Charles Chatfield & Velma Turnbull

FAMILY LINE AND HISTORY

Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield
1st of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin
Military: Mexican Border War and WWI, U.S. Army, Sergeant, served in France
Occupations: Rice farmer, Chico Ice & Cold Storage Co., restaurant owner, steelworker
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 in Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Apr 30, 1927, Velma Avis Turnbull, Oroville, Butte Co., California
No children

Velma Avis Turnbull
3rd of 5 children of John Thomas Turnbull & Ruth Ann Howell
Born: Jul 26, 1905, Malin, Klamath Co., Oregon
Died: Nov 3, 1991 (age 86) Paradise, Butte Co., California; cancer
Buried: Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Apr 30, 1927, Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, Oroville, Butte Co., California
No children

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Timeline and Records

Ten children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle Chamberlin:
1. Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield
1895 – 1986
2. Leo Willard Chatfield
1897 – 1956
3. Howard Francis Chatfield
1899 – 1953
4. Roy Elmer Chatfield
1901 – 1978
5. Nellie Mary “Nella May” Chatfield
1903 – 1983
6. Gordon Gregory Chatfield
1905 – 1948
7. Verda Agnes Chatfield
1908 – 1978
8. Arden Sherman Chatfield
1910 – 1981
9. Ina Chatfield
1913 – 1993
10. Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield
1915 – 1968

Five children of John Thomas Turnbull & Ruth Ann Howell:
1. Talitha Myrtle “Itha” Turnbull
1900 – 1986
2. Myra L. Turnbull
1903 – 1969
3. Velma Avis Turnbull
1905 – 1991
4. Fay D. Turnbull
1908 – aft 1991
5. Author Thomas Turnbull
1912 – 1965

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Nov 18, 1895: Birth of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, 1st of 10 children of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie Belle 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 other 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.

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 (Charley)
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.

As They Were Told:
A granddaughter recalled the following: “When Charley (Charles Joseph Chatfield, b.1895) was eight years old in 1903, the family packed everything in four big wagons and moved from Colorado to Casper, Wyoming. It was at Casper that her grandfather and his brother, Elmer, rented horses to work on the Cody Dam that the government was building for irrigating.”
Note: The Cody Dam, now known as the Buffalo Bill Dam, is just west of Cody, Wyoming about 100 miles north of Casper. It brought irrigation and settlers to Bighorn Basin. When finished, it was the world’s tallest concrete arch dam.
Slight correction: the family moved in 1905 and Charley was age 10.

Cody (Buffalo Bill) Dam
Construction of the Buffalo Bill Dam was completed in 1910. The Dam is a concrete arch placed near the head of the Shoshone River Canyon. The Dam stands 325 feet high, measured from bedrock. Its hydraulic height is 233 feet; its width at base in 108 feet and at top is 10 feet. The length at the crest is 200 feet and the elevation there is 5,370 feet above sea level. A measured 82,900 cubic yards of concrete were poured during the dam’s construction. The reservoir standing behind the dam is also named Buffalo Bill. It has a capacity of 439,800 acre-feet of water with a shoreline of about 20 miles. The Buffalo Bill Dam is one of the earliest achievements of the Bureau of Reclamation and was built in the “Arch and Crown-Cantilever Method.” The original name was Shoshone Dam.
Online source: wyoshpo.state.wy.us/_billdam.htm

circa Aug 1906: Spring Creek, Big Horn Co., Wyoming:
On the back of this picture is handwritten: “Uncle Elmer’s ranch above Tensleep”

Note: Elmer Ellsworth Chatfield, Charles Henry Chatfield, and Jacquelin (Chatfield) Adams are siblings; pictured are 13 of their combined offspring (ages approximate):
Helen, Marion Chatfield, Charles, Sevilla, Marion Adams, Leo, Howard, Roy, Kathryn, Nella May, family dog, Audrey holding two babies, Gordon and/or Constance
Helen Layle Chatfield: born Feb 15, 1894 (age 12), daughter of Elmer & Della
Marion Hortense Chatfield: born Feb 25, 1896 (age 10), daughter of Elmer & Della
Charles Joseph Chatfield: born Nov 18, 1895 (age 9) Charles & Nellie, son
Sevilla Maude Chatfield: born Oct 18, 1898 (age 7), daughter of Elmer & Della
Marion Jacqueline Adams: born Apr 24, 1898 (age 8), daughter of Jacquelin & Fred
Leo Willard Chatfield: born Oct 23, 1897 (age 8), son of Charles & Nellie
Howard Francis Chatfield: born Jun 13, 1899 (age 7), son of Charles & Nellie
Roy Elmer Chatfield: born Mar 20, 1901 (age 5), son of Charles & Nellie
Kathryn “Kate” Adams: born Jan 31, 1903 (age 3), daughter of Jacquelin & Fred
Nella Mae Chatfield: born Mar 11, 1903 (age 3), daughter of Charles & Nellie
black dog
Audrey Ella Chatfield: born Nov 27, 1900 (age 5), daughter of Elmer & Della
2 babies (note: assuming Gordon is on the left and Constance is on the right):
Gordon Gregory Chatfield: born Dec 20, 1905 (8 mo), son of Charles & Nellie
Constance Cordelia Chatfield: born Dec 18, 1905 (8 mo), daughter of Elmer & Della

1907: Charles and 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.

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

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

Headstones, Hearsay, and a Little History:
May 1913: News from 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 County and his cousin, Jacquelin (Chatfield) Mallon and her husband Jim Mallon, are rice ranching in Princeton, Colusa County. Nellie’s mother Emily (Hoy) Chamberlin is living in Hollywood, Los Angeles County.

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 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.

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, Charles (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 sold the wagon and horses for $300 and with tickets in hand and nine children in tow, she boarded the train at Sanders, leaving her husband Charles behind. As Nellie readied her household for the long train-ride to California, she said nothing as she crated her New Haven kitchen-clock, a gift from Charles at the birth of their first child. She 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. She said nothing as she packed her trunks with her high-necked blouses and bloomers and petticoats, nothing as she packed away her linens, her family pictures, her black cast-iron pots and her past. With Nellie, wrath was silent.

In a fit of venom, while ironing her traveling skirt, she dropped the heated sad iron on her foot. She boarded the train in a wheelchair. With “All aboard!” the family gathered their worldly possessions and filed on. Nellie was forty. Charles, 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 carried 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, carried his mother’s hatbox. Tiny three-month Ina was in her mother’s arms.
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 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 Chatfield 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 Chatfield 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.

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.

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

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, Colusa, Williams, and Princeton areas. His sons help him during harvest season where Charles worked as the foreman of the work crews.

U.S. Department of Affairs BIRLS Death File for Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield:
Name: Charles Chatfield
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 18 Nov 1895
Death Date: 2 Aug 1986
Branch 1: ARMY
Enlistment Date 1: 26 Jun 1916
Release Date 1: 15 Apr 1919

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

Camp Kearny was established July 18, 1917, named in honor of Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny who led the Army of the West to San Diego in 1846. It was one of 32 new camps created in May 1917, each designed to house 40,000 troops with 1200 buildings and tents on 10,000 acres. Most of Camp Kearny’s soldiers lived in tents, as more than 65,000 men trooped through the camp on their way to World War I battlegrounds. After the war, the camp was used as a demobilization center. During this period, the 40th Division (now the 40th Infantry Division) was formed from units of the National Guards of California and other southwestern states.
Camp Kearny was located 11-1/2 miles north of San Diego on 12,721 acres and gave its name to the surrounding mesa. It cost $4.5 million to build and ended October 31, 1920.
Source: http://www.militarymuseum.org/cpKearney2.html

Apr 19, 1919: San Jose Mercury-News, San Jose, Santa Clara Co., California:
Mr. & Mrs. Isaac W. Chatfield are entertaining their grandson, Sergeant Charles J. Chatfield of Chicago (Chico) who is visiting with them while on his return to his home after having seen service overseas…
Note: Charles (Charley) is the oldest child of Charles Henry Chatfield & Nellie 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 a foreman harvesting rice

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^thbut 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 Joseph “Joe” Chamberlin (age 30), younger brother of Nellie
Catherine (girl in dark dress): girlfriend of Willard Chamberlin
Uncle Ed: Emily’s brother, Adea Adam “Ade” 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: perhaps the wife of Frederick Laurence Chamberlin (age 45), brother of Nellie; Clara “Alice” (Swickard) Fenner, died in Colorado, 1928
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 17 or 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 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 or 19), 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

Charley kept a diary for most of his life:
September 1920
Wed 1  Awful hot. Worked 11 1/2 hrs. Got paid for last week. Went to show with Lura.
Thur 2  Awful hot. Worked 13 hrs. Went to town for supper.
Fri 3  Pretty hot. Worked 11 1/2 hrs. Got gears torn out in my car and fixed, cost $16.45.
Sat 4  Pretty hot. Worked 10 1/2 hrs. Got a shave and hair cut. Went to dance in Durham.
Sun 5  Pretty hot. Went to church and to church twice with Lura to her church. Went to Richardson Springs.
Mon 6  Colder. Run around Chico all day. Went to a show in Chico. Back to Gridley to a show with Lura.
Wed 8  Awful cold all day. Worked 12 1/2 hrs. Up town for supper.
Thur 9  Pretty cold. Worked 9 3/4 hrs. Went to show with Lura in Gridley.
Fri 10  A little warmer. Worked 11 hrs. Went up town for supper.
Sat 11  Pretty warm. Worked 10 hrs. Went to Chico with Lura to a show and supper with her.
Sun 12  Pretty warm. Went to Church in morning and in evening with Lura and to a show and riding with her.
Wed 15  Awful warm. Worked 8 hrs and quit. Went to Chico and to church with Lura.
Thur 16  Pretty warm. Worked all day at home on my car.
Fri 17  Awful hot, Took Lura home from school and went to church with her. Asked her if she would be my wife and she said yes.
Sat 18  Pretty warm. Run around all day. Leo came up and bought him a car. Went to a show and a dance in Durham.
Sun 19  Cooler. Went to church in morning and out to Lura’s in afternoon and to church with her in evening.
Wed 22  Colder. Took Lura home from school.
Thur 23  Cold and windy. Laid around all day. Got my batteries back.
Fri 24  Warmer. Took Lura home from school and went to a social with her.
Sun 26  Warm but cloudy. Went to church in morning and in evening with Lura. Went riding and to a show with her.
Mon 27  Pretty warm. Went out to Chico Rice to go to work but have to come back Wed. Went to a show and took Lura home from school.
Tues 28  Awful warm. Went to a show and out to Lura’s, took her home from school. Laid around all day.
Wed 29  Pretty hot. Left for Chico Rice to go to work. Worked all day.
Thur 30  Pretty hot. Worked all day. Howard’s wife came home from Los Angeles.

Charley’s diary reads pretty much the same through January 1924: It was pretty cold, pretty warm, or awfully hot, and he was still courting Lura. There were two years of prior entries of “delivered ice today” when he was working for Chico Ice and Cold Storage or “laid around all day” when he wasn’t. If you want to know what the Chico weather was on any given date for the five years up to 1924, I can look it up for you in Charley’s diary.

Lura must have gotten bored with Charley as she was seen around Chico with another fella. Roy informed Charley, for his own good. The brothers had a huge knockdown drag-out fight at the Boucher house, fists and furniture flying and Grandma fussing and crying at them to stop. Charley didn’t believe Roy. Until he saw for himself. Lura no longer made it as an entry in his diary.

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

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

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

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

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

Apr 30, 1927: Marriage of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield to Velma Avis Turnbull in Oroville, Butte Co., California.
Note: Charles Joseph is the 1st of 10 children of Charles Chatfield & Nellie Chamberlin

1929: Chico City Directory, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Chatfield Chas J (Velma) driver Union Ice Co h619 Pine

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

Circa 1934, Lodi, San Joaquin Co., California:
At age eight or nine, Buster (Charley’s nephew) was sick with a lung infection. He went to Del Valle Arroyo, a tuberculosis hospital near Vallejo. He was there a year, quarantined the whole time, so he wouldn’t catch TB. And the whole time he was there, not one person came to visit. He was too far away, his mother had little money, and she didn’t drive. Few people had cars in the mid-30s; they walked everywhere: to church, to school, to shops. Alone, he spent his time reading volume after volume of the Wizard of Oz. After Buster recovered, Uncle Charley and Aunt Velma drove Nella May to pick him up. His mother was still living in Oakland and had just had her third child and second daughter, with no father in sight.

Buster was a handful, and Nella May didn’t know what to do with a young boy. Left to fend for himself, he’d be gone for two or three days, off exploring, doing whatever he wanted, sleeping wherever he could. His mother didn’t ask him where he’d been. It was even harder now for her to raise Buster, so Charley and Velma took him into their home in Lodi for about a year and a half. He was happy there. But one summer day, when he was working in their fruit stand, bucking their authority he told them, “You can’t tell me what to do–you’re not my parents.” Her younger sister Ina took him for a while, and then he went back to his mother.

Apr 5, 1940: Federal Census for Elkhorn Township, Lodi, San Joaquin Co., California:
Chatfield, Charles J.: Head, age 34, married, born Colorado, house owned, working on own account, merchant in retail ice, education high school 4th year
Velma: Wife, age 34, married, born Oregon, college, 2nd year

1941: WWII Registration Card for Charles Joseph Chatfield:

Jul 23, 1942: Death of Charles Henry “Charlie” Chatfield (age 71), father of Charles Joseph Chatfield, of cardiac failure, senility, and malnutrition; in Oroville, Butte Co., California.

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.

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

1947: On his twelfth Christmas, my brother Larry received a small five-year leather-bound diary, with room enough on each page for three lines per day, and our cousins are often mentioned. Mom’s family visited more often than Dad’s as they lived closer. Her brother Roy and his sweetheart Jo, and her brother Gordon came on occasion. Her brother Charley with his wife Velma came more often. Mom’s sisters visited: Verda and George and their children, Junior and Bob who were George’s sons from his first marriage, along with Jim, Marceline, and Judy, (Jeff came along later); her sister Ina with Jim with their girls, Joanne and Shirley (Jimmy, the youngest, like me, was born later); and Nella May with her four, Buster, Mary Ellen, Beverly, and Barbara. Company was always staying at the house.

1947 • Larry’s diary (age 13)
Jun 4  Graduated from 8^th grade elementary school. I got a wristwatch and binder as gifts. Went to graduation party and danced with Barbara Miles
Jun 5  At 2 PM left for 3 week vacation to stay at George and Verda Day‘s home in Redwood City as Mom and Dad going to Minnesota
Jun 7  Jim Day (cousin) took me to a drive-in restaurant in Redwood city
Jun 9  Mowed lawn for uncle Geo. Day
Jun 10  Mowed lawns for vacation money, earned $1
Jun 15  Went to movies Odd Man Out and The Hat Box Mystery with Jim Day
Jun 18  Received letter from Mom and Dad in Rochester, Minnesota. They had an accident in their car but no one hurt.
Jun 21  Postcard from Mom and Dad in Minnesota
Jun 22  Marceline Day got married to Roy today. Reception here at George and Verda Day home after wedding.
Jun 27  Earned $4.50 today mowing lawns
Jun 29  Mom came to pick me up. She brought my cousins Shirley and JoAnne Fouch and Carleen with her. They stayed overnight.
Jun 30  Went to So. San Francisco to pick up Betty and Claudia at Aunt Velma’s and Uncle Charlie‘s. I was in Redwood City for 26 days
Nov 27  Thanksgiving and no Scout meeting was held. My Uncle Gordon is staying here over the weekend and he cannot do much. He was disabled from a war injury, fell out of a truck. I am named after him

Jun 1947 • Charley and Velma ~ The three weeks Mom and Dad were in Minnesota for our grandfather’s funeral, my sisters Betty and Claudia stayed with Uncle Charley and Aunt Velma, Mom’s oldest brother and his wife. It didn’t go well. Charley and Velma had no children of their own (which never inhibited them from telling Mom how to raise hers) and reality quickly set in.

On the first night, Aunt Velma fixed the girls hot dogs for dinner.
“I don’t want my hot dog wrapped in bread. Mom uses hot dog buns,” whined Claudia.
Velma, hands on her ample hips, shot Claudia a look of reprimand and ordered, “Just eat it.”
At that moment the wiener shot out from my sister’s bread, squirted onto the table and danced to the waxed linoleum floor, leaving a trail of mustard in its wake. The girls thought it was hilarious. Velma didn’t.

Cleaning the floor and giving up on the bun battle, she asked them if they liked milkshakes. Betty, seven, and Claudia, five, cried in unison, “Oh yes, we love milkshakes!”

But Velma didn’t make them with ice cream, she made them with sherbet; it was cheaper.
“These don’t taste good,” they said, crinkling their noses. They disliked the watery taste and refused to drink them.
Velma, bigger, older, and thinking her resolve greater, demanded, “You are not going to let these go to waste, and you’ll not get up from this table until you finish them.”

At the age of 42 (she was born the same year as my dad), Aunt Velma was sadly mistaken that she could win in squaring off against the counter-will of small children. Staring her down, shoulders scrunched, arms crossed, and with lips tightly sealed, the girls sat there for hours. And they didn’t drink the milkshakes either. The night ended in a draw, setting the stage for a long three weeks.
Source: Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau

Nov 1948: Family photo taken at a family funeral for Charley’s brother, Gordon Gregory Chatfield (age 42)

Except for his brothers Howard and Arden (they’re not in the pictures anyway), the whole family was there for Gordon’s funeral. The photo, taken at Uncle Charley and Aunt Velma’s house in South San Francisco, memorializes the occasion.

Apr 17, 1949: 
Uncle Charley and Aunt Velma were up for Easter Sunday. They took this picture of my siblings and me. Charley also took family movies in our yard that day with his 8mm color camera, with Velma in the background instructing Charley how to run the camera. “Hit the red button Charley, hit the red button.” It was her constant refrain whenever he took home movies.

In the short clip, there’s Mom, who’d made our Easter outfits, then Betty and Claudia in matching pink suits, me in a lacy collared white blouse and suspendered red skirt, and Carleen in a yellow skirt and white sleeveless blouse, all in our Easter best. The film clicks through its frames. No one looks comfortable, not quite sure what to do in front of the camera. Claudia is spinning a yo-yo, Betty is watching. Mom is trying to get me to turn around, Carleen is watching. Betty is pretending to box with me and then swings me by my right arm like I am a tilt-a-whirl car at a carnival. Then I stagger in circles dazed and confused, my elbow bent in an oddly poised vee looking like a poor thalidomide child, with a dizzy grin yelling, “Again, again, swing me again!”

Jul 16, 1949: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 15), Sonora, California:
2nd night of pagent. Gov Warren was there. Uncle Charlie and Aunt Velma came up. Got to bed after 2. Almost late for scene 3. At least 15,000 people there. I was an actor in the Big Columbia 49er centennial pageant. I was in 6 scenes as a 49er. The play was on two huge turntable stages plus a large center stage. At least 15,000 people attended each performance in the outdoor staging.

Recap from Larry: “Governor Earl Warren and many other state officials attended the Columbia 49er Pageant, as well as people from all over California. Uncle Charlie and Aunt Velma Chatfield stayed with us. They took home movies of the celebration and parade and even took home movies of mom and my sisters. It was by far the biggest festival ever in the Sonora/Columbia area. We had many rehearsals for the pageant and the cast of hundreds of people. Most of the thousands of visitors camped out because there were not enough hotel rooms and most people who lived in the area had many guests staying with them just as our family did.”

Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau
In the short clip, there’s Mom, who’d made our Easter outfits, then Betty and Claudia in matching pink suits, me in a lacy collared white blouse and suspendered red skirt, and Carleen in a yellow skirt and white sleeveless blouse, all in our Easter best. The film clicks through its frames. No one looks comfortable, not quite sure what to do in front of the camera. Claudia is spinning a yo-yo, Betty is watching. Mom is trying to get me to turn around, Carleen is watching. Betty is pretending to box with me and then swings me by my right arm like I am a tilt-a-whirl car at a carnival. Then I stagger in circles dazed and confused, my elbow bent in an oddly poised vee looking like a poor thalidomide child, with a dizzy grin yelling, “Again, again, swing me again!”

Jul 29, 1949: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 15), Sonora, California:
Dad got back from S.F. (San Francisco), Carleen and Claudia still visiting Aunt Velma and Uncle Charlie.

Dec 24, 1949: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 15), Sonora, California:
Got my electric blanket and made bed. Also got wall electric clock, leather slippers, and book from Charlie and Velma same as last year. Cleaned up room. Stayed open till 9:30.

May 27, 1950: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 16), Sonora, California:
Charlie and Velma came up. Stayed in my room. Mom got back from Chico. First day of fishing.

May 27, 1950: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 16), Sonora, California:
Saw show Dear Wife with Ima. Charlie and Velma left. They took some pictures of me in my suit and uniform, 2 medals and horn. Showed movies.

circa Dec 1950: photo of Carleen Clemens, Velma Chatfield, Shirley Fouch:

Mar 4, 1951: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 17), Sonora, California:
Dropped Pat C. off at Modesto to hitchhike to San Diego, over 500 miles. Stayed overnight at Uncle Charlie and Aunt Velma’s. Learned dice game

Dec 24, 1951: From the diary of Larry Clemens (age 17), Sonora, California:
Got shirt-Carleen, tie rack-Charlie and Velma, kerchiefs-Claudia, blanket-Mom and Dad, overcoat and pajamas.

Mar 13, 1953: At a family wedding…
On March 13, 1953, my sister Carleen turned eighteen. Two days later, three months before her high school graduation, and nearly four months pregnant, in front of two hundred family and friends in St. Patrick’s Church, Carleen married Charles Evans Albertson. My sister was happy she was getting married and that she was going to have a baby. The wedding party and guests paraded down the hill to the reception in the Indian Room of the Sonora Inn. Things were going pretty well until Mom leaned into our cousin Shirley Fouch (who was to be married in October) with, “I hope you don’t do this to your parents. It’s just a big waste of money that could be better spent.”

Shirley was upset that Mom was so selfish and jealous and had to air it at the wedding. Aunt Velma overheard the comment. Not one to mince words either, she snapped at Mom, “Shut-up, Babe. Carleen has earned every damn dime of it, staying home and taking care of your kids when you weren’t around.”

Jan 2, 1956: Death of Nellie Belle (Chamberlin) Chatfield (age 82), mother of Charles Joseph Chatfield, at her home on Boucher Street in Chico, Butte Co., California. Her death certificate does not list her cause of death. 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 (sic Emily) 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.

Dec 1974: Note from Charley and Velma to Verda (Chatfield) Day:

As We Were Told:
Charley and Velma had no children, but their nieces and nephews visited, and when the need arose lived with them. Some have fond memories, some don’t. They were notorious penny–pinchers, accounting for every cent spent on a hand-written ledger. Velma even noted how much the parking meter cost. When Charley questioned her expense on a daily entry, she assured her husband she sat in the car for the six minutes and waited for the meter to expire.

They traveled the west, visiting America’s dams, herculean monuments to this country’s ingenuity and hubris, taking reel after reel of black and white eight-millimeter movies of the panoramic views without any people in them, Velma constantly instructing Charley how to use the camera, “push the red button, Charley, push the red button.” At seventeen, he worked on the Cody Dam in Wyoming; along with the weather, dams were his lifelong interest. The Chatfield Dam on the South Platte River in Colorado is named after his grandfather, I.W. Chatfield. He belonged to a camera club where members viewed one another’s home movies. He had more than 100 reels of black and white film of dams throughout the United States—and one reel of the family.

Charley and Velma retired to Paradise, a small town 14 miles east of Chico in the heart of the Sierra Nevada foothills. At the age of ninety, on August 2, 1986, while watching a televised baseball game, Charley jumped up in the middle of a play and had a heart attack. He died where we would all like to end up—in Paradise.

Aug 2, 1986: Death of Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield (age 90), in Paradise, Butte Co., California; of a heart attack. He is buried in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, Butte Co., California.

1986: California Death Index:
Charles Joseph Chatfield
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 18 Nov 1895
Birth Place: Colorado
Death Date: 2 Aug 1986
Death Place: Butte
Mother’s Maiden Name: Chamberlin

U.S. Public Records Index:
Name: Velma A Chatfield
Birth Date: 26 Jul 1905
Address: 1722 Piney Ridge Dr
Residence Place: Paradise, California, USA
Zip Code: 95969-2337

Nov 3, 1991: Death of Velma Avis Turnbull (age 86, Charley’s wife) in Paradise, Butte Co., California; of cancer. Velma is buried alongside her husband in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, Butte Co., California.

1991: California Death Index:
Velma Avis Chatfield
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 26 Jul 1905
Birth Place: Oregon
Death Date: 3 Nov 1991
Death Place: Butte
Mother’s Maiden Name: Howell
Father’s Surname: Turnbull

Nov 5, 1991, Chico Enterprise Record, Chico, Butte Co., California:
Velma Chatfield
PARADISE — A graveside service for Velma Avis Chatfield, 86, of Paradise will be held at 1:00 p.m. Thursday in Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico.

She died Sunday, Nov 3, 1991, in her residence. She was born July 26, 1905, in Klamath County, Oregon, to John and Ruth H. Turnbull. She attended schools in Oregon and moved to Chico in 1921. Mrs. Chatfield graduated from Healds College in Chico. She married Charles Chatfield in 1927 in Oroville. Her husband worked as a ship builder, so the couple moved to San Francisco and lived there for 35 years. They moved to Paradise in 1974.

Survivors include a sister, Faye B. Edwards of Paradise; and two nieces. The Rev. Louie Ricci of the Grace Brethren Church in Chico will officiate the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Hospice of the Ridge in care of the Brusie Funeral home.

**********
Turnbull Timeline and Records

John Thomas Turnbull
Son of Lewis Turnbull & Frances “Fanny” Sylvester
Born: May 23, 1871, Lookout, Modoc Co., California
Died: Oct 24, 1924 (Age 83), Plumas Co, California, Co., California
Buried: Quincy Cemetery in Quincy, Plumas Co., California
Occupations: Blacksmith, groceryman, farmer, laborer for sewage company, roadman
Married: Oct 23, 1899, Ruth Ann Howell, Lookout, Modoc Co., California
Five children: Talitha Myrtle “Itha” Turnbull, Myra L. Turnbull, Velma Avis Turnbull, Fay D. Turnbull, Author Thomas Turnbull

Ruth Ann Howell
5th of 6 children of George Washington Howell & Martha Jane “Mattie” Pack
Born: Jul 26, 1882, Lookout, Modoc Co., California
Died: May 21, 1956 (age 73), Alameda, Alameda Co., California
Buried: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo Co., California
Married: Oct 23, 1899, John Thomas Turnbull, Lookout, Modoc Co., California
Five children: Talitha Myrtle “Itha” Turnbull, Myra L. Turnbull, Velma Avis Turnbull, Fay D. Turnbull, Author Thomas Turnbull

1. Talitha Myrtle “Itha” Turnbull
Born: Sep 6, 1901, California
Died: Jul 2, 1986 (age 84), Alameda Co., California
Buried: unkn
Married (1): Charles E. Potter
One known child: Jean Ruth Potter
Married (2): unkn Bonta

2. Myra L. Turnbull
Born: Mar 5, 1903, California
Died: Oct 7, 1969 (age 66), San Mateo Co., California
Buried: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, San Mateo Co., California
Married (1): unkn Atkins
Married (2): Aug 27, 1927, Cecil Marcellus Dutton, Jackson Co., Oregon
Divorced: in 1940 census
One child: Lila L. Dutton

3. Velma Avis Turnbull
Born: Jul 26, 1905, Malin, Klamath Co., Oregon
Died: Nov 3, 1991 (age 86), Paradise, Butte Co., California; cancer
Buried: Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Chico, Butte Co., California
Married: Apr 30, 1927, Charles Joseph “Charley” Chatfield, Oroville, Butte Co., California
No children

4. Fay D. Turnbull (female)
Born: abt 1908, Oregon
Died: aft 1991 (mentioned in Velma’s obituary)
Buried: Unknown
Married: unkn Edwards

5. Author Thomas Turnbull
Born: Apr 18, 1912, Oregon
Died: Jun 16, 1965 (age 53), Butte Co., California
Buried: Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, Butte Co., Calfornia
Married: Doris Marcella Moody
Two children: Donna Marcella Turnbull, Gerald Douglas Turnbull

May 1910: Federal Census for Tule Lake, Klamath Co., California:
Name: Velma L Turnbull
Age in 1910: 3
Birth Year: abt 1907
Birthplace: Oregon
Home in 1910: Tule Lake, Klamath, Oregon
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Marital status: Single
Father’s name: John T Turnbull, married 1 time, for 10 yrs
Father’s Birthplace: California
Mother’s name: Ruth A Turnbull, married 1 time, for 10 yrs, 4 children born, 4 children living
Mother’s Birthplace: California
Native Tongue: English
Household Members:
Name Age
John T Turnbull 38
Ruth A Turnbull 27
Itha M Turnbull 9
Myra L Turnbull 7
Velma L Turnbull 3
Fay D Turnbull 2

Feb 11, 13, 27, 1920: Federal Census for Malin Precinct, Klamath Co., California:
Name: Velma Turnbull
Age: 14
Birth Year: abt 1906
Birthplace: Oregon
Home in 1920: Malin, Klamath, Oregon
Residence Date: 1920
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Marital status: Single
Father’s name: John T Turnbull
Father’s Birthplace: California
Mother’s name: Ruth Turnbull
Mother’s Birthplace: California
Able to Speak English: Yes
Attended School: yes
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members:
Name Age
John T Turnbull 48
Ruth Turnbull 37
Myra Turnbull 16
Velma Turnbull 14
Fay Turnbull 12
Authur Turnbull 7

2020. Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau.

WCGS (World Chamberlain Genealogical Society)