A long time ago in a land far, far away . . .
from Oklahoma, at least
a man named Shadrack Chandler married a woman named Elizabeth Sears.
---RootsWeb, US GenWeb, North Carolina, Orange Co, Vitals, Marriage Bonds A-C, Book Two
Shadrack Chandler and Elizabeth Sears married 19 Sept 1792, Henry Sears, bondsman
I don't know if Henry was Elizabeth's father or brother or other relative. Elizabeth is not in our direct line, as she is the first wife of Shadrack, so I haven't pursued the Sears line. Elizabeth Sears and Shadrack Chandler had a son named Thornton, born 1793. Thornton's age remains consistent on future census records, which almost helps date his sister's birth (below).
Shadrack is listed on the 1800 census in Hillsborough, Orange Co, North Carolina, and again in the same location on the 1810 census. The spelling of his first name is Shadrick and then Shed on each census.
Elizabeth-the-first died before 1810 and Shadrack married again in that year - Elizabeth-the-second, Elizabeth "Betsie" Latta.
---RootsWeb, US GenWeb, North Carolina, Orange Co, Vitals, Marriage Bonds A-C, Book Two
Shadrack Chandler and Elizabeth Latta married 27 Feb 1810, Jas Latta, bondsman
The couple - although at this point I'm not sure which couple - had a daughter born in North Carolina, named Rebecca. It's difficult to determine a birth date for Rebecca - and even which Elizabeth was her mother. Rebecca was born in North Carolina, according to future census records, yet the ages vary greatly. Since it's known that Shadrack and Elizabeth moved to the middle of Tennessee before 1820, the earlier notations should be more accurate than later ones and they usually are more accurate, anyway, when a parent gives information rather than another household member. Rebecca was a spinster and always living with someone else, so the 1850 through 1880 information could easily have been provided by someone who didn't really know when Aunt Becky was born.
1800 North Carolina, oldest (and only) female child under 10 = 1790-1800
1810 North Carolina, oldest female child 10-16 = 1794-1800
1820 Tennessee, oldest female child 16-26 = 1794-1804
1830 Tennessee, oldest female child 20-30 = 1800-1810
1840 Tennessee, I haven't located her
1850 Tennessee, Rebecca Chandler, 40, b Tennessee = 1810
1860 Tennessee, Rebecca Chandler, 46, b North Carolina = 1814
1870 Tennessee, Chandler, Rebecca, 55, b North Carolina = 1815
1880 Tennessee, Rebecca Chandler, 70, aunt, single, b North Carolina = 1810
I have been unable to find a death or burial record for Rebecca.
Thornton and sister Rebecca moved with Shadrack and Betsie to Maury Co, Tennessee. All children lived in the area until their deaths and are buried in several cemeteries in the area.
That now puts us in Maury Co, Tennessee for the rest of this journey.
After arriving in Tennessee, Shadrack lived until 1838.
---handwritten note found in records in Maury Co Archives, 2011, saying:
"Circuit Ct (1840-1841), p 19
Thornton Chandler, et al, vs James Chandler, 14 May 1840 - Shadrack Chandler departed this life intestate in 1838, seized of land on Rutherford Cr, 154 a, petitioners heirs of Shadrack. Depositions of B Foster and Thomas Mahon filed, only 1 spring? and that is included in widow's dower - to be sold for division. Heirs not named.
While I don't have any stories or references to the life the Chandlers lived in Maury County, the probate record provides as much detail as I can find.
---Probate: Index to Early Tennessee Wills and Administrations, 1779-1861, Sistler, p 64:
Circuit Court, May Term, Shadrack Chandler, deceased, Dist 22, 1840, owned at time of death 154 a including widows dower. Will Book Y, pages 167 & 168. [MEF]
MEF is Mary Elizabeth Chandler Fields, a direct descendant of Shadrack and Betsie and my husband's aunt. She did much work on the Chandler line, including trips to Tennessee, before I began to be interested in the family history. She copied these difficult to read records at the courthouse, many years ago. The record shows that Shadrack was doing all right, financially.
Chandler: An Inventory of the effects of Shadrack Chandler died February 28th 1838:
5 plows $9.50; 4 oxen, 4 horses, 1 iron wedge, $3.62 1/2; 3 par__, 10 Bor__, 3.12 1/2; 2 tubs, r pails of __ __- __ __, 6.87 1/2; 1 stove __, 1 stove __, 1 loom and a lot of articles, 6.12 1/2; [can't read next at all]; 12 chain 1 clark?, 2 __, 4 __, 1 __ __, 65.87 1/2; [subtotal] $102.06 1/2
--Crop of wheat, 36.87 1/2; 1 yoke of oxen, 70.00; 1 cow and calf, 12.06 1/2; 5 Sou and six pigs, 18.75; __ __ of hogs, 44.61 1/2; 1 sorrel filly, 56.00; [subtotal] 236.31 1/2
--__ horse?, 86.00; ox cart, 10.00; 22 Gur__ @ 32?, 7.04; 6 sh__, 50 ct, 3.00; 10 head of cattle, 66.45 3/4; 3599 pounds? __ cotton, 1.95, 66.28;
[subtotal] 238.75 3/4
--[total of three subtotals] 575.13 1/4
Cash, 10.00; __ of corn, 88.00; ____, 31.75
[total] $604.88 1/4
--Sworn to in ___, Harmon W Smith, ___ court, 20? April 1838, of Shadrack Chandler; Wm E Erwin, vz
---State of Tennessee, Maury County, We the undersigned have agreed to ___ of the cost county court ___ to lay or alot to Elizabeth Chandler late widow of Shadrack Chandler, the following provision for one year: corn __, 50; to half __ bacon, one thousand pounds, 1000; to sugar, fifty pounds, 50; to coffee, thirty pounds, 30; wheat, ten bushels, 10; Flour, five hundred __, 500
Oats, three hundred ___, 300; salt, three hundred pounds, 300; peper, half a pound 1/2; spices, half a pound, 1/2.
Given on ____ this 2th of February 1838
John Miller, William Alb__, Jos S Y__
---"They Passed This Way", Vol II, Maury Co, Tennessee Cemetery Records, Lightfoot & Shackelford, p 225: Columbia Observer, 25 June 1840
-Chandler, Shadrack. Land for sale. Pursuant to a decree of the circuit court of Maury County at the May term, AD 1840. "I will on the 11th day of July next, expose to sale on the premises of Shadrack Chandler, deceased, in Dist # 22, upon a credit of one and two years, a tract of land, being the same which said Chandler, deceased, was seized and possessed at the time of his death, and bounded by the lands of H Miller, and others, containing 154 acres including the widow's dower, which is reserved to her, for her exclusive benefit. The boundaries will be shown on the day of this sale. H W Smith, commissioner, 4 June 1840."
Shadrack is buried at Chandler Cemetery, Spring Hill, Maury Co, Tennessee, Find a Grave memorial 90071845.
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This information below is, to me, important for anyone studying and researching our family line:
---Maury Co Cemeteries, p 85, C-22 Chandler Cemetery
From Hwy 31-N, turn east of Greens Mill Road and go about 3/4 mile. On the left is an old abandoned house. Across the road are the remains of an old barn. The cemetery is in the edge of the woods just beyond the barn. This is the old Luther Fitzgerald place.
. . . Chandler, Shadrack (unmarked)
"Mr Fitzgerald says that his great-great-grandfather Sharon? Chandler is buried here. Later found to be Shadrack Chandler, DAR magazine; also DAR Patriot Index; Shadrack Chandler, from SC, born 1757, died about 1840. June 25, 1840, Columbia Observer, Circuit Court, May term, Shadrack Chandler, dec'd; Dist 22, May 1840; owned at time of his death 154 acres, including widow's dower. Index of Pensions gives S C Chandler, S31606." They Passed This Way, Vol 11, p 345.
NOTE: In the cemetery record above, it states that Shadrack Chandler is on the DAR Index, b 1757 South Carolina, died about 1840. Our Shadrack was 20 years younger, with a birthdate of 1770, and born North Carolina.
-In April 2011, I was in Maury Co, Tennessee to do research and take photographs. At the Maury Co Archives, 201 E Sixth Street, in Columbia, I found a photocopied series of 9 pages - a form from GSA, National Archives and Records Service, dated August 11, 1970 - an order made by Mrs Jack Lightfoot, Mt Pleasant, Tennessee. The 9 pages include the sheet she used to provide identification of veteran and 8 pages of the National Archives file for the pensioner Shadrack Chandler, from South Carolina, Revolutionary War service, file number of pension or bounty land record S 31606.
-The text of the file, dated 24 March 1836, De Kalb Co, Georgia, is readable - for the most part - and provides military information and some personal information including residences of the petitioner.
-This Shadrack Chandler, however, states that his birth age is not certain, although he thinks about 1757. He states that he does not remember dates of service although he recounts officer names and locations of service as well as length of time served over three periods. He states that his current age is 79 years, and that he lived - when he volunteered - in Newberry District, South Carolina. He has lived in Goosmill or Gossmill? District of South Carolina, (I cannot find the actual area on relevant maps); in the State of Kentucky, Logan County; in the State of Alabama, counties of Washington, Morengo, and Dallis [sic]; in the State of Tennessee, Robinson County. He now (1836) lives in the State of Georgia, DeKalb County. A statement from John Chandler, of Gwinnett Co, Georgia, testifies to knowledge of Shadrack's military service.
-Family members have tracked our Shadrack Chandler through census, marriage, and land records to show that he left Orange Co, North Carolina before 1820 - when he appears on the Tennessee, Maury Co, census records - until his death there at about age 68, younger than the age of the claimant in this Revolutionary War pension file. Our Shadrack Chandler lived in Maury Co, Tennessee for many years before, during, and after the date of the pension claim, and was buried in Maury Co. I believe, therefore, that this Shadrack Chandler is not the same person as the one in our family.
To further substantiate that the DAR record is not for our Shadrack, are tax, land, and civil records putting our Shadrack in Tennessee for a long time.
---will of James Latta, Maury County, Tennessee, Wills and Settlements, Book A, Vol. 1, 1807-1810; Transcribed by Paulette Carpenter, November 2004
Pg 136 Inventory of chattel property owned by James Latta, dec'd, late of Maury Co, Tenn. May 15, 1815, signed by John Latta.
Pg 137 June 16, 1815. Sale of James Latta, dec'd. Buying: Thomas Taylor, Thomas J Hardaman, Martha Lata, William Webb, Josiah Hogan, Thomas Goad, John Latta, John Polk, Pleasant Crews, William Henty, Joseph Wingfield, John Kindows, Thomas Lata, James ONeal, David Wherton, Julius Burton, John Canada, William Sellars, Charles Neely, Andrew Mills, William Gant, John P Powell, John Duckworth, Allen Rainey, Luke Patterson, Shadrick Chandler, Green B Rogers.
---Tax Lists Maury Co, Tennessee, 1815, 1817, 1818
---Tax List Maury Co, Tennessee, 1823
Chandler, Shadrack, Land: 164 [acres], Situation: R Cr, WP: 1, BP: 1
---Will Book C-1, p 321 Inventory of estate of Jethro Brown, deceased, 13 Sept 1820 . . . [buyers] Shadrick Chandler, John Miller
---Will Book E, p 142: Herring, additional inventory of Solomon Herring, deceased, recorded 10 Sept 1829 . . . [buyers] John W Miller, Shadrick Chandler
---Deed 27 March 1830, paid $249.51 for 154 a on Rutherford Creek conveyed by Vincent Miller. Registered 11 May 1831
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Backing up just a bit to Shadrack's children: Thornton Chandler married twice and had at least 9 children.
MEF says this: Thornton's first marriage is unknown to me; he probably married 1830, Tennessee - oldest known child born abt 1832, Tennessee. They had four children.
-Thornton next married Malinda A CLEMMONS 9 February 1841 in Maury Co, Tennessee. They had five children.
---Tennessee Marriage Records, Maury Co, 1841, March
entry 530 Thornton Chandler to Malinda Clemmons, license issued 9 February 1841; the rights (sic) of Matrimony solemnized between the within by G Hanks, MG, Feby 10th, 1841.
There are some records attributing Thornton's first marriage, but there are problems with the attributions, so I'm not adding them here.
Shadrack and Betsie (Latta) Chandler had 5 known children, as I'm going to include the above noted Rebecca - just in case. The other children were John R Chandler, born February 1810 according to his death records and tombstone; Shelby Chandler, born March 2, 1817 and who also has records to support this; Permelia Chandler, born 1820, and Sarah, born 1823. As you can see, there is a huge gap, so it seems that there were other children born who did not survive very long.
I have quite a bit of information on these children - John who married Susan Cosby, Shelby who married Lorena Fitzgerald, Permelia who married William Roane, and Sarah who married James Roane, and some photos from Lasting Hope Cemetery on my trip in 2011.
The last child of Shadrack and Elizabeth was James Jackson Chandler. I will write about him in part 2 of the Descendants of . . . He's our direct line child.
Lasting Hope Cemetery, Carter's Creek, Maury Co, Tennessee, in April 2011
Elizabeth (Latta) Chandler - Find a Grave memorial 15195780
You can see that Elizabeth lived 34 years longer than Shadrack.
I find no record of her marrying again.
Her youngest son stayed on the farm and took care of her.
John R Chandler - Find a Grave memorial 15195791
Shelby Chandler - Find a Grave memorial 15195832
These are just a few of the Find a Grave memorials. I have tried to link the family so that starting with one, you can take a look at siblings, parents, spouses, children.
