IDA CHATFIELD, Aspen’s Oldest Unsolved Mystery
A note to me from Thomas A. Stevens of Colorado, an author of nine novels about early Aspen and Colorado, upon coming across my website while researching Ida Chatfield, about whom he was penning a book:
Jul 30, 2024
Hi Catherine,
Thank you for your generosity in allowing me to use your research and for the photo of Ida. I’ve spent countless hours delving into Ida’s friends, family, and schools, and have found your research to be a source of inspiration. Your work is truly commendable.
Jul 2025: Thomas’ book is now published, garnering awards and high praise. He did an outstanding job telling Ida’s story.
Available in print and audio.
Winner of a bronze medal for the 2025 North American Book Awards!
Thomas A. Stevens website link
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AMAZON 5-star Reviews:
***** Makes History Come Alive!
Reviewed in the United States on 12 August 2025
Silvia Pettem (well-known expert on Colorado History)
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes History Come Alive!
Format: Paperback, Verified Purchase
“Ida Chatfield: Aspen’s Oldest Unsolved Mystery” is a fictional autobiography that grabs the reader’s attention from Ida’s stunning portrait on the cover to the young woman’s mysterious disappearance in 1886, in Aspen, Colorado. As author T.A. Stevens states, however, “There is far more to every life than a beginning and an end.” Throughout the narrative, Stevens skillfully describes the era that Ida lived in and who she was as a person, as well as her interactions with friends and family.
Of particular interest to this reader is that the author thoroughly did his research. In addition to setting the scene and developing Ida’s character, he interspersed her story with numerous newspaper references. The author’s writing style is relatable to teens and adults alike and really makes history come alive. Bravo!
***** Great story written in a unique way
Reviewed in the United States on 15 November 2025
L. Berett
Format: Paperback, Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this story. The way it is written makes you feel like you are right there. It is incredible in how it describes the challenges of growing up in the mid to late 1800s, especially for a girl. You will feel like you knew Ida Chatfield personally when you finish this story.
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FAMILY LINE AND HISTORY (brief overview)
Ida Chatfield
3rd of 3 children of Clark Samuel “C.S.” Chatfield & Louisa “Lou” Tankersley
Occupation: Store clerk/bookkeeper, schoolmistress
Avocation: Pianist, singer
Education: Attended Brinker Collegiate Institute in Denver, Colorado
Born: Nov 19, 1867, Nebraska
Disappeared: Jun 4, 1886, Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado
Died: Jun 4, 1886 (age 18), Pitkin Co., Colorado; according to the coroner, a suicide drowning, though her death may likely have been accidental
Body found: Aug 6, 1886, in waters of Roaring Fork River below Red Butte in Pitkin Co., Colorado
Buried: Aug 1886, Ute Cemetery in Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado
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Clark Samuel “C.S.” Chatfield
2nd of 4 children of Levi Tomlinson Chatfield & Lovina Mastick
Born: Jan 9, 1839, Middlefield, Geauga Co., Ohio
Died: Feb 6, 1906 (age 67), Princeton, Colusa Co., California
Married (1): Sep 12, 1858, Louisa “Lou” Tankersley, Havana, Mason Co., Illinois
Three children: Elizabeth Chatfield, Jennie Chatfield, Ida Chatfield
Married (2): Mar 10, 1869, Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Morrow, Sonora, Atchison Co., Missouri
Nine named children: Della Chatfield, Ora Lovina Chatfield, Clark Samuel Jr. Chatfield, Arthur William “Art” Chatfield, Willard James Chatfield, Mabel Clair Chatfield, Jacquelin Chatfield, Levi Tomlinson “Lee” Chatfield, Margaret Emma “Marjorie” Chatfield
Louisa “Lou” Tankersley
Daughter of John Wesley Tankersley & Nancy Turner
Born: abt 1840, Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky
Died: Aug 18, 1868 (age 28), Cañon City, Fremont Co., Colorado
Buried: Nemaha Co., Nebraska (Clark brought her body to Nebraska for burial on the family farm)
Married: Sep 12, 1858, Clark Samuel “C.S.” Chatfield, Havana, Mason Co., Illinois
Three children: Elizabeth Chatfield, Jennie Chatfield, Ida Chatfield
1. Elizabeth Chatfield
Born: abt Aug 1859, Mason Co., Illinois
Died: Aug 1859, Mason Co., Illinois; (two days old?) inflammation
Buried: Illinois, later exhumed and reburied on the family farm in Nemaha Co., Nebraska
2. Jennie Chatfield
Born: 1865, Bath, Mason Co., Illinois
Died: bet 1870 and 1880 Census, Nemaha Co., Nebraska
Buried: On the family farm in Nemaha Co., Nebraska
3. Ida Chatfield
Born: Nov 19, 1867, Nemaha Co., Nebraska
Died: Jun 4, 1886 (age 18), Pitkin Co., Colorado; according to coroner’s report from a suicide drowning, though her death may have been accidental
Buried: Evergreen Cemetery (originally named Ute Cemetery)
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Abbreviated
Timeline and Records
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Sep 12, 1858: Marriage of Clark Samuel Chatfield (age 19) & Louisa Tankersley (age 18), the parents of Ida Chatfield, in Havana (near Bath), Mason Co., Illinois
Clark Samual “C.S.” Chatfield & Louisa “Lou” Tankersley:
abt 1859: Birth of Elizabeth Chatfield, 1st of 3 children of Clark Samuel Chatfield & Louisa Tankersley, in Mason Co., Illinois
Aug 18, 1859: Death of Elizabeth Chatfield, 1st of 3 children of Clark Samuel Chatfield & Louisa Tankersley, in Mason Co., Illinois
Sep 8, 1860: U.S. Federal Census, Bath, Mason Co., Illinois:
Clark Chatfield: age 25, Farmer, value of personal estate $400, born Ohio
Louisa Chatfield: age 20, born Kentucky
Apr 12, 1861: Start of the American Civil War (also known as The War of the Rebellion)
Aug 11, 1864: Clark Samuel Chatfield: Civil War Military Enlistment Record:
NAME: CLARK S. CHATFIELD
CIVIL WAR (UNION ARMY)
ENLISTED: Jul 23, 1861, Corporal, Co. C, Illinois 2nd Cavalry, Volunteer Regiment, Bath, Illinois
PROMOTED: to Full Private
MUSTERED OUT: Aug 11, 1864, Company C, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Illinois
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
ENLISTMENT DESCRIPTION: height 5′ 10″; complexion light; hair black; eyes hazel
Aug 11, 1864: Clark returns to his family in Bath, Mason Co., Illinois, after completing his 3-year term of military service
May 1865: End of the American Civil War
1865: Birth of Jennie Chatfield, 2nd of 3 children of Clark Samuel Chatfield & Louisa Tankersley, in Mason Co., Illinois
Nov 17, 1867: Birth of Ida Chatfield, 3rd of 3 children of Clark Samuel Chatfield & Louisa Tankersley, Nemaha Co., Nebraska
Aug 18, 1868: Death of Louisa “Lou” (Tankersley) Chatfield (age 28), the mother of Ida, in Cañon City, Fremont Co., Colorado. Clark brings his wife’s body back from Colorado to their farm in Nebraska for burial. Louisa leaves Clark with two small daughters, Jennie (age 3), and Ida (age 9 months).
Mar 10, 1869: Marriage of Clark Samuel Chatfield (age 30) & Mary Elizabeth Morrow (age 18) in Atchison Co., Missouri (borders Nemaha Co., Nebraska); his 2nd marriage
Note: Mary Morrow raises Ida (and according to census records, her sister Jennie, born abt 1864) as her own. Mary, who was also from Bath, Mason Co., Illinois, Clark’s hometown, has ten more children with Clark.
Mary (Morrow) Chatfield, photo collage
Jul 6, 1870: U.S. Federal Census, Benton Precinct, Nemaha Co., Nebraska:
Chalfield, C.S.: age 32, male, Farmer, Value of Real Estate $1,000, Value of Personal Estate, $200, born Illinois (note: Chatfield is misspelled as Chalfield)
Mary E.: age 21, female, keeping house, born Illinois (Mary Elizabeth Morrow)
Jennie: age 6, female, at home, born Illinois (born to Louisa Tankersley)
No Name: age 8/12 (8 months), female, born Nebraska (born Nov 1869 to Mary Morrow; died in infancy)
Francis: age 3, female, born Nebraska (Ida Chatfield, born to Louisa Tankersley)
Between 1870 & 1880 census: Death of Jennie Chatfield, 2nd child of Clark Samuel Chatfield & Louisa Tankersley, in Brownville, Nemaha Co., Nebraska.
Circa 1880: Ida Chatfield attends the Brinker Collegiate Institute in Denver, Arapahoe Co., Colorado, the boarding school her cousins attended.
Brinker Collegiate Institute:
The four-story, brick Victorian building was constructed in 1880 and served as the permanent edifice of the Brinker Collegiate Institute until 1889. It was designed by Frank E. Edbrooke and built as a school for girls, called The Brinker Collegiate Institute, after its owners, Joseph and Elizabeth Brinker. They owned and operated the school from 1880 (eventually turning it into a coeducational facility) until 1886.
Source: Western History Collection, Denver Public Library Special Collections
Jun 4, 1886: Disappearance of Ida Chatfield, 3rd of 3 children of Clark & Louisa Tankersley, in Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado.
Photograph from Aspen Archives (1887): Roaring Fork River: in this photo, toward the lower right side, where the point of the bluff meets the river, is the trail Ida might have taken on her last evening; the likely spot where she fell into the river is just before the bend. The bottom of a cliff is where her hat was found. 
Source: Aspen Historical Society via Thomas A. Stevens
Aug 1866: More than two months after her disappearance, Ida is buried in the Ute Cemetery in Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado. Both her birth and death years are incorrect on her stone; she was born Nov 19, 1867, and died Jun 4, 1886.
2025. Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau.
Marian & Gordon Clemens says
This is an extremely interesting post about Ida. When I visited Ute Cemetery many years ago, I looked very carefully for Ida Chatfield’s tombstone. It was NOT in Ute Cemetery, and I suspect the existing headstone was erected only a few years ago. The Ida headstone looked like a fairly new headstone, and whoever erected the stone obviously inscribed the wrong date for Ida. What do you think?
Catherine Sevenau says
I, too, believe Ida’s headstone is newer. A number of our family headstones have incorrect dates. It looks like we are better at spelling than math.