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photo of John William Chandler Family

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Send your old photos of long ago Chandler family groups, reunions or locations to Claudia at

This page: Chandlers Who Ventured West
John Edgar Chandler of Tennessee and Texas
Amasa Chandler of Kansas – descendants
Ardell W. “Dell” Chandler of Colorado – his children
Welcome William Chandler, Texas Pioneer

 

John Edgar Chandler of Tennessee and Texas

John Edgar Chandler was born 1875 in Pulaski, Tennessee, and died 1956 in Wichita County, Texas. His parents were Andrew Jackson Chandler (born February 26, 1841, Tennessee; died November 29, 1927, Wellington, Texas) and Sallie Jane Wilks Noran, daughter of Dempsey Noran. John Edgar Chandler’s great-granddaughter, Rhonda Chandler Clark, has not been able to pin down parents for Andrew Jackson Chandler. (See Rhonda’s 2008 query on this website.)


Tennessee, about 1892 – John Edgar Chandler, William Franklin Chandler, and sisters Bell, Erkie, Odeana and Lula

Texas, 1908 – John Edgar Chandler with first wife, Cora Gertrude Davis Chandler, and sons Oscar Elroy, John Andrew and baby Horace Columbus.

Texas, 1914 or 1915 – John Edgar Chandler with sons John Andrew, Oscar Elroy, Horace Columbus, and Frank.

Texas, 1940s – John Edgar and second wife May Casteel Chandler
Rhonda Clark

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A Chandler Family in Kansas –

Descendants of Amasa Chandler

Bev Schindler-Wooley sent some photos of her large Chandler/Arrington family. Bev’s Chandler lineage is John Chandler b 1600 ENG > Robert Chandler b c 1629 > Robert Chandler b 1654 VA > Robert Chandler b 1688 VA > Robert Chandler b 1720 > John Chandler b 1753 VA > Amasa Chandler b 1801 SC > William Richardson Chandler b 1833 IL > Mary Alice Chandler b 1864 IL > Alpha Lee Arrington b 1885 KS > Vera Arlene Arrington > Kermit Schindler > Bev Schindler.

Pictured above are Alpha Lee Arrington and wife Florence Alma Waters Arrington.

This family had large numbers of children over many generations. According to the CFA Lineages Database (CFALD), Amasa Chandler had 13 children, William Richard Chandler had 14 children, and Mary Alice Chandler Arrington had 13 children. Bev reports that Alpha Lee Arrington and wife Flo had 9 children. and her grandparents Vera Arrington and Ray Schindler had 11 children. Grandmother Vera Arrington Schindler served as the family historian, preserving family Bibles and records. Although Amasa was born in South Carolina, all his children were born in Illinois. Kansas became the family base in later generations. Bev reports, “They were not all born in Kansas or in the same place in Kansas.”


Attending a 1924 Chandler family reunion at the old Chandler home in Webster, Kansas, are (couples from left to right) Vern and Rosa (Hornish) Chandler, John and Anna (Nelson) Chandler, William and Mary (Chandler) Arrington, Harry and Rachel (Chandler) Fairbanks, Frank and Sarah (Chandler) Boroff, Bird and Nancy (Chandler) Carl, Oliver and Naomi (?) Chandler, Thomas and Emma (Bennett) Chandler, and Harve and May (Crane) Chandler.

Bev Schindler-Wooley

August 25, 2011

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Children of Ardell W. “Dell” Chandler

Jon Chandler of Commerce City, Colorado, wrote: “The photo is of my father Verdon A. Chandler and his siblings at the Children’s Christian Home (orphanage) in Holdrege, Nebraska, circa 1926 or 1927. They’d come from a fairly well-to-do farm family in Carter, Nebraska, but their father, Ardell W. Chandler, was killed when his car was crushed by a train in 1923 and they lost everything. Mayme, Ardell’s wife, learned she was pregnant with her sixth child, Dell, on the day her husband was buried. A couple of years later, Mayme put the children in the orphange while she went to Colorado to find a better life. They were there for six long years. My dad’s expression says it all.”

Mayme remarried while in Colorado and then sent for her children. They travelled to Longmont, Colorado, where they lived as a family once more and all the children finished school.

The boys all served in WWII, and Lee was killed at the Anzio Beachhead at age 21. Dell became a much-decorated soldier, a sniper who helped clear the Allied path to Rome. He fought overwhelming mental demons after the war and died at age 60. Verdon, Jon’s father, who outlived all his siblings, died December 5, 2012, at age nearly 96 years and 9 months, after celebrating the 74th anniversary of his marriage to Helen E. Patterson in 2012. John said, “”My dad is my hero.” Jon, a musician, song writer and author, blogged about his dad on his website in 2010.

At left is an enlarged detail from the photo above. Front row, from left: Lee, Leila (Peggy) and Dell. Rear: Genevieve, Verdon (Jon’s dad), and Malcolm.Jon’s family descends from Elisha Chandler (born 1813 in either Maine or New York) and Emily Kies. They moved to Wisconsin before the Civil War and raised five sons and two daughters. All five of the boys fought for the Union. Jon’s great-grandfather, Curtis Chandler, homesteaded at Carter, Nebraska, after serving in the Civil War with the Wisconsin 7th, part of the famed Iron Brigade. He was wounded at Gettysburg and the Battle of the Wilderness. His unit was also at Appomattox. Curtis and his wife Julia Verdon Chandler had two sons, Ardell, killed in the car/train accident in 1923, and Charles.

Descendants of this family gather regularly in Colorado and have a reunion planned for June 2011.

Jon Chandler

April 8, 2011
Updated May 23, 2013

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Welcome William Chandler of Brownwood, Texas

There is a State of Texas historical marker in Brownwood, Texas, dedicated to Welcome William Chandler with the wording below. A street in the town is also named for Welcome William Chandler.


Transcription of the wording on Welcome William Chandler’s historical marker: Welcome William Chandler
Credited with being the first permanent settler and first farmer in Brown County, Welcome William Chandler (1813-1870) arrived in 1856 with his wife Sarah, their children and several slaves. Their log cabin was a gathering place for other area pioneers and was the site of the county’s original post office and store. Chandler served as Brown County judge from 1858 to 1860 and as postmaster for 7 years, although his daughter Jane in fact ran the post office. About 1868 Chandler moved north of Brownwood to a site which has remained in the family for over 100 years. (1983)

More information about the historical marker can be found at Texas Highway Markers.

More about Welcome Williams Chandler

Submitted by Carol Traweek

July 25, 2009


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