Correction to the Genealogy: Hannah Chandler (3565)

The following new information corrects inaccurate data entered in the Chandler family genealogy:

Hannah Chandler (3565) married Charles Blain in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio on 14 August 1837. Charles Blain died on 6 July 1846 in Sharonville, Pike County, Ohio. Their marriage resulted in a single child, Sarah Chandler Blain (3705), born 7 May 1838 in Ross County, Ohio.

According to a "Claim of Widow for Service Pension" filled out by Hannah Chandler Blain on 20 September 1878, Charles Blain had been married previously. Sarah had not. During their marriage, they resided in Ross County, Ohio. Charles had lived in Virginia before their marriage.

Supporting documents show that Charles was a veteran of the War of 1812, having served as a quartermaster in the Virginia Militia from September through December 1814 under Capt. A. Hamilton. Charles Blain enlisted in Rockingham County, Virginia and was discharged at the end of his service.

Charles is believed to have married Sally Goins (Gains, Gaines) on 5 March 1816 in Rockingham County, Virginia. It is believed their marriage resulted in at least two children: John, born in 1825, and Charles, birth date unknown.

Charles is described on the claim as about six feet tall, heavy set, with dark hair and complexion.

Supporting documents show that Hannah Chandler Blain received a land warrant # 91,373 for 160 acres as a result of Charles' service, and that she received a pension from 1879 until her death in 1904.

A Genealogy: The Beginnings of the William Chandlers in America

NOTE: The genealogy continues with three additional posts to the blog dated 2/8/11.

George (01) and Jane (02) Chandler immigrated to Pennsylvania from Wiltshire, England, arriving in Pennsylvania in December 1687. The family genealogy is recorded in “A Record of the Descendants of George and Jane Chandler (who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Wiltshire, England, in 1687) with a Pedigree of the Chandlers of Oare, Wiltshire,” published by the Chandler Family Reunion Committee in Philadelphia in 1937. The materials were originally compiled by Gilbert Cope for, during, and after the family reunion held in 1887. The book traces the family back to 1252 – during the 36th year of the reign of King Henry III. Numbers in parentheses following names are those assigned by Gilbert Cope and used in the family genealogy.

It is believed that George Chandler died aboard ship en route to Pennsylvania. Jane arrived with her children and remarried several times. The children of George and Jane Chandler include:

George Chandler (03), born in England 06/14/1671 and died in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1715. He married Ruth Bezer.

Swithin Chandler (04), born in England 09/06/1674 and died circa 1742 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He married Ann, whose maiden name is unknown.

Jane Chandler (05), born in England 07/09/1676 and died in 1726 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She married Robert Jefferies circa 1692.

William Chandler (06) and his descendents are detailed below.


William Chandler (06) was the fourth child of George and Jane Chandler. William was born 12/08/1678 in England. He married Ann Bowater 07/10/1712. He died in 1746 in London Grove, Chester County, Pennsylvania.


William Chandler (3503) was the son of William (06) and Ann Bowater Chandler. William was born 02/20/1718 in Pennsylvania and died 02/28/1795 in London Grove, Chester County, Pennsylvania. William (3503) is the earliest Chandler from whom we have a written document in his own hand, a letter dated 1791.


William Chandler (3512) was the son of William (3503) and Rebecca Allen Mode Chandler. William (3512) has left a number of 1789-90 journal entries and a 1794-95 log in his own hand. We also have his 1797 wedding certificate to Hannah Winder, and a number of Ross County, Ohio land and court records dating from 1807 to 1839. According to Gilbert Cope, his siblings include the following:

Joseph Chandler (3509)
B: 10/12/1757
D: 1817
M: Eleanor Caples 05/04/1788

Allen Chandler (3510)
B: 10/31/1759
D: 12/23/1834
M: Sarah Pyle 05/13/1789

Thomas Chandler (3511)
B: 10/25/1761
D: 01/08/1823
M: Ann Lamborne 1785

Rebecca Chandler (3513)
B: 11/09/1766
D: 02/13/1853

NOTE: A 1791 letter from Rebecca and William Chandler (3503) to his son William (3512) notes the death of Hannah Chandler, the sister of William (3512). The letter also mentions Joseph Chandler (3509).

1.
William Chandler (3512)
B: 12/25/1764
D: 05/10/1839 at 8:00 p.m.
M: Hannah Winder
B: 10/11/1766 (Bucks, PA)
D: 10/13/1803 at 9:00 p.m. (Ross Co., OH)

Children: Rebecca Chandler (3559)
B: 11/11/1798 at 6:00 p.m. (High Bank, Ross County, OH)
D: 10/04/1869

Thomas Chandler (3560)
B: 09/11/1801 between midnight and 1:00 a.m.
D: 10/09/1801 at 11:00 a.m.

John Winder Chandler (3561)
B: 10/10/1802 at 10:00 p.m.
D: 05/29/1805

M: Sarah Harrison 04/12/1809 (04/14/1809 by Ross County, Ohio records)
B:
D: 05/19/1839 at 7:00 p.m.

Children: William Chandler Jr. (3562)
B: 02/07/1810
D: 11/21/1875

Sarah Chandler (3563)
B: 08/16/1811
D: 03/18/1858
M: Samuel Hess 1851

Thomas Chandler (3564)
B: 10/17/1812
D:

Hannah Chandler (3565)
B: 10/17/1814
D: 11/29/1904

APPENDIX B: Notes on Land Transactions by Miss Laura and Miss Edna

A 1913/14 notation in a family ledger maintained by Miss Laura and Miss Edna records payments made to one C.A. Blain for “labor and materials. The same listing records payments made to “Chill. Hardware.” On May 1, 1914 Edna and Laura sold a farm to C.A. Blain for $17,000. It seems probable that the land sold was the family farm located in Ross County, Ohio, and that C.A. Blain was a relative on their mother’s side of the family.

On November 30, 1914 Laura and Edna purchased an 80 acre farm in Missouri from S.C. Tobin for $13,000. On February 22, 1915, they purchased an additional 80 acres in Missouri from W.B. Lunbeck for $11,200. (Note that Lunbeck is a name closely associated with the Chandlers in Chillicothe, Ohio as far back as 1824, and documents singed by or referring to various Lunbecks appear throughout their history.)

The property purchased from W.B. Lunbeck was sold for $16,000 on January 3, 1921. On March 1, 1923, Laura and Edna purchase another 80 acres of land in Missouri from S.J. Wilson for $12,000. This appears to be the last land transaction made by Laura and Edna until Laura’s death some 40 years later.

APPENDIX A: Notes on General Nathaniel Massie

During the 1st decade of the 1800s, William Chandler acquired land in Ross County, Ohio from Nathaniel Massie. The land grant, #3604, signed by President Thomas Jefferson in the City of Washington on January 2, 1802, notes that Massie had acquired the rights to the land from Richard Parker and Benjamin Brooks.

During the Revolutionary War, the new Government of the United States realized it had little it could offer to pay the soldiers who were fighting for the new republic. In the early 1780s, the various states agreed to cede to the federal government lands in the western reaches of their territories. Under the British, each colony had had an undefined western border, in many cases stretching all the way to the Mississippi River. The federal government asked the states to accept defined western borders, normally running along the eastern mountain chains. The states agreed, but with a catch. The federal government would establish a law that would pay the soldiers of the various state militias with lands in the territories they had ceded to the federal government. These laws, known in Virginia as the Virginia Cessions Act, granted land in Kentucky and Tennessee to the soldiers of the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment (the state militia). When lands in those two territories proved inadequate, the Virginia Military District in the new territory of Ohio was created to provide additional land for the Virginia Line. The two laws are referred to in the wording of the land grant. The legislative history of the law, HR85 of the very first session of Congress, can be found in the documents of the National Archives in Washington, DC.

General Nathaniel Massie is a figure tied closely to the history not only of the Chandler family but also of the state of Ohio and of Ross County. He is from an early Virginia family which can be traced at least to 1707 in New Cook County. His father, Colonel Nathaniel Massie, was born August 2, 1727 in New Cook County and died in 1802. General Nathaniel Massie was born December 28, 1763 in Goochland County, Virginia and was an eldest son. His father educated him and encouraged him early on to learn a profession. Massie chose surveying as his field, and apparently became quite good at it. In 1780 he joined the Virginia Line and served for a brief period.

By 1783 Massie was surveying lands in Kentucky, and by 1786 was engaged in several business ventures in the territory. In 1788 he made his first trip to the newly established Northwest Territories. Although unconfirmed, it is believed he was surveying the Virginia Military District in Ohio with a gentleman by the name of Arthur Fox. In 1791, Massie and a group of 25 families established the town of Manchester, the first in the Virginia Military District and the fourth in what would become the state of Ohio. In 1793 Massie led the first expedition into the area between the little Miami and Scioto rivers, and in 1795 he tried unsuccessfully to establish a settlement in the Scioto valley.
In 1796 Massie was successful in establishing Chillicothe, Ohio.

Massie would go on to become a member of the constitutional convention which permitted the establishment of Ohio as a state, became a member of its first Senate where he served as Speaker, and served very briefly as a Governor of the new state.

In the spring of 1813 Massie, an excellent woodsman and Indian fighter who bore the rank of General in the Ohio militia, was called upon to form a troop and march north from Chillicothe to relieve Benjamin Harrison and his army who were besieged at Fort Meigs by the British Army. Word of his coming preceded him and the British fled before his arrival. Massie and his men returned to Chillicothe without firing a shot. He lived only a short time after, dieing on November 3, 1813.

The above information is documented in a book titled “Biographical Sketches of General Nathaniel Massie, General Duncan McArthur, Captain William Wells, and General Simon Kenton: Who Were Early Settlers in the Western Country,” by John McDonald of Poplar Ridge, Ross County, Ohio, published in 1852 by D. Osborn and Sons, Dayton, Ohio.

A 1994 article in “Ohio History,” the journal of the Ohio Historical Society, offers another view of General Nathaniel Massie. The article is titled “Marketing ‘the great American commodity’: Nathaniel Massie and Land Speculation on the Ohio Frontier, 1783 – 1813.” The article documents Massie’s purchasing land grants in the Kentucky and Northwest Territories during the 1780s and 1790s from veterans of the Revolutionary War. Massie then goes on to survey and lay out townships, and resells the land to new settlers in those areas. He builds roads and takes a great interest in providing schools in his new settlements. By 1800 Massie owned more than 75,000 acres in the Virginia Military District, by far the largest single land owner in the district. Massie was very influential in the drafting of several early federal land management acts, most notably the Land Act of 1800. In 1806 Massie was successful in having Chillicothe named the first capital of Ohio, which it remained until 1811. The article ends with the following observations:

“Like many other speculators of the time, Massie found it difficult to profit from his ventures. In fact, one historian has described post-Revolutionary speculators as the ‘most unsuccessful group of businessmen in American history….’ Massie became entangled in numerous legal disputes and, as a landlord, he found it difficult to collect his rents…. As Massie discovered, speculation in ‘the great American commodity’ of land could bring both riches and ruin in one man’s lifetime.”

While there is no direct evidence that Nathaniel Massie and William Chandler were acquainted, we can document that Chandler’s first child, Rebecca, was born 1798 at High Banks in what would become Ross County, and that Chandler purchased from Massie 110 acres of land described in land grant #3604.

1887 Chandler Family 200th Anniversary Reunion

The descendants of George and Jane Chandler organized their first reunion in Pennsylvania in 1887. An original invitation was found with William Chandler family records. The invitation included the beginnings of the family genealogy prepared by Gilbert Cope.

EPILOGUE

William Chandler, the son of William Chandler, the grandson of William Chandler, and the great grandson of William Chandler of Wiltshire, England, died in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio on November 21, 1875.

According to Ross County Probate Court records, William died without having executed a last will and testament. Stephan Slane, his nephew-in-law, was named by the court to act as the executor of William’s estate. Probate records filed with the court provide details of the estate including both real and personal property. The Chillicothe City Directory, 1861 edition, on page 29 lists William Chandler as a carpenter with a shop located on Main Street between Hickory and Canal. Probate records list lumber, fence posts, nails, and similar items among his assets. Two bank accounts contained modest amounts of cash. Livestock sold by the estate included both cattle and hogs. Also recorded as assets are a double barreled shot gun and a rifle.

Chief among Williams assets were his several pieces of land in Ross County. The probate records for the estate show that taxes were paid by the estate to Ross County on several tracts of real property. In Scioto Township, the tracts are identified as #3604 comprised of 110 acres, corresponding to the warrant issued by Thomas Jefferson in 1802; and #3865 comprised of 4 acres, of unknown origin. Property #3565 comprised of 64 acres, of unknown origin, is in either Scioto or Franklin Township. Tracts #13372 comprised of 15 acres and #13773 comprised of 30 acres are in Franklin Township. These two properties conform to the two warrants issued in 1833 by Andrew Jackson and numbered 13,372 and 13,373 respectively. Property #9709 comprised of 40 acres, of unknown origin, is in Franklin Township. The property is referred to by number in the Jackson warrant #13,373 in describing adjacent properties for survey purposes.

I believe the property identified in Ross County tax records as #13773 is actually the property #13,373 described in the Jackson warrant. A further review of Ross County tax records might provide clues as to when properties #3865, #3565, and #9709 were acquired by Chandler.

Property numbers used by Ross County in its official records are reflected in “A Ross County Atlas,” printed by Gould & Co. in 1875.

William Chandler never married, had no children, and at the age of 65 had outlived all but one of his siblings. Hannah Chandler was four years younger than William. She had married Charles Blain in 1837 at the age of 23. Their only child, Sarah Chandler Blain, was born nine months after the marriage, and Charles Blain died within a year after Sarah’s birth. Hannah Chandler lived with her brother, William, for the remainder of his life, and would continue to live in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio until her death in 1904 at the age of 90 years. She survived her daughter, Sarah Chandler Blain Slane, by more than a year.

Sarah Chandler Blain married Stephan Slane on February 14, 1865. Their marriage produced three daughters: Laura, born in 1871; Edna, born in 1874; and Bessie, born in 1876. The youngest, Bessie, would die in Chillicothe in 1898 as the result of typhoid fever. Sarah, her mother, died in Chillicothe in 1903 as the result of cancer.

Contained in William Chandler’s ledger is a brief entry in an unknown hand that indicates Edna and Laura Slane moved from Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio to Malta Bend, Saline County, Missouri in 1905. The details are not documented. However, family papers include a notebook detailing the income and expenses of a Saline County farm belonging to Laura and Edna. The notebook is supported by tax receipts on a year-by-year basis from 1914 until 1963, the year Laura Slane died in Malta Bend. Laura never married and lived with her sister until shortly before her death.

Edna Slane married twice. In 1907 she wed Payton Jeter, who died in 1910. Their only child, Byrle Elizabeth Jeter was born in 1909 and died in 1917. Edna married a second time in 1926. Her second husband, Alexander Highlander McRoberts, had three children by a previous marriage: Ellen Houston McRoberts, born in 1909; Lawrence Houston McRoberts, born in 1910; and Mary Elizabeth McRoberts, born in 1912.

In 1935, Ellen Houston McRoberts married John Aubrey Clyde. A family photo from 1944 shows Edna Slane McRoberts holding a newborn infant, her step granddaughter Susan Ann Clyde. Miss Edna, as Susan was to know her until Edna’s death in 1970 at the age of 96 years, was the great great great granddaughter of William Chandler, born 294 years earlier in Wiltshire, England.

Ellen Houston McRoberts died in 1965. Her brother Lawrence, who married Joyce Johnson on December 20, 1940, died in 1984, shortly before Susan Ann Clyde and I were married. On my first visit to Malta Bend, Susan and I stayed in Joyce McRoberts home across the street and several houses down from what had been the home of Miss Edna and Laura. It was during that visit with Joyce that I first noticed several framed documents hanging in the upstairs hallway outside the guest bedroom. One of those documents eventually drew my attention because it bore the signature of Thomas Jefferson, President….

1944 photo from Malta Bend, Missouri shows Miss Edna (3992) Slane Jeter McRoberts, the great great great grandaughter of William Chandler of Wiltshire, England holding the infant Susan Ann Clyde.

Sarah Blain Slane circa 1866

The photo is from a Chandler family album. Most of the photos were taken in Chilicothe, Ohio during the mid-1860s.