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Classification: Query
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I don't know anything about this person, but I did look at the 1920 census for Spirit
Lake, Kootenai, ID. There was no Theodore James, nor was there one in 1930, when there
was only one Chandler in the county and he was living alone.
There were five Chandler heads of households or lodgers in the 1920 census in Kootenai
County.
There were three households with Chandlers in Spirit Lake in 1920--two of them were single
men who were lodgers and oddly both were named Carl Chandler. One was Carl A and he was
23, born in Iowa with parents said to be born in Germany, which is odd given his name.
The other Carl was of unknown age, also born in Iowa with parents born in US.
The third household was that of Arthur Chandler, age 32, born in ND, father born in ME and
mother in MN. With him was wife May, 31, born in MN, father in VA and mother US. There
were no children in 1920, but with them was Arthur's brother Elbridge, age 23, born on
Montana and Dearl (?--handwriting is difficult--looks like Dearl), brother, age 20.
Arthur is listed as "wood chopper" and his place of work is listed
as--really--"woods."
Maybe some of those names sound familiar. There was an Elmer A Chandler in State Line,
Kootenai, ID, which is on the line with Washington. He was 60, born in ME with parents
born in NH. He had a son Elbridge--age is not easy to read, maybe 29, born in
Montana--also a daughter Myrtle (I think) age 11 (I think) born in Washington, which given
where State Line is could have been in the west bedroom.
That's two Elbridges born in Montana with father's born in ME. I have no idea
what the relationships, if any, might be, but if this is not actually the same Elbridge
who was somehow counted twice it may be that they were cousins.
I looked for some sort of lead in ME and in the 1880 census there is an Elbridge Chandler,
57, born in ME with parents born in NH--his mother Hannah, age 84 is in the household and
they are in Exeter, Penobscot, ME. I have no idea if they are connected, but the only
other Elbridge Chandlers in New England in 1880 were a father and son in Duxbury,
Plymouth, MA. There's no reason I know of to think there's a connection other
than the slightly unusual name.
I would have expected that there would be Social Security records and military records for
your father. It will cost a little, but you can order both. If you haven't tried
that you might want to--for Social Security he would have been asked detailed information
about his parents which he was required to provide if known. The military records ought
to have detailed information as well. The easiest way to get Social Security information,
if you haven't tried this, may be to go to
www.rootsweb.com, find the Social Security
index link, look for your father and if he's there click the link for the pre-written
letter you can print and send (with a check) to request a copy of the form he filled out
from the Social Security Administration.