7. Nathan Stoddard Chatfield & Margaret Prudentia Herrick

Edward Livingston Chatfield “Edward was born on August 4, 1842, a time when John Tyler Jr. was President. Tyler was a Southern sectionalist who ascended to the Presidency after William Henry Harrison died on April 4, 1841. Tyler’s emphasis on states’ rights helped kindle the flames that eventually exploded in the Civil War. Edward grew up to be one of the soldiers who would fight, a young man of virtue and good conscience whose life fulfilled the wishes outlined in his encomium, one “…crowned with length of days.” After three of his younger brothers had married and twelve years after the war, Edward married Anna E. Bates in Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, on February 8, 1877. (Their union followed the marriage of Brother Newton and Lizzie by one week.) Shortly after their marriage, the newlyweds relocated to Littleton, Colorado. Six years later, on July 27, 1883, Edward and Anna welcomed their first and only baby, Edaline Anesta Chatfield. Edaline eventually married Bernard “Bernie” Landon Rhea, the son of the elected Jefferson County tax assessor, K. Shelby Rhea. The couple had no children. Because of this, upon her May 7, 1964, death, Edaline passed on her father’s Civil War letters and artifacts to her cousin—Margaret Chatfield McCarty, the co-author of The Chatfield Story—The Civil War Letters and Diaries of Private Edward L. Chatfield of the 113th Illinois Volunteer.

Edward died in Long Beach, California, on December 3, 1924, and his body was returned to Littleton for burial in the family plot.”

“[Obituary] Dec 11, 1924: Jefferson County Republican, p. 8:
Former Resident Dies — Edward L. Chatfield, former resident of this county and active in Republican circles, died at the home of his daughter at Long Beach, Calif., last Thursday. The body was taken to the home of K.S. Rhea at Littleton, where the funeral was held at the Presbyterian church Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Chatfield, who was one of the old veterans of ’61, made his home in the southern end of the county for many years. He was a prosperous farmer and an ardent Republican. He was well known all over the county and his many friends will regret the news of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Rhea, at whose home Mr. Chatfield died, accompanied the body to Littleton.”

David Avery Chatfield “David was born in Middlefield, Ohio, on November 13, 1845, shortly before Texas was admitted as the 28th state under James Polk’s administration. David was almost 17 years old when Edward [his older brother serving in the Union Army] departed for war. It was David who had to shoulder his older brother’s farm responsibilities, the “new right arm” to his father. Funny, bright, impulsive, and adored by his family, David died in September 1864 while Edward was still in prison. The details of his death have remained obscured by the absence of records. So, we can only speculate as to the cause, disease most likely. Both cholera and typhoid fever were rampant at the time. If not taken by disease, David may have died in a farm accident, another common cause. Although Edward encouraged David to enlist at the age of 18, there is no record of David’s having done so, and there is no military marker at his grave site in Kankakee’s Mound Grove Cemetery. Unless an obituary or other record turns up, David’s death will remain a mystery.”

William Stoddard Chatfield “At the age of 18, on February 28, 1865, William enlisted in the Army, to be mustered into Company “F” of the 156th Illinois infantry. His company was soon stationed in Memphis, where Edward (his brother) had been stationed earlier. By the middle of July, William had grown desperately ill, remaining in the hospital until discharged. William married Laura Emily Dole, the daughter of Abijah Dole and Sibyl Packard. Born in Shelburne, Franklin County, Massachusetts, Laura had been living in La Salle, Illinois, 79 miles west of Kankakee. After living briefly in Littleton, William continued to hold property there while visiting from Kankakee. William and Laura had five children:

• Frank Stoddard Chatfield (1872 – 1886)
• Bertha Laura Chatfield (1875 – 1931)
• William Nathan Chatfield (1879 – 1969)
• Royal Edward “Roy” Chatfield (1882 – 1950)
• Raymond Alfred Chatfield (1887 – 1902)

Having purchased a small house in Littleton, Colorado, William had a place to stay while visiting family there, but his heart and home remained in Kankakee, where he farmed and served as a community leader and active participant in the G.A.R., until his death on January 26, 1925. Both he and his wife were buried in the family plot in Kankakee’s Mound Grove Cemetery.”

Isaac Newton Chatfield “Isaac Newton Chatfield married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Mead on February 1, 1877, in Bonfield, Illinois. The couple resided in the family stone house for 13 years, managing their farm and giving birth to three children.

• Eunice Prudentia Chatfield (1879 – 1914)
• Newton Leslie Chatfield (1882 – 1971)
• Laura Avery Chatfield (1884 – 1962)

Newton and his family moved to Littleton, Colorado, in 1890, where Newton purchased a grocery store downtown shortly after their arrival. Newton operated his grocery store for 10 years, a community leader and trustee of the Littleton Presbyterian Church before moving north to Fort Collins at the turn of the century, where Newton served as Colorado Agricultural College’s custodian of the Chemistry Department for the next 21 years. Lizzie died in Fort Collins on May 25, 1918. In 1921, while attempting to board a trolley, Newton, then 72 years old, fell and broke his hip. Two years later he left Fort Collins to live with his daughter Laura in California. Laura had earned her Master’s Degree and was teaching school in Woodland, California. Newton died in Bakersfield, California on May 25, 1926.”

“Dec 22, 1921: Fort Collins Courrier, Larimer County, Colordo:
Chemistry Building at College Destroyed by Fire Early this Morning; Origin Unknown.
Fire that broke out shortly after 2 o’clock gutted the old Chemistry building on the [Colorado Agricultural] college campus Thursday morning, leaving it a mash of smoldering ruins….

Chemicals stored in the building caught fire and burned with celerity; combustibles cracked and popped, the brilliant scene holding the attention of more than 100 spectators who gathered within a few minutes. Flames of every color were discernible….

Uncle I.N. Chatfield, who has been caretaker of the Chemistry building at the college since it was built 23 years ago, is mourning the burning of the building and the loss of all the valuable things contained therein, like unto a father mourning for his firstborn. In the basement where many cans of samples of different things, all number, so that the professors could say, “Uncle, get a sample of number so and so,” and Uncle Chatfield could locate the required sample from his orderly rows and cans without a moment’s hesitation. Valuable papers and priceless data, the result of years of research were also burned.”

James Herrick Chatfield “[Obituary] April 25, 1919: James Herrick Chatfield was born August 16, 1851, in Summit Ohio. He resided in Ohio and later in Illinois until 1879 when he and his family moved to Colorado, settling at once in Littleton. In 1872 he was married to Annie Mary Brazier; to this union were born three children. Ruth, who died at the age of nine years; Edward, of Sulphur Springs; and Nellie, Mrs. Driver, of Hoquiam, Washington. His wife died in 1889 at the home in Littleton. Mr. Chatfield married Mary Elmina Dickinson in 1892, and to them was born one daughter, Elmina. Just last December Mrs. Chatfield passed away. Since then, Mr. Chatfield has been with his daughter in Hoquiam [Washington], being rapidly improved at first over his previous weak condition, but sinking fast during the past month. Mr. Chatfield has always been a staunch Christian and worker in the church. For many years he has been a trustee of the Littleton Presbyterian Church. Because of this, he will be greatly missed. The funeral services will be held at the Presbyterian Church next Sunday afternoon at three o’clock. (Littleton Independent)”

Charles Henry Chatfield “Charles and Salina “Lina” Elmira Taylor married on August 30, 1883, and enjoyed eight years together before Charles’s life came to a tragic end. As Christmas of 1891 grew near, their turkeys had acquired the habit of leaving home and roosting upon their neighbor’s windmill. Attempting to remove them after dark on Sunday evening, December 20, Charles fell, struck his head, and never woke up. His December 22, 1891, death widowed Lina and left two children without a father.

• Nathan Stuart (b. 1885)
• Austin Charles (b. 1888)

Charles was buried in the Mound Grove Cemetery. Lina eventually married William Barber. The family moved to Spencer, Iowa.”

“[Obituary] Dec 24, 1891: Kankakee Gazette, Kankakaee County, Illinois:

KILLED BY A FALL: Farmer Charles Chatfield of Salina precipitated from a Windmill. Charles Chatfield of Salina, brother of Wm. S. Chatfield of this city, was killed at his neighbor Harry Strawson’s place on Sunday evening by falling from a windmill. His turkeys had acquired the habit of leaving home and roosting upon Strawson’s windmill. Mr. Chatfield decided to catch them and sell them off. With this purpose in view he came to Strawson’s and the latter went across the road with him to hold the lantern while he climbed the windmill ladder. Mr. Chatfield made two trips to the top and was making the third when a rung of the ladder broke and he fell a distance of 25 feet striking upon some large stones. He was picked up unconscious with a leg broken in several places and died on the following day. The Chatfield family were among the early settlers in Salina. The senior Chatfield is dead and three of the brothers have emigrated to Colorado. Charles was the only one left on the farm. The place where he was injured was the old homestead, recently sold to young Strawson, where he was raised from boyhood and the wind mill was the one he helped to build and with which he was perfectly familiar. He leaves a family.”

Mary Margaret Chatfield “Mary was Nathan Stoddard Chatfield and Margaret Prudentia Herrick’s last child. Her February 14, 1859 birth in Middlefield, Ohio, occurred during the middle of James Buchanan’s term of office, when the Compromise of 1850 could no longer quell the nation’s mood, clouds of discontent looming on all horizon. In Arapahoe County, on March 19, 1895, 36 year-old Mary married 24 year-old Noah Shepardson, the son of a Union Civil War surgeon.

They had three children:

• Charles Noah Shepardson (1896 – 1975) Note: Charles became the Dean of Texas A & M University School of Agriculture. President Eisenhower subsequently appointed him to the Federal Reserve Board to represent agricultural farming interests.
• Margaret M./C. Shepardson (1897 – 1965)
• Marcia L. Shepardson (b. 1899)

Six months after the tragic accidental March 1901 death of Noah, Mary and her children moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, and settled near her brother, Isaac Newton Chatfield and his family.”