My Great Aunt Lillie was named after her father's surviving sister, who lived in Indiana, unlikely to ever have met one another. Since I've discovered through DNA that Gramps was not the biological son of the man who raised him, I've wondered the same about his sister, who was closest to his own age. In fact, the actual dates of their birth are suspect, as they are recorded in various records as follows:
Clyde, born October 1903 in Illinois
Lillie, born January 1904 in Illinois.
What I suspect isx more likely, since the siblings are enumerated as age 18 and age 16 in the 1920 Census, is that Lillie was likely born in January 1905, making her 15. Everyone else in the family is listed with an incorrect age that year asa well, so this actually makes the most sense.
In 1920, she is the youngest in the household of her parents, with 2 older brothers and she has not attended school in the past year, nor is she working.
She was born to parents who appear to have been quite religious later in life but Lillie was 3 months pregnant when she married James Hollis Chandler in Kennett, Missouri, and lived there long enough to deliver her two eldest children. Her daughter was named for her grandmother Chamberlain and Lillie's new sister in-law, Hazel, and two years later she named her son Arthur Lee. He was called Lee all his life, which was both his grandmother's middle name and the name of another Chamberlain uncle assumed to have died in childhood, as there is no trace of him after age 2 (1900 Census). The Chandler's 4rd child, also a son, was unnamed and only lived 12 hours. He is likely buried near his Grandmother Chandler in Bethlehem Cemetery near Whiteville, Tennessee.
Between Albert Lee's birth in 1928 and the 1940 Census (which places the family in rural Hardeman County, Tennessee in 1935) there is no sign of the Chandler family except for a very small news clipping from August 1934. It seems the Hollis (then age 36) and a neighbor, Ben Deaton (age 28) had a dispute about the incoming corn crop, corn that Hollis may have been tending, but the land he lived on was rented from the Deatons. Ben pulled a knife, and Hollis shot Ben. Hollis was held in the county jail, and Lillie was home with the children, knowing that Ben's widow was about to give birth (a son was born to Mrs. Deaton 3 weeks after her husband's death). That area of Hardeman County remains very rural, and it isn't difficult to imagine both families attending the same church. Hollis was bound over for trial just over a year after the event. He may have been home at some point during that year, but I can't fathom how he might have secured bond, or how Lillie would have supported herself and three children alone. Adding to the list of her woes, this was the middle of the Great Depression, in the South!
Hollis Chandler was known to have been married two other times in addition to Lillie, also possibly having a common law marriage, possibly without divorcing Lillie. Family stories paint him as a ne'er do well who frequently lived with his daughter. He had fathered 2 other children with his 1st wife, and possibly one other daughter later in life. In 1940, he is with Lillie and their children and working in "private business" as a wood peddler. No one in the household is listed as having more than a handful of years of education. To say that Lillie had "inconsistency" in her life would have been an understatement.
During World War II, surely Lillie would have been more than thankful that her oldest son was too young to serve, but also could have badly used the money he might have send home. Flossie had begun to work as a waitress, and appears to have continued to live at home well into her 30's. When he reached maturity, Lee went north to Wisconsin and stayed with his Uncle Clyde and Aunt Hazel. Lee married and remained in Wisconsin.
Also during the war, Albert and Florence Chamberlain left their land in Barry County, Missouri and moved in to Lillie's home in Jackson, Tennessee. Lillie now had elderly parents, an adult daughter, a son far away, 4 other young children (the youngest an infant) and a husband who seems to have come and gone. Her parents didn't live with them long. Albert was out for his evening walk and was struck by a train (I wish I were joking), and Florence passed away two years later. With the death of their parents, CLyde made his only known trip to Tennessee. Without knowing how brother and sister got along, I hope their reunion brought each of them some pleasure at a sad time.
In 1955, the Chandlers received a tax easement / eminent domain on .04 acres. Based on where they are known to have lived, this could have been for street improvements at what was rapidly becoming "in town" versus the edge of town. I hope eminent domain portion of this transaction benefitted the family.
In 1962, Lillie became ill with cancer and passed away in June 1963 at age 60. She had a handful of grandchildren, and her funeral was a religious one. I don't have any photos that include Lillie, and efforts to reach her grandchildren have been less than successful.
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