THE CHAMBERS FAMILY
william & marilla atkinson chambers
son of wm. & marilla chambers:
mack chambers
William & Marilla's older son, Clarence McColmb, went by Mack. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1852. He married Margaret E. Allison on November 19, 1872 in Pawnee City, Nebraska. They were the parents of four children: Grace, Macolmb, Mabel and Madge. Maggie died in 1881 and he married a woman named Ingeborg; he had left Nebraska by that time. Mack died in California in 1928.
|
mack's daughter madge
This picture comes from Holly Blazier, a picture from her family collection.
mack's daughter madge in 1897
A photo with Madge Chambers and an unknown other, shared by Marilyn Smith, whose husband David is a grandson of Madge's. Photo 3991. It was taken in Pawnee City in March 1897 according to an annotation on the border of the photo.
mack's daughter madge with a little boy, frankie wyman - probably ca. 1900
From Marilyn Smith, whose husband is a descendant of Madge Chambers, who was his grandmother, comes this poignant set of pictures with a note on the back about his memory. This little Frankie in curls is a little boy, dolled up as was the custom of the time. Madge was born in 1880. Her mother died in 1881.
"Frankie" Wyman is presumably John Franklin Wyman, one of the three children of Frank Wyman who, as an infant, came here with his mother, Nancy Kerns Wyman, and his mother's extended family. Frank's mother had two children with Decatur Wyman (George and William) the Decatur was killed in the war. She had a third child, Frank, said to be the son of Decatur's brother Frank, killed in the war; no trace of the brother has been found and a family surmise is that the brother did not exist. In any event, when Frank was a child she married John Taylor and was raised by him. Frank eventually married Anna McInerney and they had three children - Thomas, Vera, and John Franklin. It is that child, John Franklin, who fits the profile of the Frankie in this picture. John Franklin Wyman died in Oakland, California in 1950.
|
son of wm. & marilla chambers - charles w. chambers
C. W. & his wife Ida Kenner Chambers and three of their five children: Ward, Ruth, and James. (Chester and Harman are not in the picture.)
C. W.'s first wife, Julia Allison (1855-1874), as a little girl, with her mother Lydia Koontz Allison. Julia married C. W. in 1873 and died in 1874. She is buried in the Table Rock Cemetery. |
His friends called him Charley, but he used C. W. when he wrote, and those who did not know him well apparently also called him C. W.
Chambers liked to play checkers, he liked to write about history, and he usually had an opinion about something. Oh boy, did he! And the newspaper editors up in the Capital City thought enough of them to publish them!
Chambers liked to play checkers, he liked to write about history, and he usually had an opinion about something. Oh boy, did he! And the newspaper editors up in the Capital City thought enough of them to publish them!
1882 - a little experience in forming an opinion derived from a railroad car of flour and a local man with an implied penchant for the bottle
1921 - the schools are spending too much money & what to do about it
1921 - indian summer, observations & thoughts
|
1921 -
Opinions, opinions. all about roads & bridges, including one back "in the 70s" -- the 1860s & 70s. "We are going blooey about some roads" & failing to maintain others.
more about the cost of schools, "this extravagance has got to stop" because the prosperity resulting from world war i was done gone.
Back in the 1860s there wasn't a "real" bridge in Pawnee Coumnty. You could ford the Nemaha at the mill (near what we call Goat Hill) or two miles north of there.
They used to bridge the creeks with a process that, "with a little care would last for years." Layer logs, then brush and hay, then cover deep with soil. They never washed out. In the early 1870s, a steel bridge was built at the mill -- then they diverted the river leaving the steel bridge standing -- and it was still there when Chambers wrote this article in 1921. Chambers griped about how much the state was paying to build a road -- $6,300 a mile! Chambers griped about how the road was not well maintained, and how much was paid to do what maintaining was done. Part of it is because there were too many men who spent the war in some "little official position" where they "bulldozed docile people" and those men were trying to keep it up. |
undated - describing baptisms in the nemaha river
Steve Staley, a history nut who was raised in the Dubois area, sent a copy of this transcription of a column written by C. W. Chambers. This transcription is from Steve's huge wonderful collection of odds and ends. Steve is not related to the Chambers family, he just loves neat things. Not sure who transcribed the column, perhaps his mother; Steve's parents both attended the Christian Church (Church of Christ) in Table Rock, as did the families of Wayne Covault and Leonard Mertes, cousins mentioned in the article as "real little boys." There is no date, but Wayne Covault and his cousin Leonard Mertes were both born in 1915.
1933 -- the railroad brought in rainmaking cars
1934 - horse racing, the mikado, & henry wallace
1935 - real estate
1937 - being able to see does not mean you can or should drive
|
1937 - "No orders" from the government yet about what to plant, renting farmland, & 1,000 skunks
The April 1, 1937 Lincoln Evening Journal
1939 - his obituary
charley's son henry ward chambers ("ward") (1883-1938)
1910 ward looks for a job at about age 27
charley's daughter ruth (1880-1938)
1905 - Ruth has typhoid fever (She survived - she didn't die until 1938)
ruth's obituary
Table Rock Argus, Oct. 20, 1938.
MRS. LOUIS C. WOLFE PASSED AWAY.
Word was received here Monday morning of the death of Mrs. Ruth Chambers Wolfe which occurred at her home in Council Bluffs at 9:00 o'clock Wednesday morning and immediately following, the body was brought to Table Rock where it was held in state at the Methodist Church until 1:30 o'clock. Committal services were held at the Table Rock cemetery in charge of Rev. E. V. Price.
Ruth Chambers only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Chambers was born at Table Rock, Nebr. November 1, 1880 and passed away at her home October 17, 1938 at the age of 57 years. Her early life was spent here and she graduated from our school in 1897. In June 1906 she married Louis C. Wolfe and moved to Council Bluffs where she has since made her home. Three children were born one having died in infancy and the other two are Ruth Louise Anderson of Lincoln and William Chambers Wolfe of Council Bluffs.
Besides these two children she leaves her aged parents and three brothers, Harmon of North Platte, Ward of Table Rock and James of Glendale, California, her husband having preceded her in death in November 1935.
MRS. LOUIS C. WOLFE PASSED AWAY.
Word was received here Monday morning of the death of Mrs. Ruth Chambers Wolfe which occurred at her home in Council Bluffs at 9:00 o'clock Wednesday morning and immediately following, the body was brought to Table Rock where it was held in state at the Methodist Church until 1:30 o'clock. Committal services were held at the Table Rock cemetery in charge of Rev. E. V. Price.
Ruth Chambers only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Chambers was born at Table Rock, Nebr. November 1, 1880 and passed away at her home October 17, 1938 at the age of 57 years. Her early life was spent here and she graduated from our school in 1897. In June 1906 she married Louis C. Wolfe and moved to Council Bluffs where she has since made her home. Three children were born one having died in infancy and the other two are Ruth Louise Anderson of Lincoln and William Chambers Wolfe of Council Bluffs.
Besides these two children she leaves her aged parents and three brothers, Harmon of North Platte, Ward of Table Rock and James of Glendale, California, her husband having preceded her in death in November 1935.
charley's son chester
A 2015 email from Marilyn Smith after Frances Graham Blecha sent a history of the Allison country school to her. Marilyn was interested because her husband Dave was descended from the Allison family for whom the school was named:
Hi I just wanted to let you (Sharla and Frances) know how excited I am to have finally had time to read the great Allison School handwritten history Frances had sent me. I had skip read it and was happy to have it.
But..tonight I was having time to focus and actually READ IT thoroughly. I was absolutely excited to read the second page of the list of former teachers and to see Chester L Chambers listed for 18991900 for nine months for $28.
It was wonderful news. I have searched and searched and searched some more and I could never find a census for him in 1900. In 1910 he's here in Oregon with the Smiths. I have notes plastered all over his file about my attempts to "find" him in 1900. In 1885 he's in the Jonathan (John) Allison household and he's 11. He's there also in 1880. His cousin Madge, age 5, is also living there. Going by memory, I think his mother died in 1874. Madge's mother died in 1881. Madge was born in 1880. The Allison's apparently took in the kids.
Thank you so much ladies for all the help in sleuthing out these relatives. I tried again last night and again this am to find Chester in a census back there so it maybe mispelled. But just having him be a teacher for nine months is wonderful information.
He's actually a relative my husband can remember!
In a follow up email, Marilyn related some of her husband's memories of Chester:
Yes! They'd have picnics up at their place. Up as in a little higher up the hill on the other side of the river!!!! Dave's family was great on having picnics. They all seemed to get along good.
In 1910 Dave's grandparents and kids lived with Chester, in 1920 he lived with all of them!
Chester got married when he was older. In 1930 he's 56 and married. No kids.
charlie's son harman (1889-1964)
In 1948, Harman wrote a wonderful letter to a grandson of the ineffable Capt. Jennings, a Confederate soldier who warmed the hearts of Table Rock. McBride was a well-known Nebraska sportswriter at that time. By that letter, Harman showed something about his own childhood.