Nellie Chamberlin & Charles Chatfield

FAMILY LINE AND HISTORY

Nellie Belle Chamberlin
1st of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy
Occupation: Diamond Match Company, proprietor of Eagle Café 
Born: Mar 7, 1873, Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri
Died: Jan 2, 1956 (age 82), Chico, Butte Co., California; excess choler
Buried: Chico Cemetery (Catholic section), Chico, Butte Co., California
Religion: Catholic, as were all her children
Married: Dec 26, 1894, Charles Henry “Charlie” Chatfield, Grand Junction, Mesa Co., Colorado
Ten children: Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, Leo Willard Chatfield, Howard Francis Chatfield, Roy Elmer Chatfield, Nellie Mary “Nella May” Chatfield, Gordon Gregory Chatfield, Verda Agnes Chatfield, Arden Sherman Chatfield, Jacqueline “Ina” Chatfield, Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield

Charles Henry “Charlie” Chatfield
6th of 9 children of Isaac Willard Chatfield & Eliza Ann Harrington
Occupation: Cattle rancher, stock raiser, butcher, rice farmer foreman, Diamond Match Company, carpenter
Born: Sep 21, 1870, Florence, Fremont Co., Colorado
Baptized: Feb 25, 1923 (age 52) in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Chico, Butte Co., California
Died: Jul 23, 1942 (age 71), Oroville, Butte Co., California; cardiac failure, senility, malnutrition
Buried: Chico Cemetery, Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Dec 26, 1894, Nellie Belle Chamberlin, Grand Junction, Mesa Co., Colorado
Ten children: Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, Leo Willard Chatfield, Howard Francis Chatfield, Roy Elmer Chatfield, Nellie Mary “Nella May” Chatfield, Gordon Gregory Chatfield, Verda Agnes Chatfield, Arden Sherman Chatfield, “Ina” Jacqueline Chatfield, Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield

1. Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield
Born: Nov 18, 1895, Fruita, Mesa Co., Colorado
Died: Aug 6, 1986 (age 90), Paradise, Butte Co., California; heart attack
Buried: Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Apr 30, 1927, Velma Avis Turnbull, Oroville, Butte Co., California
Children: none

2. Leo Willard Chatfield
Born: Oct 23, 1897, Ten Sleep, Big Horn Co., Wyoming
Died: Jul 20, 1956 (age 58), Grass Valley, Yuba Co., California; heart attack
Buried: Jul 24, 1956, Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, San Mateo Co., California
Married: abt 1933, Ethel Helen (Stirewalt) Zornes
Two stepchildren: (by Ethel Stirewalt and Wayne E. Zornes)
Etta Mae/May Zornes, Joseph Eugene “Gene” Zornes

3. Howard Francis Chatfield
Born: Jun 13, 1899, Eldora, Boulder Co., Colorado
Died: Jan 16, 1953 (age 53), Chico, Butte Co., California; Bright’s disease
Buried: Chico Cemetery, Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Dec 29, 1919, Evelyn Alice “Merr” Wilson, Fresno, Fresno Co., California; eloped
Six daughters: Maye Francis Chatfield, Gloria Jane “Dodie” Chatfield, Patricia Joy “Peaches” Chatfield, Yvonne Jessie “Vonnie” Chatfield, Nadine Evelyn Chatfield, Judith Lynne Chatfield

4. Roy Elmer Chatfield
Born: Mar 20, 1901, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado
Died: Jul 11, 1978 (age 77), Chico, Butte Co., California; heart failure
Buried: Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Garden of Holy Cross, Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Aug 1, 1956, Josephine Elizabeth “Jo” Chambers, Reno, Washoe Co., Nevada
Children: none

5. Nellie Mary “Nella May” Chatfield
Born: Mar 11, 1903, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado
Died: Nov 21, 1983 (age 80), Martinez, Contra Costa Co., California; stroke
Buried: Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Lafayette, Contra Costa Co., California
Married (1): Apr 17, 1926, Edward Waldon McElhiney, Chico, Butte Co., California
Divorced: Sep 15, 1936, Oakland, Alameda Co., California
Three children: Roy Joseph “Buster/Mac” McElhiney, private, private
Married (2): abt 1931, Louis Lee Mote
Divorced
One child: Mary Ellen Mote (McElhiney)

6. Gordon Gregory Chatfield
Born: Dec 20, 1905, Casper, Natrona Co., Wyoming
Died: Nov 19, 1948 (age 42), San Francisco, San Francisco Co., California; WWII war injuries
Buried: Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, San Mateo Co., California
Married: Jul 5, 1929, Hylda Pauline Hughes, Douglas Co., Oregon
Divorced: abt 1938/39
Children: none

7. Verda Agnes Chatfield
Born: Aug 23, 1908, Sanders, Rosebud (now Treasure) Co., Montana
Died: Sep 26, 1978 (age 70), Chico, Butte Co., California; heart attack
Buried: Chico Cemetery (Catholic section), Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Mar 27, 1927, George William Day, Jr., Dunsmuir, Siskiyou Co., California
Two stepchildren: (of George Day & Florence Louise George): Robert Elwood Day, George Louis Day
Four children: Marceline Dolores Day, Leo Ronald “Jim” Day, Judith Lee Day, Jeffery Brian Day

8. Arden Sherman Chatfield
Born: Aug 29, 1910, Sanders, Rosebud (now Treasure) Co., Montana
Died: Oct 3, 1981 (age 71), Chico, Butte Co., California; heart failure
Buried: Chico Cemetery (Veteran’s Section), Chico, Butte Co., California
Never married, no children

9. “Ina” Jacqueline Chatfield
Born: Feb 24, 1913, Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana
Died: Feb 17, 1993 (age 79), Yuba City, Sutter Co., California; old age/heart
Buried: Catholic Cemetery, Colusa, Colusa Co., California
Married: May 22, 1932, James Leroy Fouch, Reno, Washoe Co., Nevada
Three children: Joanne Arlene Fouch, Shirley Jean Fouch, James Edward “Jim” Fouch

10. Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield
Born: Sep 29, 1915, Los Molinos, Tehama Co., California
Died: Nov 9, 1968 (age 53), Whittier, Los Angeles Co., California; suicide
Buried: Cremated/niche Memory Garden Memorial Park, Brea, Orange Co., California
Married (1): Feb 4, 1933, Carl John Clemens, Colusa, Colusa Co., California
Legally separated: Dec 1953, Sonora, Tuolumne Co., California
Divorced: Apr 27, 1954, Sonora, Tuolumne Co., California
Five children: Gordon Lawrence “Larry” Clemens, Carleen Barbara Clemens, Elizabeth Ann “Betty/Liz” Clemens, Claudia Clemens, Catherine Frances “Cathy” Clemens
Married (2): Jul 31, 1955, Raymond D. “Ray” Haynie, Carson City, Ormsby Co., Nevada
Divorced: 1957

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Six children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy:
1. Nellie Belle Chamberlin
1873 – 1956
2. Frederick Lawrence “Fred” Chamberlin
1875 – 1955
3. Ada Agnes Chamberlin
1877 – 1960
4. Roy Valentine Chamberlin
1881 – 1923
5. Mary Agnes “Mamie” Chamberlin
1887 – 1980
6. Willard Joseph “Joe” Chamberlin
1890 – 1971

Nine children of Isaac Chatfield & Eliza Harrington:
1. Ella Clara Chatfield
1859 – 1948
2. Clark W. Charles Chatfield
1861 – 1861
3. Elmer Ellsworth Chatfield
1863 – 1962
4. Phil Van Wert Chatfield
1865 – 1883
5. Jacqueline Chatfield
1867 – 1963
6. Charles Henry “Charlie” Chatfield
1870 – 1942
7. Myrtle Lovina Chatfield
1873 – 1877
8. Grace Chatfield
1874 – 1874
9. Calla Mabel Chatfield
1878 – 1958

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Timeline, Tales, and Records

The spelling and punctuation in the following letters, census records, certificates, newspaper articles, and documents have been copied as written. Periods have been added on occasion to have the writings make more sense.

Sep 21, 1870: Birth of Charles Henry “Charlie” Chatfield, 6th of 9 children of Isaac Willard Chatfield & Eliza Ann Harrington, in Florence, Fremont Co., Colorado

Aug 23, 1871: Marriage of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, the future parents of Nellie Bell Chamberlin, in Anderson Co., Kansas, by Rev. Father Gunther.
Note: Finley is a month short of age 26 and Emily is age 21. This is her second marriage, the first having been annulled from Frank M. Davis with whom she had a child, Winifred M. Davis.

Mar 7, 1873: Birth of Nellie Belle Chamberlin, the 1st of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin (age 27) & Emily S. Hoy (age 22), in Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri. Frank is employed as a railroad conductor (both passenger and freight) for the LL & GRR.
Note: The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad runs through Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, the three states in which their six children are born

Apr 20, 1873: Baptism of Nellie Chamberlin at Immaculate Conception Catholic Parish in Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri

Apr 17, 1875: Birth of Frederick Lawrence “Fred” Chamberlin, Nellie’s brother and the 2nd of 6 children of Finley McLaren Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, in Garnett, Anderson Co., Kansas

1877: Tintype of Nellie Belle Chamberlin (age 4)

The paper backing on the photo states:
C.E. MELK(?), Photographer
5 HOUSTON STREET
UP STAIRS
PHOTOGRAPHS IN EVERY STYLE
BEST PLACE IN THE CITY
FORT WORTH, TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS

Nov 6, 1877: Birth of Ada Agnes Chamberlin, Nellie’s sister and the 3rd of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, in Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas

Jun 8, 1880: Federal Census for Precinct #5, Travis Co., Texas:
Chamberlain, Frank: age 34, born New York, father born NY, mother born NY, Contractor on RR (Chamberlin)
Emily: wife, age 29, born Pennsylvania, father born Pa, mother born Pa, keeping house
Winifred: daughter, age 10, at home, born Kansas, father born NY, mother born Pa (Winnie, the daughter of Emily and 1st husband, Frank Davis)
Nelly: daughter, age 7, born Missouri, father born NY, mother born Pa (Nellie)
Frederick: son, age 5, born Kansas, father born NY, mother born Pa
Ada: daughter, age 2, born Texas, father born NY, mother born Pa

Late 1880 or early 1881: Photo of siblings Fred and Nellie, taken in Fremont, Dodge Co., Nebraska:

Aug 22, 1881: Birth of Roy Valentine Chamberlin, Nellie’s brother and the 4th of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, in Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas

Mar 26, 1882: Death of Winifred M. “Winnie” Davis Chamberlin (age 12), half-sister of Nellie and the only child of Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin and Frank Davis, in Fremont, Dodge Co., Nebraska. Winnie was small for her age and apparently a rather sickly child as noted in a number of family letters, and family lore has the young girl died while skipping rope. Winnie is buried in the Ridge Cemetery (block 143, lot 4, grave 11) in one of the twelve family plots in Ridge Cemetery owned by Emily’s brother, James S. Hoy.

Mar 30, 1882: Fremont Weekly Tribune, Fremont, Dodge Co., Nebraska:
Died—In this city, on Sunday March 26th, Winnie, only child of Frank Davis & Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin, aged 12 years, 7 months, and 3 days. The funeral services were held at the Catholic church Monday at 3 p.m.
Note: Emily and her children were staying for a time in Fremont, Dodge Co., Nebraska.

Sep 1883: Frank (age 38) & Emily (age 33) Chamberlin move to Savanna, Carroll Co., Illinois, another major railroad center. Their four older children, Nellie (age 9), Fred (age 8), Ada (age 5), and Roy (nearly age 2) were born in towns along the MK&T line (Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway).

1. Nellie Belle Chamberlin
Born: Mar 7, 1873
Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri
2. Frederick Lawrence Chamberlin
Born: Apr 17, 1875
Garnett, Anderson Co., Kansas
3. Ada Agnes Chamberlin
Born: Nov 6, 1877
Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas
4. Roy Valentine Chamberlin
Born: Aug 22, 1881
Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas

1886: Nellie Chamberlin (abt age 12), the oldest child of Frank & Emily Chamberlin, tintype taken circa 1886 while the family was in Texas:

Nellie Chamberlin, Fort Worth, Texas:

Jan 6, 1887: Birth of Mary Agnes “Mamie” Chamberlin, Nellie’s sister and the 5th of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, in Longview, Gregg Co., Texas

Aug 12, 1889: Birth of Willard Joseph “Joe” Chamberlin, Nellie’s brother and the 6th of 6 children of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, in Cleburne, Johnson Co., Texas

Nellie Belle Chamberlin circa 1889: (abt age 16) oldest child of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin & Emily S. Hoy, taken in Cleburne, Johnson Co., Texas by Lindgren and Kennedy Photography studio.

Sep 21, 1892: Envelope addressed to Miss Nellie Chamberlin (age 19). Two cent postage; postmarked Robbinsdale, Minn. The smudged bottom corner reads: ?a Co, The handwriting perhaps belongs to Nellie’s mother, Emily S. (Hoy) Chamberlin.

Circa 1894: Photo of Chamberlin sisters:

Circa 1894: Assuming this photo was taken about the time the family lived in Fruita, Colorado
Mamie Chamberlin: (born Jan 6, 1887) would be age 7
Nellie Chamberlin: (born Mar 7, 1873) would be age 21
Ada Chamberlin: (born Nov 6, 1877) would be age 16

Dec 26, 1894: Marriage of Nellie Belle Chamberlin (age 21) & Charles Henry Chatfield (age 23), by Rev. Father Carr at the Catholic parsonage in Grand Junction, Mesa Co., Colorado
Note: Their marriage license is obtained in Grand Junction, Mesa Co., Colorado. Her mother, Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin (age 44) signs their marriage certificate as one of the witnesses. Nellie lists her home at the time of marriage as Fruita, Mesa Co., Colorado and Charles lists his home as Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado.

Dec 1894: Grand Valley Star-Times, Grand Junction, Mesa Co., Colorado:
MARRIED–On the 26th instant at the Catholic parsonage, by the Rev. Father Carr, Charles H. Chatfield, of Aspen, to Miss Nellie B. Chamberlin, of Fruita.
Mr. Chatfield is the son of the well-known I.W. Chatfield, president of the board of live stock inspection. He is a very promising and worthy young man. Miss Nellie is a very bright, popular young society lady of Fruita, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain, proprietors of the well-known Chamberlain Hotel at Fruita. The young couple left for Glenwood, where they will spend a few days, after which they will visit Aspen and other points. The STAR-TIMES wishes them every happiness.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
Charles married Nellie Chamberlin, a no-nonsense Catholic girl. Nellie was stubborn and headstrong with a mind of her own—and although she was exceedingly religious—she refused to consummate their marriage. In frustration, Charles took his new bride to the priest who married them. Father Carr sat Nellie down and instructed this young woman to go home and be a dutiful wife. Nine months later, Nellie bore her first child—and over the next twenty years—nine more. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

Nov 18, 1895: Birth of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, the 1st of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, at the home of Nellie’s parents in Fruita, Mesa Co., Colorado.

1896: Charles & Nellie Chatfield remove to Anaconda, a booming gold mining town in the Cripple Creek district in El Paso Co., Colorado. Charles runs a meat market out of the F&CCRR (Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad) station. Nellie’s mother, Emily, (along with her five children) is also living there and running the Colorado House, a small hotel. Nellie’s father, Frank, a railroad conductor, is not listed, so her parents may be living apart.

1896: Cripple Creek & Victor City Directory, Anaconda, El Paso Co., Colorado:
Chatfield. Charles H, meat market, s s Main, 2 F&CCRR, res do.

1897: Frank & Emily Chamberlin children, photo by Marshall, 1637 Larimer St., Denver:

Handwritten on the back of the photo:
“Anaconda, Colorado, 1897” 
Note: estimated ages according to date on the back of the picture:
Roy Valentine Chamberlin (abt 15)
Willard Joseph Chamberlin (abt 7)
Frederick L. Chamberlin (abt 22)
Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield (abt 24); Nellie was married in Dec 1894
Mary “Mamie” Chamberlin (abt 10) (although she looks younger)
Ada Agnes Chamberlin (abt 19)

Oct 23, 1897: Birth of Leo Willard Chatfield, the 2nd of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Ten Sleep, Big Horn Co., Wyoming.
Note: Nellie is in Ten Sleep for the birth as Charles’ parents, Isaac and Eliza Chatfield are living there. Charles’ brother, Elmer Chatfield, also has a large ranch in Ten Sleep.

Jun 13, 1899: Birth of Howard Francis Chatfield, the 3rd of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Eldora, Boulder Co., Colorado
Note: Eldora is now a ghost town, part of the Roosevelt National Forest in Boulder Co., Colorado

Jul 21, 1899: Rifle Reveille, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 4):
LOCAL NEWS
Ex-cattle inspector, Chas. Chatfield has just driven a bunch of cattle from Wyoming to Piceance. He has bought the Dan Taylor ranch, on Black Sulphur creek, and will locate there permanently. His father, ex-senator I.W. Chatfield, of Denver, is over from Denver and accompanied Charley to this city yesterday.

Sep 22, 1899: Rifle Reveille, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 4):
LOCAL NEWS
Charlie Chatfield was in from Piceance yesterday and took out his winter’s supply of provisions.

Jun 25, 1900: Federal Census for Piceance, Rio Blanco Co., Colorado:
Chatfield, Charles: head, born Sep 1870, age 29, married 6 years, born Colorado, father born Illinois mother born Ohio, stock raiser, owns home, 76 farm animals
Nellie: wife, born Mar 1873, age 29, married 6 years, 3 children born, 3 children living, born Missouri, father born New York, mother born Pennsylvania
Charles: son, born Nov 1895, age 4, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Leo: son, born Oct 1977, age 2, born Wyoming, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Harold: son, born Jun 1899, age 11 months, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri (Howard)
Note: Isaac W. Chatfield has a large ranch in the Yellow Creek region in Rio Blanco, which is where Charles and family may be living.

1901: Charles & Nellie Chatfield and their three children move to Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado

Mar 20, 1901: Birth of Roy Elmer Chatfield, the 4th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado

Dec 20, 1901: Rifle Reveille, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 1):
Charley Chatfield drove with his father I.W. Chatfield, who left for his home in Denver.

Jan 30, 1903: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 7):
Chas. Chatfield left for Kansas City Sunday night with a bunch of cattle.

Mar 11, 1903: Birth of Nellie “Nella May” Mary Chatfield, the 5th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado
Note: Nella May was estimated to be two-and-a-half pounds when she was born, so tiny her mother kept her in a shoebox warmed by the woodstove.

Oct 3, 1903: Glenwood Post, Glenwood Springs, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 8):
RIFLE BLASTS.
I.N. Chatfield returned from the ranch with Charlie Friday and left for his home in Denver. Mr. Chatfield will make Rifle his home in the near future to be closer to his stock interest.
Chas. Chatfield and wife were in from Piceance visiting and shopping the last of the week.
Note: I.W. Chatfield

Nov 6, 1903: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 5):
LOCAL MENTION.
Mrs. Flora Phillips sold a block of lots in the new addition last Saturday to Charles Chatfield. Mr. Chatfield recently sold a portion of his ranch and cattle interest and will now erect a fine, modern dwelling on the lots purchased and will become a permanent resident of Rifle.

Nov 13, 1903: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 1):
LOCAL MENTION.
Chas. Chatfield of Piceance, spent the most of the week in Rifle looking after his property interest here.
Charles H. Chatfield was here this week from the ranch. Charley is contemplating the construction of a residence in Rifle and locating there permanently.

Oct 15, 1903: Letter from Nellie Chatfield (age 30) to her sister Mamie Chamberlin (age 16):
Sulphur, Colorado
Oct. 15th, 1903
My dear Sister,
I received your letter & the pictures some time ago, but you’ve no idea how busy I have been. I went to Rifle & got my fruit then I had it all to put up & then we had a lawsuit over water at Meeker last week & I was one of the witnesses but we won the case without my going on the stand at all & Charlie was so glad for he was afraid I would be nervous & maby faint. We had the same kind of a lawsuit last year & we won it also, so now I guess they will let us alone.

I have no pictures of the children now & have never had my own taken since I was married (except in that group). Charlie had his taken last winter in Denver, they are not a bit good but he was sick at the time he went there expecting to have an operation performed. I was already to go to Denver last June, was going to take Roy & the baby & have them baptized & have their picture taken. Charlie went to Rifle to get me a pass, but when he got there he met his Father & he said they had just moved to Pueblo, so of course I didn’t go, but there is a first class photographer in Rifle now & the next time I am out there I think I will have mine & the babies taken together & the other 4 taken in a group if can keep them all together long enough. I would have had it done the other day but the artist was not there the first day & after that I was so busy getting my fruit I didn’t have the time. I don’t know whether I will be there again this winter or not.

We are about to sell the ranch, if we do we will move to Rifle for the winter & then I don’t know where we will go. People here who haven’t got the Canada fever have the Cuban fever. Charlie is about out of the notion of going to Canada & he don’t say much about Cuba but I think I would like to go there, people who have been there say it is just grand, that the climate is very much like California & the government offers $5.00 a head for all the cattle that are put in there (that would almost pay their expenses) & they say there are very few cattle there as yet & that it is a splendid cattle country, so if Charlie wants to go there I am more than willing to go to. I never did want to go to Canada. I hate the English government & the Cuban government is very much like our own & there are plenty of Americans there now, it seams a good way off & I don’t suppose I would ever come back. I would be like the Swed we had driving the stacker horse this summer. I asked him if he ever expected to go back to the old country again, he said “Vell, I don’ tink I vill, I don’ like to travel dat road some. I not eat no ting all de vay, and I feel some bad”.

I am all alone with the children tonight, Charlie is on the road with cattle, the children are all asleep & it is after 10 o’cloc so I guess I will go to bed. I have some more letters to write but will have to wait till next time. I was so glad to get the pictures. I got them before I did the letter & I said to Charlie who do you suppose that was, I don’t think it is Mamie, he said “Of course it’s Mamie, any one would know it was your sister”, but I wouldn’t believe it till I read your letter. I don’t think it looks a bit as you did when I last saw you & now I must close, with love,
your Sister,
N. Chatfield
Note: The Chatfield’s are living in Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand Co., Colorado

Nov 6, 1903: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 5):
LOCAL MENTION.
Mrs. Flora Phillips sold a block of lots in the new addition last Saturday to Charles Chatfield. Mr. Chatfield recently sold a portion of his ranch and cattle interest and will now erect a fine, modern dwelling on the lots purchased and will become a permanent resident of Rifle.

Nov 13, 1903: Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado (pg 1):
LOCAL MENTION.
Chas. Chatfield of Piceance, spent the most of the week in Rifle looking after his property interest here.
Charles H. Chatfield was here this week from the ranch. Charley is contemplating the construction of a residence in Rifle and locating here permanently.

Feb 27, 1904: Nellie Chatfield purchases for $4,000 Warranty Deed lots 3 & 4 in Block B in Rifle, Colorado from Alice Edna Dixon. The land purchased included all buildings and a right to irrigation ditch water. The same day her husband, Charles H. Chatfield, purchases Lot 18 & ½ of lot 19 in Block M in Rifle, Colorado for Warranty Deed of $1,000 from James F. Dixon.

Mar 4, 1904: at 1:29 PM the above deeds are recorded in Garfield Co., Colorado.

Mar 4, 1904: Charles H. Chatfield buys lot 18 & ½ of lot 19 in the town of Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado from James F. Dixon with Warranty Deed of $1,000, a butcher shop. Apparently Charles Chatfield ran the butcher shop before selling it to E. McLean Mercantile Co.

Mar 21, 1904: Letter from Ada (Chamberlin) Whitaker (age 26) to her mother Emily (age 53):
Baker City, Ore.
March 21, 1904
My dear Mamma,
I will send these papers to you to be signed, which I should have done some time ago. You keep one of them and send the other back, sign them both under Ed’s name and put that little funny business around the word “seal” but I guess you have signed enough of them to know all about it.

Chatfields have gone to Rifle to live. Nellie sent a paper from there and it told about selling their ranch and buying in town etc.

I have started me a new suit but I have no idea when I’ll get it finished. We are having snow just at present, of all the disagreeable months that any one could experience, Feb. and this much of March certainly take the premium here.

Well I have nothing else to write so must stop.
All here are well and I hope you are also.
Lovingly, Ada

Aug 8, 1904: Charles H. Chatfield sells lots 18 & east half of lot 19 in the town of Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado to E. McLean Mercantile Co. for $1,400 Warranty Deed, which includes a butcher shop and slaughterhouse.

1905: Nellie’s mother, Emily Chamberlin (age 55) is now living in Santa Ana, Los Angeles Co., California with Nellie’s brother Fred (age 30). Nellie’s father Frank Chamberlin (age 59) is living a few miles away in the Sawtelle Soldier’s Home near Los Angeles.

Jul 3, 1905: Letter from Frank Chamberlin (Finley “Frank” Chamberlin, Nellie’s father) to his son Willard (near age 16):
Sawtelle, Calif
July 3, 1905
Dear Son Willard,
Just got your letter, am sorry I can’t see you & Fred. I have got furlow & leave here tomorrow for Rifle to go to Casper with Nelley & Charly. Will write you on the road somewhere when I have a chance & tell you about the trip & how we are getting along.
Nothing to write about here. I am feeling pretty well at present.
Love from your Father FC

Jul 30, 1905: Letter from Frank Chamberlin to daughters, Ada (age 27) and Mamie (age 18), in Baker, Oregon:
Sawtelle, Calif
July 30, 1905
My Dear Daughters,
Well we are not bothered here with hot weather & don’t think we are likely to be. Well I think I will go & stay with Nelly for a while & see how it goes & if I don’t like it I wont have to stay. She has asked me to come three or four times, sent me a letter shortly before they were to leave Rifle & wanted me to come & make the trip with them, said they had two wagons & were well fixed to make the trip. I would have liked to have made the trip but could not get away from here till after pension day as I had no money. I think I will take a furlow for six months & I can renew it at any time if I want to, or think I can get transferred to another home if I like.

I have a letter from Willard – he said Bessy McCasky had been there and staid a few days. Her husband has a grocery in Los Angeles. He says they are trying to sell out. Fred says he wont stay there another year anyhow. They have had bad luck as they always have. He says Fred is coming to Los Angeles the 10 of Aug & is going with Bessy & her husband to the grocers picnic.

I think we will have the electric line running to the home in a few days, they are putting up the pole now. Figs are ripe here now, that is the black ones, but I don’t think they are any good, they are to sickeny to suit me, guess they would be fairly good with sugar & cream. I think the white ones will be better but they are not ripe yet.

Well I dont get along very well here, have had three or four bad days lately but feel some better just now. One of the Drs. gave me an examination yesterday & said had intestinal medicine an(d) he is giving me a course of treatment now & said for me to see the head of surgeons & get a special diet of milk three times a day, the head surgeon is the only one that can make out the diet list. I went twice to see him today but its Sunday & missed me but think I can catch him tomorrow & if I do I am going to live on crackers & milk.

Well I hope it has cooled off a little by this time. I see they are having terrible hot weather everywhere. I suppose you have seen the account on the gunboat (USS) Bennington blown up (note: due to a boiler explosion) at San Diego harbor, 60 or more were killed and nearly everyone was hurt. I believe the blame is on the officers of the boat. Guess that’s all this time,
Love from your Father
FC

Aug 9, 1905: Death of Finley McLaren “Frank” Chamberlin (age 59), father of Nellie Chatfield, unexpectedly at her home in Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado, from a stomach hemorrhage. Nellie is 5 months pregnant with her sixth child, Gordon Gregory Chatfield.
Note: Death certificate lists his name as Frank Chamberlin, age almost sixty years, occupation Rail Road Conductor, mother’s maiden name Surdam, the information provided by Mrs. C.H. Chatfield, daughter. A Civil War veteran, Frank is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Rifle.

Aug 9, 1905: Nellie Chatfield wires word at 4:30 p.m. of their father’s illness to her sister Mamie Chamberlin in Oregon. Nellie’s husband, Charles Chatfield, sends a second wire at 1:43 a.m. for Nellie, notifying Mamie of her father’s death.

Aug 11, 1905: The Rifle Telegram, Rifle, Garfield Co., Colorado:
Died.
Mr. Frank Chamberlin, who has been visiting his daughter, Mrs. Chas. Chatfield, died very suddenly Wednesday afternoon at 6 o’clock. His demise so unexpectedly was a great shock to his daughter and family. In the morning Mr. Chamberlin attempted to go down town, but was overcome by an attack of dizziness when in front of Munro’s store. He was assisted home and after a rest became considerably better. About 4 o’clock in the afternoon he was seized with another sinking spell and in spite of all the physician could do he passed away an hour later.

Mr. Chamberlin has been troubled some years with catarrh of the stomach and while in poor health none of his family or friends anticipated his sudden death. The deceased was a member of the Order of the Railway Conductors, Division 338, but had not been in active service for some time.

Mrs. Chatfield had not seen her father for eleven years. He had been making his home in Fruita lately and was intending to go north with his daughter and family. Besides his daughter Mrs. Chatfield, he leaves a son Roy in Denver and several sons and daughters in Los Angeles, Calif. Owing to the distance it is not likely that any of the latter can be present at the funeral which will be held this afternoon at 2 o’clock. Rev. Low Thomas will have charge of the services. The sympathy of the entire community is extended to Mrs. Chatfield and the other relatives to whom has come this sudden blow.
Note: His wife Emily, living in Los Angeles, California, is not mentioned in the obituary

1905:The Charles Henry Chatfield family moves from Rifle, Colorado to Casper, Natrona Co., Wyoming

Dec 20, 1905: Birth of Gordon Gregory Chatfield, the 6th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Casper, Natrona Co., Wyoming

1907: Charles, Nellie, and their six children move to near Sanders, Rosebud (now Treasure) Co., Montana near the Yellowstone River. Charles rents a large ranch on which he farms and raises cattle. His sister Jacquelin with her husband Fred Adams and their two daughters live in the nearby town of Forsythe.

Circa 1907: Presumed photo of Nellie and her two sisters, Ada and Mamie with some of their children:

Note: other than Ada, Howard, and Vera, the others pictured are an educated guess
Ada (Chamberlin) Whitaker, her son Howard Chambers, abt age 7 (between her hands),
Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield (in middle), Mamie Chamberlin (at right)
Standing in front: Vera Whitaker, abt age 3 or 4 (pigtails, born 1903),
Other two children unknown (either Nellie’s or Ada’s)
Assuming the photo was taken in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana abt 1907. Ada would be abt age 28, Nellie abt 33, and Mamie abt 18

Nov 18, 1907: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
C.H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city Tuesday.
Note: Forsyth is the county seat in Rosebud Co., Montana.

May 20, 1908: Excerpt from Isaac & Eliza Chatfield’s 50th-anniversary article, Denver, Denver Co., Colorado:
Charles H. Chatfield is now railroading in Sanders, Montana.

Aug 23, 1908: Birth of Verda Agnes Chatfield, the 7th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana

Dec 31, 1908: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Delinquent Taxes: Rosebud County, Montana
Chas. Chatfield, $19.66 on personal property

Feb 24, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Sanders Items.
Miss Emma Feely entertained at progressive whist Monday evening. Prizes were won by Miss Mamie Chamberlain and Mr. Dan Deveny; a lunch was served at midnight.
Note: Mamie Chamberlin (age 22) is Nellie Chatfield’s younger sister living with the Chatfields in Sanders.

Mar 20, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 5):
Local and Otherwise.
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders was in this metropolis Friday on business.

Jun 23, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local & Personal.
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city attending to business matters last Saturday.

Jun 24, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders spent Friday in the county seat.

Sep 5, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local and Otherwise.
C.H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the county capital Monday attending to business affairs. He has just completed threshing on the Meyerhoff farm, and reports having 1, 470 sacks of oats. His oats this year averaged sixty-three bushels per acre on a hundred acre field.
Note: Charles ran the Meyerhoff ranch near the Yellowstone River, just west of Sanders, Montana.

Sep 5, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local and Otherwise: E.F. Meyerhoff, the popular cashier of the First National bank, returned last Saturday from his ranch in Sanders, where he superintended the threshing on his big oat crop.

Sep 8, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders was transacting business in this city on Friday.

Sep 16, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local and Otherwise.
C.H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city Tuesday.

Sep 23, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local and Otherwise.
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city Saturday.

Nov 4, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local & Personal.
Charles H. Chatfield came down from Sanders last Monday on business.

Nov 18, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local & Personal.
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders spent Thursday in the county seat.

Nov 25, 1909: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local & Personal.
Chas. H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the county seat Monday.

Jan 13, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Local & Personal.
Chas. H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the county seat Sunday.

Feb 3, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 5):
Local & Personal.
Charles H. Chatfield, The Hysham ranchman, was in the county capital last Friday.

Feb 10, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Father J.J. O’Carroll, the Miles City priest, will conduct Catholic services in this city Sunday next. Father O’Carroll takes great interest in Forsyth and vicinity and has a large and loyal congregation.
Note: Forsyth, the largest town near Sanders, has no Catholic church. Father O’Carroll is the visiting priest.

Mar 17, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 5):
Local & Personal.
Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city Monday on a business trip.

Mar 24, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 5):
Local & Personal.
I.W. Chatfield and wife of Los Angeles, Calif. Arrived in the city Friday of last week.
Note: I.W. and Eliza Chatfield are the parents of Charles Chatfield.

Apr 23, 1910: Federal Census for Sanders School District, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Chatfield, Chas: head, age 39, married 16 years, born Colorado, father born Illinois, mother born Texas, farmer
Nellie: wife, age 37, married 16 years, born Montana, father born New York, mother born Pennsylvania
Chas: son, age 14, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Leo: son, age 12, born Wyoming, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Howard: son, age 10, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Roy: son, age 9, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Nellie May: daughter, age 7, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Gordon: son, age 4, born Wyoming, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Verda: daughter, age 1, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Chamberlain, Mamie: sister-in-law, age 23, single, born in Texas, father born New York, mother born Pennsylvania, saleslady
Gregory, Anson: hired man, age 19, single, born Illinois, father born Illinois, mother born Illinois
Note: Nellie’s 23-year-old sister, Mamie Chamberlin, is living with Nellie and her family

May 5, 1910: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 5):
Mrs. C.H. Chatfield of Sanders was a county seat visitor Thursday.

Aug 29, 1910: Birth of Arden Sherman Chatfield, the 8th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana

Apr 27, 1911: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Chas. H. Chatfield of Sanders was in town Friday.

June 12, 1911: Death of Eliza Ann (Harrington) Chatfield (age 71), mother of Charles Henry Chatfield, in a hospital in Basin, Big Horn Co., Wyoming; of uterine cancer.

Jun 16, 1911: an excerpt from The Rustler, Basin, Big Horn Co., Wyoming:
PASSING OF MRS. CHATFIELD.
After an illness extending over several months Mrs. I.W. Chatfield passed away at 10:30 Monday night at the Basin Hospital.
Mr. And Mrs. Chatfield came to Basin to make their home a couple of years ago and made many friends among our citizens while living in this vicinity. Later they went to California, and still later to Denver. Early in the spring Mrs. Chatfield came to live with her daughter Mrs. Burtis T. Joslin, in Basin, while Mr. Chatfield took up ranch work near the home of his son, Charles, at Sanders, Mont. Mrs. Chatfield became bedfast shortly after coming here and had gradually failed until death gave her release.
Funeral services were held at the home of Mrs. C.E. Shaw, a niece, at 3:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, conducted by Mrs. J.J. Marshall, leader of the Christian Science Church, of which Mrs. Chatfield had for sixteen years been a devoted member.
Beside the husband, five children survive, as follows: Mrs. J.A. Small of Coalinga, Calif., Elmer E. Chatfield of Tensleep; Mrs. F.W. Adams of Forsyth, Mont.; Chas. H. Chatfield of Sanders, Mont.; and Mrs. B.T. Joslin of Basin. All of these with the exception of Mrs. Small had been at the bedside of the dear wife and mother during the last few days.

Nov 9, 1911: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Other visitors to Forsyth the past week were… Mr. Chatfield…

Nov. 16, 1911: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
I.W. Chatfield left for Wyoming on Tuesday after spending the summer with his son on the Meyerhoff ranch.

Dec 11, 1911: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsythe, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 10):
SANDERS NEWS
Chatfield Called.
Charlie Chatfield came down from Sanders Saturday to attend to business matters. Mr. Chatfield is an old Coloradan who transplanted himself to Montana, as is well known, and is rather well satisfied in a great many ways. It don’t take long in talking with him to find out he knows a great deal about what is called “scientific” farming as relates to soil values and cultivation, although he would probably enter a strenuous denial if you accused him of it.
Note: picture has “Charles Chatfield” written on the back

Mar 28, 1912: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Voter Registration: School Registration for Rosebud County, Montana
School District #16 Charles H. Chatfield-Sanders

Jun 6, 1912: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 6):
C.H. Chatfield was over to Forsyth Tuesday.

Jul 25, 1912: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 3):
Mr. & Mrs. Chatfield and Mr. & Mrs. Verhest went over to Forsyth Tuesday on business.

Aug 1, 1912: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
Mr. C.H. Chatfield went over to Forsyth on business Monday.

Nov 21, 1912: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 2):
Mrs. Chatfield went over to Forsyth on business Sunday evening, returning Monday.

Feb 24, 1913: Birth of “Ina” Jacqueline Chatfield, the 9th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana

Mar 6, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 6):
Sanders Budget.
A baby girl arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Chatfield last week. She will be known by the name of Jacqueline.

Note: Born Feb 24, 1913, in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana, the baby was nicknamed Ina, a diminutive of Jacqueline. She was called Ina her whole life, and not until doing research in Montana did we find this newspaper article and her birth certificate with her legal name as Jacqueline.

Mar 13, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 4):
Personal Mention.
C.H. Chatfield of Sanders was in the city last Thursday.

Mar 20, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
E.F. Meyerhoff is spending a few days at the homestead having painting, etc. done preparing to having new tenants. Charles Chatfield and family will occupy the place this year.

Apr 3, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 8):
Personal Mention.
C.H. Chatfield, the Sanders farmer, was in Forsyth yesterday.

May 22, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 8):
Mrs. Charles H. Chatfield of Sanders visited Forsyth yesterday.

May 22, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana:
What Has Been Done In the District Court, Co. 783:
Nellie Chatfield versus Charles Verhest. In this cause the defendant withdrew demurer to plaintiff’s complaint and is given until July 1 in which to serve and file answer by agreement.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
May 1913: News from the family in California about the golden opportunities there: the land was cheap, rice was the big new crop, and the weather was mild. Though Charles Chatfield had become a highly successful rancher, his wife Nellie was tired of the cold in Montana. She persuaded Charles to sell their holdings and join the relatives out west. Charles’ father Isaac Willard Chatfield is living in Princeton, Colusa Co. and his cousin Jacquelin (Chatfield) Mallon and her husband Jim Mallon are rice ranching in Princeton, Colusa Co. Nellie’s mother Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin is living in Hollywood, Los Angeles Co.

After completing most of the preparations for the move, Charles rode into town to finalize the sale. While gone, there appears to have been a ruckus over the ownership of a wagon between the Nellie and the new caretakers, the Popp’s, who were taking over the managing of the E.F. Meyerhoff farm as the Chatfields were moving on. Upon discovering that Charles had lost everything (family legend has it he’d gone to town and gambled away the entire proceeds from the sale of their ranch, but they owned no land he; did gamble away all their money, however), Nellie intended to sell the wagon for their train tickets, and when the Popp’s attempted to stop her, Nellie’s two sons stepped in. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

May 28, 1913: Forsyth Times-Journal, Forsyth, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 4):
BATTLE ROYAL NEAR SANDERS
Charles J. and Leo Chatfield, two youngsters living near Sanders, were up last Friday before Judge Mendenhall, being charged with casting rocks, clubs and stones at Mr. and Mrs. Philip Popp, who are living on the Meyerhoff farm. It is said that the trouble was over the disputed ownership of a wagon. The boys were fined $25 each and the fine was remitted pending good behavior.
Note: Leo is 15, Charley age 17; the Chatfield’s leave for California on this date

May 29, 1913: The Hysham Echo, Hysham, Rosebud Co., Montana (pg 8):
Leo Chatfield and Charles J. Chatfield, youngsters residing near Sanders, were brought before Justice Mendenhall last Saturday, being charged with starting a battle royal with Mr. and Mrs. Philip Popp, neighbors. The trouble was over the ownership of a wagon. The boys were fined $25 each, and the fine was remitted pending good behavior.
Note: Leo is age 15, Charley age 17

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
May 28, 1913: Nellie Chatfield boards the train in Sanders, Rosebud Co., Montana with her nine children in tow:
Nellie remained determined to move. She sold their wagon and team of horses for $300, using part of the proceeds for their train tickets. My grandmother silently readied her household for the long trip to California. She said nothing as she crated her New Haven kitchen-clock, a gift from her husband at the birth of their first child; said nothing as she boxed her button collection, her sewing needles, and her nearly completed crazy quilt—a crayon-colored piece she’d started during her first pregnancy; said nothing as she packed her trunks with her high-necked blouses, petticoats, and linens, and said nothing as she packed away her family pictures, cast-iron pots, and her past. With Nellie, wrath was silent.

In a fit of venom while ironing her traveling skirt, she dropped the hot sad iron on her foot. With “all aboard!” and nine children in tow, she boarded the train in a wheelchair, leaving her husband behind. Nellie, now forty years old, carried her wrath. Charley, the oldest at seventeen, carried his silver timepiece and small leather-bound pocket diary. Leo, two years younger, carried his case knife. Howard, a scrappy fourteen-year-old, carried a chip on his shoulder. Roy, not quite eleven, stayed close to Nellie; he carted the food baskets and what was needed for the little ones. Her first girl, Nella May, a wisp of a child not yet ten, had her hands full hanging on to Verda who was four and tow-headed Arden who was two-and-a-half. Gordon, seven, toted his mother’s hatbox. On Nellie’s lap was tiny three-month-old Ina. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau
Note: The body of a sad iron was cast hollow and filled with material that was a non-conductor of heat— such as plaster of Paris, cement or clay—which held the heat longer so that more garments could be ironed without reheating the iron. The word sad meant heavy or dense.

1913: Notes from the diary of Chas “Charley” Chatfield (age 17), eldest son of Charles and Nellie Chatfield:
Feb 24: Warm and clear, chopped wood. Got a new baby sister. (Jacqueline “Ina” Chatfield)
May 23: Warm and clear. Went to Forsyth in an automobile.
Went down to Aunt Jacklins (Jacquelin Adams)
May 25: Warm and clear. Packed some stuff.
May 27: Hot. Went to Hysham. Aunt Cally was on the train. Got my money. (Calla Joslin)
May 28: Warm and clear. Left Sanders for Los Molinos, California
May 29: Warm and clear. Still traveling. It took 20 hours to cross Montana and to cross Idaho 1½ hrs.
May 30: Warm and clear. Still on the train. We were traveling 23 hrs. in Washington.
May 31: Warm and clear. Went through Oregon and into California on train.
Jun 1: Hot and clear. Got to Los Molinos at 11 a.m. Stayed at Los Molinos Inn. Grandpa was here to meet us. (Isaac W. Chatfield)
Jun 2: Pretty hot but clear. Put up a tent under a oak tree.
Jun 3: Warm in morning but cooler in evening. Went to the Los Molinos dam caught a big salmon.
Jun 4: Warm and clear. Got a job on a gasoline bailer. Papa came on train.
Note: Aunt Cally is Charles Henry Chatfield’s sister, Calla (Chatfield) Joslin. At this time she has a two-year-old daughter and is three months pregnant with her second child.

Jun 1, 1913: Isaac W. Chatfield (age 76) is at the train station in Los Molinos, Tehama Co., California to welcome his daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

Jun 4, 1913: Isaac is at the Los Molinos train station to meet his son, Charles, who arrives from Sanders three days later.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
1913: Los Molinos, California Upon arriving in Los Molinos, California, Nellie’s father-in-law, Isaac Chatfield, met them by carriage at the Southern Pacific depot. There were too many to put up, so he escorted Nellie and his nine grandchildren across the road, ensconcing them in the Los Molinos Inn, a temporary way station for people coming to California.

The Inn was an elegant, three-story, half-timber structure occupying three blocks in the center of town, surrounded on three sides by a wide porch that shaded the guests from the overwhelming heat of the Los Molinos summers. Behind the hotel was a row of white-painted housing for the workers. A Japanese gardener serviced the lush grounds, his huge and carefully tended garden supplying fresh fruits and vegetables for the cooks in the kitchen.

Charles arrived in Los Molinos three days behind his wife and children, hat in hand. Nellie may have taken her wayward husband back but she refused to forgive him. She also refused to share her bed—although she must have once—as their tenth child, my mother, was born two years later. They named her Noreen Ellen, but everyone called her Babe.

California was not the land of flowers as Nellie had hoped—but the weather was better. The family settled in Los Molinos where life was spare and my grandmother made do. Charles rice-farmed and Nellie raised the children. He puttered and tinkered in his garden. She scrubbed floors and cooked stews and mended shirts. He fed his chickens. She kneaded her bread, adjusting her baking habits to the climate and the train schedule. Every afternoon she waited for the whistle and clanking train cars to pass. Lifting her long skirt to hike the slight incline up to the tracks, she bent down and carefully balanced her cloth-covered tins of dough on the hot iron rails; it was the only way she could get her bread and cinnamon buns to rise.

In the first year of moving to Los Molinos, Grandpa acquired a team of twelve draft horses and during the yearly April and May planting season hired himself out to local farmers in and around the rice towns of Princeton, Williams, Maxwell, and Colusa. The area was the largest rice-producing region in the state, the Sacramento River keeping the soil inundated with water, the heavy clay unsuitable for most crops was perfect for rice. My grandfather acted as the work crew foreman, traveling from farm to farm (including farms and ranches owned by the Chatfields and Mallons). Charles’ three oldest sons (who had quit their schooling as young boys to work on the family cattle ranches in Wyoming and Montana) now worked alongside their father in the fertile green fields of California. Education was not a priority for ranchers and farmers in those days—survival was.

Charley and Leo (until they went away to fight in the Great War) and Howard (until he eloped with his sweetheart) worked the horses. In a race to beat the September and October rains, Charles’ crew retraced their route throughout the area harvesting the rice crops they sowed six months before.

At the end of each week, having gambled away his wages, Grandpa brought home very little of what he’d made in the rice fields, his head hanging, his feet dragging—broke and drunk. On occasion, he tried to buy his way back into Nellie’s good graces. He once extended a peace offering to his wife, a small gift wrapped in cloth. She thought it was his earnings from his week’s worth of work. It wasn’t—it was an elegant tortoiseshell comb for her long dark hair that she only let down at night. “You fool!” she said. “We need food, not frivolity,” and hurled his offering at his chest. “What you wasted on this could have gone to feed us for a week!”

In 1919, tractors replaced the horse teams. Charley and Leo came home from the Great War and Howard returned to Chico with a young English wife and (and under Nellie’s threat to have their marriage annulled—remarried her in the Catholic church). By the end of 1920, my grandfather—along with his team of twelve horses—was put out to pasture. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

Note: In December of 1956, the Los Molinos Inn, built in 1905, burned to the ground when the roof caught fire from burning Christmas wrappings. The hotel safe and the forged metal fireplace andirons were the only pieces to survive the inferno.

1913 to 1915: The Chatfield family lives in Los Molinos where the children attend school. Nellie and her children travel over the bridge every Sunday to the adjoining town of Tehama to attend the Catholic Church. Also living in California are:
Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin (Nellie’s mother), Hollywood, Los Angeles Co.
Isaac W. Chatfield (Charles’ father), Princeton, Colusa Co. and then Oakland, Alameda Co.
Jacquelin (Chatfield) Mallon (cousin) and husband Jim Mallon are rice ranching in Princeton, Colusa Co.
Mabel Chatfield (cousin), is married to George Sawyer and living in Hemet, Riverside Co.
Mary (Morrow) Chatfield (aunt) and her daughter Marjorie are in Chico, Butte Co.

Note: Shortly after Eliza’s death, Isaac moved to Princeton, California, a rural rice-farming community in the sun-heated Sacramento Valley. Two years later, in late August of 1913, He married a second time to a widowed Sarah Jane Wisenor—much to the great displeasure of the family who did not think he should be marrying again, much less so soon, and particularly at the age of 77. He too must have been dubious as he put on the marriage certificate he was 67.

Nov 28, 1913: Routt County Sentinel, Steamboat Springs, Routt Co., Colorado (pg 8):
Local News.
Chas. Chatfield was an outgoing passenger Monday morning.
Note: Charles is back in Colorado for business

Dec 26, 1913: Fairplay Flume, Fairplay, Park Co., Colorado:
Charles Chatfield went to Black Hawk Tuesday.

Feb 14, 1914: Isaac visits his son Charles and Nellie and children at their home in Los Molinos, Tehama Co., California, according to the diary of his grandson, Charles Joseph Chatfield.

1914 – 1918: First World War (also called The Great War and The War to End All Wars)

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
During the First World War, Nellie supplemented what little income the family had by raising caged guinea pigs in her overgrown yard and selling them to the U.S. army who used the shy creatures for running in the trenches to detect mustard gas, like caged canaries, are used for detecting gas in coal mines. After the war she and her children gathered the fallen black walnuts from her numerous trees, spending the walnut season husking and shelling the tough nuts, their fingers cracked and stained from the black outer shells, packing the freshly cleaned nuts in pint and quart glass canning jars and selling them alongside the road, making a goodly sum. The family had a dog named Poofer for a few years, the only pet they ever had.

1915: Index to Register of Voters, Los Molinos Precinct, Tehama Co., California:
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie Chamberlin, Rancher, Los Molinos, Dec. to S.
Chatfield, Charles H., Rancher, Los Molinos, Rep

Sep 15, 1915: Colusa Daily Sun, Colusa, Colusa Co., California:
NEWS ITEMS FROM PRINCETON
Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Mallon, Chas. Chatfield and Lee Chatfield motored to Los Molinas Sunday to visit Mrs. Chas. Chatfield.
Note: Chas. Chatfield was working in the Princeton rice fields. Nellie was pregnant and gave birth to my mother, Noreen Ellen Chatfield, 14 days after this visit by her husband and his cousins.

Sep 29, 1915: Birth of Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield, my mother, and the 10th of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin, in Los Molinos, Tehama Co., California

Sep 30, 1915: Red Bluff Daily News, Los Molinos, Tehama Co., California:
WOMAN ALL ALONE GIVES BIRTH
CHILD TAKES CARE OF IT
LOS MOLINOS. Sept. 30 (1915)—When a baby girl was born last night to Mrs. C.H. Chatfield of this place, the woman, unaided except by some of her small children, rose from her bed, washed and dressed the child and performed functions of physician or mid-wife. The husband is away from home working in the rice fields at Princeton. Before the child was born Mrs. Chatfield sent for a neighbor woman, who, however, did not arrive until after the child was born and cared for. Both mother and child are apparently doing well. This is the tenth child born in the family.
Note: Nellie May was 13 and Verda was 8. 

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
1915: Los Molinos My grandmother started her crazy quilt in 1895, the same year she started her family. Twenty years later, with the birth of my mother, Noreen Ellen Chatfield, she completed them both.

During Nellie’s first period of confinement (it was improper for pregnant and nursing women to be seen in public) her quilted piece grew. Her fine hands stitched rivers of gold, roads of onyx, and fences of pearl, connecting salvaged pieces of fabric—of little girls petticoats, of Sunday-go-to-meetin’ bests, of Grandpa’s fine vest, a bit of a wedding dress, a narrow strip of a cambric shawl. Patches of stripes and checks were stitched and cross-stitched with a jigsaw of shapes and hues: brocade rectangles of ochre and mustard; satin triangles of emerald and indigo; poplin squares of carmine and pale rose; fine wools circlets of cerulean and violet. She saved her sewing scraps in a flour sack until she had a quiet moment to stitch the patchwork of smooth velvets, shiny taffetas, and bumpy poplins into a multicolored canvas for her embroidered birds and butterflies and sweet honeybees that winged across her quilted legacy.

Over the years her bridle paths of alabaster threads gradually defined a landscape: a random patchwork of cattle-ranches, rice fields and farmlands as if viewed through the keen eyes of a soaring red-tailed hawk. In her ankle-length skirts and her high-necked long-sleeved blouses, Nellie rocked in her chair, her children in bed, her round sewing frame on her lap—silently laboring over her quilt, her only time of peace and solitude. By the gas lamp, she stitched zigzags of rainbow, dapples of color and splashes of hope, creating a cover considerable enough to warm a generation of Chatfields.

As the family traveled by horse and buckboard through dust and storm, homesteading parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, the blanket, carefully folded and boxed, traveled with her. I can’t imagine living through those times—through the harsh Rocky Mountain summers and winters, praying for better weather, for water and a good crop, for relief from the grasshoppers and the mosquitoes and the incessant biting of horse flies. Praying for her children down with whooping cough, croup, and ague—supplicating, kneeling, genuflecting—praying to God for everyone—but herself.

I can’t imagine every day having to haul water trying to keep things clean. Making one-pot meals in a black cast-iron kettle. The daily baking of buttermilk biscuits and apple cobblers and rough wheat bread. Canning bushels of peaches and rows of corn to make it through another winter. Snow to shovel. Wood to chop. Constant mouths to feed. Rain. Mud. Snow. Animals dying, blizzards, buckboards, wagon trains, rattlesnakes, tornadoes, droughts—and babies. Twenty years of birthing, nursing, rocking, bathing, and changing crying babies. Although Nellie wouldn’t have taken a million bucks for any one of her children—she wouldn’t have paid a nickel for another.

Maybe my grandmother’s crazy quilt kept her sane. With the passage of time, like the passage of her family, its threads—winding and wandering through the generations—have worn, frayed, and unraveled. But like her family, its colors have withstood, endured, and upheld the tapestry of life. Brilliantly.

Oct or Nov 1915: The Chatfield family moves to Chico, Butte Co., California and buys a home in the Chapman district on Boucher Street. Charles is successful as a farmer and rancher in California, but never to the degree he had enjoyed in Montana. He rents out his team of horses to work in harvesting rice in the Chico area. His sons help him during harvest season where Charles worked as the foreman of the work crews.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
In 1915 the Chatfield family left Los Molinos and moved to the up-and-coming agricultural town of Chico, buying a fairly new two-story corner residence in the Chapmantown district, a working-class neighborhood near the Diamond Match Factory. In those days most people rented; few owned their own homes. With only two upstairs bedrooms, the boys sharing one, the girls the other, it was a small house for a large family. Downstairs, Grandma Chatfield created a tiny sleeping space for herself in an alcove under the stairway, keeping the small downstairs bedroom for company. Grandpa slept in the shed.

In her tiny alcove, Nellie hung a curtain for privacy, shielding her twin bed and small dresser at its foot. Everyone was forbidden to go near her space. Under her twin bed she kept hidden a large flat coat-box with her burial clothes folded neatly inside: a gray shroud, a slip, a pair of white cotton underpants, a girdle, a new pair of shoes, and silk stockings. Grandma always thought she’d die young. Her children were aware of its existence and respected their mother’s privacy. When Mom and her kids came to Chico, Mom threatened that if they didn’t behave she would make them look at Grandma’s shroud to keep them in line. On one of Mom’s visits, Nellie had gone into her funeral box and upon finding the stockings rotted, she sent Mom to the store to replace them. (Roy, who was 55 and still living with his mother, had to replace them again when Grandma passed away.) Nellie Chatfield lived in this three-bedroom shingle and clapboard house for most of the next forty years, raising her children, holding a firm reign, and breathing her last breath here.

The family bathed in the kitchen. The large round aluminum washtub hanging on the porch was brought in and filled with water from the kitchen pump handle and heated on the woodstove. The older girls shared the bathwater and then the small children, as many as could fit in the tub, bathed together. With their baths done, the greywater was bailed out the door to the garden

Grandma still washed her hair with the rainwater she collected in pots on the porch, and scolded her grandkids when they floated their paper boats in it. There was always a wooden lid placed over the rain barrel after a storm. It was soft water, not hard like well water. When she was younger Nellie’s soft brown hair was beautiful and went past her waist. She wore it in a tight bun, only letting her hair down at night to brush it

When my grandfather wasn’t away working he spent most of his time in his garden with his Leghorns, his sleeping quarters the large backyard shed, his cot sharing his space with kindling brought home from the Diamond Match Factory. He didn’t have to account for his gambling and drinking if he wasn’t around Nellie. The older boys bunked with their father, as the Boucher house was small, and they too no longer wanted to account to their mother their comings and goings.

My grandfather was a small man and trodden smaller as time went by. He had a mustache his whole life, only shaving it off once. The minute his children saw him without it they laughed themselves silly; he slunk into his garden among his chard and tomatoes. His drinking didn’t help his burning dyspepsia so he kept a supply of Bromo-Seltzer on hand. Each time he finished a bottle he planted it upside-down in the dirt in his part of the yard, separating the length of the lawn from the sidewalk, his cracked and calloused hands carefully constructing a decorative three-inch high hedge of cobalt blue, adding a little color to his life. In his last five years, he lived alone in a cabin near Forest Ranch up near where Leo and his wife lived. It was a small mining town between Chico and Butte Meadows, a town with little more than a post office, a bar, and my grandfather. He also lived in Lomo Crossing, which was also little more than a levee, a train station, and my grandfather.

Charles’ clan were generally small people, from five foot nothing to 5’5”, growing smaller as they grew older. They had droopy eyelids and as some of them aged, they had to tip their heads back to see past their lids, their wizened eyes looking like the two-of-diamonds. Their throats had a narrowing too, so there was a constant clearing, choking at times when swallowing.

Grandma Chatfield was a fine cook, preparing one-pot meals on her wood stove as her mother did, and her mother’s mother before her. Nellie passed on these dishes to her daughters. Simmering beef stew, chicken rice soup, kettles of hamburger chili, pots of spaghetti and meatballs. In her heavy skillet—with the bacon grease she saved in coffee cans—she scrambled cow’s brains and eggs, fixed kidneys with gravy and mushrooms, sautéed sweetbreads with buttons and pearls, fried liver with onions, and boiled tongue for tongue sandwiches. She also taught her girls to bake—biscuits, cornbread, oatmeal and sugar cookies, angel food and chocolate cakes, apple and cherry pies, sweet cinnamon buns—and to can, the shelves on both sides of the cellar stacked from floor to ceiling with glass canning jars filled with seasonal fruits, jams, jellies, tomatoes, corn, green beans, peas, and mushrooms, all sealed with paraffin and glass lids and metal sealing clasps.

Sitting down one day to a meal with all ten of her children at the table, Grandma proudly noted that the Chatfield name would never die out, her having six fine sons. As it turned out, five of the boys never had children, and Howard, the only son who did, had all girls. There were a lot of Chatfield children living in Chico. With six of Grandma’s children and then Howard’s five daughters (his oldest was five years younger than Babe) in the school system at the same time, the local teacher looked over her spectacles while reading the roster at the beginning of a new school year and inquired, “Is there no end to you Chatfields?” ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

1916: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Charles H Farmer Chico, Cal., Box 447
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C Housewife Chico, Cal., Box 447

Note: Nellie and her family moved to 1543 Boucher Street in 1916 and lived there for over 40 years. The Chico City Directory also lists the house address as:
* Corner of Irwin and Boucher
* 921 Boucher Ave
* 616 E. 16th Ave or Street

Boucher Street House
HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Farmhouse with stickwork details
CONSTRUCTION DATE: 1910
APPROXIMATE LOT SIZE: frontage 75′, depth 100′
LOCATION: Southwest corner of Boucher Street and East 16th Street
DESCRIPTION: This tall, narrow “Farmhouse” relies for its interest in its varied surface materials. It is 1½ stories, 1-room deep, with a 1-story addition of the rear, making it T-shaped in plan. A gabled dormer projects from the gable roof. The door is centrally placed with a window on either side, one window above in the dormer and two windows at the ends, one above the other. The windows are double-hung with vertical panes in the upper sashes. An open shed-roofed veranda with plain posts extends across the front and around one side. It has been partially walled and screened. The lower floor of the house is clapboard with shingles on the second level to just above sill height. Then a wide frieze-like area is faced with vertical boards up to the eaves, framed by the cornice and a horizontal framing member above the shingles. Simple stickwork form braces and brackets in the gables. Although this is a functional house in a vernacular form, the builder exhibited his creativity in the application of his materials.
ALTERATIONS: veranda partially screened
RELATED FEATURES: garage
SIGNIFICANCE: Thomas E. Boucher, owner of a large tract of land (@155 acres) east of Chico (and bordering Chapman’s Addition) began to sell off lots in the 1880’s and 1890’s. Unlike Chapman, he did not have a “plan” for the area. The home at 1543 Boucher, built in 1909-1910 by C.O. Coe, and only one block from Boucher’s home, seems to come out of a pioneer’s version of a city dwelling. It is one of several homes in “Chapman Town” (it really could be Bouchertown) which gives that district its distinctive flavor and one in which many residents love and want to keep. Homes of this kind seem to be more compatible with paths and lanes than with curbs n’ gutters ‘n stopsigns. The Chatfield family lived in this home for around seventy years and had ten children.
Source: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, form prepared by E. Stewart, Jul 1984

Feb 6, 1917: Colusa Herald, Colusa, Colusa Co., California:
Princeton News Events of Interest of Both Social and Personal Nature
LIVE NOTES FROM LIVE TOWN
Leo Chatfield, a cousin of Lee Chatfield and Mrs. James Mallon arrived Sunday. Leo was a member of the Red Bluff Militia which spent the summer in Nogales.

Circa 1917/18: Nellie Chatfield (abt age 44) pictured with her daughters:
Nellie May, at right (abt age 15)
Verda, at left (abt age 10)
Ina, in middle (abt age 5)
Noreen “Babe” front (abt age 2)

1918: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas (Nellie) contr Union Rice Co, r Boucher av
Chatfield Chas
Chatfield Howard
Chatfield Roy

1918: Courtship of Roy Elmer Chatfield and Josephine “Jo” Elizabeth Chambers in Chico, Butte Co., California.
Note: Roy the 4th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin. Both he and Jo worked at Diamond Match Company, as did many of the Chatfields.

Dec 29, 1919: Marriage of Howard Francis & Chatfield & Evelyn Alice Wilson, a young English girl (age 18), in Fresno, Fresno Co., California. As Evelyn was three months pregnant, they eloped, marrying in the Episcopal Church. When Nellie found out, she threatened to have their marriage annulled if they did not remarry in the Catholic Church. They did.
Note: Howard (age 20) is the 3rd child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin.

Jan 8, 1920: Federal Census for Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California:
Chatfield, Howard F.: Lodger, age 21, married, born Montana, father born Montana, mother born Montana, street laborer
Evelene: Lodger, age 19, married, year of immigration 1901, year of naturalization 1911, born England, father born England, mother born England
Note: Howard is the 5th child of Charles & Nellie, married to Evelyn, living near his maternal grandmother, Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin

Jan 26, 1920: Federal Census for Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Charles H.: head, owns, age 49, born Colorado, father born Illinois, mother born Texas, foreman for rice ranch
Nellie C.: wife, age 46, born Montana, father born New York, mother born Pennsylvania
Charles J.: son, age 24; born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, laborer rice ranch
Leo W.: son, age 22; born Wyoming, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, laborer, rice ranch
Roy E.: son, age 18; born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, Lumber Grader in Match Factory
Nellie M.: daughter, age 16; born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, Forewoman in Match Factory
Gordon G.: son, age 14; born Wyoming, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Verda A.: daughter, age 11; born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Arden I.: son, age 9, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri (Arden S.)
Ina J: daughter, age 6, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Norine E.: age 4 3/12, born California, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri (Noreen)
Note: Charles is working for the Spaulding ranch 16 miles west of Chico, as foreman harvesting rice.

1920: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chambers Josie b 1339 Esplanade C V
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) farmer r Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Howard b Chas Chatfield
Chatfield Leo auto op b Boucher ad ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Nellie box fdr D M Co r Boucher ad ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Roy farmer r Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Note: Josie (Jo Chambers) is the girlfriend of Roy Chatfield

1920: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 94):
Chatfield, Charles H Farmer Chico, Cal., Box 447
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C Housewife Chico, Cal., Box 447

Jun 7, 1920: Letter from Nellie Chatfield (age 47) to her sister Mamie Rosborough (age 33):
Chico, Calif.
June 7, 1920
My dear Sister –
I think your wind must have come here with your letter as it has been blowing hard, almost without ceasing ever since your letter came about a mo. ago; it has damaged the grass so most of it will be cut for hay & so much fruit is being blown off the trees. Our strawberries are all gone but the blackberries & raspberries are ripe now. I have canned some but with out sugar as it is only $30.00 100 lbs. – it may never be cheaper but if it isn’t I will have canned fruit for a long time. We had some cherries to eat but none to can. My garden is fine, we have had all the peas we could eat every day for about 2 …(missing sentence). There were a lot of little oranges but I see they are beginning to drop off, that is always to be expected the first year.

Yes those pictures are all good of Willard, we all think Catherine (or the girl in the dark dress) looks like you & they are fine of uncle Ed but I can’t see any resemblance to mama tho I don’t suppose I would know her now. Roy sent me some pictures a while back & I couldn’t imagine who any one was until I looked at the back. Do they ever say anything about Alice, how she is now? Willard’s baby is not doing at all well, weighed less at 1 mo. than he did at birth. I will be surprised if any babies ever come to Howard’s house. Evalyn has never been strong, nearly always under a Drs. care but she may change, you never can tell.

Yes, Leo & Iris are 3^rdcousins but the Priest said that would not keep them from marrying, & Iris is perfectly willing to become a Catholic if by doing so she could get Leo, & Ada who would give two eye teeth to get him. I don’t know what Art thinks about it all but I know none of his people have any use for Ada. About 3 years ago she got to carrying on with another man something awful & no one thot Art would ever take her back but Aunt Molly (Arts’ mother) patched things up some how. Iris is getting a divorce now & I can see Leo’s sympathies are all with her, because she is certainly justified but he blames Art & Ada for it all, says they had no business letting her marry till after she was 18 at least. They all, without a single exception, think the world & all of Leo. Clark’s wife who never saw him until a year ago (he stopped by in Glenwood Springs, when they were living there, on his way home from France) says she wishes he was their son. If anything does go wrong I know none of them will blame Leo, but I’m afraid that would not excuse Leo, but I too should blame them most. But I really am not a bit worried about it (tho his father is). I do not believe Leo will ever do a dishonorable thing & no matter how much appearances were against him nor what anyone said I would not believe it unless he told me himself. For I know he would tell me the truth. Roy says Leo & Daisy have had a “split up” and things really do look like it. But I’m afraid it is too good to be true. He expects to be thru when he is in a couple of weeks but didn’t say whether he is coming home or not. Charles is coming about the 10^thas everyone in the oil fields is going on strike the first of July & he don’t want to be in it as he expects to go back there to work this next winter. It is too bad Mildred got that fright in the run away, it takes a little child so long to forget a thing like that. I guess you will be glad when you get where she won’t have to ride. Maby tho she will feel better when Arline goes with her.

Gordon’s school closes but the others not until the 18^th but that isn’t far off. Nellie May is sick & I am getting pretty worried about her. I am so afraid of Typhoid fever. She has been ailing for some time but she is a good deal like myself that way & will stay up & go to the last minute & when she gives up entirely & goes to bed I know she is really sick. I have been doctoring her myself & about two weeks ago I took her to a Dr. but he seemed to think she was all right, just had a bilious spell. I have Dr. her for that & unless she is better in the morning I think I should have to have the same Dr. come & see her that we had for Roy & Ina & soon.

I must close and start dinner as it is 5 o’clock & Charlie aught to be home anytime now.
Love from all, your loving sister,
N.C.C.

Note: References in Nellie’s letter in order of appearance:
Willard: Willard “Joe” Joseph Chamberlin (age 30), younger brother of Nellie
Catherine (girl in dark dress): girlfriend of Willard Chamberlin
Uncle Ed: Emily’s brother, Adea “Ade” Adam Hoy (age 67)
Mama: Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin (age 69), mother of Nellie, living in Los Angeles
Roy: Roy Valentine Chamberlin (age 38), younger brother of Nellie
Alice: unknown
Willard’s baby: Willard Joseph Chamberlin, Jr. (6 weeks old)
Howard: Howard Francis Chatfield (age 21), 3rd child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield
Evalyn: Evelyn Merr Wilson (age 18), wife of Howard Francis Chatfield who gave birth to her 1st child 4 days after this letter was written
Leo: Leo Willard Chatfield (age 23), 2nd child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield (on his way home from WWI)
Iris: Iris Minola Chatfield (age 18), 1st child of Arthur & Ada Chatfield
Leo & Iris are 2nd cousins; their grandfathers I.W. Chatfield & Clark S. Chatfield are brothers
Ada: Ada B. (Miller) Chatfield (age 43), wife of Arthur William “Art” Chatfield (age 41)
Ada is carrying on with another man while married to Art.
Aunt Molly: Mary E. (Morrow) Chatfield (age 70), wife of Clark S. Chatfield, Sr. (brother of I.W. Chatfield)
Iris: Iris Minola (Chatfield) Cade (age 18), married to Dewey Louis Cade (age 22)
Clark’s wife: (Clark is the brother of Arthur) Clark S. Chatfield Jr. (age 44), his wife is Madge Rosa (age 27)
Daisy: girlfriend of Leo Willard Chatfield
Charles: Charles Joseph Chatfield (age 24), 1st child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield (coming home from WWI)
Mildred: Mildred Emily Rosborough (age 7), 1st child of Mamie & Herb Rosborough
Arline: Ada Arlene Rosborough (age 6), 2nd child of Mamie & Herb Rosborough
Gordon: Gordon Gregory Chatfield (age 14), 6th child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield
Nellie May: Nellie Mary Chatfield (age 17), 5th child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield
Roy: Roy Elmer Chatfield (age 19), 4th child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield
Ina: Jacqueline “Ina” Chatfield (age 7) 9th child of Charles & Nellie Chatfield
Charlie: Charles Henry Chatfield (age 49) husband of Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield

1921: Charles Henry Chatfield works most of the year as a foreman in the rice fields for the Spaulding ranch in Willows, Glenn Co., California.

Jun 14, 1921: Death of Isaac Willard Chatfield (age 84), the father of Charles Henry Charfield, in San Jose, Santa Clara Co., California, of arteriosclerosis. Isaac is buried in the Union Veterans of the Civil War (GAR: Grand Army of the Republic) section of the Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose, Santa Clara Co., California.

Jun 16, 1921: San Jose Mercury Herald, San Jose, Santa Clara Co., California:
DIED:
CHATFIELD—In San Jose, Cal. June 14, 1921, Isaac Willard Chatfield, husband of Sarah Jane Chatfield, father of Mrs. Ella Small of Arizona, Mrs. Jacqueline Adams of Montana, Mrs. Calla Joslin of Wyoming, Charles and Elmer Chatfield, a native of Ohio, aged 84 years, 10 months and 8 days.
Friends are respectfully invited to attend the funeral today (Thursday), June 16, 1921, at 2 o’clock from the “Funeral Home” of Curry & Gripenstraw, 48-50 North Third Street.
A member of Sheridan-Dix Post, No 7, G.A.R.
Interment, Oak Hill Cemetery.

1921: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie C) rancher h Boucher ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Chas J rancher h Boucher ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) driver CI&CSCo h 1061 S Chestnut
Chatfield Leo W rancher r Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Roy E rancher r Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Note: Howard Chatfield is working for the Chico Ice & Cold Storage Co.

1922: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) farmer h Boucher cor Irwin
Chatfield Chas J driver CI&CSCo r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) driver CI&CSCo h 1061 S Chestnut
Chatfield Leo W farmer r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Roy E farmer r C H Chatfield
Note: Charles J. and Howard are working for the Chico Ice & Cold Storage Co.

1922: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 80):
Chatfield, Leo W; Farming; Rep
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C; Housewife; Chico Rep
Chatfield, Charles Henry; Farming; Chico Rep
Chatfield, Charles J; Truck Driver; General Delivery Rep
Chatfield, Roy Elmer; Laborer; Chico Dem

1922: Index to Register of Voters, Chico No. 8 Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 21):
Chatfield, Howard F; Ice-man; 4827 Sixth Street Rep

Dec 16, 1922 or 23: Letter from Charles Henry Chatfield to his brother-in-law, Fred Adams:
My Dear Fred,
Your letter received several days ago, and was all glad to hear from you, and sorry to hear you had such bad luck and I hope you do come to California, as I know you will never want to go back to Montana. We are now having our rainy weather and the orange season is just over.
Leo was box maker for a fruit packing company and they just got through here and left for Imperial Valley, (south of Los Angeles) and Gordon went with him in the auto. The boys all have their own cars and working steadily and at home except Leo & Gordon. Howard lives here in Chico and oldest little girl took the baby prize for the best looking baby in Chico. The prize was a diamond ring.
Verda is going to school at the convent at Marysville, and Nellie May starts the 1st of Jan to “Healds Business College” takes stenography, and bookkeeping. She has worked almost 5 years for the Diamond Match Co. and is well liked by the Co.
Mrs. C. has worked there for nearly a year. They make $16.00 per week. I have been with them a little over 18 months. I am in the finished lumber department.
There are over 200 women and girls working in the Match factory, and they employ about 250 more in the box factory, window, door & sash and lumber departments.
We have a 8 roomed house and 4 lots and I tried the chicken business again, have about 100 Leghorns and Rhode Island Red’s, and we have all kinds of fruit in fact too much, but we seem to get away with it.
Charley went up after some Holly berries today and if he gets some I will send you some for Christmas.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. With lots of Love to Jacqueline and the girls and hope to see you all soon.
Your brother
Chas.
Write Soon
Note: Forsythe, Montana flooded during a bad rainy season and a good part of Fred & Jacquelin Adam’s house was underwater. This is the only known letter we have from Charles Henry Chatfield.

1923: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) farmer h Boucher av cor Irwin
Chatfield Chas J driver CI&CSCo r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) driver CI&CSCo h 1337 Locust
Chatfield Leo W farmer r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Roy E farmer r C H Chatfield

Feb 25, 1923: Charles Henry Chatfield (at the age of 53) is baptized in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Chico, Butte Co., California, probably to get back in Nellie’s good graces.

Baptism Record for Charles Henry Chatfield:
CERTIFICATE OF BAPTISM
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CATHOLIC CHURCH
416 Chestnut St.
Chico, California
+ This is to Certify +
That Charles H. Chatfield
Child of I.W. Chatfield
and Eliza Harrington
born in Chapman Town, Chico
on the 2nd of September, 1870
+ Was Baptized +
on the 25th day of February, 1923
According to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church
by the Rev. J.B. Dermody
As appears from the Baptismal Register of this Church.
Note: Charles was born in Florence, Colorado, not Chico, California

Nov 19, 1923: Death of Roy Valentine Chamberlin (age 41) brother of Nellie, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California; pernicious anemia. Roy is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California

1924: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) farmer h Boucher av cor Irwin
Chatfield Chas J driver CI&CSCo r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Howard F driver CI&CSCo h 1061 S Chestnut
Chatfield Leo W farmer r C H Chatfield
Chatfield Roy E driver CI&CSCo r C H Chatfield
Note: CI&CSCo is the Chico Ice & Cold Storage Company

1924: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 105):
Chatfield, Charles H; Lumber Grader; Chico Rep
Chatfield, Charles J; Truck Driver; Chico Rep
Chatfield, Miss Nellie C; Diamond Match Employee; Chico D S
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C; Housewife; Chico D S
Chatfield, Roy; Truck Driver; Chico D S

1926: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) with DMCo h Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) driver h 1061 S Chestnut
Chatfield Roy E driver Boucher and Irwin
Note: DMCo is the Diamond Match Company

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
As her husband’s wages were not to be counted on, Nellie, in the early 1920s, worked at the Diamond Match Company, employed as a wrapper, a floor lady, and then as a supervisor. In 1926 and 1927 Charles worked there, and at various times in between, so did their children: Gordon and his wife Hylda, Verda, Roy, and his sweetheart Jo.

Diamond Match was one of the largest manufacturing companies in America. The railroad line skirting the Chico plant carried lumber directly from its Stirling plant mountain operations and stored the dry lumber in the Chico yard until processed. The largest employer in Chico until its doors closed in 1958, it manufactured wood matches and matchboxes, doors and sashes, veneer and plywood, wooden produce boxes, apiaries, and bee-keeping supplies. Much of the timber went to build the stately homes in San Francisco. It was a huge enterprise that included a machine shop, foundry, and millworks along with an employee social hall, baseball diamond, and badminton courts. The west end of 16^thStreet led directly into the 133-acre site and was within walking distance of 1543 Boucher Street.

Apr 17, 1926: Marriage of Nellie “Nella May” Mary Chatfield & Edward Waldon McElhiney in Chico, Butte Co., California.
Note: Nella May is the 5th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin. Nella leaves Edward in their first year of marriage, pregnant with their first child.

Apr 24, 1926: Newspaper wedding announcement:
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1926
Chico Girl is Bride of Truckee Man
CHICO—(Butte Co.) April 24,— Miss Nellie Chatfield. A member of a well known family in Chico, a graduate of the local schools and of the business college, was married on Sunday to Edward McElhiney of Truckee, where the couple will make their home.
The ceremony was performed by Rev. J.B. Dermod, of St. John’s Catholic Church, in the presence of the relatives of the bride, including her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Chatfield, her sister, Miss Verda Chatfield, and her brother, Gordon Chatfield.
The groom formerly lived in Miller, Neb., and is now employed by the Southern Pacific Company at Truckee.

1927-28: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) with DMCo h Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Chas J driver cor Irwin
Chatfield Roy E driver Chico Ice & C S Co r Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Note: DMCo is the Diamond Match Company

Mar 27, 1927: Marriage of Verda Agnes Chatfield & George William Day, Jr., a widower with two children, in Dunsmuir, Siskiyou Co., California
Note: Verda is the 7th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

April 8, 1927: Newspaper wedding announcement:
Verda Chatfield, George W. Day Wed in Chico
CHICO (Butte Co.), April 8—
Miss Verda Agnes Chatfield, widely known in Chico, was married last week to George W. Day, a graduate of the Chico schools, son of Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Day of Chico.
The bride is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. C.H. Chatfield of this city. During her education in the Chico public schools she was prominent in school and social activities, and since graduation has been identified with the business life of the city. The couple will make their home in Chico.

Apr 30, 1927: Marriage of Charles Joseph Chatfield & Velma Avis Turnbull in Oroville, Butte Co., California
Note: Charles Joseph is the 1st child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

1928: Index to Register of Voters, Thermalito No. 1 Precinct, Butte Cou., California (pg 286):
Chatfield, Leo W.; Boxmaker, Route A. Oroville Dem

1928: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 183):
Chatfield, Roy E.; Truck Driver; Chico Dem
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie; Housewife; Gen. Del., Chico Dem
Chatfield, Charles H.; Lumber Man; Gen. Del., Chico Dem

Jul 5, 1929: Marriage of Gordon Gregory Chatfield & Hylda Pauline Hughes, in Douglas Co., Oregon
Note: Gordon (age 23) is the 6th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin
Gordon and Hylda divorce sometime between 1938 and 1939

1929-30: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) h Boucher av ne cor Irwin
Chatfield Ina h Boucher av nr cor Irwin
Chatfield Roy E driver Chico I&CS Co r Boucher av ne cor Irwin

Apr 7, 1930: Federal Census for Oroville, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Chas J.: Head, rents, monthly rent $25, age 34, married, 1st marriage at age 31, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, truck driver Ice company
Velma A.: Wife, age 24, married, age 21 at 1st marriage, born Oregon, father born California, mother born California

Apr 9, 1930: Federal Census for Colusa, Colusa Co., California:
Chatfield, Gordon G.: Head, rents, monthly rent $25, age 24, married, 1st marriage at 23, born Wyoming, father born United States, mother born United States, Upholstering in Furniture
Hylda P: wife, age 20, married, 1st marriage at 19, born Oregon, father born Oregon, mother born North Dakota, Upholstering in Furniture

Apr 14, 1930: Federal Census for Oroville, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Leo W.: Head, rents, monthly rent $22, age 34, single, born Wyoming, father born Wyoming, mother born Wyoming, Box maker in Lumber Mill
Owens, Glen: Partner age 40, single; born Oregon, father born Oregon, mother born Oregon, Box maker in Fruit Packing Home
Rhodes, Jack: Partner, rents, age 44, single, born Florida, father born Florida, mother born Florida, Box maker in Fruit Packing Home

Apr 16, 1930: Federal Census for Bolinas, Marin Co., California:
Chatfield, Charles H.: Head, rents, monthly rent $10, age 59, married, age at 1st marriage 24, born Colorado, father born Illinois, mother born Illinois, carpenter in building trade
Note: Charles and Nellie are separated.

Apr 17, 1930: Census for Orland, Glenn Co., California:
Chatfield, Howard F: Head, age 23, married at 1ge 19, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Illinois, Manager for ice company
Evelyn: wife, age 28, married at age 17, born England, father born England, mother born England
Mae F.: daughter, age 9, born California, father born Colorado, mother born England
Gloria J.: daughter age 7, born California, father born Colorado, mother born England
Patricia J.: daughter, age 6, born California, father born Colorado, mother born England
Yvonne J.: daughter, age 5 months, born California, father born Colorado, mother born England

Apr 23, 1930: Federal Census for Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Nellie: Head, owns, Value of property $2,500, age 54, married, 1st marriage at 19, born Missouri, father born New York, mother born Pennsylvania, wrapper in Match Factory
Roy E.: son, age 29, single, born Colorado, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, Driver for Ice Plant
Arden I.: son, age 19, single, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, waiter in restaurant
Ina J.: daughter, age 17, single, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri
Noriene E.: age 14, single, born California, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri (Noreen)
Chatfield, Charlie: Husband, age 59, married, 1st marriage at 24, born Colorado, father born Illinois, mother born Texas, carpenter for contractor
Note: Charles appears to be back in Nellie’s good graces as he is in the household again.

Apr 29, 1930: Federal Census for Oakland, Alameda Co., California:
Day, George W.: Head, rents, monthly rent $35, age 31, married, age at 1st marriage 27, born California, father born California, mother born California, Merchant in Ice cream
Verda A.: wife, age 21, married, 1st marriage at 18, born Montana, father born Colorado, mother born Missouri, Assistant in Ice cream store
George Lewis: son, age 5, born California, father born California, mother born Montana
Marcelyn D.: daughter, age 1 1/12. Born California, father born California, mother born Montana

1931: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chas. H. Chatfield, residence Boucher Ave near Irwin.
Chatfield Roy E driver Chico Ice & Cold Stge Co r Boucher av

abt 1931: Marriage of Nellie “Nella May” Mary Chatfield & Louis Lee Mote
Note: Nella May is the 5th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin. After Nella May married Louis, she found out her first husband, Edward Waldon McElhiney, had in fact not been killed in an accident involving a train coupling. Oops.

1932: Nellie Chatfield and her two youngest daughters, Ina (age 19) and Noreen “Babe” (age 16) move to Colusa, Colusa Co., California

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
Two years into the Great Depression, when there were no jobs and little money and Herbert Hoover was unable to keep his campaign promises of prosperity, 59-year-old Nellie moved to the bustling rice town of Colusa, the county capital built on a lazy river bend in the center of the Sacramento Valley. She left Charles behind and brought her two youngest daughters with her, Ina and Babe, the rest of her children grown and out of the nest. There she opened an eatery. It was Prohibition, and the former Golden Eagle Bar and Hotel was now called the Golden Eagle Hotel and Cafe, serving tea and milkshakes instead of beer and whiskey. They lived in three small rooms over the restaurant, and the girls helped their mother cook for the locals and the men who’d come to town to work on the big government reclamation project, the building of a weir and the new bridge. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they also sold coffee, cakes, and pies. Sodas were a nickel and sandwiches, hamburgers, and hot dogs went for a dime. Nellie carried cigarettes too; two packs of Camels were a quarter. Word spread through town and Nellie became known for her one-pot dishes: her beef stew, her spaghetti, her lima beans, tamale pie, beef chili, and especially her chicken soup.

Opening ads in the Colusa Sun running for the month of February 1932 read:
AMERICAN CAFE — 120 FIFTH STREET — NOW OPEN
Coffee, Pies & Cakes
24 Hour Service
Reasonable Rates

May 22, 1932: Marriage of Jacqueline “Ina” Chatfield & James Leroy Fouch in Reno, Washoe Co., Nevada
Note: Ina is the 9th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

Jul 24, 1932: Newspaper clipping, Colusa, Colusa Co., California:
Jimmie Fouch, Ina Chatfield, Wed in Nevada
Ina, 19-year old daughter of Mrs. N.C. Chatfield of this city and James Fouch, Jr., 23-yer old son of Mr. and Mrs. James Fouch, well known residents of Colusa, surprised their friends yesterday with the announcement that they were united in marriage at noon Sunday in Reno, Nev., by Father J. Graves. The newlyweds returned to Colusa Sunday afternoon and “Jimmie,” as he is familiarly known, was at work in the Public Service store here.
The couple left for Colusa about 9 o’clock Saturday night by automobile. They encountered a snowstorm beyond Auburn and did not reach their destination until 6 a.m. Sunday. Ed N. Anfinson drove the couple to their destination. Steele Houx and Miss Margaret Anderson were the other members of the bridal party.
Although the Chatfield family recently established itself in Colusa the members have made many friends, particularly the bride, who brings many virtues to the new home for Colusa. Young Fouch is a Colusa high school boy and has scores of friends to wish him well in his new venture.

Abt 1933: Marriage of Leo Willard Chatfield & Ethel Helen (Stirewalt) Zornes, a divorcee with two young children
Note: Leo is the 2nd child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

Feb 4, 1933: Marriage of Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield & Carl John Clemens in Colusa, Colusa Co., California
Note: Noreen is the 10th and last child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

Feb 1933: Colusa newspaper, Colusa, Colusa Co., California:
Noreen Chatfield Weds Stockton Youth at Colusa Ceremony
COLUSA–At an early hour Saturday morning Miss Noreen Chatfield became the bride of Carl Clemens of Stockton at a ceremony performed at the Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church immediately following 8 o’clock mass services. Father Renwald, assistant priest, officiated in the absence of Father James Vaughan.
At the close of the service the bride and bridegroom left for Stockton where they will make their home. Their honeymoon has not been planned although they expect to visit the east sometime this summer. Clemens has many friends and relatives there.
Miss Chatfield is the daughter of Mrs. N.C. Chatfield of Colusa. They have resided here for the past year, coming from Chico. During that time two of Mrs. Chatfield’s daughters have become brides. Mrs. James Fouch, Jr., who was married here recently, is a daughter of Mrs. Chatfield.
At the impressive ceremony this morning Margaret Anderson of Chico, a close friend of the bride, was the bridesmaid. Lawrence Clemens, brother of the groom, was best man.
The bride is a girl of many charms and has a large coterie of well wishing friends.

1933: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) carp h Boucher av cor Irwin
Chatfield Howard F (Evelene) del slsmn Chico Ice & Cold Stge Co h953 S Chestnut
Chatfield Roy E r C H Chatfield

1934-35: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) h921 Boucher av
Chatfield E r921 Boucher av
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) slsmn Chico Ice & Cold Stge Co h953 S Chestnut

1934: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 262):
Chatfield, Charles H.; Carpenter; General Delivery, Chico, Rep
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie; Housewife; General Delivery, Chico, Dem
Chatfield, Roy E.; Truckman; Chico, Dem

1934: Index to Register of Voters, Camptonville Precinct, Yuba Co., California (pg 143):
Chatfield, Mrs. Ethel H.—Log Cabin, Housewife, Dem.
Chatfield, Leo W.—Log Cabin, Laborer, Dem.

1934: Index to Register of Voters, Chico No. 24 Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 156):
Chatfield, Mrs. Evelene; Housewife; 1436 Salem St., Chico, Dem

1934-35: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas H (Nellie) h921 Boucher av
Chatfield Roy E r921 Boucher av
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn), slsmn Chico Ice & Cold Stge Co, h953 S Chestnut

1936: Index to Register of Voters, Chico No 15 Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 222):
Chatfield, Charles H.; Farmer; Boucher and Sixteenth St., Chico, Rep

1936: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C.; Housewife; General Delivery, Chico, Rep
Chatfield, Roy E.; Truck Driver; General Delivery, Chico, Dem

1936: Index to Register of Voters, Camptonville Precinct, Yuba Co., California (pg 163):
Chatfield, Mrs. Ethel H.—Camptonville, Housewife, Dem.
Chatfield, Leo W.—Camptonville, Asst., Forest Ranger, Dem.

1936: Index to Register of Voters, Chico No. 6 Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 117):
Chatfield, Gordon G.; Upholsterer, 4928 Fourth St., Chico, Dem
Mrs. Hylda; Housewife; 4928 Fourth Street, Chico, Dem

1937-1938: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California
Chatfield Nellie C Mrs h921 Boucher av.
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) chauf Chico Meat Co h1838 S Normal av
Chatfield May F r1838 S Normal ace
Chatfield Roy r291 Boucher av

Nov 1938: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield, Charles H.; Retired; 1252 E. Humbolt Ave., Chico, Rep

1939: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California
Chatfield Nellie C Mrs h921 Boucher av
Chatfield Roy r291 Boucher av
Chatfield Howard F (Evelyn) h1838 S Normal av
Chatfield May F r1838 S Normal av

1937-1938-1939-1940-1941-1942: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Note: Charles H. Chatfield is no longer listed as living in Chico. Nellie is listed in the directory as:
Chatfield Nellie C Mrs h921 Boucher av., living with her son Roy.

Note: Roy continues to live in the house after his mother’s death and is noted as living there with his wife Jo Chatfield from 1957 through 1977.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
In the 1930s and ’40s, many of the Chatfield and Chamberlin clan visited at the Boucher Street house, the children playing in the yard or off swimming and fishing at Bidwell Park. At night all the kids slept on the screened porch. Grandma’s sisters, Mamie and Ada, came often to see Nellie. Roy was their chauffeur, driving Aunt Ada, Aunt Mamie, and his mother in his black Terraplane around Chico and over to Sacramento to go shopping. Grandma was always glad to see her sisters. My sister Claudia was afraid of them. The first time she saw them at Grandma’s house they were dressed in long dark clothes and black hats; when the two aged women bent down to kiss her, my small ringlet-rimmed sister suspected they were witches—and flew from the room screaming.

Summer 1939: Chico Hardly anyone remembers my grandfather, but the granddaughter of his older brother Elmer, Beverly Sproul, recalls meeting him in the summer of 1939 when she and her family stopped in Chico on a month-long road trip from Wyoming. For some reason, Grandma turned away at her brother-in-law’s greeting—but Nellie seldom hid her opinion of the sins she held against others. If she didn’t like someone—or anyone related to that someone—if there was some offense, some fault, some fatal flaw, you simply weren’t welcome in her home.

Grandpa and Elmer hadn’t seen each other in years and they had a lot of catching up to do. The brothers wandered into the back yard. Grandpa showed off his chickens and his garden, bending to pull a weed as they chattered on. They talked of their children, of Ella and Callie, their sisters whom Grandpa hadn’t seen in forty years either. Elmer had just come through Globe and Superior, Arizona, where their two widowed sisters lived. Ella was so taken—she hadn’t seen her brother for forty years. Elmer was not a big man to begin with, and Ella was smaller still. She leaned her head against her younger brother’s chest and sighed “oh El.” Her lids hung over her eyes and she had them taped up so she could see. They stayed in Arizona for a couple of days. Beverly remembers Ella walking by her collection of lead crystal on the buffet, Ella flicking them with her finger to listen to it ping. That’s how you tell it is crystal.

They conversed about Elmer’s ranch in Wyoming, the price of sheep and cattle, what rice farming was like in California. In the meantime, Elmer’s daughter Sevilla and her thirteen-year-old girl Beverly sat on the porch with Nellie. Sitting stiffly in her slide rocker facing her husband’s kin, arms cemented across her chest, feet lodged on the floor, her glare piercing through them, Nellie’s starched skin scratched the air—not a word escaping from her mouth. She had nothing against them in particular. They just happened to be related to Elmer and were paying for whatever offense he may have committed, which simply may have been that he was related to her husband. They didn’t stay long, and it was their one and only visit.

They went onto Jim and Jacquelin Mallon’s place for a big family reunion at their ranch in Orland. Jacqueline was almost six-foot, which was extraordinarily tall for a Chatfield. The reunion was only an hour from Chico. Thirty of the Chatfield cousins from the area were there. Most of them were there, all except Nellie and Charlie.

Elmer and his family looped over to Southern California to see Elliott and Sophie Shaw, then stayed with family in Los Angeles who took them out to the horse ranch to see Sea Biscuit—who’d been put to pasture by this time—but was still beautiful. Then they drove their four-door robin blue 1939 Lincoln Zephyr to Santa Monica to see his youngest sister Calla who was also a widow, and her children Jane and Bob. She lived with her gorgeous grey Persian cat that stayed up on the mantle.

From there, they went looking for Marion, Elmer’s daughter who had disappeared from the family some years before. They drove through town after town, through Grass Valley and Placerville and never were able to find her. They decided she didn’t want to be found. Her husband had walked out on her and she and her three small vanished and were out of touch with the family.

Elmer returned to Wyoming and never saw any of his brothers and sisters again.

1940: Federal Census for Chico, Butte Co., California:
Nellie Chatfield, age 67, born abt 1873, Missouri, married, head of household, completed 1 year high school
Roy E. Chatfield, age 39, born abt 1901, born Colorado, single, son, completed 8th grade

1940: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 288):
Chatfield, Charles H.; Retired; 1252 E. Humbolt Ave, Chico, Rep

1940: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 283):
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C.; Housewife; General Delivery, Chico, Rep
Chatfield, Roy E.; Truck Driver; General Delivery, Chico, Dem

Feb 18, 1940: Death of Emily S. (Hoy) Chamberlin (age 89 yr, 6 mo), mother of Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield, of chronic nephritis and acute uremia, at her home in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California. Emily is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California.

Feb 21, 1940: Photo of Emily Chamberlin’s five living children the day of her funeral in front of her home at 343 E. Gage Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Mamie (Chamberlin) Rosborough (age 53), Fred Chamberlin (age 65), Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield (age 67), Ada (Chamberlin) Whitaker (age 63), Willard “Joe” Chamberlin (age 50). Emily’s other son, Roy Valentine Chamberlin, died in 1923. She also had a daughter, Winnie, who died as a young girl, but some in the family only found out about her later.

Feb 1940: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chicoan Returns From Her Mother’s Funeral in L.A.
Chico—Mrs. N.C. Chatfield and her son, Roy, have returned from Los Angeles, where they were called because of the illness and death of Mrs. Chatfield’s mother, Mrs. Emily S. Chamberlin.
Mrs. Chamberlin was the widow of Finley Chamberlin, a Civil War veteran, who died in 1905. She was born in Howard, Penn., in 1850, and was the mother of seven children, five of whom are living. They are Mrs. Chatfield of this city, Mrs. Ada Whitaker of Oregon, Mrs. Mary Rosborough of Morton, Washington; Willard Chamberlin of Corvallis, Oregon, and Fred Chamberlin of Los Angeles, with whom she made her home.
The funeral was held in Los Angeles with Requiem mass in St. Columbkill’s Church. Mrs. Chamberlin had been a member of the Third Order of St. Francis for 30 years.

Jul 23, 1942: Death of Charles Henry Chatfield (age 71), at the Butte County Hospital in Oroville, Butte Co., California, of cardiac failure.

July 24, 1942: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
C.H. Chatfield Taken by Death
Charles H. Chatfield, widely known Chico resident for the past 25 years, and retired rancher, died at a local hospital yesterday following a short illness.
Chatfield was born in Florence, Colorado, September 21, 1870 and has been a resident of this community for 25 years. The family residence was at 666 East 16th street. He followed his occupation as a rancher until his retirement a few years ago.
He leaves to mourn him, his wife Nellie Chatfield of Chico and the following children, Charles J. of San Francisco, Leo W. of Camptonville, Howard F. and Roy E. of Chico, Gordon of Martinez, Arden with the U.S. Army, Mrs. Nellie McElhiney of Oakland, Mrs. Verda Day of Vallejo, Mrs. Noreen Clemens of Vallejo, and Mrs. Irma Fouch of Yuba City. Twelve grandchildren also survive.
One brother, Elmer Chatfield of Wyoming, and two sisters, Mrs. Ella Small of Superior, Arizona, and Mrs. Calla Joslyn of Santa Monica, California.
Friends are invited to attend the funeral services Saturday morning at 9:30 o’clock at the Black and Johnson Funeral home. Rev. Father Patrick J. Cronin of St. John the Baptist Catholic church will read the last rites and the interment will be held in Chico cemetery.

Jul 24, 1942: The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, Sacramento Co., California (pg 9):

July 25, 1942: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California (pg 3):
Services Held for Chatfield
Funeral services were held this morning at 9:30 o’clock at the Black and Johns funeral home for Charles H. Chatfield, who died at a local hospital Thursday following a short illness.
Father Patrick J. Cronin of St. John the Baptist Catholic church read the last rites and selections were played on the pipe organ by Mrs. Louis Kloor.
Many friends attended the services and numerous beautiful floral offerings banked the casket.
The interment was held in the Chico cemetery with the following members of the family acting as casket escorts, Howard Chatfield, Roy Chatfield, Leo Chatfield, Charles Chatfield, Carl Clemens, and Roy McElhiney.

Jul 25, 1942: These photos are from the Saturday funeral for Charles Henry Chatfield

Back row: Grandma Nellie Chatfield (in shade), Charley Chatfield, Mamie Rosborough, Carl Clemens, Ina (Chatfield) Fouch, Herb Rosborough, Velma (Turnbull) Chatfield, Ethel Chatfield ??? (Leo’s wife)???, Jim Fouch (in shadow), Vera Northrup (Jo’s sister), Russell Northrup (Jo’s brother-in-law), Jo Chambers
Front row: Leo Chatfield, Betty Clemens (girl), Noreen “Babe” (Chatfield) Clemens, Verda (Chatfield) Day, Larry Clemens (boy), Howard Chatfield, Roy Chatfield (looking down), Nellie May (Chatfield) McElhiney

Jul 25, 1942: Charles Henry Chatfield is buried at the Chico Cemetery in Chico, Butte Co., California near the corner of the storage shed. He lay in an unmarked grave until two grandchildren had a headstone made for him 61 years after his death.

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
Charles Henry Chatfield passed away in 1942. During the funeral procession, the only thing Nellie had to say was, “Serves the drunken old fool right.” Unwilling to pardon him for gambling away the family fortune some thirty years before, she had him buried in the non-Catholic section of the cemetery, away from the family plots at the back corner of the cemetery tool shed.

In July of 2003, with the help of the caretaker and a map, we found our grandfather’s unmarked grave. My brother Gordon “Larry” and I bought him a headstone. Had I known then about the cobalt blue Bromo-Seltzer bottles, I would have erected a couple of those for him for a little added color too. Instead, and as it didn’t cost any extra, we had the granite marker inscribed with: “Son of Isaac W. Chatfield.” We knew “Beloved Husband of Nellie” would make our grandmother crack her skull on the lid of her coffin, so we axed that idea. My sister Liz “Betty” sat next to me at the long polished table in the mortuary office with her arms crossed, lips thinned, and eyelids narrowed, fixedly gnawing the inside of her cheek. She refused to participate—figuring if our grandfather’s wife and children had never erected a headstone for him, they must have had damn good reason—and she made it perfectly clear she wasn’t about to start undoing any family traditions. Marian (Gordon’s wife) laughed when she heard what we’d added. We didn’t—we thought it a fine idea. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

1942: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 250):
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C.; Housewife; General Delivery, Chico, Rep
Chatfield, Roy E.; Laborer; 666 E. Sixteenth St., Dem

1944: Index to Register of Voters, Guill Precinct, Butte Co., California (pg 246):
Chatfield, Mrs. Nellie C.; Housewife; General Delivery, Chico, Rep
Chatfield, Roy E.; Laborer; 666 E. Sixteenth St., Chico, Dem

1945: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie C (wid Chas) r666 E 16th
Chatfield Roy E millwkr rh666 E 16th

1948: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie C (wid C H) h666 E 16th
Chatfield Roy E lab DMCo h666 E 16th

Jun 1948: Letter from Ina (Chatfield) Fouch to her mother Nellie:
Dear Mom,
I thought I would drop you a line or two, even tho there isn’t much to write about. Was wondering how you’re surviving the hot weather. Weren’t some of those days terrific though?
Did Arden ever show up Chico again? He got off at Gridley and was wondering if he got a job there, or moved on? One never can tell about him.
I hope to have some tomatoes, etc., for you when Verda comes thru altho the tomatoes aren’t doing very good. We are hoping these later ones will be better. Hope to be able to get you some peaches too.
I gave Jim a little birthday party last week. He was quite thrilled as it was his first birthday party. Shirley sent him the nicest suede cowboy jacket, but it is a little hot to wear it right now. He wears it for about 5 minutes at a time.
Well, I have an ironing to do & want to get at it before it gets too hot so will sign off.
Hope you are feeling better and the heat isn’t bothering you much. Love to you both, Ina

Nov 19, 1948: Death of Gordon Gregory Chatfield (age 42), 6th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in the Letterman’s Veterans Hospital in San Francisco, California of injuries he sustained from falling from the bay of a truck in WWII. He is buried in Presidio Cemetery in San Francisco, California. Photo below of Gordon Chatfield, upon his return from the Philippines after WWII

Photos taken the day of Gordon’s funeral: from l to r: Verda (Chatfield) Day, Nellie Chatfield at top, Leo Chatfield, Charley Chatfield, Ada (Chamberlin) Whitaker (Nellie’s sister), Noreen “Babe” (Chatfield) Clemens, Nella May (Chatfield) McElhiney, Ina (Chatfield) Fouch, daughter Joanne Fouch, Jim Fouch, Velma (Turnbull) Chatfield, kneeling in front.

Nov 1948: San Francisco newspaper clipping, obituary for Gordon Chatfield:
CHATFIELD—In this city, Nov. 19, 1948, Gordon Chatfield, dearly beloved son of Mrs. Nellie Chatfield of Chico, Calif., loving brother of Charles Chatfield of San Francisco, Leo Chatfield of Comptonville, Calif., Howard, Roy, and Arden Chatfield, all of Chico, Calif. Mrs. Verda Day of Redwood City, Mrs. Ina Fouch of Yuba City, and Mrs. Noreen Clemens of Sonora; a native of Casper Wyo., aged 42 years. A member of V.F.W. of Van Nuys, Calif. (Chico, Calif., papers please copy.)
A Mass of Requiem will be offered Tuesday morning at 9:30 o’clock, at the Chapel of Our Lady, Presidio, San Francisco. Friends may call at the mortuary of Halsted & Co., 1123 Sutter St., near Polk. Interment, Golden Gate National Cemetery.

1950: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie Mrs h1543 Boucher av
Chatfield Roy E h666 E 16th

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
As she got older and her burning feet made it too far to walk, Roy drove his mother the mile and a half to 7:30 morning Mass. Cruising up in his black four-door Hudson Terraplane sedan, hopping from the car, offering her his arm and walking her up the thirteen red brick steps through the two arched front doors and down the long aisle past the imposing stained glass windows, he delivered his mother to her seat in the front pew. For thirty-seven years my grandmother attended daily Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Chico. Even if she took seven years off for vacations, illness, or emergencies, that would still leave 30 years which amounts to 360 months or some 1,140 weeks or 10,950 days. That’s quite a spell for her to sustain and strengthen her moral superiority. She spent those 11,000 hours praying for the salvation of her children.

If it is a habit of the righteous to believe one’s soul may be saved by going to church; if attendance on Sundays could make one virtuous, and if attendance on holy days could ensure one’s true holiness, then my grandmother reasoned that going every day would certainly earn her a seat at the right hand of her Lord and Savior… the best seat in the house from which to dispense her virtuous judgment. The Roaring twenties brought speakeasies, easy morals, and easy money; the Victorians, Catholics, and Puritans were rapidly losing ground to the Jazz age, flappers, political corruption, and organized crime. Times were changing, and Grandma, along with the Pope and J. Edgar Hoover, did her personal best to stem the tide.

From her upholstered slide-rocker, Nellie kept a sharp eye on everything going on inside her home and outside her window, her ear glued to the Philco, listening like millions of others to H.V. Kaltenborn, a popular 1930s and 40s CBS radio news commentator. In winter Roy moved her rocker to the parlor where Nellie warmed herself by the pot-bellied stove that squatted in the middle of the room—sliding back and forth and fingering her black rosary beads. The ritual of her rosary comforted her. Through sacrifice and prayer one can gain forgiveness—the possibility of penance achieving the miraculous erasing of sin. In the sweltering summer, her chair was moved to the parlor’s front window where she rocked the day away, the black table-fan and her paper hand-fan slowly moving the oppressive heat around her in circles.

In the last years of her life, she had a small black and white television, watching rubber-faced Milton Berle from her rocker. Her favorite show was Bishop Sheen’s Holy Hour. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a writer, preacher, teacher, and evangelist of the airwaves. He pleaded for an hour of prayer and companionship—bringing thousands of converts to the Catholic Church. Watching the Ed Sullivan Show, her other favorite, Grandma thought the Rockettes scandalous, horrified by their skimpy skirts and bare legs kicked up over their heads, showing more than she had ever seen. While harrumphing their sinfulness, she’d lean closer, cleaning the dust specks from her wire-rimmed glasses. ~Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

1952: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie (wid Chas) h1543 Boucher av

Jan 16, 1953: Death of Howard Francis Chatfield (age 53), the 3rd of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin in Chico, Butte, Co., California of Bright’s disease. Howard is buried in Chico Cemetery in Chico, Butte Co., California.

Jan 16, 1953: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Howard Chatfield Dies Yesterday at Chico Residence
Howard Chatfield, Chico resident since 1915, died at his home Friday after an illness of several months.
Chatfield was born in El Dora, Colo., June 13, 1899.
He was educated in Chico schools after coming here with his parents. He was employed at the Chico Ice Company for 15 years, then became a butcher after learning the trade at the Chico Meat Company.
Chatfield is survived by his wife, Evelyn; his mother, Mrs. Nellie Chatfield, Chico; five daughters, Mrs. Richard Percy, Mrs. John Dussault, Mrs. Donald Costa and Mrs. Richard Quiring, all of Chico, and Mrs. Jack Sutherlund, Marysville. The following brothers and sister also survive: Leo Chatfield, Nevada City; Arden and Ray Chatfield, Chico; Charles Chatfield, San Francisco; Mrs. George Day, Chico; Mrs. Carl Clemens, Sonora; Mrs. James Fouch, Yuba City; and Mrs. Nellie McElhiney, Oakland.
Mr. Chatfield was an active member of Chico Lodge 423, BPOE, and Local 352 of the Butchers Union.
Rosary Services will be conducted Sunday evening at 8 o’clock at the Brusie Funeral Home. Monday at 9:30 a.m. the Chico Lodge of Elks will hold service in the Brusie Chapel.
The cortege will then form and proceed to the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church where mass will be said for the repose of his soul.
Interment will follow in the Catholic section of the Chico Cemetery.

1953-54: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie C (wid Chas) h1543 Boucher av
Roy E h1543 Boucher av

Jul 31, 1955: Marriage of Noreen Ellen “Babe” (Chatfield) Clemens & Raymond D. Haynie in Carson City, Ormsby Co., Nevada. Noreen divorced her first husband, Carl John Clemens, in 1951 after 20 years of marriage. Her marriage to Ray lasted a year.
Note: Noreen is the 10th and last child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

Aug 4, 1955: Death of Frederick L. “Fred” Chamberlin (age 80), the brother of Nellie Chatfield, in Hollywood, Los Angeles Co., California; heart attack. Fred is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California

1955: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Nellie C (wid Chas H) h1543 Boucher av
Roy E h1543 Boucher av

Dec 14, 1955: Letter From Nellie Chatfield to her oldest daughter, Nella May McElhiney:
Dear Nella May, Dec. 14, 1955
For goodness sake don’t worry about me. Roy gets worried & excited so easy & there is no need notifying any others. I don’t know what really was the matter with me this last time. I was not in much pain, only just couldn’t seem to get my breath. I don’t suppose you ever heard a wind broken horse, well that is exactly the way I sounded. You could hear me all over the house.
The Dr. heard me before he reached the house. He gave me a BIG shot in each arm. Roy held my arms & said I never flinched, but it sent me out of my head. Those hypos never did that before, but if I said the things Roy said I did, I was out of my head. Those shots must have did the work because I was breathing alright by the time I reached the hospital. I was in no pain, but was still coughing & when I did cough you should have seen those nurses move off.
They took all kinds of X Ray pictures & blood tests & for 36 hours they fed me thru the veins. Then when they wanted to put tubes in my nose & down my throat, that made me mad. Both doctors were new to me & I didn’t like them & they didn’t like me. I told them if they put any down my throat I would throw up all over everything. (One of the Drs. is a Sheeny & one is a Wop). The Wop said, “your stomach is about 4 times as big as it should be.” I said all right, cut it open & take a chunk out. I suppose they thought I would say they could put those tubes down my throat & in my nose. Roy telephoned to find out if he could take me home.
Well this is the 16th so I just as well quit. Roy turns the TV on so loud I can’t write. I am feeling the best I have in a long time. They have given me so many shots. I think that may have helped my head aches, but I have a terrible roaring in it all the time it seems others can hear it.
When we first came to California, Feb was the finest month of the year. I can get in & out of the car with a little help but I can’t get up & down steps & that is why I can’t go to church. If the weather ever gets really good & all can get together on the time, we may get over to see you. We often talk of it.
Now remember no presents this year. There is nothing I want or need & I think most of us are in no physical or financial position to do so. And now good night with love.
God bless you & yours,
Your loving Mother, N.C.
Note: Two weeks later Nellie died in her home. The last rites were administered to her three times and she was highly vexed that she didn’t die the first two times, having gone to all that work preparing to die.

Jan 2, 1956: Death of Nellie Belle (Chamberlin) Chatfield (age 82), at her home on Boucher in Chico, Butte Co., California, I’m sure of excess choler. Her death certificate does not list her cause of death. The priest came to the house on three occasions to administer the last rites to prepare her soul for death with the absolution for her sins, and Grandma was highly vexed that she didn’t die the first two times after going to all that work preparing to meet her maker. She is buried in the Catholic Section of the Chico Cemetery in Chico, nowhere near her husband. The “C.” on her headstone stood for Chamberlin, her maiden name. Her family never knew her middle name was Belle until after she died. No one did; she detested being called Nellie Belle.

Jan 3, 1956: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Nellie Chatfield
Recitation of the rosary will be held in the Brusie Funeral Home this evening at 8 o’clock for Mrs. Nellie Chatfield, who died at her home on Boucher Street Monday.
Mrs. Chatfield was born on Mar 7, 1873 in Kansas City, Mo., to Frank and Emma Chamberlin. She resided in Chico in the same house the entire time.
Mrs. Chatfield was a charter member of the Catholic Ladies relief society.
She is survived by eight children: Charles J. of, South San Francisco; Leo W., of Camptonville; Mrs. Nellie McElhiney, of Oakland; Arden, of Yountville; Mrs. Ina Fouch, of Yuba City; Mrs. Ray Hayknee, of San Jose; and Roy E. and Mrs. Verda Day, both of Chico; a brother, Willard Chamberlin of Corvallis, Ore., two sisters, Mrs. Ada Whitaker and Mrs. Mamie Rosborough, both of Baker, Ore. 21 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Mrs. Chatfield lost a son, Gordon in World War II and another son, Howard, three months ago.
At 9:50 a.m. Wednesday the cortege will proceed to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church where requiem mass will be offered for the repose of the soul.
Those who desire may have masses said in lieu of flowers.

Jul 20, 1956: Death of Leo Willard Chatfield (age 58), the 2nd of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin in Camptonville, Yuba Co., California of a heart attack. Leo is buried in Golden Gate Cemetery in San Bruno, San Mateo Co., California.

Jul 22, 1956: Newspaper clipping, Camptonville, Yuba Co., California:
CHATFIELD GRAVESIDE RITES HELD
July 22—A veil of sorrow fell over a shocked and grief-stricken community Friday evening with news of the sudden and untimely death of Leo Willard Chatfield, who died at a Grass Valley hospital with a heat ailment following a sudden illness of only two days. He was born at Ten Sleep, Wyoming, October 23, 1897. He came to this community over 25 years ago, first following mining, later being lookout for the forest service at Alaska Peak station, and then being assistant ranger of the Camptonville District of Tahoe National forest, which post he held for a number of years. For the last few years, he has been a log scaler for Cal-Ida Lumber Company. He was a veteran of World War I and a member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Chatfield was a man of fine reputation and sterling character, of kind and charitable disposition and has a host of friends throughout this section. He was an outstanding citizen and took a prominent part in the affairs of the community, always willing to do his part for the good of the place in which he lived. He recently built a new home on upper Main Street and spent much time in beautifying the premises with orchard and garden. His passing will leave a vacancy that cannot easily be filled.
He is survived by: a wife, Ethel; stepson, Dr. Eugene Zornes of Fillmore; stepdaughter, Mrs. Etta M. Murdock of North San Juan; four sisters, Mrs. Nellie McElheney of Mission San Jose, Mrs. Verda Day of Chico, Mrs. Ina Fouch of Yuba City, Mrs. Noreen Clemens of San Jose; three brothers, Charles of South San Francisco, Arden and Roy of Chico.

Jul 24, 1956: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Funeral services were held yesterday morning in Camptonville (Yuba County) Catholic Church for Leo W. Chatfield, 58, a former Chico resident. Burial was held today in the Golden Gate Cemetery in San Bruno.
Mr. Chatfield was born Oct. 23, 1887, in Ten Sleep, Wyo. He was a veteran of World War I, and had lived in Chico for two years after the war. He was a forest ranger at Camptonville, and had been a lumber company worker there until his death.
Survivors include his wife, Ethel, of Camptonville; three brothers, Roy and Arden of Chico, and Charles of South San Francisco; and three sisters, Mrs. Verda Day, of Chico, Mrs. Ina Fouch, of Yuba City, and Mrs. Noreen Haynee, of San Jose.

Aug 1, 1956: Marriage of Roy Elmer Chatfield & Josephine “Jo” Elizabeth Chambers in Reno, Washoe Co., Nevada, after a 38-year courtship. Roy promised his mother he would not marry until after her death and waited for six months to pass before he married his sweetheart, Jo Chambers. Roy was 54 and Jo was age 55.
Note: Roy is the 4th child of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

Aug 1956: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chico Couple Marry
in Reno Rites
A courtship of 38 years ended Wednesday as Roy Chatfield, of 1543 Boucher Avenue, took as his bride Josephine Chambers of Shasta Way. The Chicoans were married at 9:30 a.m. in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church by Fr. John O’Conner.
Mrs. Chatfield is an inspector at Diamond Match Co. Both grew up in Chico and have lived there all their adult lives.
They are at home to their friends on Boucher Street.

Jul 15, 1960: Death of Ada Agnes Chamberlin (age 82), sister of Nellie, in Baker, Baker Co., Oregon; pneumonia. Ada is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Baker, Baker Co., Oregon.

Dec 10, 1971: Death of Willard Joseph “Joe” Chamberlin (age 82), Nellie’s youngest brother, in Lakeside, San Diego Co., California; emphysema, arthritis. Joe is buried in the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregon

Nov 9, 1978: Death of Noreen Ellen “Babe” (Chatfield) Clemens (age 53), my mother, and the last of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin in Whittier, Los Angeles Co., California; suicide. Her ashes are interred in Memory Garden Memorial Park in Brea, Orange Co., California.

Jul 11, 1978: Death of Roy Elmer Chatfield (age 77), the 4th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlinin Chico, Butte Co., California; heart failure. Roy is buried in Garden of the Holy Cross, Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico.

Sep 26, 1978: Death of Verda Agnes (Chatfield) Day (age 70), the 7th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in Chico, Butte Co., California; heart failure. Verda is buried in the Chico Cemetery (Catholic section) in Chico.

Sep 26, 1978: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Verda Day
Rosary will be recited at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in the chapel of the Bruise Funeral Home for Verda Agnes Day, 70, of 123 Henshaw Ave.
Mrs. Day died today at a local hospital.
Born Aug 23, 1908, in Sanders, Mont., to Charles and Nellie Chatfield, she moved to Chico with her family at the age of three and was educated here. She married George W. Day in 1927 and moved to the Bay Area, living in Watsonville and Redwood City, before returning to Chico in 1950. Mrs. Day was involved with college housing until her retirement in 1972.
She was a member of the Catholic Ladies Relief Society, AARP, Senior Citizens organizations, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and Our Divine Savior Catholic Parish.
Survivors are her four sons, Robert E. of Paradise, George E. of Warwick, R.I., Leo Ronald of Sacramento and Jeffery B. Of Chico; two daughters, Marceline Mangini of Hayward and Judith L. O’Brien of Sacramento; two brothers, Charles Joseph Chatfield of Paradise and Arden Chatfield of Chico; two sisters, Nellie May McElhiney of Martinez and Ina Fouch of Yuba City; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Father Edward O’Hara if Our Divine Savior Catholic Parish will act as celebrant of the mass at 9 a.m. Thursday at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.
Visitation will be between 5 and 9 p.m. Wednesday in the chapel of the Brusie Funeral Home.

May 17, 1980: Death of Mary Agnes “Mamie” Chamberlin (age 93), sister of Nellie, in Aberdeen, Grays Harbor Co., Washington; old age. Mamie is buried in Olympic Memorial Gardens in Tumwater, Thurston Co., Washington.

Oct 3, 1981: Death of Arden Sherman Chatfield (age 71), the 8th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in Chico, Butte Co., California; heart failure. He is buried in the Chico Cemetery (Veteran’s section) in Chico.

Oct 5, 1981: Chico Enterprise, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Services will be held at 11:a.m Wednesday at Brusie Funeral Home for Arden Sherman Chatfield, 71, of Chico.
He died Saturday in a local hospital.
Born Aug 29 1920, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chatfield in Sanders, Mont., his family moved to Chico when he was five. He was reared and educated here.
He served in World War II and worked as a farm laborer for 30 years. He retired when he was 65 years old.
Survivors include two sisters, Ina Fouch of Yuba City and Nellie McElhiney of Martinez; and a brother, Charles of Paradise.
The Rev. John Crowley will officiate at the service. Burial will be at the Chico cemetery.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. today at the Brusie Funeral Home.

Nov 21, 1983: Death of Nella ” May” Mary (Chatfield) McElhiney (age 80), the 5th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in Martinez, Contra Costa Co., California; of a stroke. She is buried in Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Lafayette, Contra Costa Co., California.

Aug 6, 1986: Death of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield (age 90), the 1st of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in Paradise, Butte Co., California; heart attack. Charley is buried in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, Butte Co., California.

Feb 17, 1993: Death of Jacqueline “Ina” (Chatfield) Fouch (age 80), the 9th of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin, in Yuba City, Sutter Co., California; of old age and heart problems. Ina is buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Colusa, Colusa Co., California.

As They Remembered:
“When I was only four months old the family moved to Los Molinos, California to get away from the cold in Montana, They arrived in Los Molinos on June 1, 1913, by train. My mother Nellie took the train from Sanders, Montana, along with her nine children from age 4 months up to age 18 years. She left my father behind in Montana. The family sold their land holdings for a very good price, between $150,000 and $500,000—which was a huge fortune in those days. Father went to town to get the money so they could travel to California but he did not return home so after a couple of days someone went to town and found him. He had gambled the entire fortune away. My mother was very unhappy and decided the family would still go to California so she sold the only remaining thing they owned, a team of horses for $300 and left for California with us nine children. All their married life they lived with the “lost opportunity” that is—the lost money.
When we lived in Los Molinos my father Charles ran a crew of horses and men and was a rancher and farmer. Later he worked as a carpenter, as a foreman of rice fields, and worked for the Diamond Match Company making boxes. He drove a car but my mother (Nellie) would never drive a car.”
Note: Jun 26, 1990, story told by Ina (Chatfield) Fouch, daughter of Charles & Nellie, to Gordon Clemens.

As They Remembered:
Another version, given by Velma Chatfield, the widow of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, in conversation with Gordon Clemens on Jun 25, 1990: “The Chatfield family moved from Montana to Los Molinos, California as they had heard about the golden opportunity for the rich land in California. Land was cheap and the weather was good. They had a big cattle ranch in Montana which they sold for $500,000. It was at Rose Bud, a days’ ride to town from the ranch. The father, Charles Henry Chatfield, went to town and did not come back for four days, he had gambled away all his money. Nellie sold the horses for $300 and got on the train with her nine kids. When Charles Henry Chatfield arrived in California the mother (Nellie) took him back.
Charlie (husband of Velma) was age eight when they moved from Colorado to Casper, Wyoming in four big wagons and five children. Later they lived near the Cody Dam.”

As We Discovered:
Grandpa didn’t gamble away the ranch. They never owned a ranch. And if they had owned a ranch, it would not have been worth $150,000. In 1915, you could have bought the whole state of Montana for $150,000. They were giving the land away to homesteaders—why would anyone pay that amount for it?

Note: Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History are pieces written by Catherine Sevenau

2020. Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau and Gordon Clemens.

WCGS (World Chamberlain Genealogical Society)