EDMUND’S COMMUNITY COURIER
October 2006
Barb Chandler Editor
GETTING TO KNOW YOUShalom, I’m James Campbell, Edmund Chandler Family Association’s (ECFA) webmaster. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I earned two bachelor degrees in Biology and Pastoral Studies in Washington, D.C and Maryland. I work for the Federal government as a Biologist and for my deaf local church as an Associate Pastor.
In 1985, I started my families’ genealogy research. My interest was sparked when my grandpa, Charles Campbell told me me several generations of Campbell’s were born at home and many of those were buried up the hill from his house in Ohio. His home, built by a Campbell, has passed down several generations. It stands a few hundred feet from the Ohio & Erie Canal. The house is now a historical landmark and was sold to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
According to my dad, my genealogy research may be framed and hung in the Campbell house once it’s restored.
THE BIRTH OF EDMUND CHANDLER FAMILY ASSOCIATION
by James Campbell
The advent of the internet opened many doors which previously were closed, and my research took a new direction. I signed up with Ancestry, and saw many listings by genealogy researchers who claimed they had direct lineage to Edmund Chandler. I wasn’t sure if my ancestor, Theodore Chandler belonged to this lineage but the migration pattern and locations where Chandlers were seemed to fit with Theodore. I contacted Chandler Family Association and they didn’t have him listed. I don’t know Theodore’s parents so I contacted some Chandler researchers and no one know Theodore.
I wanted to find a connection so I started the Chandler Lineage mailing list where Chandler research and documents are compared. The mailing list started in May 2003. I contacted hundreds of Chandler researchers to join. A week later, Marcia Loudon was the first to respond to my invitation. It grew very slowly. Two years later, Yahoo Group couldn’t hold the number of photos and documents we had so the decision was made to obtain a website. Several members of Chandler Lineage group donated the fund and labor and Edmund Chandler Family Association formed in April 2005.
Since then, I’ve discovered my hutch was correct. Theodore Chandler is connected to Edmund Chandler according to the information in the Chandler book by Mary Lowell. However, we still need DNA testing of many Chandler testees’ to verify this lineage.
THE GENEALOGIST’S TOOLBOX
Genealogy 101: Strictly for Beginners
by Bob Chandler
INTRODUCTION: This is a very basic introduction to the world’s number one hobby, GENEALOGY. We include this introduction for those newcomers just now venturing forth to discover their heritage, The following sections are not intended to be all-encompassing or all-inclusive—that cannot be as genealogy is a most dynamic subject especially when using the Internet.
Some beginners are petrified to attend a genealogy society meeting because they think because they don’t know genealogy, members will think them dumb. Please be advised there is no person working in genealogy, including Certified Genealogists, who knows it all, any more than any car mechanic is able to work on all cars. Therefore, join the local genealogy society and learn something new at each meeting. Volunteer for one of its committees and learn by doing while making friends at the same time. You will soon find it most enjoyable and time well spent. And, you just might meet or learn about a distant cousin you knew nothing about—that’s really happened on more than one occasion.
DEFINITION: Genealogy means a study of the genes, or bloodline, if you will. Therefore, adoptions, whether formal or informal, are not to be considered when calculating family lineage’s. This is not to say one cannot enter an adopted child into genealogical records. Rather, this is to say, for example, that your adopted child cannot use your bloodline to determine his/her lineage. That child has his/her own bloodline created by his/her own biological parents.
Genealogy may be done in two basic ways: Firstly, “genealogy” starts with the earliest known ancestor and descends generation by generation documenting each descendant, spouse and child. Secondly, “pedigree research” is a genealogical process which starts with YOU. You should at this point decide whether to collect documentation on all ancestors (siblings, in-laws/outlaws) or limit your research to only the parents of each generation.
APPLICATION OF A FEW PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES: Smart and efficient genealogy requires its practitioners to exercise focus, organization and discipline. It’s so very easy to go off on a tangent when doing genealogy. Therefore, one must be diligent to focus and assure staying on the trail to complete the designated task before venturing elsewhere. If you see something of interest, make a note to do it later. Organization is important because without it documents may get lost, appointments missed, correspondence not sent or followed-up, etc. We have included some forms which will help you in this area. Discipline is the cornerstone of genealogical research. It is the binder for all that goes into your research efforts. Without dotting your “Is” and crossing your “T’s”, you can quickly lose control of your work which, of course, will require additional and unnecessary expenditures of both time and money and lend considerable confusion to your task at hand.
FILING SYSTEM: There is no established genealogical central filing system. Whatever works best for YOU is the best system, but the sooner you start it, the better. As you are just starting, the following will allow you to collect documentation and find it whenever you wish until you decide on a better method:
Legal size folders with a tab on top for easy viewing; No more than 25 documents per folder, thus label folders, e. g “0000 – 0025, 0026 – 0059”, etc; Use removable labels to fit tab. On each document, apply small removable label with the next available number to the bottom left of right corner and BE CONSISTENT unless covering up info; Prepare for each folder an “Index Page” of about 25 lines which reflects the document number with a very brief description, e.g. “1850 Census (John SMITH, Tom JONES”). Make a Master Index composed of a copy of each individual file folder index, thus negating your having to search the files manually. (With a computer, the Master Index can be placed on a disc, called up when needed and the “FIND” command used to tell you the document number and thus the file.)
Some family researchers use a separate filing cabinet with folders marked for each surname being researched. Into these folders goes all the documentation discovered about that surname. When a document is proven to be connected to your family, then it is removed, labeled, indexed and filed in the above-mentioned file.
Some family researchers also prefer to have in the file for each person/surname a copy of each document which refers to that person. Take for example, a census. Not that long ago, it was not unusual of find families with 12 – 14 children, thus a totaling 14 people. Under this method, 14 copies would have to be made. If the above filing system is used, than only a single copy of any document is required as that document number can be used as a reference for any number of ancestors. The latter saves on time and money.
Continued Next Edition
TIDBITS
DAR Membership – My Nathaniel Chandler Line
by Elsie Davis Ray
Nathaniel Chandler is a proven patriot in the NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution). He is one of my great grandfathers I decided to join the DAR with him as my Patriot. Several children of this patriot are also proven in the NSDAR database. Those are: Zebedee, Lucy, Elizabeth and Rebekah. To become a member I researched and collected documents.
There are several ways to become a member of DAR. The easiest one is if you have a friend or relative to help guide you through the process. I was particularly lucky in that the cousin who assisted me was at that time serving as chapter registrar. If no friend, neighbor or cousin is a member of DAR, then you would start with the NSDAR website. www.dar.org At that website in the “Become A Member” section there is an option to request membership information. Fill in as many blanks as you possibly can and a NSDAR Referral Vice Chairman will contact you and assist you in locating the most convenient chapter in your area.
In that same section, steps are listed which will guide you through the process. Start with the listing “Become A Member.” FIRST, establish your lineage to the patriot. SECOND, identify your patriot and be sure his/her proof of service is accurate. THIRD, find a chapter. This can be done through the NSDAR website or your state DAR website. Every state has a website with all chapters listed. Not all chapters have websites but all states do. If there is a DAR Chapter in your area which does not have an email or website contact, the state website will have. FOURTH, visit the chapter selected and then let the chapter know if / when you wish to join. Your name is then brought before that chapter membership for election.
Once you are established as a prospective member in a specific chapter there are usually several officers to assist you through the process. There are chapter registrars, membership chairmen, and lineage chairman who will review submitted documents. When enough proof documents are gathered and the application is completed it is then sent to the NSDAR in Washington, D.C. for verification and approval. The process can take several months according to how fast the documents are gathered.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE LIFE OF…
Mary Elizabeth Chandler Chamberlin
1st Lt. George Barrett
Annie Chamberlin
by Sharon Ross
CONTINUED FROM LAST COURIER
The Quartermaster’s tent was very attractive to us all in the evening. Some evenings found Mary’s sweet voice chiming in with the Major’s singing Methodist hymns. They were joined by George and others singing while Annie slept in her cradle. At a break in the festivities, they suddenly heard what sounded like a kitten. The kitten turned out to be Annie cooing away. Annie was pulled from beneath the bed, wide awake and ready to join the party by sitting in one lap or another during the rest of the concert.
Annie and Mary would join the troops out on picket, staying once at a deserted plantation house consisting of a large parlor, a dining room and a few bedrooms. Annie and her parents had an upstairs room with a stove whose pipe went straight out at the window. It was quite comfortable in spite of having broken window panes or no glass at all. The parlor was in similar condition but had a huge fireplace that was used whenever it was cold. The house was quite dirty, but after a few days the women had covered all the unsightly places with wreaths and evergreens from a pile on the floor in which “nested” Annie in the middle playing with the leaves. Annie would greet everyone at breakfast being danced about in everyone’s arms which seemed to be the first duty of the day. She also greeted each officer or courier bring morning reports, each dismounted at the door, entering the house with jingling spurs and arms. And there was more excitement for Annie as she watched couriers being dispatched to a town seven miles away. Their mounting and departure was a delight, and especially when her father was one of the riders as he would take Annie up on the mount for a good-bye kiss and sometimes put her on the saddle before him, gallop her round the house once or twice and then giver her back to her nurse’s arms again. She was fearless in these capers. The sentinel pacing up and down the piazza held some interest for her, but what caught her eye the most was the hammock which swung between the pillars. Col. Higgenson reminisced about seeing her in his mind years later lying in repose in her blue and scarlet wrappings peeking out of the netting her arm thrust forth grasping nearby roses and magnolias. Some mornings after her cup of milk, kittens would be brought in for her to play with. As Annie couldn’t walk yet, the kittens would soon scamper out of her grasp. Her first words were “Little Baby” which she called the kittens.
Annie’s life wasn’t all fun as sometimes while “on picket” there would be alarms from Rebel troops who would bring cannon to the opposite side of the Ferry, about two mile from where they were stationed. The men would be called to arms rapidly, the ladies brought downstairs donning their best bonnets and the ambulance would be ready to take them to a place of safety before the expected battle. In these instances Annie delighted in all the excitement, screaming out her orders and advice on military situations. At last the danger would be over and the ladies would be induced to go peacefully to bed again. Sometimes the ladies would go to the steamers or boats to help with the wounded. Mary found herself on one occasion doing just that. While onboard one steamer there was nothing for them to do and they walked back to camp in the moonlight. I can imagine they were quiet and reflective as they had “just missed that fight”. Mary was overheard to say, “I don’t care who wins the laurels, provided we don’t!” I am assuming she meant she was glad her husband was not among this group of wounded who had been brought back.
Col. Higgenson relates his feelings when Annie returned to Massachusetts in the Spring of 1864. He says, I suppose we hardly knew, at the time, how large a part of the sunshine of our daily lives was contributed by dear little Annie. Yet, when I now look back on that pleasant Southern home, she seems as essential a part of it as the mocking-birds or the magnolias, and I cannot convince myself that in returning to it I should not find her there. But Annie went back, with the spring, to her Northern birthplace and then passed away from this earth before her little feet had fairly learned to tread its paths.
Sadly, our Mary Chandler Chamberlin died at the age of 34 yrs, leaving two children, my husband’s grandmother Marian Norwood Chamberlin age 7 and Edward H. Chamberlin age 5. She died at their home on Peachtree St., Atlanta, Georgia on 20 Mar 1871.
Lying between two port cities of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, S. Carolina was Beaufort a small island town situated on Port Royal. Beaufort dominated a body of water which was a natural harbor on the southeast coast. In order for the Union forces to maintain the blockade of the Confederacy they required a base and anchorage along the Confederate coast. That beachhead was found and held through the war. In 1862 three of the Port Royal Sound islands were evacuated from regular troops. Up to this point free Negroes were not allowed to fight in defense of the Union. The special circumstances of the evacuation of regular army troops made the arming and employment of Negro troops a military necessity. And spawned the first American regiment of freed slaves. Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson who authored the book, Army Life in a Black Regiment, which chronicles the history of the first Black Regiment, was instrumental in training groups of volunteers who were entering the State Militia of Massachusetts. After enlisting in 1862, he was appointed Captain in the 51st Massachussetts. This unit was about to receive its orders when the commander of the Military Department of the South at Port Royal sent a letter to Higginson offering the command, with the rank of colonel, of the First South Carolina Volunteers. Col Higginson was now commander of the first American regular army regiment of freed slaves. (Note: The only contemporary regiment of a similar character was the “First Kansas Colored,” which began recruiting a little earlier, though it was not mustered in – the usual basis of military seniority – till later. These were the only colored regiments recruited during the year 1862. The Second South Carolina and the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts followed early in 1863.)
I suggest you read this book which chronicles the fledgling regiment of First South Carolina Volunteers by one who was their, first commanding officer, Col Higgenson. Before the Civil War the regular army had been closed to Negro troops even though they had been tested years before with splendid results, they remainded closed even to segregated outfits officered by whites.
This book not only tells of the adventures but provides insights to how these troops were trained, how hard they worked and fought, and their pride in fighting for their freedom.
WISH LIST
I need articles for these sections to go in the next newsletter:
“Getting To Know You” – A biography including your lineage.
“Tidbits” – Something related to genealogy; can be a tip, trivia, article, or anything else to do with genealogy.
“A Glimpse Into The Life…” – Story about one of your ancestors.
If you have questions or comments please direct them to Barb Chandler at barb95831 @ gmail.com |
