Hi!
Members have already been so helpful to me. I am hoping that someone
can tell me the dates or tell me where to locate the dates of
publication of the following newspapers: Freelandville Courant and The
Widner Star. I am searching for the siblings and parents of Charles
Chambers born about 1891, He is not the Charles who married a Margaret
who had two children, Nancy and Charles, He is the Charles who appears
in the 1870 census married to Margaret Keith with two children, Edward
E. and Margaret Althea. The history I read also talks about Ray West's
Cabinet Shop. Since my Charles was a cabinet maker this might also
prove to be a lead.
My Charles was in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War.
He entered the 51st Regime of the Indiana Infantry on 22 Oct. 1861 as a
private for 3 years. He was captured at the battle of Lookout Mountain
in Tennessee. He was held in Libby Prison until the war was over. He
was discharged 17 Dec 1864 at Nashville, Tennessee. His discharge
papers indicate that his age was 28 at this time, making 1836 as his
year of birth. . It also indicates that he was born in Knox Co.
Indiana. However, the 1970 Census makes his date of birth 1831.
Margaret’s date of birth is consistently 1835. In the 1870 Census
Charles, Margaret, Althea and Everett were living in Freelandville, IN.
On 8 Jan 1870, a neighbor, Henry and Joanna Heithecker, sold a small
plot of land on his farm in Freelandville, Widner, Knox Co for $1.00
and respect for the dead to Charles Chambers to be designated as the
Keith Graveyard. I have a copy of the deed with coordinates but family
members in Indiana have not been successful in locating this piece of
property. It was received for the record on 3 Feb 1870 and is recorded
as a Warrant Deed in Record K, book 2, page 394. I do not know why it
was designated as the Keith graveyard and not the Chambers graveyard.
Charles was living in Freelandville, Widner, Knox Co., Indiana with his
family. In 1870, this included his son, Edward Everett Chambers, born
22 December 1867. Everett was my great grandfather on my mother?s side
and I had the pleasure of knowing him since he lived until 1953 when I
was 17 years old.
According to family records, Charles Chambers was struck by lightning
on 05 Feb 1871 and subsequently died from a heart attach. Is it
possible to find an obituary? This does not seem like an everyday
occurrence.