Paul Crosby Chamberlain Emigrated from the United States

Leah Smith
11 November 2015
Dear Myrtle's Tracing Immigrant Origins Study Group


Show an example of an emigration document.


I spent a great deal of time looking at examples of documents and trying to find one that related to my family or hometown research (although that was not a requirement.)  I never did find just the right thing, but I did learn a great deal about what types of documents were in this category, and where I might find them if available.


I decided to show this US Passport Application of Paul Crosby Chamberlain, born 18 December 1883, New York, NY, USA, son of a former South Carolina Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain, and Alice Cornelia Ingersoll.  Paul was a journalist who appeared to have been staying in London.  A US citizen, he needed permission to travel to Servia, Bulgaria, Roumania, and Turkey, probably in connection with this work, as this was just prior to the Balkan War of 1912 -1913. To my knowledge, Paul never returned to the United States to live.  He served with the British Royal Field Artillery during World War I, and became a British Citizen after that service.  He and his wife were killed in December 1940 during a bombing raid in London.

Passport Application of Paul C. Chamberlain on Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007: Accessed 11 November 2015; Application for Paul C. Chamberlain, American Embassy at London, 15 September 1911.

An 1839 Antislavery Petition Signed by the Legal Voters of West Brookfield

Harvard University has a collection of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery and Anti Segregation Petitions available online.  One such petition was Senate Unpassed Legislation 1839, Docket 10525, SC1/series 231, Petition of Seth Field .  This was a petition against the admission of Florida or any other slave state to the union.  It was signed by the legal voters of West Brookfield. The eighty-five signatures included such names as Alanson Hamilton, (for whom the GAR chapter was named,) Ebenezer Merriam, Eli Chamberlain, (father of Daniel Henry Chamberlain, who commanded colored troops in the Civil War and served as governor or South Carolina during Reconstruction). Other signers were Alfred White, Seth Field, and Francis Stone (the father of Lucy Stone who was an abolitionist and suffragette.) 


Those researching West Brookfield families or town history should find this interesting. 

Martha L. (Warren) Maynard

    Martha Lyman Warren was born May 29, 1828 in Westborough, Massachusetts.  Three months before Martha was born, her father, Lyman Warren, died at the age of thirty-two, leaving his widow, Sally (Claffin) Warren, to raise their four young daughters.
    I have no information about Martha's life from the time of her birth until 1850, when she was enumerated in the US Census with the family of boot manufacturer, George Daniel, in Holliston, MA.  Also living in Holliston at that time, in the household of Josephus Cutler, was a young boot maker named Onslow Maynard.  Onslow was also originally from Westborough. Martha Warren and Onslow Maynard married in Springfield, MA, by Clergyman S. G. Buckingham, on October 16, 1850.  By the time of the 1855 Massachusetts Census, the Maynards had settled in West Brookfield where Onslow worked as a shoemaker.  They shared a dwelling with Martha's sister Jane, and her husband Lyman H. Chamberlain.   Martha's mother, Sally Warren, lived in the Chamberlain household.
   In 1861, Onslow took over the management of the refreshment concession, including a large dining room, at the Boston and Western Railroad depot in town.  Martha, who assisted him, quickly developed a reputation as a wonderful cook. Every train passing through town stopped in order for passengers and crew to eat. Onslow died in 1873, and Martha continued the business as long as the facility remained.  When a new train station was built in 1885, Martha opened a small eatery not far away.  Later she opened a small business at the corner of Central and Front Sts., just across the road from the new depot.  This business, which included a restaurant, and a store where newspapers, candy, and tobacco were sold, was operated by Martha until her retirement.
   Martha was a member of the Congregational church choir for many years, and while Onslow was still living, she helped him with old fashioned singing schools according to her obituary.  She died at home in West Brookfield on February 2, 1919, at the age of ninety, and was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery.  She never had children, and no close relatives survived her. 
   A short Biography of Onslow Maynard found on page 179 in Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Volume 3, by Ellery Bicknell Crane, says that Onslow studied music, and was proficient in playing the guitar, harp, base viol and piano.  It further states that he "travelled extensively throughout the United States concertizing, and was widely known as a musician of ability."  I have not found evidence of his travels or performances, but as the biography later stated, he did teach music in West Brookfield as evidenced by his stated occupation of "Music Teacher" on the 1860 US Census.
 


Sources: 
 1. A History of West Brookfield: 1675-1990; Jeffrey H. Fiske; West Brookfield Historical Commission; 2009
 2.  Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of   Worcester County, Massachusetts, Volume 3; Ellery Bicknell Crane; http://www.googlebooks.com
 3.  MA Vital Records, http://www.americanancestors.org
  Worcester County Land Records; http://www.masslandrecords.com
 4. 1855 MA Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900 US Census,          http://www.ancestry.com
  5. Obituary of Martha L. Maynard; Springfield Daily Republican, 2/14/1919, p. 17; http://www.genealogybank.com
               

Eli Chamberlain - War of 1812 Soldier

   Recently I came across a file including Eli Chamberlain's Bounty Land Warrant information, and the Widow's Pension Claim of his widow, Achsah (Forbes) Chamberlain.  Part of the War of 1812 Pension File collection at Fold3, the files are from the NARA publication, War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files.  The information contained in the file confirms Eli's War of 1812 service, as claimed in other sources, and adds details I had not found previously.  Below is a short biography.
   Eli Chamberlain was born in Westborough, Massachusetts on Oct. 4, 1789 to Daniel and Lydia (Harrington) Chamberlain.  He was drafted in Westboro on Nov. 8, 1814, and served in Capt. Pierpont Brigham's Co. in the Massachusetts Militia from Sept. 10 through Nov. 1, 1814, when he was discharged at South Boston.  The length of this service in the regiment of infantry commanded by Col. Salem Town, was about seven weeks.
   Eli married Achsah Forbes, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Brigham) Forbes on Nov. 30, 1815 in Westboro,. (The ratification of the peace treaty had occurred about eight and one half months earlier, on Feb. 17.) Two children, Sarah Brigham and Lucius, were born in Westboro.  The family moved to the west parish of Brookfield in 1819 where eight additional children were born.  They were Harriet Amelia, Ephraim Forbes, Lyman Harrington, Joshua Metcalf, Achsah Juliet, Lucius Phelps, Daniel Henry, and Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain.  Mr. Chamberlain farmed and took an active role in community affairs, and in 1848, when the town of West Brookfield became separated from Brookfield, he was elected one of its first five selectmen.
   Eli was not eligible for a War of 1812 Pension due to the length of service requirements during his lifetime.  He was; however, eligible for Bounty Land granted to War of 1812 veterans, and did receive warrants for Bounty Land under the acts of 1850, and 1855.  He first received a warrant for 40 acres which he sold.  The second warrant was for 120 acres.  The locations of his land were not mentioned in the file, but may be available from the National Archives. Some likely locations would have been in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, or Iowa.
  Eli died of lung fever on the family farm in West Brookfield on March 10, 1858 and was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery there.  There is no evidence of a will or probate file.
  Eli's sons were well educated and achieved prominence in their fields.  Two of his daughters, Sarah and Harriet, married West Brookfield farmers, and settled in town. Daughter Achsah Juliet, married Jared Clark and lived first in Ohio and later in Illinois.
Further information may be found at http://www.westbrookfieldgenealogy.org/genealogy


More information about War of 1812 pension files may be found at http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2013/03/30/chasing-that-pension-file/

Paul Crosby Chamberlain - born Dec. 18, 1883.

Paul Crosby Chamberlain was the fifth born son of Daniel Henry Chamberlain and Alice Maria Ingersoll.  He was born on December 18, 1883 in New York, NY where his family lived after his father left the governorship of South Carolina.  His middle name and birth information are found on his Sept. 15, 1911 passport application found on Ancestry.com.

Paul lived with his father and younger brother Waldo on the family farm in West Brookfield, at the time of the 1900 United States census.  He was age sixteen and attending school at that time.  He attended Yale Medical School beginning in Oct. 1901.

He became a journalist, according to the above mentioned passport application, and went to England.   Paul served in the Royal field artillery and was wounded in the battle of Flanders in 1915.  An article in the Springfield Daily Republican of Oct. 28, 1915 states that he was a 2nd lieutenant at the time, and recovering in the Ewell and Epson war hospital on Epson Downs near London.

A History of West Brookfield, 1675 - 1990, by Jeffrey H. Fiske, page 163, states that Paul and his wife were killed in a London bombing raid in December of 1940.  According to this reference, Paul had become a British citizen after service in World War I, and was a member of the London home guard.  England & Wales Death Index, 1916 - 2005, Ancestry.com has Paul C. Chamberlain, age 50, death Dec. 1940, Westminister, London, England.  There is also an entry for a Marian Chamberlain at same time and location.  England & Wales Marriage Index has entry in July - Sept.  of 1933 for a Paul Chamberlain and a Marian Greenaway.  Further research needed to confirm that the records refer to Paul Crosby Chamberlain, son of Daniel Henry Chamberlain.

I would be interested in learning more about the life of Paul Chamberlain from the time he left West Brookfield until the time of his death.  Please contact me if you have photos or further information.

Further information about the Chamberlain family is available at West Brookfield, Massachusetts Genealogy Project

Alfred Cornelius White, born Nov. 23, 1847 - Mayflower Descendant?

Alfred Cornelius White was born Nov. 23, 1847 in Amherst, Massachusetts to Samuel Newell White and Harriet (Chamberlain), both born in Brookfield. He came to West Brookfield with his parents and siblings sometime between 1850 and 1852 and settled on the White family farm. (now Salem Cross Inn)  Alfred, the only male child among nine children in the family, appears to have left West Brookfield between 1870 and 1880, for a period of at least twenty years.  He returned to the family farm sometime in the 1890's and became active in West Brookfield town and social affairs.  He was a long time member of the school board, the West Brookfield Farmers' Club, the grange, and the Masonic Lodge.

Where was Alfred for those twenty or so years?  According to his obituary in the Springfield Daily Republican of August 8, 1914, he lived in the south and west, and for a time was a "sheep raiser and ranch man in Texas."  I have not yet found any evidence of his whereabouts during those years, but intend to continue my research. One might wonder about the circumstances of his leaving the family farm, and also of his return.

What of the Mayflower ancestors?  It has been written, that Alfred's family was descended from Peregrine White, who was the first white male born in this country.  I have not done the research necessary to verify this information, and some who  have attempted to verify it, have been unable to identify the parents of John White, the first of this White Family to settle in West Brookfield.  Readers might start a search by contacting the Mayflower Society.

Some information on Alfred and his family in West Brookfield may be found online at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wb2006&id=I4886

Joshua Metcalf Chamberlain - born October 2, 1825

Joshua Chamberlain was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts on October 2, 1825 to Eli and Achsah (Forbes) Chamberlain, according to Brookfield Vital Records.  He was one of a family of ten children which included younger brothers, Daniel Henry and Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain.

Joshua became a Congregational minister who worked in Dubuque, Des Moines, and Eddyville, Iowa.  He did Christian Commission work and served the American Missionary Association as state agent.  He was mostly identified with Iowa College in Grinnell, Iowa where he served for thirty-six years as trustee, nearly twenty years as treasurer and financial agent, and six years as librarian.  He generously donated thousands to the college. A women's dormitory was built on the property where the Chamberlain home once stood.  This land was also a gift to the college.

He was at different times editor of the Grinnell Herald, the Grinnell Independent and Congregational Iowa.  He also contributed to various periodicals.

Joshua died on November 12, 1897 in Grinnell, Iowa, leaving his second wife, Eliza, and daughter Mary, from his first marriage. He was buried in Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell.

Sources:The pilgrims of Iowa; by Truman O. Douglass, Pilgrim Press, Boston, MA; Heritage Quest

Annual reports of the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1898. Report of the Commissioner of Education. Volume 2. Containing Parts II and III.
Date: 1899-01-01; Publication: Serial Set Vol. No. 3767, Session Vol. No.25; Report: H.Doc. 5 pt. 5.2 & 5.3;  Genealogybank.com

Iowa Cemetery Records;  Ancestry.com

Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain born September 26, 1838

Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915, and online database of record extractions provides that Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain was born or christened in Brookfield, Worcester, MA in August of 1837.  His parents were Eli Chamberlain and Achsah.  His obituary provides a birth date of Sept. 26, 1838.

Rev. Chamberlain graduated as Valedictorian from both Phillips Academy and Yale.  He enlisted as assistant paymaster in the Navy on the day he graduated from Yale, and was sent to the South Pacific.  He was promoted to the office of naval storekeeper and later, judge advocate of the fleet.

He graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1869, and became pastor of the New England Congregational church in Chicago.  His parish was in the the center of the great fire in 1871 and he became superintendent of the relief association. Rev. Chamberlain left Chicago in 1876 to become pastor of the Broadway Congregation Church in Norwich, Connecticut.  He received his doctor of divinity degree from the University of Vermont in June of 1879.  In 1883 Rev. Dr. Chamberlain became pastor of the Casson Avenue, Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY where he preached until the day before his marriage when he left for Philadelphia.

Records show that a marriage license was obtained in Philadelphia, PA in 1890 and that the intended bride's name was Lea.(index no. 39554).  The New York Herald - Tribune of December 30, 1890 names the bride as Frances Lea, a sister of writer Henry Carey Lea, and gives details about the wedding that is to happen in Philadelphia that very day. Sadly. Frances Chamberlain died in early March of 1894.

Throughout his life Rev. Chamberlain continued to preach throughout the nation and served in numerous capacities in New York City and elsewhere.  He founded the Brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, and was President of the Untied States Evangelical alliance.   He was also president and secretary of the American and Foreign Missionary union.  He was vice president of the Immigration Committee of the Civic Federation in 1909 and spoke in opposition to further restrictions on immigration, stating that the immigration laws at the time were sufficient to protect the county from undesirable foreigners.

Leander was a resident of Pasadena, California when he died in Altadina on May 9, 1913.  He was buried with his wife in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, PA.  Dr. Chamberlain left $63,000 to religious, benevolent and scientific organizations.  He also gave $100,000 to an institute in Turkey which he had projected and fostered.

Rev. Dr. Chamberlain was the brother of the Honorable Daniel Henry Chamberlain, once governor of South Carolina.  Dr. Chamberlain preached or spoke in West Brookfield numerous times,  including at the dedication of the Meriam Public Library in 1880.

Lucius Phelps Chamberlain - Born Sept. 16, 1830

Lucius Phelps Chamberlain was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts on September 16, 1830 to Eli and Achsah Chamberlain.  The eighth of ten children, he was the brother of Daniel Henry Chamberlain, and Rev. Dr. Leander Chamberlain, both of whom achieved national prominence.  Educated in local schools, Lucius continued his schooling at Amherst Academy.  He taught school for several years, after which he was employed at the State Reformatory at Westboro, MA, for a period of four years. Lucius left Westboro to be come farm superintendent at the Connecticut State School for boys. 

He married Eliza A. Merriman in Meriden, Connecticut on April 5, 1859 and lived in Meriden, CT for twenty-five years, serving once as a member of the Common Council there. In 1884 he became a professor of agriculture at the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs where he stayed until1902.  Lucius moved to the Hartford area in 1902 and to Rocky Hill in 1910.  He died in Rocky Hill on February 25, 1916, and was buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Meriden. 

Chamberlain Family Marriages

A marriage announcement in the National Aegis, July 21, 1847, on page 3, read, "Married in this town, July 13, by Rev. George P. Smith, Ephraim Chamberlain to Maria A. McFarland."  Worcester marriage records confirm the information.  Ephraim was born in West Brookfield about 1822, the son of Eli Chamberlain and Achsah Forbes.  He lived in Worcester where he was a farmer. He was a member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society; as well as, the Worcester, and New England Agricultural Societies.  He also served as President of the Tatnuck Benevolent and Literary Association.  Ephraim and Maria had five children including Frederick H. Chamberlain who later become Judge of the Worcester County Probate Court.

Ephraim's sister, Achsah Juliet Chamberlain, married ten years later on July 13, 1857 in Cuyahoga, Ohio, Jared H. Clark.  Juliet and Jared had a daughter Lucy, who married Edward Hayward in Cook County, Illinois in 1887,  and a son Allan.  Juliet may be the Juliet Clark who died in London, England in 1905. (Lucy and her husband lived in England in 1901.)

Ephraim and Achsah Juliet Chamberlain were older siblings of Daniel Henry Chamberlain who was governor of South Carolina in the 1870's.

Harriet Amelia Chamberlain White - born July 7, 1820

Harriet Chamberlain, born on Elm Knoll Farm in West Brookfield on July 7, 1820 was one of ten children born to Eli and Achsah (Forbes) Chamberlain.  She survived all of  her siblings including Daniel Henry Chamberlain, one time governor of South Carolina, and the Rev. Dr. Leander T. Chamberlain, a learned and influential Congregational minster.

Harriet married Samuel Newell White, a school teacher,  Feb. 24, 1843, [ Massachusetts Marriages 1633 - 1850, Ancestry.com] and moved to Amherst, MA where the couple's their first four children were born. The family returned to the White family farm (now Salem Cross Inn)  in West Brookfield sometime between 1850 and 1852. Five more children were born in West Brookfield. Harriet was a member of the Congregational Church in town where her husband served as a deacon, and was probably active in the local grange and the West Brookfield Farmers' Club, which her brother Lyman Chamberlain had helped to organize.
Harriet, the town's oldest resident, died in her husband's ancestral home in West Brookfield on March 24, 1916.  She was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery.  Only three daughters survived her including Alice who taught school in town until age 70, and Grace who had been the 1880 census taker,

Waldo Emerson Chamberlain

Waldo Emerson Chamberlain was born June 28, 1886 in Manhattan, NY.  His father, originally from West Brookfield,  was Daniel Henry Chamberlain who was governor of South Carolina from 1872 - 1877.  His mother was Alice Ingersol.  Waldo and his father came to live in West Brookfield when Waldo was about 10 years old, settling in at the family farm known as Elm Knoll. He died of rheumatic fever in West Brookfield on Sept. 12, 1902 and was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery next to his mother and four of his brothers. 

I do have more information on the Chamberlain family which is available on request.

Blog entries this week may be few and far between while I am waiting for a new power supply for my computer.  I hope to resume more detailed entries as soon as the new power supply is installed.

June 9 in West Brookfield Genealogy

June 9 was the date of the birth of James Campion, the death of Ephraim Chamberlain, and the marriage of Burnham Smith and Mabel Cutler.

BornJames Campion was born in West Brookfield on June 9,  1869 to Daniel and Honora (Lawler) Campion.  Daniel, a shoemaker in 1869, and Honora, or Anna as she was sometimes called, were born in Ireland.  Their oldest known son, Daniel was born in Ohio in May of 1868. Seven younger childen, including James, were born in West Brookfield.
James Campion died of Consumption in 1898 as is buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery.

DiedEphraim Forbes Chamberlain, son of Eli Chamberlain and Achsah Forbes, was born in Brookfield about 1822 and died in Worcester on June 9, 1892. He was a brother of South Carolina Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain, and Rev. Dr. Leander Trowbridge Chamberlain.
Ephraim,  a farmer, was a member of the Worcester County Horticultural Society; as well as, the Worcester, and New England Agricultural Societies.  He also served as President of the Tatnuck Benevolent and Literary Association.  He and his wife, the former Maria McFarland, were parents of five children including Fred H. Chamberlain, who became a lawyer and later a judge.

MarriedMabel Bartlett Cutler and Burnham Perry  Smith were married 9 Jun 1910 in West Brookfield, MA. Mabel was born in West Brookfield on 28 Sept. 1884, the daughter of Alonzo Cutler and his wife Sarah (Richards).  Burnham was born 22 Feb. 1882 in Brandon,Vermont to Albert Smith and his wife Emma (Newell.)
Burnham, had worked as a Trade School Supervisor in Connecticut and was also employed by Smith & Wesson in Springfield for a time.  Later he managed Buddy Lunch for several years.  He was serving the town of West Brookfield as Tax Collector at the time of his sudden death on Jan. 28, 1938.  He was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the local Grange.
Mabel was an inspector for Gavitt Wire & Cable until her retirement.  She belonged to the Whitefield United Methodist Church.  She died in West Brookfield on Feb. 18, 1976.
Their daughter Barbara served in the U. S. Marine Corps and married Fred Ivy.

For further information about any of these people, click on the Information Request Form tab at the top of the page, fill in the form and click  Submit.