10. Leo Willard Chatfield & Ethel Helen (Stirewalt) Zornes
2. Leo Willard Chatfield Leo, child number two, was born October 23, 1897 in the small town of Ten Sleep, Wyoming. (Named by the local Indians, the town located ten nights travel between two other towns). Along with Charlie, Leo worked with his father in the rice fields around the Sacramento valley. He joined the army (serving at the Mexican border), then enlisted a second time as a Private in Co I, 1st Republic Regiment, American Expeditionary Force, serving in England. and served until June 10, 1919.
Chico newspaper clipping: HAS ENLISTED TWICE: IS STILL UNDER 20
Leo W. Chatfield, son of Mr. And Mrs. C.H. Chatfield, who have been residents of Chico for the past year, has enlisted in the quartermasters department. He left for Angel Island yesterday, and from there will go to Rockford, Ill. He expects to leave for France immediately. Although Chatfield is not 20 years of age, this is his second enlistment having served with Company I of Red Bluff on the Mexican Border. Chatfield’s brother, Charles H. Chatfield is now with Co. H. 160th Infantry at Camp Kearney.
A letter to his mother, Nellie Chatfield, from Liverpool, England:
My Dear Mother, January 28, 1918
I thought I would write a few lines again today hoping that some of my letters will reach you in time. So far no more mail has come in for me & I don’t know how soon it will be, but soon I hope anyway. Am feeling fine & will be glad when the next two days go past so I can get back to work again. This laying around sure gets my gut for fair.
Last night was the coldest night we have had in England so far & tried to snow but didn’t amount to much & the sun is trying to shine for a change. How it will make out is hard to tell.
Tomorrow I am on KP again. All we have to do is go to the kitchen & get the food, bring it to the ward & wash the dishes up afterwards. Sure is great to sleep on a real bed again after sleeping on the floor for about 4 months. The first 3 or 4 nights will go kind a hard but I will get used to it again.
How did the folks at Princeton make out with the rice last fall, and how do things look this spring, for if this reaches you it will be about the first of March. I would like to be there by that time but there isn’t any chance I guess.
Tho when I do start for Calif I will have plenty of company all the way back, for there are sure lots of Calif boys in this battalion, but most of them are from the southern part of the state.
Can’t think of anything else to write so guess I will close for this time.
With love to all, Leo Chatfield
After the Great War, Leo returned home to Boucher Street until 1924 and worked with his dad and his brother as a laborer on a rice ranch until 1924. In 1930 he was living in Oroville in Butte County (listed as a roomer according to the U.S. census) at the same time Velma and Charlie were living there. Leo worked as a miner, as a ranger for the US Forest Service in Camptonville, and for a lumber company as a marker of trees. Around 1933, at the age of 36, he married Ethyl Stirewalt Zornes, a divorced woman with two children. He wouldn’t tell his mother—he didn’t dare. She found out accidentally, years later.
Jan 2, 1938: Fresno Bee Republican, Fresno, Fresno Co., California:
Boy Trapped In Ice Compartment 26 Hours Freed
STRATHMORE (Tulare Co.), Jan 1–A young Negro boy about 16 is warm and safe today enroute south after a terrifying experience when he was locked in the ice compartment of a refrigerator car for twenty-six hours, which ended in Strathmore yesterday.
Leo Chatfield, car loader for Stark and Waddell Packing Company, was opening a car which had been shunted in during the night when he heard a faint call; “Please let me out, mister!”
He found the lad badly frightened and stiff with cold, but otherwise uninjured. The boy is said to belong to a CCC camp in the southern part of the state and to have been visiting friends in Ventura where he boarded the freight car early Thursday morning, thinking to return to the camp. Some one closed the hatch and he was imprisoned until his release at Strathmore.
Chatfield gave the boy some money for food and he proceeded on his way south.
On Jul 20, 1956 (age 58), my Uncle Leo died of a heart attack in the Grass Valley Hospital in Camptonville and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.
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 heart 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, Ethyl; stepson, Dr. Eugene Zornes of Fillmore; stepdaughter, Mrs. Etta M. Murdock of North San Juan; four sisters, Mrs. Nellie McElhiney 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.
Leo’s younger brother, Gordon Gregory Chatfield, is also buried at the Golden Gate Cemetery.
As I Was Told:
I met Leo and his wife only once. It was at their home near Grass Valley I think. I remember being impressed with an area next to their house that was a cool area to get away from the heat. It had tables and benches to sit at and I think we went down a flight of stairs to enter it. Seems like I met a lot of relatives only once in my life.
Barbara (McElhiney) Clauson
Two years after Leo’s death, his wife Ethyl married Luke L. Ramm.
Jul 27, abt 1958, Wedding announcement for Ethel H. Chatfield, Yuba Co., California:
Pair Will Live In Nevada City
Camptonville, Yuba Co.,
—Luke L. Ramm and Ethel H. Chatfield were married July 27th in the Park Wedding Chapel in Reno, Nev. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph E. Rogers were their attendants.
The couple are widely known in Yuba County, the bride having resided in Comptonville for 25 years before her recent move to Merced.
The bridegroom, a member of a local pioneer family, spent most of his life in the area. He is employed by the Calida Lumber Company.
The couple will make their home in the vicinity of Nevada City.