” Chandlers came from with the exception of our Edmund.

 

The discovery of a match between the Edmund Chandler descendants and a Hale with Northern Irish roots has only deepened the mystery as the Hales do not appear to have come from Northern Ireland originally as they were not Catholic and Hale is an English derived name.

 

 

THE PATERNAL LINE

 

Most folks understand that Y-DNA testing is for males only. Men have the Y chromosome and women don’t. Our Y-DNA Chandler project is for Chandler surnamed males. Exceptions are name changes, adoptions and events outside the marriage.

 

The Y-DNA test follows the paternal line.  This is where confusion can set in. What is the paternal line?

 

First, look at the chart from International Society of Genetic Genealogists (ISOGG). It is a classic pedigree chart with the paternal line shown in blue.

Paths of DNA inheritance – ISOGG Wiki

Now imagine that chart filled in as far as you can with your ancestors. The very top line in blue is your paternal line which is your father, his father, his father and so on. It is also a line. It doesn’t zigzag between males and females.

 

Sometimes folks figure that if they are male, but their surname is “Smith”, for example, and their mother or grandmother was a Chandler that would qualify them for the Chandler DNA project. It would not because their paternal line is “Smith” and not Chandler. The line that would be followed would be “Smith.”

 

All is not lost if you are not a Chandler surnamed male and wish to utilize the Y-DNA test.  Find a Chandler surnamed brother, father, grandfather, uncle, male cousin or nephew to take the test as the results would also apply to you.

 

 

A NEWLY DISCOVERED CHANDLER LINE IN MAINE

 

April, our new Edmund Chandler CFA chapter member, sent in her Chandler line and lo and behold, we have another Chandler family in Maine that we didn’t know existed. Her husband’s Chandler line beginning with Edmund (this is the preferred CFA way) and working back to her husband’s grandfather is:

 

Edmund Chandler>Joseph Chandler>Philip Chandler>Perez Chandler>Perez Chandler>Benjamin Chandler>Benjamin Chandler>Chauncey Chandler>Horace Chandler

 

The tricky part of her research was the first Benjamin Chandler.  He was born in 1804 in Duxbury, but moved to Somerset, Maine. In his death record it was mistakenly recorded that he was born in Roxbury, Mass which is not Edmund Chandler territory, but William and Annis Chandler territory. He was also the only Edmund Chandler descendant in that area of Maine.

 

For those interested in her ancestor Perez Chandler, I did a story on the first Perez, the meaning of his name and his Revolutionary War service as part of the Committee of Correspondence of Duxbury in a past issue of Edmund’s Community Courier which you can access by either scrolling back or using the search function.

 

 

IRVING W. CHANDLER UPDATE

 

In the Summer 2015 issue I wrote a story on Irving W. Chandler, but his mother’s maiden name was very mysterious until now.

 

Lineage:

 

Edmund Chandler>Benjamin Chandler>Joseph Chandler> Capt. Jonathan Chandler>Jonathan A. Chandler>William L. Chandler>George W. Chandler>Irving Chandler.)

 

Our member, Beth, had written the Chandler Genealogy Panel at the CFA to figure out her Chandler lineage. She knew that her ancestor, Irving Chandler, was from Ellenburg, Clinton County, New York. He was our only New York born Chandler that I have come across so far. After some sleuthing, I hit a roadblock with “Weller” Chandler.  More sleuthing revealed that “Weller” was actually William L. Chandler.

 

However, Irving’s mother’s maiden name was spelled in so many unique ways that it seemed impossible to figure out what it was originally. Beth wrote that Irving’s mother was Victoria Robertoh.  Robertoh seemed like a very unusual name as there were no other “Robertohs” that I could find. Census and vital records only added to the mystery. She was “Victra” Robardo on Irving’s first marriage record and “Victoria Roberts” on his second marriage record. Vermont vital records showed Irving’s father marrying “Victorine Robertold.”

 

I thought if I went back a little farther, her name might be revealed. I found “Victoria Doe” daughter of “Robert Doe” in the 1850 US census for Ellenburg, Clinton New York. There may have been a couple of other variations.

 

Instead of further research helping, it made it even more confusing. Finally, a light bulb moment when I stumbled onto the French the name Clyde Melvin Rabideau who wrote “Headstone Inscriptions of Clinton County, Vol. 3.

 

Most likely “Robertoh” and variations were from the name Rabideau or a similar French name. Clinton County, New York is very close to French speaking Quebec, Canada. There was also an Antoine Robider in the area. While I have come across phonetically spelled names now and again and in regional accents, it never occurred to me to think French!

 

 

JULIA F. CHANDLER BIBLE UPDATE

 

I transcribed Julia’s Bible entries. The Chandler entries begin in the mid 1700s with Rufus Chandler, Julia’s grandfather, his wives, Nancy Cushing and Abigail Dennison and continue through to the mid 1800s with their children. I didn’t transcribe the Websters or the Waites. The Bible, transcription and pictures of the pertinent pages were displayed at the CFA annual meeting in September of last year.

 

The plan is to put the transcription and pictures of the Bible into the CFA library. We hope to find a descendant of Julia’s siblings, as it appears that she had no children, who would love to reclaim this piece of family history.

 

*******

 

More news next time.  Until then happy ancestor hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPRING 2016 EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

By

Carol May

 

The biggest news this issue is finding a match between the Edmund Chandler project Y-DNA testees and an Australian with Northern Irish roots.

EDMUND CHANDLER CHAPTER NEWS

Our old site, www.edmundchandler.com  is no more. A reminder that our new site can be found at: Chandler Family Association – Genetic Chandler Family #13 – Descendants of Edmund Chandler
born England 1588

There were technical difficulties in getting the files out of the old site, but none have been lost.

Thank you James Campbell, our webmaster, for managing the ECFA web site for 11 years while raising a family, working at a full-time job, and doing missionary work in remote places of the world.

Lastly, our long-time editor, Barb, is retiring for health reasons. Thank you, Barb, for your work as editor. In addition to doing some of the writing, she posted the Courier and found many illustrations for it.

Our founder, James, is helping out by posting the Courier. He of many computer skills and me of so few!

I did have several stories on the Civil War and more on DNA, but have put them off until a future issue to bring you this breaking news.

 

AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY FROM AUSTRALIA

We have been hoping for an Edmund Chandler DNA match outside of the US, but we thought it would be in England as that is where we, we meaning mostly CFA member Dick our English CFA members, have been looking.  However, the Chandler Y-DNA project is worldwide, with over 500 participants, so our match came from an Australian with Northern Irish roots!

Adding to the mystery is that this new match is not surnamed Chandler but Hale.

Angela Hale, our newest member, is an enthusiastic genealogist who asked her Dad to take the Y-DNA test.   She hoped that he would match a Hale as that is his surname. To her surprise and ours, her father was a 66/67 match with one of our Edmund Chandler testees and a 64/67 match with the remainder of our testees. That’s a very close match and the difference is negligible between the testees.

Thanks to members Angela and Dr. Bob, the tests were upgraded to 111 markers and the match held up with 107 out of 111 markers matching. That’s really close, close enough to warrant a cigar.

In addition to upgrading their Y-DNA marker tests to 111 markers, both Dr. Bob and Angela’s father also tested positive for the U-198 marker (see the U-198 story below).

 

Her research shows that her 5^th great grandfather was William Hale, of Ballymore, Armagh County, which is now in Northern Ireland. His son, Thomas Hale, her 4^th great grandfather, married in Tandragee Armagh County and then the couple immigrated to Australia from Ballymore in 1855 on the ship “Glorianna.”

Questions immediately arose.  If he was a Hale why did his descendant match the Edmund Chandler descendants?  At this point it seems geographically impossible or at least very improbable that Thomas Hale descended from Edmund as no Edmund descendants returned to the British Isles that we know about.

If not a descendant of Edmund, that could push the common ancestor of both William Hale and Edmund Chandler back even farther, before the common use of surnames.  That’s 400 plus years ago. That could explain why he was a Hale and Edmund was a Chandler. It is also possible Hales were once Chandlers or vice versa.

Hale is a habitational name of Old English origin meaning hollow or nook. Chandler, as we all know, is an occupational name, originally candle maker.

Was there unofficial adoption somewhere along the line?  Adoptions up until more modern times were usually unofficial. Family members or family friends died and the child was taken in and often given the surname of the adopting family. That’s another way a Chandler could have become a Hale or vice versa.

The Hales were probably not Irish as William Hale was Presbyterian and not Catholic. Hale is a popular name in England and southern Wales.  However, Presbyterians were mostly Scottish. So there is a possibility that William Hale was of Scots origin rather than English.  So

During the reign of King James (1566-1625), Scottish Presbyterians were sent to colonize Northern Ireland driving the Irish chieftains and their followers into the hills and marginal lands. This was the King’s way of taking care of, to him, those troublesome Irish. Those Scots later became known as the Scots-Irish. They were mainly Presbyterian Lowland Scots who moved to Ireland and mainly Church of England Englishmen who also moved to Northern Ireland. More Scots moved to Northern Ireland over time, many more Scots than Englishmen.

It is interesting to note that neither William Hale nor Edmund Chandler were Church of England as Edmund was a Separatist although he was born over 200 years before William Hale, the Presbyterian.

It is also possible that William Hale’s family were more recent immigrants to Northern Ireland as people did move there for work over the ages.

In Australia, Angela also found another descendant of Thomas Hale, the 1855 immigrant from Northern Ireland, to agree to Y- DNA testing.

Here is Angela’s story in brief.

She got as far back as her 5^th great- grandfather, William Hale who married Euphemia (Austin?) with her research. They had Thomas Hale (c.1833-1919) who married Jessie Emerson in Tandragee, County Armagh, in now Northern Ireland. The couple migrated from Ballymore, County Armagh to Australia on the ship “Glorianna” in 1855.  The immigration papers indicated that they had no relatives living in Australia at the time they arrived.

From then on they were all Australians.  Their son named William Hale (1858-1926) married Elizabeth Colquhoun. They had Albert Stanley Hale (1892-1965) who married Alice Aldrich who had Ronald Ian Hale (1915-1951) who married Florence Monkley who had Angela’s father, Roger.

If the new testee from Australia also matches our Edmund group, we can research Northern Ireland further, if not, well genealogy is all about solving mysteries.

Plantation of Ulster – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  More about the colonization of Northern Ireland by command of King James I.

James VI and I – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  The King of Scotland and England.

 

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT EDMUND’S ORIGINS SO FAR

As for the origins of our Edmund Chandler, we all know that he was documented as being in Leiden, Holland with the Separatists in the early 1600s.  Our member, Billie, did some further research that indicated that Roger Chandler was his brother and that they lived in Colchester, Essex, England.  Alas, the researchers, authors of books on Pilgrims, who she contacted, did not have the paperwork, just the memory of it!

We do know from Roger’s marriage record that he was listed as being “of” Colchester.  Our fellow CFA members in England are also looking for Chandlers to Y-DNA test. Rochester is another area that is a possibility for Edmund’s origins.

Another question arises, if Edmund could have been “of” Colchester, were his family roots there or were they from elsewhere?

 

THE U-198 PROJECT

Our Chandler/Hale surprise is not the only DNA news that we have. Two of our members, one being Angela’s father and the other being Dr. Bob, have also joined the U-198 DNA project as they both tested positive for that marker.

Unlike the Y-DNA project that deals in genealogical time which covers the time of surname usage which began about 500 years ago for common people, the U-198 project focuses on deep ancestral research — think tribes and spears.  Their results are also applicable to the rest of the Edmund Chandler Y-DNA project testees.

Below is our member, Dick’s, explanation of haplogroup R1b that Edmund’s descendants belong to and the U-198 project.

Haplogroups are the main branches of the human evolutionary tree, consisting of groups of DNA patterns which are inherited from a common ancestor, and somewhere in their genes a specific genetic mutation unique to that haplogroup.  Edmund descendants belong to haplogroup R1b, the most common European haplogroup, carried by about 70% of English men.  Within that haplogroup, a small percentage (about 2% of that 70%) carry an additional mutation at one specific location – named U-198 – in their Y chromosome.  (The actual mutation is the nucleic acid adenine occurring at that location, where everyone else in R1b has the acid guanine at that location.) Any man, of any surname,  carrying that mutation can join the U-198 project, which aims to establish where and when that additional mutation occurred, probably 4 to 5 thousand years ago in Europe, whereas the R1b identifying mutation occurred about 25,000 years ago.

As you can see, the mutation named U-198 occurred thousands of years before the use of surnames – back in the days of tribes and spears.  However, one of the goals of the U-198 project is to find out the surnames of those who test positive for U-198 and where they can be found in modern times and to see what patterns might emerge. For more information about the U-198 project:

www.nber.org/chapters/c6116.pdf

 

TV NEWS

 

“Genealogy Roadshow” will be back on PBS starting May 17, 2016. Participants from Boston, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and more will be featured.

 

More news next time!

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMER 2015 EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

Summer greetings to all! I have been very busy these past months with both genealogy and non-genealogy business. Much has been going on behind the scenes both with our Edmund Chandler Chandler family chapter and at the CFA.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

The contents of our ECFA web site are in the process of moving to the Chandler Family Association Edmund Chandler Chapter as we merged with the CFA last year. The Edmund Chandler family was the 13th genetic Chandler family to be recognized, so we are Chapter 13. Our founder, James, and the CFA editor, Claudia, have been working hard making this happen. You can go to our ECFA web site, http://www.edmundchandler.com , where you will find a clickable link for our new CFA Edmund Chandler Chapter 13 site or you can go directly to our new site: Chandler Family Association – Genetic Chandler Family #13 – Descendants of Edmund Chandler born England 1588
With the exception of the Members’ Only section which will be moved in the near future, everything has been moved over to our new site. If you are a paid member and want to access the Members’ Only section and library, you can e-mail me, Carol, at docabye@aol.com for the new password.
Because of the difficulty, impossibility according to Claudia, of creating a Members’ Only section at the CFA web site, most of our library and other Members’ Only material will be available to everyone at our new site. Claudia is the editor of the CFA newsletter, information and computer wrangler. If you wish your Edmund Chandler lineage to be on the public lineage page, Chandler Family Association – Members’ Lineages , you can contact Claudia to have your lineage added to this page. Barb, our Edmund’s Community Courier editor, has already her lineage posted. The databases will be in the CFA library.
A big thank you to Claudia of the CFA and our ECFA, founder James for tackling the enormous project of moving our huge amount of records, maps, photos and information – about 1200 pages in the library alone. As the CFA is a big group (about 700 members worldwide), there are many hands to help with administrative chores so updates to the CFA web site will be frequent.

IN THIS ISSUE

*SEARCHING FOR EDMUND’S ORIGINS
*BILLIE’S BOOK ON JOSEPH CHANDLER AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS
*O’NEIL FARM A 300 hundred-year-old farm owned only by Chandlers, Averys and O’Neils) will be a part of the 2020 quadricentennial celebrating the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Your connection to the farm is either as a direct descendant of one of the Chandlers who owned the farm or as a many times removed great nephew or niece.
*JULIA F. CHANDLER BIBLE An 1887 Bible with births, marriages and deaths going back to the 1700s.
*IRVING W. AND WILLIAM (WELLER?!) L. CHANDLER A Chandler brick wall broken down. This one led back to William L. Chandler of Bartlett, New Hampshire
*DNA NEWS We have two new YDNA matches with the Edmund Chandler family. Also, a simple explanation of the several kinds of DNA tests and a simple explanation of how ethnic origins and cousin finding works and whether or not this may pencil out for you.
*SOME CFA NEWS Latest on the 25th anniversary and annual meeting, trip to England and more.
*TIPS AND USEFUL LINKS *COMING UP

SEARCHING FOR EDMUND’S ORIGINS

Where was Edmund from? That has been the really big question for years. Our member, Billie, has a hot lead. I am hoping that we can spend time researching that lead further.

BILLIE’S BOOK

Billie has finished writing her book on Joseph Chandler, his land, and some of his descendants. Joseph was Edmund Chandler, the immigrant’s son. The writing is done, next will be adding the maps, photos and illustrations. When that is done it will be published.

THE O’NEIL FARM:History – Historic O’Neil Farm

Avery / O’Neil dairy barn taken around 1890.

The O’Neil farm, with a rich and deep Chandler history, will represent Duxbury as part of the Plymouth quadricentennial which will be celebrated in 2020.
It is the last working dairy farm in Duxbury and is one of the last historic working farms on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Carl O’Neil, the support of the town of Duxbury, donors and The Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts arranged to have the farm permanently preserved as a working farm several years ago. Carl O’Neil, a descendant of Edmund Chandler, the immigrant, still operates the farm.
Part of the farm was first purchased in 1715 by Samuel Chandler (Benjamin>Edmund, the immigrant) and his cousin, Joseph Chandler, (Joseph > Edmund, the immigrant.) Joseph married Martha Hunt and later moved to Maine selling his portion to his son, Philip. Only three families – the Chandlers, Averys and O’Neils have owned the farm over the last three centuries. Past owners of the various portions of the farm include Nathan Chandler, Ira Chandler, Nathaniel Lewis Chandler, Horatio Chandler as well as other Chandlers.

Chandler / Avery / O’Neil Homestead .

An Avery married a Chandler and an O’Neil married a Chandler further extending the Chandler connection to the farm. It was not a straight line inheritance by one branch of the Chandler family as the land that makes up the farm was bought, inherited, sold and bought again by various Chandlers.
To see pictures and to read more about the history of the farm, which includes more information about the Chandlers, click the link; http://www.historiconeilfarm.org/history.html

Horatio Chandler ( with oxen.

Today, the farm consists of 145 acres and 40 cows. You can participate in group tours, organized events such as Farm Day, or hike the one mile Chandler trail which includes wild lands. There are also programs for pre-school and school children.
If you have information or a story about the O’Neil Farm, they would appreciate hearing from you.

JULIA F. CHANDLER BIBLE

Lynn Holmes, from Virginia, recently gave a Bible with the inscription, “Julia F. Chandler from Mother, Dec.25th 1887” to the CFA.

It was not her Bible, but part of a collection of antiques owned by her antique store-owning grandparents. The query went out, “Who was Julia F. Chandler?” As the lady lived in Virginia, researching Chandlers from the south seemed the logical place to look first. I mistakenly thought that there was not much chance that they were Edmund Chandler descendants until I got the first real clue that Julia was from Freeport, Maine and that there was a Winslow in the family – lots of Winslows in New England.
When I began reading the names listed in the Bible, I said an out loud “Oh, my gosh!” as there were Chandler names that I recognized as being Edmund descendants. There was Julia’s uncle, Rufus Chandler, who died in Texas, another Rufus and others that we had in our database.
Julia’s mother, who gave her the Bible, was Almira (Webster) Chandler. Although it is very difficult to read it appears that Edward, Julia’s father, died at sea in 1857 the year that Julia was born. Edward does not appear in the 1860 US census which would lend credence to that being the correct date.
Julia’s lineage starting with Julia is: Julia F. Chandler> Edward Chandler+Almira Webster> Rufus Chandler+Abigail Dennison> Jonathan Chandler+Rachel Mitchell> Joseph Chandler+Martha Hunt> Joseph Chandler+Mercy?>Edmund Chandler, the immigrant,+?
The Bible lists Chandler marriages, births and deaths going back to her g-grandfather, Rufus Chandler (born in 1766), his wives Nancy Cushing and Abigail Dennison, and their children. There are also many Websters and some Waites. Claudia, the editor of the CFA newsletter, sent me copies of the pages which she enhanced for easier reading, although some of them are still extremely faded. I will transcribe them and hopefully we can post the transcriptions.
As the Bible was published in 1887 the names and dates were filled in most likely by Julia and she continued to add to it until the early 1900s. Groups like the Mayflower Society and DAR are picky about when Bibles were published as anything entered into a Bible before the date of publication was considered after the fact and not as good as information entered at the time of the event. Nonetheless, the entries in this Bible seem to be fairly accurate, either copied from another source, an older Bible perhaps, or taken from records. Some of the records we already have, although some of them may be exclusive to her Bible as many Maine vital records have been lost.
Julia was born Nov. 4, 1857 in Freeport, Maine. She married Wilbur Allen or Allan (misspelled “Allar” in some records) on June 6, 1896 in most likely her hometown of Freeport, Maine although the marriage was also recorded in nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire.Freeport is a southern Maine coastal town, probably most famous today for being the home of the L.L. Bean store.
She was 39-years-old when she married and subsequent censuses show no children. We would like to find the nearest living relative of Julia, probably a descendant of one of her nieces or nephews to perhaps reunite them with the Bible. The antique store, owned by Lynn Holmes’ grandparents, was located in Leeds, Maine.
Julia’s siblings were: Mary A., Benjamin W., Augustine W., and Edward H.
If these names ring a bell let me know. I will be working on the transcription of the Bible records.

IRVING W.CHANDLER AND WILLIAM L. CHANDLER, “WELLER” CHANDLER

When it rains it pours. After fruitlessly chasing after so many Chandlers who did not lead back to Edmund, I got two within a couple of months. First, there was finding Julia’s family and then tracing the family of Irving Chandler.
I am on the CFA Genealogy Panel which means that this is where the Chandler brick wall questions go. Queries come in from Chandlers all over the world. Occasionally, I get sent inquiries with a New England and possible Edmund connection.
This time it was Irving W. Chandler, who was born in New York c. 1866. Irving turned out to be the first Edmund Chandler descendant to be born in New York that I have come across. An earlier Edmund Chandler descendant family lived in New York for a while then he and most of his family returned to their home state.
According to the 1870 and 1880 US census Irving was a resident of Ellenburg, Clinton, New York. Clinton County borders Vermont. His father, George, married in Colchester, Vermont, but was born in New Hampshire. Irving worked in the textile industry and ended up living in Methuen, Massachusetts.
Misspellings, frequent moves and apparent early death of George made this family difficult to trace. Irving’s mother was, ”Victoria Robertoh”, “Victra Robardo,” “Victoria Roberts”, and “Victorine Robertold”, possibly Victoria Doe, and finally “Anna” according to various records. I am still not sure about the spelling of her last name. With such a wide variation of names, Familysearch did not pick them up as the same person.
Continuing with the wild spelling I came across “Weller” Chandler recorded as George’s father and Irving’s grandfather. Both Dick and I searched for clues as to who this “Weller” was. Dick found a Weller marrying a Chandler in northern Vermont. I found a Wheeler Chandler, who was also an Edmund descendant, but he was not “Weller”.
The clue that solved the puzzle was where George came from. It was Bartlett, New Hampshire and there was a George of the right age whose father was William L. Chandler in the 1850 and 1860 censuses which we figured somehow had mutated into “Weller” in other records. I didn’t have the original records, only transcripts, so we don’t know if it was bad handwriting, bad spelling or bad transcribing or a combination there of which created “Weller.”
Here is Irving’s lineage starting with Irving:
Irving Chandler> George W. Chandler+Victoria Robertoh> William L. Chandler+Betsey Harriman>Jonathan A. Chandler, Jr.+Ruth Stevens> Capt. Jonathan Chandler+Sarah Pierce> Joseph Chandler+Deborah Bonney> Benjamin Chandler+Elizabeth Buck> Edmund Chandler, the immigrant+?
A more complete account with source links will be in the Genealogy Panel report.
There are a couple of Edmund chapter members who descend from William L. Chandler. Have any of you ever heard of him called “Weller?”
Here is a link to the Bartlett Historical Society which may be helpful:http://www.bartletthistory.org/bartletthistory/collections.html

DNA NEWS

Another two men who took the YDNA test as part of the Chandler DNA project have found matches with the Edmund Chandler family.
The first testee descends from Edmund’s son, Joseph, through his son also named Joseph and his son Philip. Philip stayed in Duxbury and did not migrate to Maine as did his parents and some of his siblings.
The second testee descends from Edmund Chandler through his son Benjamin and his son Joseph. This Joseph Chandler and family migrated from Duxbury to Connecticut with descendants ending up in Piermont, NH.
Hopefully, a third Edmund descendant is in the works for taking the YDNA test soon.
We still have a standing free offer for a Zebedee Chandler of Plympton, Mass (born c. 1711) descendant to take the test as a match would confirm that this Zebedee did descend from Edmund Chandler.
We are also in the hunt for a descendant of Capt. William Chandler originally of Deptford, Kent, England and later of Portsmouth, New Hampshire to test.
Of course, the hunt still continues in England for testees who would match the Edmund Chandler family.
Also, we at the Chandler DNA project had a big surprise, or shock was more like it, when we got the results back from a descendant of another early New England Chandler family (not Edmund) that matched a southern Chandler family. We are still working on that one. Dick will have a story about it in an upcoming issue of the CFA newsletter.
There are several DNA tests now on the market, YDNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA. There is a new YDNA test called “Big Y”, but it is expensive and not for surname projects such as our Chandler YDNA project. “Big Y” is for research that goes much farther back than surnames. YDNA testing has proven to be an excellent way to break down brick walls as the testee either matches members of that family or not. It follows the male line only, which in our culture follows the surname, unless there was an unofficial adoption, name change or event outside the marriage.
The mitochondrial test is for the female line and is only in the beginning stages. Not that many have taken this test as opposed to the YDNA test, so not a lot to compare to. It is much more difficult to trace the female line because the surnames change every generation, although the mitochondrial DNA does not.
Lastly there is the autosomal test which is becoming very popular although it is still in the beginning stage as it tests both the male and female side. It sounds great, but you can end up spending a lot of money and not really find out anything useful, especially if you are searching for ancestors who are farther back than fourth cousins. Once you get to fourth or fifth cousins and even often with them, you can get so many hits it can become meaningless.
The autosomal test is more of a cousin finder and loosely an ethnic origin finder. Children inherit half of their genes from one parent and half from the other parent. It is like reaching into a jar and grabbing a handful of colored marbles (genes) from father and then reaching into another jar and grabbing a handful of colored marbles (genes) from mother. Each jar is filled with different colored marbles (genes) inherited from their parents, grandparents and so on. As it is random we don’t get equal amounts of genes from our grandparents, their parents and so on.
Siblings have close, but not identical DNA. Only identical twins have identical DNA. One sibling might inherit that “light cerulean blue colored marble” (gene) from gggg-grandfather and the other sibling might not inherit that “marble” or may not even inherit any colored “marbles” (genes) from gggg-grandfather.
Although autosomal testing can be very helpful in the right situation as in looking for fairly close relatives, it can also get very expensive if you decide to start testing not only yourself, but siblings and cousins trying to track down an elusive farther back ancestor. It could still end up for naught.
Again that is why YDNA testing is so helpful to genealogists because the male “Y” chromosome is inherited almost unchanged through the generations. Generally you only have to pay for one test. There is no random inheritance of the “Y” chromosome (genes are in the chromosomes). The father will pass it to his son and to his son and so forth.
I took the plunge and took the autosomal test as I had very little information about my Polish grandfather and I wasn’t completely certain about that. I was looking for close relatives not distant ones. It was helpful in that it correctly identified my second cousin although we already had made contact thorough traditional genealogy research.
I did find out that I tested nearly half eastern European with maybe a dab of Finnish/Western Russian which fit into what I thought. No dab of Yakut Siberian reindeer herder for me like my Danish side cousin so no packing my bags for a genealogical excursion to Siberia!
You can’t take the ethnicity part of the test as an exact science as few populations are very “pure.” It can offer clues and can also create confusion with mistakes, but it is kind of fun. People who identify as English often show a lot of Scandinavian or Western European. Those Vikings sure got around!

CFA NEWS

In September, the 25th Anniversary celebration and annual meeting will be held in Louisville, Kentucky which will include a river boat cruise. There will also be announcements on what the chapters are doing. I will be sending a summary of what has been going on with Edmund Chandler research.
As the CFA is a big, worldwide group, there is a lot of business to take care of regularly. Sometimes small — key chains, no, and sometimes very big – a trip to England, yes! I have been only on the periphery of some of the Chandler administrative and organizational tasks, like the trip to England, but have been involved with others such as the Genealogy Panel and Chandler DNA project.
If you are interested in Chandler emblazoned pens, t-shirts or a nice tote bag click here: Chandler Family Association – CFA Merchandise

If you are a paid member, you probably got the brochure on the trip to England. There is now a waiting list. It will not be an ordinary tourist outing as it is being custom tailored, by both Chandlers here and Chandlers in England with several surprises planned. The tour will hit popular tourist sites as well as specific Chandler such as Wiltshire. Wiltshire is the ancestral home of genetic Group 7 which includes descendants of John Chandler of 1610 Jamestown and George and Jane Chandler of Pennsylvania/Delaware.
Boy, did I wish we knew where in England Edmund came from so that Edmund’s birthplace could have been included on the tour. We are still working on Edmund’s English origins and hopefully, someday Edmund descendants can visit where he came from.

TIPS AND USEFUL LINKS: Chronicling America « Library of Congress

The above came from our member, Bob. It is the Library of Congress digitized newspaper collection. Click on this link to go to the collection: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/

Southern California Genealogical Society: Official Web Site
A reminder, if you want inexpensive home computer access to library editions of Fold3, World Vital Records, My Heritage, and webinars you can join the SCGS for $35.00 per year, link above. All of these resources are available online at your home so you don’t need to live in Southern California to benefit. They are also subject to change. You also may be able to get discounts on DNA testing.

If you do live in Southern California, they have a large library, special interest groups, field trips, “lunch and learn” and put on the second largest genealogy convention in the country, the Jamboree available. A couple of their current projects include creating a facsimile of the 1890 census for Los Angeles, California and raising funds for digitizing pension records for the War of 1812.

COMING UP

The Revolutionary War series got put on the back burner while settling into the CFA and researching other Edmund descendants. I hope to work a little more on Edmund’s origins with help and eventually I will get back to the Revolutionary War.
Until next time, happy ancestor hunting!
Carol

May 23, 2015 Edmunds Community Courier

The Generations Project, a television series that explores the family histories of ordinary people airs on BYU television Dish Network channel 9403, DirecTV channel 374, and online. The series  sponsored by Rootsmagic is on the web at; http://www.byutv.org/show/6f62558b-fc6f-49c5-b8c6-2473785a5b44/the-generations-project

If you want to watch the episodes online, click ‘watch’ on the main page.

APRIL 7, 2015 EDMUNDS COMMUNITY COURIER

MANIPULATION, GREED, ENVY, AND MURDER

by Barb Chandler

We make the following extracts concerning the death of Mr. Rufus Chandler of Freeport, in this state. The account of his brutal murder must be read with poignant feelings of grief by his numerous relatives. The letter is dated “Rusk Texas, September 27, 1849. It is from a friend of the deceased to Captain Joel Chandler, one of the relatives.

Mr. Chandler came to this place about two years ago, or something near that time I think. He came with Hogg, and by his solicitation, from Monterey, shortly after the battle at that place. Hogg was a professed lawyer–he had a license to practice, but no legal attainments. He ascertained the superior legal abilities of Mr. Chandler, and concluded to turn them to his own advantage and profit. He was a man of some property-had been a member of the convention which formed our State Constitution, and also a member of the first Legislature, and he induced Mr. Chandler to believe he was a man of considerable influence, and proposed a partnership with him in the practice of law. Mr. Chandler being penniless and in delicate health, and in a land of strangers accepted his proposition and entered into partnership with him. Hogg was determined to be the big man at the bar, and keep Chandler in the background; so, when they would get a case he would get Mr. Chandler to fix it up for him, point out the law to him, and instruct him how to manage it; and he would appear at the bar while Mr. Chandler must chop wood, build fires, and make fences. Mr. Chandler remonstrated with him as to such a course-and remonstrances doing no good, he dissolved partnership with him. Hogg became exasperated with this and ordered him not only to leave the place, but to leave the Judicial district. Mr. Chandler told him he would consult his own feelings about that. He went into the country a short distance, and taught for a while at a school. Soon, however he got a case in court, upon the management of which the people found he was a man of no common abilities. His practice grew by degrees and he came back to town. In February of 1845 I came here with a printing press; and being a member of the bar entered into partnership with Mr. Chandler in the practice of law. A short time after I came, Hogg met with Mr. Chandler at the bar on the opposite side of the case; if he could not be thus employed, he would volunteer his services. On every occasion Hogg would take it upon himself to get into a personal quarrel with Mr. Chandler and grossly insult him. being so far undone by Mr. Chandler’s skill and ability, he would rave and foam. These occurrences happened frequently, until on last Christmas day, Mr. Chandler and myself attending a case in Probate Court, and Hogg had volunteered on the opposite side. He, as usual took occasion to insult Mr. Chandler, who in defense gave a harsh retort; upon which Hogg drew a pistol, put it within a few inches of his side and snapped it. He threw the pistol at him but missed him. He drew a second pistol and fired at him, burning Mr. Chandler’s face, but the ball missed him and wounded an old man who was in the Court House. Persons interfered at the affair ended at this time. Mr. Chandler acted on the defense all the time, but with cool and deliberate bravery. Steps were now taken to stop the matter before it should go any further. It was proposed that both parties should drop it without it going any further. To this Mr. Chandler agreed, but Hogg would by no means consent. He was envious of Mr. Chandler’s success in the practice of the law-for his business increasing, and he was fast gaining distinction. Finding that Hogg was determined to assassinate him Mr. Chandler met him on the street and shot at him wounding him in the arm and spine, and would no doubt have killed him if Hogg had not run. Hogg then removed about a mile into the country and kept closely confined for about six months, pretending all the while to be near dying. In the meanwhile, the Grand Jury of this County found a found a true bill against him for shooting at Mr. Chandler in the Court house, but refused to find a bill against Mr. Chandler for shooting Hogg afterwards. A day or two previous to Sunday the 10th of June, it was reported that Hogg was about to die. On Saturday night, Hogg came into town to his office with some hired ruffians armed with double barrel shotguns and pistols. Hogg, in the company of two of these ruffians, secreted himself behind a house which Mr. Chandler had to pass in going from his office to his boarding house. When he approached, within about 15 steps of where Hogg and his men were secreted, Hogg shot him down. A gentlemen ran up to prevent Hogg from shooting again, but those with Hogg presented their guns and kept him back. Hogg then fired the other barrel of his gun as Mr. Chandler lay on the ground-and then advanced and fired two pistols at him. He and his men then ran off and stayed in the woods for a while. The hired assassins left the country, and Hogg came in, underwent investigation before the Justice of the Peace and was admitted to bail. On the next term of Court, which will be in about six months, he will undergo a mock trial and be acquitted. Such is the course of law here. Mr. Chandler died about a half hour after he was shot. He spoke but little. He said he was not afraid to die, and requested that relatives might be written to. I could say many things of this truly worthy man, but my sheet is full. He was my friend-I loved him, and revere his memory. “C” Source: Saturday, October 27, 1849, Maine Cultivator and Hallowell Gazette (Hallowell, ME)

Mural of Courthouse in Rusk

Horrid Affair–We are pained to announce that Mr. Rufus CHANDLER was killed on Sunday morning, the 10th, in the street of Rusk, by Gen. Joseph L. HOGG. The Rusk Pioneer furnishes the following account of this lamentable tragedy: “Some five or six months ago, a difficulty occurred here between these two men which came near resulting fatally. From that time until the time of the killing, Gen. HOGG was not known to make his appearance in town. On Sunday morning, just after sunrise, Mr. CHANDLER was passing from his office to the tavern in doing which he had to pass at a right angle with a long row of buildings on the street; just as he passed the back end of these buildings, from a distance of about 30 steps, Gen. HOGG fired upon him with a double barreled shot gun, which felled him to the ground; three other shots were then fired at him as he lay–literally tearing him to pieces. Gen. HOGG, with two or three other men, armed with double barrelled shot guns, and who were with him at the time of the firing, immediately left town. He has since sent word into town that he was willing to give himself up and submit to the law, provided his person could be secure from a mob. He need rest under no such apprehensions, for we do not believe that any portion of this community desires any more from Gen. HOGG than a submission to the laws of the country; indeed, we feel assured in saying that those whom he may esteem as his bitterest enemies would be among the foremost in opposing any thing like mobocracy. “In the death of Mr. CHANDLER, the community has lost a highly esteemed and useful man; and his friends have sustained a loss which cannot be repaired. In point of talent he stood high; in honesty, integrity and morality, he was scarcely excelled. Some two years ago he came to this place, from the army, in Mexico, clothless and penniless, a long way from his native State, (Maine) and in a land of strangers. By a course of untiring perseverance, industry and devotion to his profession as a lawyer, he was fast gaining distinction and reputation at the bar; but he has suddenly been cut off in the morning of life, and now lies beneath the cold sod, with none but stranger friends to mourn over his grave. Source: July 12,1849 Texas Telegraph http://www.genealogybuff.com/tx/tx-harris-obits6.htm

We welcome your suggestions for future articles. Please send them to Barb Chandler at barb95831@gmail.com

FEBRUARY 20, 2015 EDMUNDS COMMUITY COURIER

This edition of the Courier features Captain John Chandler; founder of Chandlersville, Ohio, and his brother Dr. Jesse Chandler.

EMIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT
by Barb Chandler

Inspired by talk how Ohio had rich soil Captain John Chandler(1757-1829), who fought in the Revolutionary War during the battle of Bennington, decided to move his family to Ohio. In 1797 they joined a group of fifteen families led by General Rufus Putnam on their way to Balpre, now known as Newbury township, in Washington county.

Captain Chandler was not satisfied with this location and, after some exploration, moved his family to Salt Creek in the spring of 1799. He was the first pioneer who settled in Salt Creek (later named Chandlersville).

He and his sons set to work clearing the land. They built a cabin, shed for their livestock, prepared the land for cultivation, and started a garden that grew into a productive farm.

Before two years elapsed Captain Chandler had opened and placed under cultivation a large and productive farm. Satisfied that his family were comfortable, Chandler changed begin negotiations with the owners of the Marietta Company, who manufactured salt, for the sale of the Salt Works. He became owner, and the company was known as Chandler’s Salt Works. Chandler and his sons conducted the business of salt manufacturing for six or seven years after they got possession of the works furnishing salt to neighbors for many miles around.

Early pioneers making salt.

When Chandler acquired the salt works there were only a handful of families. Over the year’s people begin to settle in the Valley and called it their home, the territory became known as Salt Creek Township.

THE MAKING OF A TOWN

A blacksmith was essential in pioneer day. A blacksmith mended wagons, made tools and farm equipment. Captain Chandler learned the blacksmithing trade from his father and started a blacksmith shop near his cabin. He taught his boys the trade, which proved of great advantage to them during the years when the settlement was developing.

An important event in the history of the neighborhood was when John Chandler, son of Captain Chandler, erected, or caused to be erected, the first mill in the township. Its site was on the creek about a mile below the salt works. The mill stones were procured in the neighborhood. Its use consisted principally in grinding corn.

Another son of Captain John’s, Zachary Chandler, had the neighborhood in mind, when he started the first tavern. He opened a frame building in 1815. Zach Chandler’s hotel, or tavern, was sought out by the wayfarer, the accommodations were minimal. In those days, straw beds and tallow dip candles were luxuries ; and since Zach had a monopoly in this business, no one complained.

The Post office owes its inception to Captain John Chandler. He was acting Postmaster as
early as 1804, and held that office many years.

The settlement of this village, the only one in the township of Salt Creek, is substantially the same as that of the township itself. It was laid out hy John Stevens, who gave it the name it now bears, in honor of Captain John Chandler, the first settler and a very public-minded person.

Captain John Chandler’s lineage is; Edmund Chandler(1587-1662), Benjamin Chandler(1644-1691), Joseph Chandler(1694-1774), Benjamin Chandler(1727-1777)

A PIONEER DOCTOR

Many of Captain John’s relatives were early settlers in the area; among them was his brother Dr. Jesse Chandler(1764-1814).

Dr. Chandler earned his degree in Vermont, and practiced medicine for a few years. After the death of his first wife Mary Binham in 1804 Dr. Jesse Chandler moved his family from Tinmouth, Vermont to Springfield in Muskingum County, Ohio, which was just across the river from the town of Zanesville.

His practice extended over all the western part of the county, into the adjoining counties. He traveled on horseback sometimes following trails or bridle paths from house to house. He spent a large part of his time in the saddle, and was always ready to respond to calls. He would often ride a dozen miles, furnish the medicine needed and charge one dollar. Visits in the village were fifty cents.

In the fall of 1809 a bad case of smallpox developed in the town. Some of the older people had been inoculated with with small-pox, but the children and many adults had no protection. They were given diets to follow, and a general inoculation took place. For the most part all did well, but a few young men. Dr. Chandler turned his house into a hospital, took these young men in charging them nothing, and brought them safely though their illness.

In the winter of 1813-14 an unknown epidemic broke out in Putnam. An editorial in the Zanesville Express on January 12, 1814 describes the epidemic and Dr. Chandler’s heroic efforts to save lives.

Suddenly a 12-year-old girl died. People called her disease “prevailing malignant fever.” Panic more terrifying than the excitement of the small pox epidemic of a few years earlier followed her death. Within two weeks 12 other Putnam residents died. Out of about 75 families, with a population of about 300, that was an alarming death rate. Dr. Jesse Chandler, the Putnam physician worked heroically to relieve suffering and save lives. As more settlers arrived, he could not answer all the calls He asked Dr. Isaac Fowler of Rutland, Vt., to come and assist him. In 1814 Dr. Chandler still worked alone in Putnam. One day he came home late at night, exhausted from attending many cases of “prevailing malignant fever.” He was feeling unusually languid and tired when he went to bed. Soon he told his wife that he felt “the sinking chill which characterized the plague’s opening attack.” One hour later he could not speak. After suffering for 34 hours, he died on Jan. 20, 1814.

His obituary in the Zanesville Express January 1814 reads as follows:
Died, at his residence in Springfield (now Putnam) on Thursday the 20th Doctor Jesse Chandler in the 50th year of his age. “He has left a disconsolate family and numerous connections to deplore his loss. In this man were all those qualities which constitute an affectionate husband, a kind and tender parent, and a sincere and ardent friend. He was active and vigilant in the discharge of his professional duties; was indefatigable in his researches after the means by which he could relieve those who were laboring under various maladies to which the human system is subject. It was his study to alleviate the sufferings of his fellow creatures.” The obituary dosed by saying that “Long will the inhabitants of Springfield and its vicinity lament the hour when death separated this invaluable man from them.” SIX DAYS later Dr. Chandler’s son, Zeno Chandler, age 16, died of the plague. Before Dr. Chandler died, the people of the little village of Putnam, then called Springfield, were in a state of fear and trembling. After his death deprived them of a physician, they lived in consternation and terror.

Dr. Jesse Chandler’s lineage is; Edmund Chandler(1587-1662), Benjamin Chandler(1644-1691), Joseph Chandler(1694-1774), Benjamin Chandler(1727-1777)

We welcome your feedback if you have any comments, questions,  or ideas for future articles. Send them to; Barb Chandler barb95831@gmail.com

SOURCES

1794 History of Muskingum County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent men and pioneers. http://archive.org/stream/cu31924028848673/cu31924028848673_djvu.txt

Pioneer Physicans of the Muskingham Valley. http://collections.nlm.nih.gov/ocr/nlm:nlmuid-56510690R-bk
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmuski2/saltcreek/saltcreekhist.html

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmuski2/saltcreek/saltcreekhist.html

JANUARY 2015 EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

EDMUND CHANDLER FAMILY ASSOCIATION NEWS
JANUARY 2015

by Carol May

I am hoping to focus on the New Hampshire Chandlers and the Revolutionary
War in an upcoming issue, but in the meantime, here is a short update on the news –

CHANDLER DNA PROJECT NEWS

by Carol May

Results are still coming in from the Englishmen who took the DNA test after responding to the 500 letter Chandler DNA project mailing. The latest is that a match has been found between the descendants of Roger Chandler, who arrived in Concord, Mass before 1637, and an Englishman. The English testee traced his Chandler line to William Chandler who married in Yorkshire, England in 1763. Yorkshire is in northern England. Roger of Concord’s daughter married a Heald whose roots go back to North Umberland which is also in Northern England.

In the past, it was wondered if Roger Chandler of Concord, Roger Chandler of Duxbury and Edmund Chandler of Duxbury were all related. DNA tests show that descendants of Roger of Concord do not match the descendants of Edmund Chandler so they are not related through the male line.

Roger of Concord was not mentioned in any documents, deeds or birth records showing a connection to Roger of Duxbury and he was not in his will. Also, if the age that was given on Roger of Concord’s gravestone is correct, Roger of Duxbury’s wife, Isabella Chilton, would have been in her early fifties when he was born, not a plausible scenario. Roger Chandler of Duxbury has no known male line descendants as his documented son, Samuel, died without issue so we cannot do a DNA test on his line. With all of that, it seems very unlikely that Roger of Concord was Roger of Duxbury’s son, although it could be possible that they were related.

However, there is a stronger circumstantial link between our Edmund and Roger Chandler of Duxbury. Perhaps they were brothers or cousins. Edmund and Roger of Duxbury were in Leiden, Holland at the same time and both were witnesses on the same legal document. They also both emigrated at about the same time from Leiden, Holland to Duxbury. They both had sons named Samuel, which leads me to my pet theory is that Edmund’s and/or Roger’s father may have been named Samuel – just speculation on my part.

Roger of Duxbury married in Kent which is in the southern part of England. If Roger came from Kent, maybe Edmund also came from Kent. Our member, Dick, has tried to find a connection between Edmund’s other known associates and their English origins without luck.

Some have wondered if Roger and Edmund were brothers, why weren’t their children or grandchildren named Roger? Probably the reason is that most of the Plymouth colonists chose names from the Bible for their children as they were very religious. You see few non-Bible names like Henry, William, Charles or Roger appearing in the second generation of the Plymouth colony. Names from the Bible dominated for over 150 years in the Plymouth colony.

Now onto another New England Chandler whose male line descendants have been on our wish list to test for years, William Chandler of Newbury, Mass. A male line descendant of his has been found and hopefully will be DNA tested soon. Most of the New England Chandlers whose roots are pre-1800 go back to one of four Chandler families – William of Roxbury, the most prolific, Edmund of Duxbury, probably the second most prolific, Roger of Concord, and William of Newbury. I call them the “Big Four.” Will the William of Newbury descendant match any of the other Chandler families, one of the unmatched Chandlers, or possibly an Englishman? We don’t know but hope to find out.

Still on our list to test is a male line descendant of Zebedee Chandler of Plympton, Mass. We think that he is part of the Edmund Chandler family, but are not sure. He was born c. 1711. We want to find out and are still offering a free DNA test for a proven descendant as a match could rule him in or out. If any of you come across a possible candidate for DNA testing let us know.

Also, I am in the hunt for a descendant of a couple of very obscure Chandlers, William Chandler of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and possibly a couple of Boston Chandlers for DNA testing.

The more Chandlers that are tested the better as we may find a match for Edmund in England, which is our main focus now, or anywhere in the world as a distant cousin of Edmund could have had descendants that migrated to even places as far away as Australia. Trace that person’s roots and we might find where Edmund came from.

TV NEWS
“SONS OF LIBERTY”

by Carol May

As we are currently focusing on the Revolutionary War, it is fortuitous that the History Channel will have a multi-part series beginning on January 25th called the “Sons of Liberty.” This is a dramatic telling of the story of the people who were the prime movers of the American Revolution in New England – Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and others. The Sons of Liberty came together in Boston and their protests and actions — liberty poles, the tea party, bonfires where effigies of English official were burned, and secret meetings in taverns — were mirrored in the other towns of New England and in the actions of our Chandlers. The Committees of Correspondence and Safety sprang (see previous issues of the Courier for Chandler involvement) from these early protesters of taxation and laws inhibiting the freedom of the colonists.
Sons of Liberty meetings were held in secret in Boston’s Green Dragoon Tavern. If you missed the story on Bell Tavern and the role that taverns played in early New England, go to a previous of the Courier to read it.

To show what an influence the Sons of Liberty had, in response to the 1773 Boston Tea Party of which they were the instigators, a committee of men in New Gloucester, Maine paid a visit to Peleg Chandler, owner of the Bell Tavern, to enter a protest and the seize the box of tea he owned. Chandler replied “I bought that box of tea and paid the price and if any man attempts to seize it I will shoot him.” The leader of the committee went back and reported “Peleg Chandler says that he will shoot any man who attempts to take his tea, and by G—he is a man of his word!” The tea was not molested. This was from the Lewiston (Maine) Evening Journal, Aug. 30 1924 sent to me by our member, Steve.

Lest anyone think that Peleg had Tory inclinations, he was a fervent patriot and risked life and fortune by serving on the New Gloucester Committee of Safety and later as its chairman. See a previous issue for the full story of Peleg Chandler. He probably figured that once he bought and paid for that box of tea it was his and free of any Tory taint.
Whether or not the TV mini-series “Sons of Liberty” is a stirring story of the Boston patriots or a dramatic dud, I don’t know as I haven’t seen any reviews, but give it a look and then you can decide for yourself.

“GENEALOGY ROADSHOW”

by Carol May

This PBS series is back on Tuesday evenings (check your local listing). Unlike the other popular TV genealogy programs, this one focuses on ordinary folks. You submit your story and family genealogical mystery and if your question is persuasive enough, you might get chosen. The lucky picks get top genealogists to crack those cases and the results are shown on TV.

Happy New Year and may more brick walls come tumbling down!

WINTER 2014/15 EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

All articles in this edition of the Courier by Carol May

Finally, we are back with our Revolutionary War series after a very busy, busy year. Our Edmund Chandler Family Association is now a chapter of the Chandler Family Association. The CFA has over 700 members and is worldwide and not Chandlers are all related. Find out more about the merger in this issue.

It was also very busy year for me personally as my brother and I took a trip to the Czech Republic and Austria to see where my grandmother’s family came from. Family tree in hand we visited a lot of villages. You can read about researching ancestors across the pond versus US research in this issue.

Other big news, is that our member, Billie’s, 153 page book will be coming out soon. She is adding the pictures and maps now. Her book will include Joseph, Edmund, the immigrant’s son, and his land, the mystery Chandlers, mystery no longer, Capt. John, Nathaniel, Mercy and some of their descendants, and also Benjamin Chandler. By meticulous research she has been able to correct many long-held mistaken beliefs and incorrect research as well as add to the knowledge about these people. We will keep you posted when the book comes out.

In case some of you missed them, Barb, our editor posted several stories in the last several months on the Civil War and other topics. Member, Susan, and Barb, researched Elbridge Gerry Chandler and his Civil War service. Especially fun was Barb’s story on the Chandler Band, still in existence today and is still playing. If you scroll back through the Courier you can read the stories and see the video clip on the Chandler Band.

Our big research topic this issue is Peleg Chandler, chairman of the Committee of Safety for New Gloucester, Maine during the Revolution, and the owner of Bell Tavern. Also, related stories about Bell Tavern, a lively story taken from his son’s diary chronicling his journey from Bell Tavern to Massachusetts, and the settling of New Gloucester and the block house. If you have Maine ancestors they most likely stayed in Bell Tavern and also find out about what taverns, an essential part of the community, were like.

All this and more! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

*CFA AND EDMUND CHANDLER FAMILY NEWS Including membership news, DNA news and a CFA sponsored trip to England for 2016

*PELEG CHANDLER AND TIMELINE He was also a church warden. Find out what that was. Hint, he had a pole.

*BELL TAVERN The story of Bell tavern and what taverns were like way back then.

* NEW GLOUCESTER AND THE BLOCKHOUSE Find out about block houses and frontier existence.

*PELEG CHANDLER, JR.’S JOURNEY TAKEN FROM HIS DIARY FROM MAINE TO MASS IN 1790

*BIG CHANGES AT ANCESTRY. COM

*TV NEWS

*SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Join and get free home online access to Worldwide records and Heritage Quest, plus more

*RESEARCHING IS RESEARCHING, BUT WITH TWIST: RESEARCHING IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

*UPDATES AND CORRECTIONS More on the wives of the Zebedees and the wives of Rev. Abel Chandler.

CFA AND EDMUND CHANDLER CHAPTER NEWS

We will be maintaining our ECFA web site until spring of 2015 as it is paid up until then. After that our Members Only Library, other information and databases will be preserved for the members to access in a new format at the CFA site.

Our formerly ECFA members and now Edmund Chandler chapter members of the CFA, are now getting the award winning CFA newsletter by e-mail although a snail mail paper copy can be requested. We will still have the Courier and the Yahoo Chandler lineage site which are free. Our group originally sprang out of the Chandler lineage site and you can still use it as a searchable resource, although you will find that many of our early posts show that we did a lot of floundering as we looked for answers.

If you wish to join the CFA and the Edmund Chandler chapter you can go to www.edmundchandler.com and click the link about membership or go to the Chandler Family Association web site www. chandlerfamilyassociation.org One year membership is $20 and you don’t have to prove your lineage.

DNA NEWS

With the contribution that the ECFA made, a large mailing was sent out to Chandler men in England for DNA testing and we are getting sign ups as a result. Dick, our EC chapter member and CFA VP, as well as Errol Chandler our CFA VP from England are working hard on this project.

No matches for the Edmund Chandler family yet, but we are hoping. To read more about DNA testing, including a map where many American Chandler families originated from in England, refer to a previous issue of the CFA newsletter.

TRIP TO ENGLAND FROM THE US AND A TRIP FROM THE UK TO THE US

A trip to England is in the planning stages by the CFA for 2016 which will be guided by Englishman Errol Chandler. Several American Chandler families have been traced to English villages and the plan is to visit those sites and other sites of general tourist interest. We still don’t know where Edmund came from. A brochure about the trip will be sent out when the itinerary is worked out. Also, if there is enough interest, a guided trip for UK Chandlers to the US is in discussion. Check with the CFA for more info.

PELEG CHANDLER

April 27, 1735-August 24, 1819

LINEAGE: EDMUND, THE IMMIGRANT>JOSEPH>JOSEPH>PHILIP

Peleg Chandler was the patriarch of the New Gloucester, Maine branch of the Edmund Chandler family, arriving there prior to 1763. His descendants distinguished themselves in business, the law and architecture as well as other fields. Much has been written about his descendants. Indeed, the amount of shelf space dedicated to his descendants in the Fogler Library can be measured in yards, but not much was known about Peleg. Some of Peleg’s notable descendants include: archictect, Theophilus Chandler and economic historian, Alfred Dupont Chandler, who we have written about previously. Also businessmen, Solomon Hewett Chandler Sr. and Jr. and lawyers like Peleg, Jr. Peleg W. and Charles P. Chandler to name a few of them.

Especially confusing was Peleg’s Revolutionary War service. We had to find the primary evidence that he was a member and later chairman of the Committee of Safety for New Gloucester and not just rely on anecdotal evidence and old books. The Committee of Safety provided the civilian leadership of the local militia, spied on the British, acquired munitions and suppressed Tory or Tory benefitting activities.

After a long search, we queried T.S. Blake, author of the book “New Gloucester” (available from Amazon and also as an e-book) and curator for the New Gloucester Historical Society. Blake searched the old handwritten New Gloucester records and there, dated March 19, 1776, the records show Peleg being appointed to the Committee of Safety.

Peleg’s s first cousin, Ebenezer Mason, son of Jonas Mason and Mary Chandler, also served on the New Gloucester Committee of Safety. In Duxbury, Peleg’s brother, Perez, served on the Committee of Correspondence, the precursor to the Committee of Safety. Perez was profiled in the Winter/Spring 2014 issue of the Courier.

The city of New Gloucester lists Peleg as a Revolutionary War patriot and his name appears on the town monument dedicated to those who served. His descendant Cleaveland Angier Chandler (Horace P.>Peleg W. >Peleg >Joseph>Joseph>Edmund, the immigrant) claimed Peleg as his Revolutionary War ancestor for the Massachusetts Society Sons of the American Revolution in 1897 for serving on the Committee of Safety for New Gloucester, Maine from 1778-1784.

Anecdotally, Mary Chandler Lowell in her book “Chandler-Parsons…,” states that Peleg served on the committee for many years. Also, from the book “Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts”, Peleg is listed as the chairman of the Committee of Safety, but did not provide documentation. No one has applied for DAR membership as his descendant, but will be able to do so now that primary proof has been found.

New Gloucester Rev. War Memorial.

PELEG CHANDLER TIMELINE

1735, April 27 Peleg was born in Duxbury. Mary Chandler Lowell speculated in her book, “Chandler-Parsons…”, that Peleg was named after a friend and neighbor of his father, Peleg Wadsworth. The name Peleg comes from the Old Testament and means when the earth was divided, referring to an event at the time. Some scholars also believe the name has something to do with the sea. The Biblical Peleg was the son of Eber. Peleg is a popular last name in Israel.

Mary Chandler Lowell also wrote that Peleg “early on manifested very strong mechanical tastes.” He was handy as he created chairs, the church door and other objects. He was a blacksmith from a long line of blacksmiths as was his father, Philip, his grandfather Joseph and his great grandfather, also named Joseph.

Prior to 1762. Peleg moved from Duxbury to North Yarmouth, Maine. According to Mary Chandler Lowell, Peleg moved to Maine to help his grandfather, but that does not seem likely as Peleg was only 9-years-old when his grandfather, Joseph, died in 1744.

Peleg’s grandfather led the first wave of Chandlers to move to Maine when he moved there in 1729. He was soon followed by his wife and children, with the exception of Peleg’s’ father, Philip, who remained in Duxbury with his family. “It was probably Philip’s intent to move to North Yarmouth as well as he owned land there. Philip must have changed his mind as he bought his father’s homestead farm in Duxbury in 1735 and remained in Duxbury,” according, Lora Altine Underhill in her book, “The Genealogy of Edward Small…”.

Family lore has it that Peleg came with relatives to Maine. His sister, Elizabeth (Betsey), moved to Turner, Maine in 1850 after marrying Ezekiel Bradford. She and Peleg were the only children of Philip to move to Maine. Did Peleg come with them or later on possibly with other relatives? We don’t know.

It does seem logical that Peleg would move to Maine at some point to help as both his father and his grandfather’s heirs had land and business in Maine.

1762, December 9 Peleg marries Sarah Winslow in North Yarmouth, Maine. This is the first record that we have of him in Maine. He and Sarah would have 11 children, eight surviving until adulthood. Sarah became known for her cheerful countenance. He put his wood working skills to use when he carved chairs for his bride using only a knife.

1763 Peleg and his bride leave North Yarmouth for New Gloucester, a distance of 15 miles. They made the journey by ox-cart, “the first wheeled vehicle that had ever been used to perform that journey.” He built a small first house and would later build a large house for his family which would later be also Bell Tavern.

Home of Andrew C. Chandler. On the site where Peleg built his house in 1762, probably to the back and right of this house. Photo by Steve Chandler

While Peleg was not amongst the first settlers of New Gloucester, he would play a key role in the formation of the town. That was the first year that meetings regarding New Gloucester were held in New Gloucester and not in Gloucester, Massachusetts which is where most of the settlers came from and from where the grant was obtained. The proprietors voted to build a school house the next year which was one of the requirements of the grant.

1764 Peleg’s father dies in Duxbury. Philip willed that his land in Duxbury and North Yarmouth be divided amongst his six sons.

1765 Establishing a church was the last remaining key item that remained to be fulfilled in order for New Gloucester’s land grant requirements to be considered officially met. In 1765 the “grant conditions were fulfilled by hiring an Orthodox Congregational minister, Rev. Samuel Foxcroft of Boston, a Harvard College graduate.”

This was an historic moment of which Peleg and his wife, Sarah, played a key part as they were two of the five members who founded the church. It now meant that every legal requirement was met and that land could now be conveyed without worry. New Gloucester had fought off a claim earlier on in the courts that could have ruined the community if the claimants had prevailed, but now they could not be “warned off” by possible future claimants, lose what they had built, or be forced to pay twice for their farms.

It was such a joyous occasion for the town, that the proprietors approved the very large outlay of “26 pounds and thirteen shillings and four pence” for the celebration. Parson Smith, of Portland, Maine, also assisted in the “jolly ordination” and he wrote that “we lost sight of decorum.” If the attending ministers “lost sight of decorum” we can only assume that the eight male members of the church, which included Peleg Chandler, also “lost sight of decorum.” With 26 pounds and change to celebrate, it must have been a real party!

1771, January 1 A proprietors’ meeting was held where Peleg Chandler was voted to be a part of the committee to build a meeting-house (church). Half of the job was bid off by Peleg for 2 pounds 19 shillings and when no one bid on the other half, Peleg bid 3 pounds 1 pence for the other half of the job.

It was voted by the committee that Peleg would receive the money for the sale of the pews. Many members of the community bought pews and Peleg kept pew #34 and also pew #36 which was in the gallery. Like the block house, the church was also multipurpose as gun powder was stored in the closet under the pulpit. It was distributed to the parishioners on Sundays as needed for defense.

While the church was useable, it was not finished because not all those who pledged to pay did so and after several years could no longer afford a full-time minister. There were Baptists and Shakers in the community now who were disinclined to support a Congregationalist church. The proprietors did not press the issue. In 1802 the proprietors voted to relinquish title and it became the property of the First Parish to be used for town meetings and the grounds around it for a training field, pound, stocks, and whipping post.

1838 Congregational church. Photo by Steve Chandler

Peleg, according to a poem, written over a century later, was the church warden. Church wardens were chosen for their exemplary character. They kept the peace within the church, watched over the congregants’ behavior, and punished those who did not attend church without a valid excuse. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony if the church warden caught someone being truant, without a valid excuse, the truant was pilloried and the truant’s ear was nailed to the wood.

Peleg and his fellow church warden did wield poles to wallop those who fell asleep during church services. Whether or not, Peleg nailed ears to wood, we don’t know, but there were stocks and a whipping post nearby. Peleg’s son, Peleg, Jr., was accosted by a church warden for traveling on Sunday in near Hingham, Massachusetts, but talked his way out of it by saying he was going to stop at a nearby inn, which was technically true as he stopped long enough for a mug of cider and continued on his way to stay with his uncle Perez Chandler. Peleg, Jr. was barely 17 when he undertook this trip to teach in Halifax, Mass. to earn enough money to continue his education in law. Perhaps that and being the son of a church warden made him savvy enough to avoid spending the Sunday in the stocks.

From the poem by Jabez H. Woodman A.M., the New Gloucester schoolmaster, on the occasion of the New Gloucester Centennial in 1884:

“Josiah Smith and Peleg Chandler

Were wardens then appointed,

To flourish poles on the Sabbath Day

And thus keep things well jointed.”

1773 Peleg builds his large house which would later become Bell Tavern. It was located on a hill at the four corners.

1774, February 8 The Proprietary elected a committee to petition the General Court of Massachusetts for the incorporation of New Gloucester into a town. The Court agreed and New Gloucester became a town. A warrant was issued to Peleg Chandler, by Col. William Allen, for him to call a meeting of the freeholders and others who were qualified to vote. On Sept. 7, 1774, the first board of town officers was chosen.

1775 Upon hearing about the Battle at Lexington, which was fought on April 19, 1775, a town meeting was called in New Gloucester and it was voted to have 20 men ready at the shortest notice to support the colonists against the British. Like Duxbury and many towns in New England, New Gloucester was resoundingly patriot.

1776 Peleg establishes Bell Tavern in his house. The sign outside read:

“Bell Tavern. Peleg Chandler. 1776. Entertainment for man and beast”

“Success to the Friends of Liberty”

There is only one reference to the phrase ”Success to the Friends of Liberty” so that may require further research.

1776, March 19 A town meeting was held and Peleg Chandler was appointed to the Committee of Safety. He was also voted to be the pound keeper. Pound keepers in those days kept stray livestock until their owners could reclaim them and usually pay a fine.

He later became the chairman of the Committee of Safety, serving until the end of the Revolutionary War. The Committee of Safety, which succeeded the Committee of Correspondence when war broke out, provided recruitment and the civilian leadership of the local militia. They organized spying on the British, acquired munitions and gun powder. They put pressure on the local civilians to buy American and support the war effort. As Peleg was also the owner of Bell Tavern, the militia probably met there.

1776, May 21 The town voted “That if the Honorable Congress should, for the safety of the Colonies, declare them independent of Great Britain they will solemnly engage, with their lives and their fortunes, to support the Congress in the measure”. Two infantry companies were organized with Captains Isaac Parsons and William Harris commanding them.

1784 Several sources say that Peleg was appointed to the General Court of Massachusetts, but we have not found proof. More research needs to be done.

1790, November 30 Peleg, Jr. leaves Bell Tavern to travel to Halifax, Massachusetts where he will teach school in order to earn money to go to college. (Read about his journey in C. Talbot Rogers story taken from Peleg, Jr.’s diary in this issue)

1797 Peleg builds an ell onto the already large Bell Tavern for his son, Peleg, Jr. Peleg Jr.’s mother disapproves of her son practicing law, so he instead provides much needed assistance with his father’s busy, tavern, smithy and large farm. After his parents were gone, Peleg, Jr. did practice law to much success.

1819, August 24 Peleg Chandler died and was buried in the Lower New Gloucester Cemetery. His wife, Sarah, died in 1823. Bell Tavern was sold when he died in 1819.

SOURCES:

Fogler Library: Finding Guide to the Chandler Family Papers

The collection contains the personal and business papers of several generations of the Chandler family of New Gloucester, Maine. It centers primarily on materials of Peleg, Philip, Solomon Hewett (both elder and younger), Charles Parsons, Charles Peleg, and Andrew Campbell Chandler, as well as business records of Bearce & Chandler, a grocery business of Dexter Bearce and Solomon Chandler.

Chandler-Parsons: Edmund Chaundeler, Geoffrey Parsons and Allied Families – Mary Chandler Lowell – Google Books

This is probably the most well-known book about the Chandlers of New Gloucester, including Peleg, her ancestor. She collected information from vital records, old letters and family recollections. Unfortunately, there are some inaccuracies although as brilliant as she was (she was both a doctor and a lawyer), she was occasionally at the mercy of the inaccurate recollections of others. She also lived at a time when most business was conducted by mail or in person.

Maine Society Sons of the American Revolution | Graves

Full text of “The Gray and New Gloucester register, 1905”

History of New Gloucester including Peleg Chandler and Bell’s Tavern

New Gloucester Historical Society

New Gloucester Revolutionary War monument with list of names including Peleg Chandler

Historical Society – New Gloucester, Maine 

Main page

New Gloucester – Thomas P. Blake – Google Books This outstanding book is filled with historical pictures, stories and information about the founding and early days of New Gloucester. If you have any ancestors that came from New Gloucester, not only Chandlers, take a look at this book. Available from Amazon books. It was written in 2009.

History of New Gloucester, Maine

This gazatteer was written in 1886 by George G. Varney who wrote many short histories of Maine towns.

Full text of “A genealogical record of the descendants of Thomas Penney of New Gloucester, Maine”

Source of the poem.

Full text of “The Gray and New Gloucester register, 1905”

Chandler Family Papers, 1831-1890, n.d. (Bowdoin – George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives)

BELL TAVERN

Bell Tavern being moved in 1978 down the hill to its present location. It had been the post office, but after it was moved it became a residence.

Taverns and inns played an integral part of early New England towns and Bell Tavern, opened in 1776, was classic example. Taverns were not lowly places on the edge of town away from respectable folks, but were located prominently in the center of town and often, as in the case of Bell Tavern, across from the church. Taverns were considered essential, proper meeting places for social discourse, business and governance and licenses to operate a tavern were issued by the town.

Taverns were where the town folks met after church and work to exchange news, engage in gossip, hold lively debates, pick up mail, make business deals, and conduct town business. The taverns gave congregants a chance to warm up after church because the churches were unheated. Many a lively political debate must have taken place with locals and travelers during the Revolutionary years with most, if not all, the locals railing against the British. Business, both official and unofficial, was a carried on in taverns, militias met and patriots held meetings in secret. The First Continental Congress met in a tavern. Bell tavern supplied lodging for jurors and witnesses for the Court.

Taverns also served as recruitment depots and deployment for militias which is probably one of the reasons why Peleg was chosen as the Chairman of the Committee of Safety for New Gloucester. Free ale was one of the inducements for showing up for militia drills.

If your ancestors were from Maine, most likely they stayed or at least stopped at Bell Tavern as it was strategically located on the crossroads of the coastal road and the road going inland to what would become Poland, Minot, Lewiston, Auburn and Turner, Maine amongst other interior cities.

As many people in those days were illiterate, taverns had signs with pictures on them so people could identify them. Bell Tavern had a picture of a bell and the words:

Bell Tavern

Peleg Chandler. 1776. Entertainment for man and beast”

“Success to the Friends of Liberty”

Newly painted sign.

Many have speculated about how Bell Tavern got its name. The origin of the names of many taverns is unknown. During the Revolution some taverns had signs which reflected the owner’s political sympathy. Some speculated that the bell signified that the tavern was open for business. As Peleg was known for having the “voice of a Stentor”who could call men in from the fields so it probably did not stand for a dinner bell. Others speculated that it stood for the call for young men to fight for liberty. It did not stand for the actual Liberty Bell as that bell probably did not ring on July 4, 1776 because at that time the steeple was in very poor condition. The first documented reference to it as the “Liberty Bell” appeared in an abolitionist poem written in 1839.

However, the church bells in Boston rang so much over repeals of taxes, and objections to the British before 1776, that people complained. The church bells continued ringing probably throughout the colonies during the Revolution and beyond over important events. So perhaps the bell in Peleg’s sign did stand for recruiting of men for the fight or the church bells that rung for liberty.

As roads were built, taverns were considered a necessity. In Massachusetts taverns were located every 8 miles so both humans and horses could rest.

News from papers, pamphlets, broadsheets and letters would come to Bell tavern and taverns like it from towns like far-off Boston, Philadelphia and Duxbury. Those who were able to read, would read the news aloud to those who could not. During the Revolutionary era things were happening so fast that people were desperate to read or hear about what was happening because it directly affected them. The taverns were also the first post offices as mail was put on a table and was considered public news for everyone to read before it was picked up or carried on.

The tavern owner’s wife and daughters, even very young ones, worked in the tavern, but all other women were only allowed to buy liquor and then leave. Later on large taverns had a separate area for women. No “tarrying” by women was allowed. Everyone drank in those days, even children, as water was often unsafe to drink. Hard cider made from apples was ubiquitous.

Originally only “fit” men were given licenses to operate taverns, although eventually three quarters of the taverns were run by women, mostly widows, so they would have a source of income so they would not become a burden on the town.

“Fit” men were upstanding citizens considered capable of running a tavern. To be a considered a successful “fit” man, he was expected to be married and supporting a well-behaved household where all obeyed him. The reasoning was if a man could not run his household he could not run a tavern. Badly behaved children, wives and even servants were a reflection on that ability. Men could be punished for the transgressions of members of his household. Very patriarchal!

Unmarried men were not considered “fit” and were more or less considered like big children. Peleg certainly filled the requirement of being a “fit” man as he was one of the founders of the local church and all of his children were dutiful and became very successful in their own right.

Tavern owners were expected to keep order in the tavern, like they did in their households, and not allow patrons to become drunk and disorderly. The town leaders determined what could be served and limited the hours when a tavern could be open. For example, they were expected to shut fairly early on Saturday evening presumably to make sure that the patrons would be awake and sober and in church the next day. Peleg, as church warden, would round up those who were missing from church without a valid excuse, and being hung over was not a valid excuse, and put them in the stocks. If the hung-over individual did make it into church but fell asleep, he would give him a wallop with his pole. In fact anyone who fell asleep for any reason could be walloped.

Of course alcohol being what it is and the loosening of the church and its requirements, drunkenness became such a big problem that it prompted the temperance movement, with Maine figuring prominently. The dilemma became how to continue with taverns, where all local politicians and townspeople gathered, but at the same time eliminate drunkenness and the evils that were associated with it? In modern times, one of the solutions has come full circle, with again the tavern keepers being held responsible, or partially so, for keeping its patrons from becoming wildly drunk.

Taverns also supplied entertainment. Dancing was popular during the Revolution. Cards, gambling and other diversions were also popular, probably more so as the church’s influence began to wane.

Fast food and colonial and Revolutionary times don’t seem to belong in the same sentence, but Americans desire for a quick meal was as strong then as it is today. Fast food is not a modern invention. An English visitor way back then complained about how we (Americans) rushed through our meals in order to get back to work in the fields and farms. Maybe the difference was that here, unlike England in those days, the inhabitants mostly owned their fields and farms.

Taverns had to supply food that could be eaten quickly or on the go in a stage coach. Colonial era fast foods such as johnny cakes, biscuits and hasty pudding were American inventions. Also, popular was potted meat or fish. The meat was boiled then pounded with fat and spices and put into an earthen jar and sealed with hot fat or butter. Sandwiches could be made quickly for stage travelers to take with them by spreading the potted meat on bread for sandwiches. Mincemeat pies were popular both here and in England as they were also handy for travelers to take with them. The poorer folks ate the whole mince meat pie including the crust, while the wealthy ate the filling. “Slow food” like baked beans and Indian pudding were also popular. Slow to cook, but quick and convenient to prepare or re-heat.

The need for speed also changed weights and measures for food. In England ingredients were weighed, here tavern owners relied on spoons and cups as they were faster.

The quality of the food and accommodations varied widely. Some taverns offered big meals with eggs, steak, sausages, fish, bread and more for breakfast, lunches were more modest, dinner could be another big spread, but others offered little choice and what was available was terrible. Peleg Chandler, Jr. had to scrounge for himself while staying in one ill-run tavern on his journey to Massachusetts. (See accompanying story)

After Peleg Chandler died in 1819, Bell Tavern was sold. With the arrival of the railroad, the need for taverns for travelers declined as trains did not need to rest like horses and oxen. Over the years Bell Tavern served as a dance hall, store, post office and home. The ell that Peleg had built for his son, Peleg, Jr., was moved to 5 Cobb’s Bridge Road. In 1978, Bell Tavern was moved several hundred feet down the hill to 410 Intervale Rd. where it stands today as a beautifully kept house.

This is where the Bell Tavern was originally sited…now a residence.
                                                                        Photo by Steve Chandler

SOURCES:

New Gloucester – Thomas P. Blake – Google Books

Daily Life of the American Colonies: The Role of the Tavern in Society

Fit Men: New England Tavern Keepers, 1620-1720 | Zach Carmichael – Academia.edu

A Place of Reading: Revolutionary Taverns

Taverns of the Colonial Period related to My Brother Sam is Dead

Liberty Bell Timeline

NEW GLOUCESTER, MAINE AND THE BLOCK HOUSE

Block houses were essential for settling the then frontiers of Maine, New Hampshire and other New England states. The settling of New Gloucester was probably very similar to the settling of many New England frontier towns.

The first settlers were given a grant from the parent town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, hence the name New Gloucester, in 1735. There were conditions that they had to meet in order to get full ownership.

It was rough going for the townspeople as not only they had to endure all of the hardships of creating a settlement they were driven out, as were most of the colonists in Maine, during the French and Indian War. Their log houses and sawmill were destroyed. After five years most of the New Gloucester settlers returned.

For defense, they built a block house which was completed in 1754. It had large second story windows that swung inward on hinges so that the inhabitants could fire their guns if under attack. The block house was 50’x50’ and the stockade was 110’ on each side made up of a palisade of 10-12’ logs topped with sharpened points. For several years the 12 families who inhabited the settlement lived within the fortress with only the men and their large dogs venturing out during the day.

The New Gloucester block house was fortified with two swivel guns, 25 pounds of powder and 75 pounds of lead and for several years soldiers were garrisoned there to defend it. The block house served as the settlers’ home, fort and church until the French were driven out of Canada in 1760 and they could rebuild their log homes and begin building a church about a decade later which Peleg was heavily involved. The block house, no longer needed, was sold in 1787 for seven bushels of corn and was used for the very mundane purpose of housing hogs.

SOURCES:

Full text of “The Gray and New Gloucester register, 1905”

http://www.mainegenealogy.net/individual_place_record.asp?place=new_gloucester or New Gloucester, Cumberland County, Maine | Maine Genealogy

History and list of books about early New Gloucester, Maine

Peleg Chandler

By C. TALBOT ROGERS

T HIS is the story of a “Journey to

Hallifax”-a journey which covers

but a relatively few miles, and

only a few days in the early life of a

young man from Maine; a young man

of courage and ambition, who in spite of

disappointment and frustration achieved

better than average success in his chosen

profession, and whose son in turn went

even further to become nationally known

in that same profession.

The journey began from the steps of

the old Bell Tavern, in the then-busy

and thriving town of New Gloucester.

The date was Monday, November 30,

A.D. 1790, at one of the clock; and in a

handwritten, carefully sewn booklet,

well preserved, the story of that trip is

easily and simply told. This booklet, now

in the files of the Historical Society of

New Gloucester, is done in the characteristic

penmanship of the day, with the

old-fashioned “s” in the middle of words,

and the front and back covers embellished

with well-formed flourishes. The

front cover states simply: “Peleg Chandler’s

Journal from New Gloucester to

Hallifax,” while on the back cover the

writer identifies himself as follows:

“Peleg Chandler Jr is my name. New

Gloucester is my Native Place. Written

at Hallifax the 12th day of February,

1791, A.D.”

It was not an extremely hazardous

trip, even in that day. The threat from

hostile Indians had passed ; possible bounty

was not worth the risk to highwaymen ;

and surely young Chandler was safe from

those present-day threats to life, limb,

and property, drivers who pass on the

right, cut in from the left, and weave

from lane to lane, driving on a mixture

of gasoline and alcohol-from whom

may the good Lord preserve us all! Even

so, it was by no means a pleasure jaunt,

and few of us would willingly attempt it

today under the same conditions and circumstances.

For a boy barely beginning

his seventeenth year, it was a major undertaking.

Before starting with him on this journey,

let us look for a moment at the background

of this lad. His father, Peleg

Chandler, Sr., born in 1735, had married

Sarah Winslow of North Yarmouth,

in 1762; and the journey which that

young couple undertook deserves mention.

According to the story, their wedding

trip from North Yarmouth to New

Gloucester was made in an oxcart, the

first two-wheeled vehicle that had ever

been over the road. Since the wedding

was on December 9, it is surmised that

it must have been a very open winter indeed,

unless the trip was postponed until

later in the spring; and at any time at all

it must have been a rough bumpy journey

over a road nothing at all like Interstate

95, or even old-fashioned U. S. I.

Peleg Chandler, Sr., is described as

an “honest citizen, a blacksmith by trade,

and a good one”; and evidently his skills

were not limited to the smithy. One of

the founders of the “Orthodox” First

Parish Church, he served as Town Warden;

during the Revolution he was one

of a committee to fix prices, for many

years he was a member of the Committee

of Safety, and in I 784 he was Representative

to the General Court of Massachusetts.

About I 7 73 he built the Bell Tavern,

45

46 Old-Time New England

which today houses the United States

Post Office, and here as host to jurors and

witnesses in a busy shire town he was well

known throughout the county, and indeed

through all of Massachusetts, since

many of the family, including his father,

Philip, had remained in and around Duxbury,

where the first Chandler had settled.

In that same year, I 773, young Peleg,

Jr., was born; so that when in 1790 he

began this journey to Halifax he had

passed his seventeenth birthday by a scant

three months. Of course, at seventeen

many a lad had left home for college ; but

Peleg, Jr., was not going forth as a student.

He was, at that tender age, about

to become a schoolmaster, to help earn

his way through college.

Halifax is a long, long way from Cumberland

County, Maine–even today in a

modern car over modern highways-and

one wonders why the people of Nova

Scotia had to come all the way to New

Gloucester to find a schoolmaster. Of

course, by ship from Portland to Halifax

would be an easy trip, but it proved by

no means as simple as that. Somehow, as

the journey progressed, he seemed to be

heading always in the wrong directionuntil

finally it developed that there was

-and still is-another Halifax, in Massachusetts,

some thirty miles or so south

of Boston.

However, let the lad speak for himself.

Let us start with page one of his journal.

November the 80th A.D. 1790 Monday at

one of the clock set out to go to Hallifax to

keeping school. Went as far as Moses Haskell

that night. In the morning Moses and myself

set out together. We rode as far as Elwells and

stopped and drank a mug of cider. We then put

on as far as Hammons in Stout Water [Stroudwater?]

and then stopped and bated our horses;

then put on for Bradbury’s Tavern in Pepperlsburough

[now Saco], and got there about dark.

Put up our horses and called for our suppers;

and in about half an hour had it. We drank six

dishes apiece and eat as much toast as we could.

Then went to playing checkers with the landlord,

beat him 5 or 6 times and then went to

bed.

This was his first night on the road,

after staying in the home of his friend

Haskell, and so far the journey had not

been arduous. In fact the next day was

not too bad.

In the morning we got up, paid our reckoning

as quick as possible and set out. We arrived

at Sauce Bridge a little after sunrise and after

long debate with the tollman went over. We

rode till about one of the clock . . . stopped and

bated our horses and roasted our turkey and eat

it with the help of a mug of cyder and after

suitable refreshment we set out again. Rode

very fast all the afternoon and about dark arrive

at Capt. Shannons in Dover near the

bridge, put up our horses and called for supper

and had it brought to us, consisting of chocolate

and biscuit toast. We drank 8 cups apiece

and as much toast as possible and after suitable

time to settle it, we retired into a warm bed

where we prostrated our languid limbs till the

ensuing morning.

Service in the tavern was not so good

next morning; certainly not up to modern

standards set by Howard Johnson or

Holiday Inn motel chains.

In the morning about an half an hour betwixt

break of day and sunrise got up, went

into the kitchen, and sat down over an handful1

of coals. We sat awhile but nobody appeared;

then to fly round and make as much noise as

possible. By and by along comes a negro as

black as the D—l and made up a fire big

enough to roast an ox. We sat down awhile but

no landlord appeared. We asked the negro

whether the landlord laid abed till noon commonly.

He went and called him and we got

away as quick as possible (it being cold enough

to freeze one). We rode till about z of the

clock in the afternoon which brought us to

Capt. Sanborns in Hampton. Stopped and bated

our horses and set out again about sunset. We

got to the Newberry ferry but could not get

over till about dark.

And now it was that I had to part with my

friend Haskell. Nobody can tell what I felt

when I had to leave him at his uncles and seek

Peleg Chandler 47

for a tavern, not knowing where to find one,

and being almost froze standing so long at the

ferry awaiting for the D—d ferry man, he being

almost intoxicated.

soon as possible, it being Saturday morning

and I having about 80 miles to go before I got

to Duxborough.

But I got off on the old mare and drove on

for dear life. I had gone about a mile when I

beheld a sight which excited a great deal of

joy to think that I had got home for that night.

Went in and got the old mare taken care of.

But how do you think that I felt to see it look

likely to storm before morning . . . and being

so near to Haskell and was not agoing to stay

with him.

Very understandably the seventeenyear-

old lad was beginning to feel the

pangs of homesickness, and no wonder.

But as the night wore on, things got

worse :

About seven of the clock I thought I would

go to bed not having any stomach to eat any

supper so I drank half mug of cyder and went

to bed. About midnight the storm came on and

sure such a storm I never saw. It snowed,

rained, hailed all together as hard as ever it

did in the world. But that ain’t the worse of it.

I like to frozed to death for the want of bedclothes.

I got up and put on my clothes but it

could not keep me warm. About dav or a little

before up I got and down I goes and sat down

where the fire should be. Bv and bv thev began

to get up and glad was I, but could not get out

doors the wind blew so hard. About 9 of the

clock I called for some breakfast and soon had

it but could not eat any of it, hardly, feeling

so like the Old Boy.

Perhaps it was not food that he needed,

so much as the sight of a familiar face, or

a friend, for

At ten o’clock I thought I would go and see

Haskell, it being so stormy that I could not

ride, so I went and dined with him at his uncle?.

After dinner I wished him good by and left

him in a good harbour, and set out, it being

about z of the clock. I needed but a little more

sail to go as fast as the wind would convey me.

However, I rode about ten miles which brought

me to Ipswige, went in to the ale house and got

some ale and then drove on about a mile and

put up just over the bridge.

About 12 of the clock at night it cleared

away pleasant and calm which caused me sweet

repose. In the morning I arose and set out as

Duxborough was the town now known

as Duxbury, not many miles from Plymouth,

where Edmond, the first of the

Chandler family in this country, had settled

in the 1630’s. The old family home

was now his immediate destination, but

with 80 miles to go, young Peleg had at

least one more night on the road. And

so, leaving “Ipswige,”

I put on as fast as I could and about z of the

clock arrived at a tavern about IO miles out of

Boston. There I bated myself and horse and

then set out for Boston where I arrived about

q of the clock. .

Went to see Greene and he avowed that I

should stop with him all night and play checkers,

so I consented. We walked all over town

together. About dark we went to his lodgings,

he ordered a fire built in one of the chambers

and it was done, so we went to playing checkers.

We had not played so long before along

comes Sam with his bottle of wine, so we drank

wine and played checkers till about 3 of the

clock in the morning. I told them it was almost

meeting time and I wished to go to bed.

We slept till about sunrise at which time I

got up and told them I must be going. They

swore I should not stir till I had drunk half

pint of wine so I drank it and left them, got

my horse and set out, it being Sunday morning.

The old saying, “the better the day,

the better the deed,” was never accepted

by our Puritan ancestors; and our hero

was soon in trouble with the law.

Rode as far as Arnolds in Brantry and called

and got mug of cyder. I then put on and met a

Warden agoing home from the forenoon meeting.

He t>d me I must not ride there Sunday.

I told him I would put up at the tavern just

ahead. So I did put, long enough to drink a

mug of cyder and then put on and rode along

till I came to Hingham meeting house.

Meeting was just done as I got by the meeting

house. The people being acold ran as fast

as they could and so overtook me. The Warden

told me it was against the law to travel Sunday

there. I told him I would put up at Cathmores,

so he let me go and I did put up long

48 Old-Time New England

enough to drink some cyder and then put on

again and about sunset arrive at Uncle Perez’s.

This was not by any means young

Chandler’s only journey from New

Gloucester. He must have gone over the

same roads again when in 1792 he entered

Rhode Island College, now Brown

University, as a member of the sophomore

class, 1795.

Uncle Perez must have lived in Duxbury,

the ancestral home of the Chandler

family. Our hero was now among friends,

the worse of the journey over.

Monday I went to Kingstown [Kingston]

and stayed till about 9 of the clock. Tuesday

then to Duxborough again and Wednesday

went to Halifax.

Called to Watermans to inquire for the

Committee and the house was chock full people

and there I found the committee. We went in

to a chamber and agreed with me, which was

the 9th day of December.

So I went to Gideon Soule’s and kept school

in his house one week till the Schoolhouse was

fixed, then to Thad Torrv and boarded there

one week. January the 12th went to Ephraim

Tinkham’s where I am now this day, which is

the 12th day of February.

And so the journey to Halifax was

safely completed, after six nights on the

road. Today we could leave Bell Tavern

at one of the clock and be in Duxbury

in time for supper; an easy trip, over modern

turnpikes and expressways. No need

to be starting at dawn or before or to put

up with drowsy landlords who sleep till

noon,.nor need we fear the wardens, if

it happens to be the Sabbath when we

make our journey.

After graduation from college he returned

home, anxious to study law, but

his mother’s wishes, and his father’s need

for help with the farm-blacksmith shoptavern

enterprises caused him to put aside

his ambitions. Peleg, Jr., never gave up,

however; and the time came when he

was at last free to take up his chosen profession

first in New Gloucester then in

Bangor. Of these later years his son, Peleg

Whitman Chandler, has written:

Coming upon the stage at so late a day (after

the birth of to children, and well into his forties)

he could not of course expect to take the

highest position. But he was a man of marked

ability, of great wit and humor, fairly read in

the law, and an advocate of more than average

success. In t 8 I 9, before the separation of Maine

from Massachusetts, he was appointed a Judge

of the Court of Sessions. holding the office for

several years after Maine became a State and

until his removal to Bangor. He continued in

the profession until his death in 1848, at the

age of 74.

BIG CHANGES AT ANCESTRY.COM

Ancestry.com has eliminated several of their programs, but will continue with autosomal DNA testing. NONE OF THIS AFFECTS OUR CHANDLER DNA PROJECT AS OUR PROJECT IS WITH THE FTDNA AND OUR CHANDLER PROJECT IS UNDER OUR CONTROL.

Gen Forum, which probably many of you have used, became READ ONLY September. That means you will no longer be able to post or answer questions on the Gen Forum boards such as the Chandler board. Family Trees stored there will also be READ ONLY. Sad to lose the Gen Forum Chandler board, but Rootsweb is still alive and kicking so it is business as usual for their boards and family trees.

Of course we are always here for your Chandler questions.

Ancestry and other genealogy sites were hacked in the early summer, but were back and working after being off for a few days. One nifty site that I found to check if a site is down or the problem is at your end is: Is It Down Right Now? Website Down or Not?

TV NEWS

This past year, new episodes of “Who Do You Think You Are?” on TLC and “Finding your Roots” on PBS were aired. If you missed them, you might be able to catch them in re-runs. As they are popular shows they should be back with new episodes in 2015. PBS’ “Genealogy Roadshow”, which features ordinary folks, will be coming back. Check the PBS site to see if they’re still accepting submissions if you are interested.

For Revolutionary War buffs, the AMC series “Turn” has been renewed for 2015. This show was inspired by the true story of the first Patriot spy ring known as the Culper Ring. It is set mostly in New York.

Here is the official site and current schedule:

TURN: Washington’s Spies – AMC

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

If you live in other parts of the Country, you probably are thinking what could the SCGS have possibly anything to do with me?

If you join you will get free access on your home computer, wherever you are located, to Heritage Quest and World Vital Records. They also have webinars where you can watch lectures and demonstrations by experts from your home computers.

If you are in the LA area, you can visit their library and access Ancestry.com, Fold3 beginning in January, and other resources through their library computers. You can also order Family History microfilm from the LDS.

I attended the Southern California Genealogical Society’s annual Jamboree in June. It is held at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank next to the airport and is the second largest genealogy conference in the country. In addition to the commercial booths (Ancestry, NEHGS, RootsMagic, FTDNA, etc.) many genealogical societies also have booths such as the Jamestown Society, DAR, Mayflower Society, Civil War groups and many more. World renowned experts gave lectures on a variety of topics.

It was free to visit the booths and go to the Genealogical Roundtables on Friday morning. The big prize at the raffle was a trip to the Mormon library in Salt Lake.

I did my part by bringing flyers for the Chandler Family Association, which now includes us, for the freebie literature table. I only brought 20 flyers as I thought how many Chandlers can there be? All of the flyers were gone before noon the next day! Next year I will bring more flyers.

Southern California Genealogical Society: Official Web Site

RESEARCHING IS RESEARCHNG BUT WITH A TWIST:

RESEARCHING IN THE US AND CZECH REPUBLIC

Eventually, you may want to jump the pond and research ancestors there. Hopefully, we will be able to do that for Edmund Chandler one day.

My brother and I were finally able to make a long-held family dream come true to visit the Czech Republic where my grandmother and her family came from. My first trip abroad! No Chandlers involved, but here is a comparison of US vs. Czech research and of course this was also going to be a genealogy trip.

I had a place to begin my research as I had family documents—marriage and birth and couple of town “citizenship” documents. “Citizenship” for lack of a better word, meant that the town had to take of the citizen if he or she became indigent.

As in New England it was not easy to become a “citizen” of a town that you were not born in. In early New England newcomers could be “warned out” even if they had money so in case they ever became indigent the new town would not have to take care of them.

Historical research began at home online just as I would for US research. I studied history, old maps and new maps. Was I thrilled to find my ggg-grandfather listed in a directory as the forester for an estate!

Carol at the gate to her grandmother’s house.

I was even able to find my grandmother’s house on a satellite map with a street view for this small Czech village as Czech online maps show house numbers. Empress Maria Theresa decreed that houses should have numbers in the 1700s and those same numbers are used today unless a house burned down and was replaced.

Carol in front of the house where her grandmother was born in the Czech Republic

Right on the christening certificates, etc. were the parents and grandparent names, addresses and occupations.

A genealogist’s dream, except the documents were in Czech, German or Latin or a combination! Czech is not an easy language as the nouns can change endings as well as the verbs. Also some letters are interchangeable. My brother and I only knew a few Czech words, mostly foods, and the words – dobre pes – good dog!

Just like with US research, I encountered bad handwriting, bad spelling and antique words which slowed down the online dictionary translation. Also, like the US, town, district, area names and boundaries, and countries changed over the years. Many of the names switched back and forth from German to Czech.

I did as much as I could with the records that I had, but then it became time to hire a professional Czech genealogist in order to research archival records. I have not attempted researching Czech records online yet as they are not indexed, even though they can be looked up by region, town and year. Fortunately, most Czech records were not destroyed during the war. It cost me $190 to have one part of my Czech family researched and it was money well spent as I made a list of the ancestral towns and we visited most of them. So much for the idea of one ancestral village! Dobre pes!

RESEARCH TIPS

CEMETERY SYMBOLISM

Our founder, James, sent this handy link explaining some of the meanings behind gravestone symbols.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-graphic-guide-to-cemetery-symbolism

WHY WAS MY ANCESTOR BORN IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE?

We know that is impossible, but why do I find multiple birth places for my ancestor?

In New England traveling ministers would record the baptisms they performed as they traveled from town to town. Towns would then take the entire list, not just the ones that were from their town, and include them in their vital records. That’s how one of my ancestors came to be “born” in three different towns in two different states.

Sometimes, when people migrated, their children could be recorded in two different states, or the state they migrated to even though the children were born in the old state. In the case of Jonathan and Rebecca (Packard) Chandler’s family, the grandchildren, or at least some of them, were born in Duxbury, but their births were recorded much later on in Maine. Delayed recording of vital records by ministers and towns also contributed to mistakes because of faulty memories.

The censuses are another source of birth place mistakes. The enumerator could have been asking anyone in the household or a neighbor the questions and they often were mistaken, but those mistakes often hold clues. One man had his birth place listed in three different states on three different censuses across the country. One was correct, but he had resided in all of those states.

UPDATES AND CORRECTIONS

The mystery of the wives of the Zebedee Chandlers and wives of Rev. Abel Chandler is very gradually, being solved, but as some mysteries are being solved new mysteries arise. The saga of the wives could make either a soap opera or a mystery — “In Search of the Wives.”

With the Zebedees it seems that Betsey Briggs is no longer a mystery, but now Mrs. Mary J. Wheeler is. Did Mary marry Zebedee #3 or Zebedee #2?

With Rev. Abel Chandler the mystery is did he marry, divorce, and then remarry Phebe Matney?

Or are there mistakes in the records?

THE ZEBEDEE CHANDLERS

Our last update on the Zebedees of Plympton, Mass and environs was in the July 2010 issue of the Courier. As a refresher there was the original Zebedee and his son and grandson all named Zebedee. Since the last update pictures have been posted on Find A Grave of Lakenham Cemetery, Carver, Plymouth County Massachusetts where Zebedee #3 and two of his wives are buried.

Here is the timeline for the marriages of Zebedee #3 and maybe #2:

July 1, 1804 marriage intentions were filed (from Plympton vital records) for Zebedee #3 and Ruth Cole. She died on August 27, 1834 and is buried in Lakenham Cemetery.

Sept.12, 1838 a Zebedee Chandler marries Bathsheba J. Burt (AKA Bert) from Carver from Massachusetts vital records. She probably married Zebedee #3 as she was between 40 and 50 on the 1840 census and Zebedee #3 was between 50 and 60 and Zebedee #2 was between 70 and 80. We haven’t been able to find a gravestone for her.

April 4, 1841 a Zebedee Chandler marries Mrs. Mary J. Wheeler from Middleborough vital records. Did she marry Zebedee #2 or #3. We don’t know. If she married Zebedee #3 she only lasted a few months. Also, we have not found a gravestone for her.

Sept. 17, 1841 Zebedee Chandler #3 marries Betsey H. Briggs of Freetown, Bristol County, Mass from Massachusetts Vital Records. No marriage intentions were filed. Betsey is buried in Lakenham cemetery as is their daughter, Abby Marie Chandler. Betsey’s gravestone reads: “In memory of Betsey H. Chandler wife of Zebedee Chandler who died May 12, 1845 in 35^th Year.” Zebedee died in 1849 and is also buried in Lakenham cemetery.

Vital Records of Plympton, Massachusetts to the year 1850, Deaths, p. 457
Chandler, Zebedee, widr, farmer, b. P. [dup. h. Zeruiah (d. Benjamin Cushman and Zeruiah), s. Lt. Zebedee and Repentance (second w.), dropsy, Jan. 23, 1844, a. 79y 9m 1d in P. [Jan. 24, C.R. Jan. 23, G.R.1] 

REV. ABEL CHANDLER

It appears now that it was Abel Chandler, Jr. who was enumerated in the 1850 census for Jersey, Jersey Co. Illinois and not his father, Rev. Abel. Our editor, Barb, figured that out as the age was difficult to read. Enumerated with Abel, Jr. were wife Xoa (AKA Zoa), their children, and most likely brother, Alvin Chandler. We don’t know what happened to the young children enumerated in the 1840 US census for Hebron, Maine with Rev. Abel. Rev. Abel also moved to Illinois but could not be found in the 1850 US census.

Abel, Jr. probably died prior to the 1860 US census, because only Alvin, Xoa and her son Charles B. Chandler were enumerated in the 1860 US census and not in Ohio, but back in Maine. One daughter probably died young and the other daughter, although I couldn’t find her in the 1860 census, survived and was found in later censuses.

An Abel Chandler in a household of four was enumerated in the 1855 Illinois state census in Morgan County, Illinois. This was probably either Rev. Abel or his son Abel, Jr.

Rev. Abel married Phebe Matney in Howard County, Missouri in 1846 as he was in Howard County writing a letter to probably his brother Elihu Chandler on Dec. 31, 1857. He wrote that “I have not been keeping house again for over two years, neither do I know as I ever shall. About this, I do not mean to worry, for all that, would not add to my happiness or any one else.” He wrote that he was enjoying success with his circuit riding preaching and would continue with it.

There was a Phebe Chandler enumerated with presumably her daughter, in the 1860 US census in Morgan, Illinois. Assuming that this was the same Phebe, she is obviously not dead and neither is Rev. Abel as he shows up again in the 1880 US census.

So what happened to Phebe Matney?

It is possible that they divorced. Divorce, surprisingly, became very popular in Illinois during that time. Many of Abraham Lincoln’s legal cases during that time were divorces. With Rev. Abel being constantly on the move, maybe that was too much for Phebe.

However, that was apparently not the end for Rev. Abel and Phebe as there is another marriage record for Abel Chandler and Phebe(y) Matney(Motney) that occurred later in that same year (1860) after the census was taken. This was 12 years after their marriage was recorded in Missouri. Did they remarry? Was this a clerical mistake? We don’t know. According to Schuyler County, Illinois records, an Abel Chandler and Mrs. Phebey Matney obtained a license in Schuyler County Illinois on November 1860. Their marriage was announced in “The Schuyler Citizen.”

If they did re-marry what happened to her? As always with Rev. Abel Chandler there is always another mystery.

Sources:

The marriage license was issued November 29, 1860 in Schuyler, Illinois.  Barb found the marriage in Illinois Marriage Records, the official online records for Illinois. Matney was probably transcribed incorrectly as “Motney.”

The marriage of “Able” Chandler and Mrs. Phebe Matney on November 29, 1860, was also announced in “The Schuyler Citizen” 

DECEMBER 7, 2014 EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

 SARAH ODIORNE CHANDLER’S HEADSTONE UNCOVERED

 When Ed Avis of Litchfield, Maine was researching the history of his new home for the town’s centennial he found a deed that read his home was built circa 1790 and that a portion of the property be reserved as a burial ground;

DESCRIPTION OF THE GRAVEYARD

by Ed Avis

“After the death of Thomas and Elizabeth MORGRIDGE, the property was divided into eight portions among their surviving children.  William MORGRIDGE was appointed by the other heirs as their attorney to sell the property.  The original probate records are still on file at the Probate Court in Augusta, folder number M6.  The house and 108 acres (the northerly 6/8 portion of the property) were sold to Charles K. ALLEN on 22 SEP 1853.  Of particular interest is a section of the deed which reserved “one fourth acre of land for a Burying Ground, with the right to pass to and from the same to be laid out in nearly a square Southerly of the gully where the graves now are so as to include all the graves and the trees on the South side of the gully so that the graves shall be protected from washing out“.  This same phrase appears in other deeds, the last being in 1870.  All mention of the graveyard disappears in later deeds and the site was lost to memory.  Checks with local historians, people who have lived in the house this century, town office records, and the Maine Old Cemetery Association revealed no records that the graveyard existed.  After several months of searching, the graveyard was located in September 1995.  To date, four inscribed headstones have been located.  The oldest is a small fieldstone inscribed “B.M. 1803“, which is almost certainly the grave of Thomas and Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth (Betsey), who died at age 14 on 26 JUN 1803.  A second small fieldstone is simply inscribed “M.B.“, and likely stands for “Morgridge Baby” since there are no known names associated with the house with those initials.  The third marker is a commercially produced marble headstone inscribed “Sacred to the memory of ELIZABETH M. ROBINSON, Wife of Benj. Robinson, who died Oct. 19, 1854“.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Morgridge and the second of their children to bear that name (the first Elizabeth, mentioned above, had died prior to the second Elizabeth’s birth).  The last stone located was an unexpected find.  It is also a commercially produced marble marker inscribed “SARAH A., wife of E.G. CHANDLER, died May 2, 1857“.  This was apparently Sarah (Odiorne) Chandler, who lived nearby and may have been related to the Jack family who owned the house at the time of Sarah’s death.  In addition to the four identified markers, there are three or four large fieldstones without inscriptions that likely mark other graves.  A best guess as to others buried there includes (at least) Thomas MORGRIDGE (d. 1838), Elizabeth MORGRIDGE (d. 1840), their son, Timothy MORGRIDGE (d. 1818), plus Benjamin ROBINSON (d. 1859) and Mary S. {    } JACK (d. 1869). “

KENNEBEC JOURNAL NOVEMBER 21, 1995

SARAH ODIORNE CHANDLER’S HEADSTONE

SARAH A. WIFE OF E.G. CHANDLER DIED May 2, 1857 AGED 27 Yrs. 6 Mos. She sleeps in Jesus and is blessed, How sweet her slumbers are. [From suffering] and from sin released And free from every care.

 

NOVEMBER 24, 2014 EDITION OF EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

TIDBITS ABOUT THE LIVES OF OUR ANCESTORS

by Barb Chandler

John Foster (1921-2003)

Like many men after the bombing at Pearl Harbor John I. Foster joined the Air Force. He enlisted in 1942, After training he was assigned to the 14^th Air Force with the “Flying Tigers,” and was sent overseas in 1943. He returned to the United States in 1946.

In 1943 the 14^th Air Force was established by a special order from the President. Prior to this date the squadron was made up of volunteers, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), chosen from active duty servicemen. Their mission was to reorganize China’s Air Force and to provide aid to China in the form of airplanes.

“The Flying Tigers of 14th AF conducted fighter and bomber operations along a wide front that stretched from the bend of the Yellow River and Tsinan in the north to Indochina in the south, from Chengtu and the Salween River in the west to the China Sea and the island of Formosa in the east. Members of the 14^th AF were also instrumental in supplying Chinese forces through the airlift of cargo across “The Hump” in the China-Burma-India theater.” Source: 14^th Air Force Flying Tigers, http://www.military.com/HomePage/UnitPageFullText/0,13476,703323,00.html

John’s lineage is: Edmund Chandler <b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler<b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler <b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler<b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler<b 1731 MA>Ichabod Chandler<b1762 MA>Elihu Chandler<b 1795 ME>James Chandler<b 1836 IA>Sophronia Jane Chandler<b 1857 IA>+John “Smiley Foster<b 1855 IA>Clarance “Cap” Foster< b 1886 IA>

Everett R. Chandler (1910-2012)

Everett Chandler worked at the post office since 1939, when he enlisted in 1942 he served in the Naval Fleet post office out of San Francisco until his discharge in 1945.

“After Pearl Harbor, when wartime secrecy shrouded the movement of ships, it became necessary to have a central distribution point. Two main Navy post offices were established – one in San Francisco, California and one in New York City. All mail for ships and stations in the West or Pacific Ocean was directed to San Francisco. Mail for East Coast Stations and the Atlantic Ocean went to New York City. In this manner the locations of ships and stations remained unknown to all with the exception of those charged with routing the mail.” Source: United States Fleet Post Office http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/fposf.htm

Everett’s lineage is: Edmund Chandler <b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler<b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler <b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler<b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler<b 1731 MA>Ichabod Chandler<b1762 MA>Sylvanus Chandler<b 1799 ME>Elbridge Gerry<b 1827 ME>Vestel Noah Chandler<b 1869 IA>

Floyd Chandler(1919-1988) served with the Army in India, Burma and China during World War II. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was discharged in 1945.

Floyd’s lineage is; Edmund Chandler <b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler<b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler <b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler<b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler<b 1731 MA>Ichabod Chandler<b1762 MA><Rev. Abel Chandler b 1796 ME>Abel Chandler Jr.<b 1821 ME>Charles B. Chandler<b 1840 ME>Charles Aubrey Chandler<b 1877 ME>

During World War II Harvey S. Dartt, Jr(1908-1997)was a member of the Seabees in Okinawa.

“The Seabees played a key role in the last big operation of the island war, the seizure of Okinawa. The main invasion forces landed on Okinawa’s west coast Hagushi beaches on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945. Off the amphibious landing craft and over pontoons placed by the 130th Naval Construction Battalion went the 24th Army Corps and Third Amphibious Corps. Right beside them were the 58th, 71st and 145th Naval Construction Battalions. A few days later, two additional Naval Construction Battalions, the 44th and 130th, landed. The fighting was heavy and prolonged, and organized resistance did not cease until 21 June 1945. The Seabees’ task on Okinawa was truly immense. On this agrarian island, whose physical facilities a fierce bombardment had all but destroyed, they built ocean ports, a grid of roads, bomber and fighter fields, a seaplane base, quonset villages, tank farms, storage dumps, hospitals, and ship repair facilities.Nearly 55,000 Seabees, organized into four brigades, participated in Okinawa construction operations. By the beginning of August 1945, sufficient facilities, supplies, and manpower were at hand to mount an invasion of the Japanese home islands.” Source: Seabee History: Formation of the Seabees and World War Two http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq67-3.htm

Harvey’s lineage is;  Edmund Chandler <b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler<b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler <b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler<b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler<b 1731 MA>Ichabod Chandler<b1762 MA>Elbridge Gerry Chandler<b 1827 ME>Sarah Newella Mae Chandler(Adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Hanworth)+Harvey Dartt, Sr<b 1866 WI>

ATTENTION CIVIL WAR ENTHUSIASTS

Charles Harrison Chandler(1821-1899)

There are Civil War records for two men who have the name Charles H. Chandler. One is listed as a private in the 2^nd Maine Calvary, and the second is listed as a Lieutenant Colonel with the 6^th Maine Infantry. Neither man has a birth date listed on the military records on Ancestry. Can any of you tell by the uniform if this is an officer or enlisted man?

 

We welcome tidbits about the lives of your ancestors, pictures with clips giving the lineage of your ancestor, genealogy tips, or anything you believe pertains to genealogy or Chandler history.

OCTOBER 10, 2014 EDITION OF EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

CHANDLER BAND – UPDATE

by Barb Chandler

After I posted the article on the Chandler Band, I received these pictures from Rory McNeil who has a friend who plays the in the band. He reported that the Band continues to be active, and that they are very discerning about the quality of musicians.

ANNIE JUMPER BROWN – POET

by Barb Chandler

Only child of Dr. Nicholas and Huldah Chandler Jumper was born in Minot, Maine April 17, 1824, and died in Auburn, Maine January 1881. When five years old her family removed to Parkman, Maine where he died in 1834. The wife and daughter soon returned to Minot. Anna showed a great fondness for books, and not finding the school privileges needed, Rev. Elijah Jones, a rare scholar, offered the orphan girl the privilege of studying with his own daughters, whom he had educated chiefly at home. Anna’s taste for poetry and her fondness for writing verses of rare sweetness attracted the attention of her friends. She wrote a parody of Hood’s “Song of the Shirt,” entitled “Song of the Shoe,” which was printed in the Maine Farmer. Sometimes teaching, sometimes working in other ways, her girlhood drifted, not carelessly onto womanhood. She was, for a long time, a pupil in Lewiston Falls Academy, under E.P. Weston, and it was during her school days there that she met her future husband. She was a regular correspondent of a Boston journal, and contributed poems to Arthur’s Magazine and other periodicals, sometimes writing sketches and stories as well as verse. She was married to Mr. Oliver H. Brown of Raymond, Maine March 1851. From this time Mr. Brown became a resident of Minot until 1854, when he removed to Auburn, Maine. Mrs. Brown possessed a symmetrical Christian character. She read human nature well, and rarely bestowed her friendship upon unworthy persons. Whom she trusted it was safe for others to trust. Naturally reserved yet possessing a quiet dignity that won the love and respect of her associates. An ardent lover of nature, she drew inspiration from nature. Her most intimate friends were scarcely aware of her gift of song for she had hidden herself behind a nom de plume, and when detected, would assume another. From a large collection of MSS, and printed verses, the following may convey some idea of her gifts as a poet. From: Poets of Maine

Several of her poems are online at; Poets of Maine; Annie Jumper Brown http://books.google.com/books?id=pwguAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA416&lpg=PA416&dq=annie+jumper+brown+maine+poet&source=bl&ots=Om5A91fSVe&sig=R4gqgiKUxRXna-UPKy98i7dheLo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j14YVMOnB6aM8QGcpYCAAg&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=annie%20jumper%20brown%20maine%20poet&f=false

Ann Susan “Annie” Jumper Brown’s lineage is: Edmund Chandler b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler b 1731 MA>Avira b 1767 MA>Huldah Chandler b 1789 ME+Dr. Nicholas Jumper b 1787 ME

**CORRECTION: Two pictures of soldiers whose names are unknown were removed since they were not of Elbridge Gerry Chandler.

ELBRIDGE GERRY CHANDLER

Elbridge Gerry Chandler – Photo contributed by Darlene Jones and William Chandler and donated to Courier by Susan Silva .

by Susan Silva  and Barb Chandler

I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me those who are to come. I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond.
And their eyes were my eyes.
Richard Llewellyn

“My journey begin in the spring of 2013 when my husband and I visited friends in Washington D.C. I thought it would be nice to drive to Point Lookout state park, where the Potomac meets Chesapeake Bay. I wasn’t aware of any historical significance of that location and just thought it would be a beautiful drive.” Susan said, “When we arrived, I realized there had been a large military camp and prison there during the civil war. Our trip was awesome and when I started working on my genealogy, when I read Elbridge’s transcript of injury a chill went down my back. I was astounded to learn that this location was where he had been at the General Hospital for several months! That fact along with the fact that he saw Robert E. Lee surrender at Appomattox just made my heart sing! Is that why I was so drawn to that area? Who knows? But it is pretty amazing to think of all those ancestor’s who went before us. History truly does live in all of us!”

Born 18 May 1827 in Foxcroft Maine, Elbridge Gerry was the son of Sylvanus and Sarah Harlow Chandler. On November 27 1854 he married Sarah Annie Odiorne in Richmond, Maine. They had one child, Sarah E., born about 1857 in Maine. Sarah A. Odiorne Chandler died May 5 1857, on the 7^th of May 1858 Elbridge married Caroline T.S. Foote. The couple had two sons, Elmer Augusta Chandler born Jan.10, 1860 and George Franklin Chandler born Sept 3 1861 before Elbridge answered the call of his country.

Elbridge Gerry Chandler – Photo contributed by Darlene Jones and William Chandler and donated to Courier by Susan Silva.

On August 13, 1862 Elbridge enlisted in Company E, Maine 1^st Cavalry Regiment. His unit number was 10141014. He served with distinguished service. He was involved in battles of Antietam Md., Gettysburg Pa., Richmond, Va., Spotsylvania Court House, Va., Malvern Hill, Va., and Sailors Creek, Va. On May 29^th 1865 Elbridge mustered out having the rank of full corporal, and returned to his family in Maine.

He was disabled after sustaining injuries due to his service, and applied for a pension.

Transcript of Injury–Elbridge G Chandler 4-10-1883:

In a charge was thrown from my horse by his falling and my back was

so badly hurt that I was sent to the Hospital at City Point while

there was taken with cronic diareah [sic] after staying there from

foor[sic] to six weeks was then trasfered to Point Lookout, Maryland

where I was treated for 3 to 4 months was examined and marked for the

Condemned Yankee Corps but would not go there so I was sent forward

for duty and I went through the last of the campaign and was glad to

see Lee surrinder was discharged by Special Order don’t remember—

number and after my discharge was treated by Doctor Russell of

Wilton, Franklin County Maine-and that the first year after my

discharge was confined to my bed about one half of my time and under

medical treatment all the time during said year, and that since that

time have been continually with the cronic diareah neuralgia and the

piles, and previous to my enlistment was free from all of said

disabilities and that since my discharge have not been able to

perform more than one third of manuel labor of a well man. And it is

impossible to make the required Proof for the following reasons to

wit: Because was absent from my command at the time of my hurt. and

was sent to the Hospital by officer that were unknown to me. and

that my Captain was killed a few days before the surrender of Lee.

9-27-1883:

Sometime in July 1863 I was taken sick while on detached duty the

Doctor called it intermittant fever and was sent from there to

Washington and remained in the hospital 2 or 3 days, then was sent to

the dismounted camp in Washington. Was kept there sometime can’t say

positively how long. The was sent to my regiment at Coal Harbor.

That in the spring of 1864 after the Command had made it first Rode.

Then I was tetailed to 30 with it sick and wounded to White House

landing was then mounted and with about 175 men of our command and

was ordered to Melvern Hill to take it works and while in Battle line

there was some 12 or 15 of the left wing where I was stationed. I

was cut off by the Rebel Cavalry. My horse fell and hurt my back and

was sent to City Point Field Hospital put under its charge of some

Doctor don’t remember the name. While there took the cronic diareah

and was sent from there to Point Lookout, Maryland to the General

Hospital was treated there some three months and was then sent from

there at my own request to City Point dismounted Camp from there

returned to my Regiment and after the surrender of Lee was discharged

by Special Order for all soldiers whose terms expired sometime in

August. That the first Physician that I was treated by was D.L.

Russel of Wilton, Maine who was the examining surgeon of that

District in 1865. I made an application for Pension at that time by

his advise and he sent his certificate at that time to the

Department. Since I came west was treated by Dr Phipps of El Dorado

Springs Missouri have also been treated by Dr Hayes of Cambridge

Story County Iowa also by Dr Crammer of Newell Iowa Buena Vista

County also Horace M Stevens of Cambridge Mass was my Regiment

Surgeon whose affidavit is on file in the Department. Source: Pension file NARA.

Elbridge moved his family to Iowa. Where six children were born: Henry Hartman Chandler born 1867, Vestal Noah Chandler born 1869, Charles Chandler born 1870, Clara A. born 12 October 1871, Sarah Newella Mae Chandler born 7 June 1873 (was adopted by the Haworth family) and, Arthur Elmer Chandler born October 1876.

Caroline Adora Foote died on Dec. 31, 1879. Elbridge married his first cousin Medora Elizabeth Chandler, daughter of William and Phebe Mason Chandler, on 3 Feburary, 1886. The couple had a daughter; Golden O. Chandler born 19 January, 1888.

Elbridge Gerry Chandler died 10 October, 1901. His obituary, written by his sister Sarah H. Chandler Miller was published in the Maxwell Tribune October 24, 1901: Died in his home in Pleasantville, Iowa, October 10^th, Elbridge G. Chandler aged seventy-four years and six months. Mr. Chandler was born in Foxcroft Maine, in which state he continued to reside until the Civil war, when in response to his country’s call he enlisted in the first Maine cavalry where he remained for some time. About thirteen years ago he removed to Pleasantville. He has been in very poor health since he returned from the war, and death came as a happy release. He was a sincere Christian and to him death had no terrors, and although death came suddenly, being confined to his bed only a few days, yet it found him ready. His wife and daughter Clara, from Arizona, came with the remains to Cambridge, October 15^th, and the morning of the 16^th a short service was held at the home of his brother, after which he was laid to rest in the Cambridge Cemetery. Cambridge dispatch. The subject of the above sketch was the eldest brother of Mrs. J. H. Miller, of this place. She went from here to Cambridge to be present when his remains were brought to that city and to attend the funeral. Mrs. Miller has the sympathy of many friends in her sorrow.

“I believe Elbridge’s war injury affected the remainder of his life and I think it was a struggle for him. He had buried two wives and I believe he had difficulty supporting his family. He adopted out a younger daughter, as he wasn’t able to care for her. His chronic ill health probably gave him a poor quality of life. His obituary explains it well when it says “death came as a happy release”. Whoever wrote that gave us an inside view that perhaps he was suffering and he was glad to “go home to his maker, Susan stated.”

Susan Silva’s lineage is; Edmund Chandler b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler b 1646 MA >Edmund Chandler b 1670 MA> Capt. John Chandler b 1696 MA> Jonathan Chandler b 1731 MA>Ichabod Chandler b 1762 MA>Silvanus Chandler b 1799 ME>Eldridge Gerry Chandler b 1827 ME>Elmer Augustus Newell Chandler b 1860 ME>Dearl Chandler b 1896 Idaho>Peggy Chandler b 1931 WA+John Silva Jr. b 1930 Colorado

SOURCES

1^st Maine Calvalry; http://www.mainecav.org/

Point Lookout State Park and Civil War Museum; http://www.civilwar.org/civil-war-discovery-trail/sites/point-lookout-state-park-and-civil-war-museum.html

HANNAH CHANDLER ROPES CIVIL WAR NURSE AND SOCIAL REFORMER

by Barb Chandler

Hannah Chandler Ropes (1809-1863)

When her husband, William, left Hannah Chandler Ropes  to raise their two children Alice (1841-1918) and Edward (1837-1931). Her life changed dramatically.

DEVELOPING SELF-RELIANCE

Shortly after her divorce she moved with her daughter from their home in Waltham, Massachusetts, to Kansas to join her son who was homesteading in near Lawrence. She had become very interested in the abolitionist movement. Anti-abolitionist raiders caused Hannah and her family to take up arms to protect themselves against constant attack. Many in the community became sickened with malaria and typhoid and asked Hannah to nurse them. Eventually, she contracted malaria. After her recovery Hannah and her children returned to Massachusetts in 1859.

NURSE AND SOCIAL REFORMER

In 1862 Hannah’s son enlisted in the 2nd Massachusetts regiment. His enlistment motivated her to offer her nursing skills to the Union, and was named Head Matron of the Hotel Hospital in Georgetown. In one of the letters to her mother Hannah confessed that her work in the hospital wards was maternally inspired, as her patients reminded her of her son, Edward, “…and it seemed as though these patients were he, in fifty duplicates.”

Her workload was heavy and the hectic pace, unrelenting. In addition to bathing and feeding the patients and disinfecting the wards. She provided palliative care to the sick and injured, working to relieve their pain and symptoms.

Hannah wrote to her mother in the fall of 1862: “I can’t go back (home) unless you need me more than the soldiers do… I have given myself up to this work, not for salary and laziness, but for love of country.”

The conditions in the Union Hotel Hospital where Hannah worked were far from ideal. It was described as a tavern converted into use as a military hospital after the original area hospitals could no longer handle the ever increasing casualties. The dilapidated building was poorly lit with few windows, and outfitted with antiquated plumbing supplying water to the kitchen and the adjacent toilets. Louisa May Alcott, who worked with Hannah, described the squalid surroundings in her journals. “It was well-ventilated for five panes of glass had compound fractures…,” she wrote. “Poke up the fire…for a more perfect pestilence box than this house I never saw…cold, damp, dirty, full of vile odors from wounds, wash-rooms & stables.”

Hannah criticized the lack of sanitation, the indifference and cruel treatment of soldiers. She often butted heads with military physicians who resented the presence of women in the hospital. But her strong sense of justice kept her from backing down and she fearlessly reported on incompetent surgeons, uncaring ward physicians and bullying orderlies. She even turned in a hospital steward who was pilfering the money budgeted for the hospital’s laundry soap. The hospital matron’s high professional standards and diligence earned her the admiration of Union Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who reviewed her written exposes of unfair practices at the hospitals.

On January 9, 1863, Hannah wrote in her last letter to her son, briefly mentioning that she and Miss Alcott had “worked together over four dying men and saved all but one…we both took cold…and have pneumonia and have suffered terribly.”

On January 20, 1863, Hannah Ropes lost her bout with typhoid pneumonia, and died.

Ropes’ good friend and supporter, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts eulogized Hannah’s life and contributions in a letter: “Mrs. Ropes was a remarkable character, noble and beautiful and I doubt if she has ever appeared more so than when she has been here in Washington, nursing soldiers.”

Hannah Chandler Ropes lineage is; Edmund Chandler b 1587 ENG >Joseph Chandler b 1646 MA >Joseph Chandler Jr. b 1672 MA>Phillip Chandler b 1702 MA>Peleg Chandler b 1735 MA>Peleg Chandler Jr. b 1773 MA

SOURCES

Civil War Primer by Pat Granstra; http://www.civilwarprimer.com/2012/03/hannah-ropes-the-other-woman-behind-little-women/

Hannah Ropes Union Civil War Nurse; http://civilwarwomenblog.com/hannah-ropes/

The Oregon Herald, 150^th Anniversary of Nurse Hannah Rope’s Death and Oregon’s Civil War Nurses;

http://www.oregonherald.com/oregon/local.cfm?id=2897

Do you have an idea for a story you’d like to see? Or, a Chandler ancestor you’d like to have featured. Please contact Barb Chandler at barb95831@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014 EDITION OF EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

CHANDLER BAND

by Barb Chandler

Bands come and go, but Chandler’s band continues to make music today.

In 1833 the Chandler band, known as the Portland band, had its start. When D.H. Chandler became the conductor in 1843 it was renamed the Chandler Band. Under Chandler’s leadership the band became one of the finest performing bands of its kind.

In 1861 at the request of General Francais Fessenden the members of the Chandler’s band were mustered into service of the Union Army serving until the end of the Civil War and have received accolades for their musical talent:

A COMPLIMENT TO CHANDLER AN HIS BAND

“The band of the 10^th Maine Regiment is composed of musicians residing in Portland and vicinity, and its leader is Mr. D.H. Chandler of this city. In the Martinsburg Virginia we find the following in relation to this band: The 10^th Maine Regimental band came up from Harper’s Ferry to attend the Union meeting Saturday night last. For this kindness they have the unfeigned thanks of our citizens. They discoursed the most excellent music to the delight of all who heard them. After the meeting adjourned they serenaded the venerable Judge Pendelton, now in his 84^th year, though weak and feeble physically his patriotism has suffered no decay with accumulating years. They also complimented Com. Boarman, one of our leading Union citizens, with a serenade. We hope they will visit us again.” Source: Wednesday, April 30, 1862, Portland Daily Advertiser, Page 2  

After the war the band played at both public and private venues. Since 1875 it has played for Bowdoin College commencements, led this country’s Centennial Celebration Parade in 1876, playing at the Bicentennial Celebration Parade in 1976 at Concord, Mass.

Chandler’s Band, Portland, 1898 – Maine Historical Society

Click on this link https://archive.org/details/VeteransMemorialBridgeDedicationCeremony to watch the Chandler Band play during the dedication ceremony of the new Veterans Memorial Bridge connecting Portland and South Portland in 2012.

The founder and conductor, Daniel H. Chandler(1818-1902) who was born in New Hampshire and is the son of Daniel(1754-?) and Sarah Danforth Chandler(1784-1860) is probably not in the Edmund Chandler line.

Source: Chandler’s Band http://www.chandlersband.com/

PRIVATE SETH CHANDLER WELCH

by Barb Chandler

Seth Welch(1839-1862), son of Thomas and Angerona Chandler Welch, enlisted in Company B 11^th Infantry Regiment Maine on 8 November 1861. He died in June 1862 at Savage Station Virginia.

According to a document found on Fold 3 Seth became sick while on duty near Chicken-howling Railroad Bridge in Virginia and was taken to the regimental hospital in the Bradley house being very sick with pneumonia and inflammation of the lungs. On the 27^th or 28^th of June he was sent to Savage Station where he was captured by the enemy and soon after died.

During the Civil War Savage Station was a field hospital, located in Henrico County Virginia on what was the Richmond and York River Railroads. A battle between Union and Confederate soldiers was fought there on June 29, 1862. Union forces were overwhelmed and withdrew abandoning supplies and more than 2, 5000 wounded soldiers in the field hospital. More than likely Seth was one of the soldiers who were abandoned. He was taken prisoner and died at Savage Station, Virginia.

Savage Station, Va. Field hospital after the battle. (Gibson, James F., photographer).

Seth’s lineage is; Edmund Chandler>Joseph Chandler>Capt. John Chandler>Jonathan Chandler>Ichabod Chandler>Ichabod Chandler,Jr.>Angerona Chandler Welch

MERCY CHANDLER TYLER

by Barb Chandler

Overlooking the Siskyou mountains, in a tree-lined meadows with an abundant water supply Thomas Stephen(1810-1880) and Mercy Chandler Tyler(1812-1899) made their home. They lived on a farm in Tyler Gulch in of Scott’s Valley, Siskyou, California.

                                           Scott Valley California

Thomas and their oldest son, Justin, worked on the farm, and tended the apple orchard while Mercy probably raised vegetables for the family garden as part of her household chores.

Both Thomas and Mercy had New England roots. Thomas was born in Massachusetts and Mercy was born in Maine. They were married at Turner Maine in 1833. Their first two children, Justin Spalding Tyler(1834-1906) and Elizabeth Ober Tyler Sperry(1836-1876) were born in Maine.

The family moved to Illinois in 1837 where the rest of their children were born; Sarah Jane(1839-1851), Julia Ann Tyler Wike(1844-1915), Charles Alonzo “Charley” Tyler(1858-1931), Alvira “Vi” Tyler Thomas(1844-1910), Emma Urania Tyler(1851-1924), and Harriet Marie “Hattie” Tyler Thomas(1852-1881).

The Tyler’s traveled from their home in Illinois to California in 1867 with three of their children and joined their oldest son Justin who had moved to the state during the gold rush.

Mercy died 17 April 1899:

THE LATE MRS. MERCY TYLER

“Mrs Mercy Tyler, the deceased, was born in Minot, State of Maine, on the 19th day of February, 1812. Her maiden name was Chandler, and she was the third of a family of eleven children. Her parents were of American birth, and her father during her infancy was a soldier in the war of 1812.

For 21 years her home was in Minot. Then she went to Turner, Maine, where in 1833, she was married to Mr. Thomas S. Tyler by Rev. Mr. Greely. In 1837 she removed with her husband and two children to Griggsville, Ill., where they lived until 1869. During their residence in Illinois six children were born into their home. In 1869, accompanied by three of their children, they removed to California and located with their oldest son on the property now owned by Mr. Wm Grider in Sciad Valley, and from there they in 1871 removed to Scott Valley. Mr Tyler died January 4, 1880, since which time Mrs Tyler made her home with her youngest son Charles Tyler, a few miles from Fort Jones.

Of the eight children of the deceased, five still live, i.e. Mr J.S. Tyler, Mrs J. Wike of Illinois, Mrs Thomas of Shasta Valley, Mrs A. Milne of Scott Bar and Mr Charles Tyler of our own community. Four of the surviving children are with us today. She leaves behind thirty-seven grand children and twenty great grandchildren.

For years, or since the age of 19, she has been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having joined the church at Bath, Maine, in 1831. From Bath she received a certificate of membership, and was transferred to the church at Griggsville, Ill., and by letter from Griggsville, she became a member of the M.E. Church in Fort Jones. As her Pastor, it has been for me to pray with her in her late home, and her sightless eyes would fill with tears as she unite with me before the Father’s throne. She rested from her labors on April 17th, 1899, in Shasta Valley, where she was visiting her daughter.

Mrs Tyler’s remains were taken from the home of her daughter Mrs Alvira Thomas in Shasta Valley, near Montague, to the Methodist Church in Fort Jones, followed by her children, grand children and great grandchildren, and many friends, and laid in the Fort Jones cemetery by the side of her husband who died January 4th, 1880.” Source: April 26, 1899 Scott Valley News.

Mercy’s lineage is;

Mercy Chandler>Jonathan Chandler+Mercy Hall>Nathaniel Chandler>Ruth Fish>>Jonathan Chandler+Rebecca Packard>Capt. John Chandler+Bethiah Rickard>Edmund Chandler+Elizabeth Alden**>Joseph Chandler+Mercy unknown>Edmund, the immigrant+unknown.

Anthony and Emma Taylor Milne – Picture donated by Rory McNeil

                         Milne Family – Picture donated by Rory McNeil

Top: George Washing Wilke and Julia Tyler Wilke Bottom: Thomas Stephen Tyler and Mercy Chandler Tyler

George and Lola Tyler. – Picture donated by Rory McNeil

Mercy Chandler Tyler—>Charles Alonzo Tyler—>Thomas George Tyler—>Rita Tyler McNeil—>Rory

Thanks to Rory McNeil for providing the information and pictures that appeared in this article. Mercy is her great great grandmother. If you would like to connect with another Mercy ancestor Rory’s email is; rorymc@snowcrest.net

 Do you have an idea for a story you’d like to see? Or, an ancestor you’d like to have featured. Please contact Barb at barb95831@gmail.com

AUGUST 26th, 2014 EDITION OF EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER

CHANDLER/LINCOLN CONNECTION

by Barb Chandler

Are you an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln? Perhaps these clues may help you decide.

This letter by Mary Alice Chandler Kelly(1878-1969), daughter of James S.(1836-1908) and Lucetta Miller Chandler(1836-1928), had been circulating in my family for years;

“My grandmother, Nancy Hanks Miller(1794-1873), was a cousin of Abraham Lincoln’s mother. Both had the name of Nancy Hanks. Grandfather Billie Miller and Nancy Hanks were married in Kentucky. The came with the Lincolns to Illinois. From there they came to Iowa settling a few miles from New London and Mt. Pleasant. They had 13 children and raised two others. Mother(Luicetta) was born after the family came to Iowa, June 25 1836. She was the first white girl born in Pleasant Grove Township.

Grandmother played a vital part in Lincoln’s life by weaving material and making his clothes, not by machine but by hand; also nursing him through typhoid fever.”

While I was researching another one of James Chandler’s children; Nancy Chandler Chadwick(1860-1937). I found more information about a Chandler/Lincoln connection in this addition to her obituary;

“In making application for membership in the Journal’s Three-Quarter Century club last summer, Mrs. Chadwick gave this information on the blank where space was provided for any specially interesting facts about the life of the applicant: My grandmother and Abraham Lincoln’s mother were cousins both named Nancy Hanks. My grandmother’s name was Nancy Hanks Miller. Abe Lincoln was employed to teach the district school in the Miller neighborhood. Naturally he went to live at the home of my grandmother. While there he fenced my grandfather’s land. He also split rails for jeans to make his pants and my grandmother wove the goods and made the pants. My mother’s older sister had a dress bought of Lincoln when he peddled goods. He drove a horse and wagon at that time.” Source: Washington Evening Journal dated 25 January 1937

I wanted to find some verifiable information connecting the Chandler family to Abraham Lincoln, and hit pay dirt when I found this letter penned by William Miller, husband of Nancy Hanks Miller;

William Miller to Abraham Lincoln, Wednesday, May 11, 1864 (Promotion for Elisha Wright)
From William Miller to Abraham Lincoln [With Endorsement by Lincoln]1, May 11, 1864

New London
Henry County Iowa
11th May, 1864

My dear Sir

You may not reccollect an old man now tottering on the verge of the grave — then living in Macon County Illinois who wore the name of William Miller and married your Cousin Nancy Hanks

With the keenest remembrances of old times I will never forget Your visits to my humble home which you will reccollect although plain was free as the air to yourself. Providence has far exceeded your expectations and mine in placing you in the great White House. Whilst age has made me feeble When in Illinois, I was so well acquainted with you that I could venture to talk to you about everything and I hope your elevation to place has not changed your native kindness

You will perhaps reccollect Aunt Nancy’s Sister, Celia Hanks, she You will reccollect married John. D. Wright who afterwards came to Des Moisnes Iowa– John was our County Surveyor was a member of the Legislature and of the State Convention which formed Our Constitution and was withal a very honest clever man

Poor Celia died about twenty years ago when her twin Children, Elisha and Electa were one month old– I took them children and raised them. Elisha had a very good Education and clerked in a Store until the war broke out and then he volunteered to go to the war to help Cousin Abe (as we all call you) preserve the Country Elisha is a good sensible honest trust worthy boy, and has been in many hard fights. And is a good Soldier I want him to get promotion after so much fighting and suffering He is worthy of a place in the Regular Army as Lieutenant and will in such position never disgrace his Kinsman who can easily give him the appointment he so richly deserves He is a private in Company K. 19th Iowa Infantry

I need not add more which will tire You, I am now upwards of seventy and have to get a friend to write for me as I dictate as I am feeble.

I feel anxious before I die to do something for my dear relative Elisha and feel sure that you will do this for me.

Aunt Nancy is feeble like myself. She joins in my love

to you that God will bless you

in this great time of

trouble

I am your Cousin

Affectionatily

William Miller

[ Endorsed by Lincoln:]

William Miller — Bill Miller

[Note 1 Miller was married to Nancy Hanks, a daughter of Lincoln’s great uncle William Hanks. Her brother was Lincoln’s cousin and Indiana companion, John Hanks. Elisha Wright, in whose behalf Miller writes, did not receive a commission in the U. S. Army, but he was considered for the position as secretary for the Montana Territory. See Lincoln, Memorandum on Montana Patronage, [June 1864].]

Source: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28d3298900%29%29

The Chandler/Lincoln connection comes through James S. Chandler’s marriage to Lucetta Miller.

James S. and Lucetta Miller Chandler

 

James S Chandler’s lineage is ; Edmund Chandler >Joseph Chandler >Edmund Chandler > Capt. John Chandler > Jonathan Chandler > Ichabod Chandler > Elihu Chandler > James S Chandler

Are you a distant cousin many times removed to Lincoln? If you have researched this line I would love to hear the stories you have found.

FREEMAN CHANDLER JR. SHEEP RANCHER

by Barb Chandler

Siskiyou County(red dot)

Freeman Chandler Jr.(1828-1900), son of Freeman(1801-?) and Esther Austin Chandler(1797-?), owned a large sheep ranch on Willow Creek in Siskiyou County California. Freeman raised and ran sheep on the Willow Creek mountain area, Chandler Glade being one of his camps. Evidence remains of a ditch he started to convert water down the hill to their ranch.

To see a  map of Chandler Glade click this link: http://california.hometownlocator.com/maps/bigmap,n,chandler%20glade,fid,258196.cfm

Source: Biography of Freeman Chandler, Jr. found on a family tree at Ancestry.c0m

CHANDLER OKLAHOMA LAND RUN OF 1891

by Barb Chandler

Did one of our ancestors try to stake a claim in Chandler, named for Judge George Chandler who was a Congressman and commissioner of the Washington Land Office.

Chandler Oklahoma(red dot).

During the time of the Chandler land run Levi Jason Chandler(1838-1901), son of Sylavanus(1799-1882) and Sarah Harlow Chandler(1803-1880), was relocating from Iowa to Oklahoma. In the 1880 census he was living in Troy, Iowa, and in 1900 census he lived in the town of Miami Oklahoma.

Levi Jason Chandler

Perhaps Levi was one of the riders that this newspaper article describes:

IT WAS A WILD RUSH. HOW SETTLERS ENDERED THE TOWN SITE OF CHANDLER-MANY REPORTED KILLED.

“Gutherie, O.T., Septembe 29-”Couriers who have arrived here this afternoon gave the following particulars and horrible details which attended the opening of the government town site of Chandler in the Sac and Fox reservation, which was opened to settlement on week ago:

The town site was opened to settlement at 12 o’clock yesterday, and the scene which followed the volley of musketry which announced the opening of the town site was amazing.

A mass of 3,000 excited men and women, intent upon securing a lot, had gathered about the boundary of the town. Some were on horses or broncos and others on foot, stripped of all superfluous clothing, each carrying a sharpened stick with the name and notice of the lot taken thereon, all strung to the highest pitch of excitement.

At 12:00 o’clock sharp the signal was given and with a mighty yell from 3,000 throats, and admid the cracking of whips and volleys of oaths, shouts, and curses, a conglomerate mass of men and women, on horseback and foot, rushed like manics for the town lots. The clambered up the steep cliff.

LIKE SOLIDERS CHARGING A FORTRESS.

The line was one mile long on each side and half-mile long on each end. The rush was toward lot 38 which was reserved for a courthouse.

As the angles of the advancing lines met many riders were unhorsed and hurled pell mell into the road. Many persons are reported killed and others as having received severe injuries. Miss Daisy, a representative of the Guthrie News, was thrown from her horse at the beginning of the race and striking her head on a rock was killed. The excited and merciless crowd had no time to attend the dying and rode over the body of the unfortunate woman, until it was recognized by a friend who took it out of the surging mass of humanity.

As there were three or four times as many people as there were lots the result could be easily foretold. There are from three to six claimants for a great many of the good lots tonight. On every hand can be heard curses. It will take considerable time to adjust these differences. An Indian killed a white man over a quarrel in one of the tents were liquor was being sold.” Source: Wednesday September 30, 1891, Daily Inter Ocean(Chicago, Ill.), VolumneXX, Issue 190, page 1.

Whether Levi Chandler was part of this or not is a matter of speculation. The land rush is a page from our history that describes what people went through to settle our country.