Captain Joshua L Chandler "of Chincoteague" - Genealogy Digging

My Mom was born and raised on Chincoteague Island, and her maternal forebears go back to the first Whealton family to settle on Mosquito Creek and then move on to the island.  Mom married a US Navy man, and we traveled the Navy bases until Dad retired, when I was five.  We never visited his family in Kansas and Missouri - we only spent time away from our house on Chincoteague and Assateague.
  One of the first things I remember is driving onto the island, turning north onto Main Street and driving past Peterson Street, where the family home was, and going straight to the turntable at the very end of North Main so that we, as a family, could pay our respects to Captain Chandler by placing a penny apiece on the edge of his grave site. I still do it, at the age of 63...
  A few days ago, Captain Dan Davis, who does the Foal Patrol tours of Assateague commented that he'd had descendants of Captain Chandler on board, and wondered if anyone knew his history.  It took me a few days to start looking, but I was surprised by what I found.    First, Captain Chandler is buried in isolation on  the north end of the island - there were few inhabitants there when he died in October of 1877.  There are no other graves near him.  In fact, there is no one else named Chandler buried on the island!  So what was the story?

This is a photo of his original grave stone - with many pennies.  If you're an older person who either grew up on Chincoteague, or has spent a lot of time there, you can quote the stone with ease.

"Capt. Joshua L. Chandler  -  Born  Oct. 1829     Died  Oct.21,1877  -

Farewell wife and children dear, I am not dead but sleeping here.

As I am some day you will be, Prepare for death and follow me."

So who was Captain Joshua L. Chandler?  He was born in Delaware, and, according to his Delaware death records, his father's name was James, and his mother's name was Ellen.  In 1850, he was a Printer's apprentice in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware.  He was then 19 years of age, and was living with the family of another Printer's apprentice; the head of the household was widow Jane Cloud.

  In 1851 or early 1852, Joshua married Catherine Mary Lynch.  Their first son, William James, was born in Pennsylvania in 1852.  In 1854 another son, Joshua Burton joined the family.  In 1856 a daughter was born, but died soon after birth; and in 1858 son Ebe Townsend was born.  The last three children were born in Delaware.

  In 1860, Captain Joshua Chandler and his family were living in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware.  The Census of that year lists him as a Mariner, owning real estate worth $750, and having a personal estate of  $500.  Joshua and Catherine's last child, Mary Catherine, was born in 1861 there in Baltimore Hundred.  Due to the Civil War, Joshua joined Company D of the 6th Delaware Infantry of the United States Army, where he served as a Private for 2 years.  Afterwards, he returned to the water in Sussex County, Delaware.

  The 1870 Census finds Joshua Chandler and all of his family living in the village of Roxana in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex, Delaware.  Joshua's employment is listed as "Light Boating" and both of his eldest sons are listed as being employed "Boating."  At that point in time, the Real Estate is listed under Catharine's name and is named at $700.  Joshua has a person estate value of $200.

  In about 1872, the entire Chandler family moved to Chincoteague Island,Virginia.  Joshua's eldest son, William James, worked for the US Life Saving Service on Assateague, but had a new wife and child on Chincoteague.  Joshua was now "Captain Joshua" again - employed as a captain of a schooner and an oyster dredger, depending on the season, trade and tides.  Now his two younger sons, Joshua and Ebe, worked on the boats with him.   Apparently, things were going well for the family.

  However, on 21 October 1877, Captain Joshua and the two boys had the schooner on Cat's Creek at Wallops Island.  A lightning storm appeared and lightning struck Captain Joshua Chandler and the mast of the schooner, disabling it.  Captain Chandler died instantly.  Young Joshua and Ebe poled the schooner from Wallops back to Chincoteague, and then Ebe carried his father's body home to his mother.

   Within 6 months, all of the family, except William, the eldest son, moved back to Delaware.  Joshua became a hugely successful farmer, and was the largest strawberry grower in Sussex County at one time.  Ebe worked the water all his life, living to be 98 years old, and having 3 ships sink under him.

Oldest son William became a member of Christ's Sanctified Holy Church and moved away from Chincoteague in 1884. Joshua's widow never remarried and passed away in 1918.  His daughter Mary Catherine (Cassie) married twice and had eight children; she died two weeks before her 90th birthday.

   So Captain Joshua L. Chandler lived on Chincoteague for about five years of his life, and none of his family are buried here with  him...  I guess we do owe him respect...  and a penny on his grave every visit.

Please Vote Today

Today is the day most people in America will vote for their choice of candidates to represent them as the President of the United States. I saw an editorial the other day that asked if the act of voting was a gift or an obligation. I think that the ability of each citizen to vote is a combination of gift, obligation, right, and responsibility - and, if one is a citizen (in good standing), that voting should be a cause of pride. I currently reside in Colorado, which is considered a "swing" state; while of voting age, I have lived in Colorado, Virginia and Florida. All of these states are considered "swing" states, so I am used to being inundated with political advertisements and with the visits of candidates in an election year. My maternal family roots go back to the 1620s in Virginia and Maryland, and my paternal roots go back to the Mayflower and the 1640s in the Carolinas and Virginia. My family has seen a lot of history regarding the beginning of the British colonies, on through the American Revolution, the Civil War and the World Wars. A lot of family blood has been spilled in the past, and family members are still putting their lives on the line to ensure the freedom of the United States of America.

   I don't really care whom you choose to vote for. Just go out and express your feelings by casting your vote. Being able to vote for one's representatives in the government - at the city, county, state, and federal levels - is something that people have given their lives for throughout history. Maybe I'm just plain strange - but I get a little zing when I place my vote... I think of my umpteenth great-grandfather, who signed on as a bond servant in London, and who worked on a tobacco plantation in Maryland for seven years to become a free man in the colonies; I think of the hardships of the Massachusetts colonies; I think of my Quaker ancestors, including Hatevil Hall; and my Cleveland ancestors who arrived in England (and thence on to the USA) with William the Bastard (oops... William the Conqueror), and then emigrated to New England.

   I guess I feel the weight of history lift from my shoulders when I vote... that I am able to, can, and do express my feelings about how this country is run with my own unique vote.

Sixty-Nine Cats Left for Free Adoption

Happy Mother's Day!  My kits let me sleep in until after 8 this morning - Lovey did bathe both of my hands and washed my face twice, while she waited - but it was wonderful to be able to just sleep until I felt like getting up.  It's still a grey and cloudy day out, and we're expecting thunderstorms this afternoon, according to the weather folks. It's not quite 50 degrees outside, and the kits are having a blast running in and out.  On my way home from Kathy's yesterday, I came across someone getting ready to cut down and put a huge box into the recycling bin.  I managed to get it home - for Nedi and Lovey to play in.  Lovey just likes to jump in and out of boxes, use them hidey-holes, and use them for hidden attacks.  Nedi likes to chew the boxes down to his preferred size - what ever that may be - he starts chewing (he doesn't eat the cardboard, he just rips it with his teeth, and spits the torn pieces out) at the box flaps and will sometimes gnaw away until there is only a partial panel left.  This box is 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 by 6 feet....  it should take him quite some time to rip it apart...
  There are 69 cats and kittens left for adoption at the Boulder Valley Humane Society, as of 9:30 this morning.  Again, cats 6 months or older are free to a nice home, while kittens are adoptable at half of their usual cost.  This includes a vet check, all vaccinations, spay or neuter and a microchip for identification purposes.  This "special" ends today at the regular closing time.  Please help these needy kits (if you can)!
   And, if you are at all interested in your heritage, family tree, whatever you wish to call it - I highly recommend watching Finding Your Roots, a PBS show hosted by Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. - it shows here in Colorado at 7 p.m. (MDT).  Tonight, the show will look into the backgrounds of three second-generation immigrants: Sanjay Gupta, Margaret Cho, and Martha Stewart.  These shows are always interesting - and Dr. Gates is an excellent host!

Happy Fourth of July!

I'm very happy to have been born a citizen of the United States of America.  I have the right of free speech, the right to carry a firearm (if I should desire to do so), and the right to publicly meet with other like-minded people.  As far as I can tell, my earliest direct ancestor came from England in 1624 and joined in with the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts (that's on Dad's side of the family); the earliest person I've found on Mom's side of the family came to America as a bond servant and served six years working on a tobacco farm near St. Mary's, Maryland.  He gained his freedom in 1646, made a few bad choices, and ended up near what is now Oak Hall, Virginia on the Eastern Shore.  Supposedly, one of my father's ancestors took a Native American to wife back in the 1650's, when it was illegal to do so, in Virginia - there is still a continuing controversy about my 13-times- great-grandmother's bloodline.  The two latest immigrants in my family were my maternal great-great-grandfather and maternal grandfather. Andreas Pedersen, came from Denmark in 1852, trying to avoid war service between Denmark and Germany. (And ended up here for the American Civil War... and Anglicized his name to Andrew Peterson.)  My grandfather's parents came to New Jersey before his birth, so that Cap'n Walt would be both an American and Swedish citizen.  They returned to Sweden when Pop-pop was 3 weeks old; he returned to America when he was 20, to "really" become an American citizen.
My ancestors and relatives have served in most Wars and skirmishes that the British Colonies and the United States have been in since 1630.  A great many of the men in my father's family served in the United States Navy, even if they were farmers from the mid-West; in researching the family tree, it amazed me that that so many Nocks men served as sailors.  The Lancaster's (Dad's maternal line) served mostly in militias and the Army.  On Mom's side, everyone lived on the Eastern Shore, and served in the Navy or Coast Guard.
It all boils down to the fact that I am proud and happy to be a citizen of the United States!