ENRIE CHAMBERS, a gentleman in the
prime of life and in the midst of his usefulness, is numbered among the worthy residents of Morgan Township, where he has
built up a good homestead on sec. 19, and has fully
kept pace with his neighbors in thrift and enterprise, tilling the soil and marketing annually some
of the choicest products of the Prairie State. Our
subject has spent the greater part of his life in this
county, having been born and reared in Charleston.
His birth took place Sept. 16, 1842. His parents,
Thomas G. and Olivia (Monroe) Chambers, came
to Central Illinois in 1838, and for nearly fifty
years have watched with interest and satisfaction
the development and growth of the Prairie State.
They experienced all the hardships and vicissitudes
of pioneer life and have reaped their reward in the accumulation of a competency and the profound
respect and confidence of all who know them. They
are residing in Charleston.
The father of our subject was born in Harrison
County, Ky., Jan. 22, 1816. and is the son of James
and Sallie (Rankin) Chambers, who descended respectively from Irish and Scottish ancestry. He
emigrated from his native State in about 1838, and
after locating in Charleston, this county, was married to Miss Monroe, March 12, 1840. Of this
union there were born eleven children: Alice, the
eldest, is the wife of J. A. Parker, a farmer of
Charleston Township; Henrie, of our sketch, is the
second child; John was married and died in about
1869; Lucy died in infancy; Belle is the wife of
D. II. Calvert, a druggist of Charleston, and they
have one child; George R. is a merchant at Charleston, and the father of three children; Maggie is the
wife of Charles Rickets, who is employed in the
Census Department at Washington, D. C.; Nannie
married W. E. Hill, who is engaged in the grocery
trade at Charleston; William M. is a resident of the
latter-named place; Alfred is studying law; Thomas
G. died in 1874.
Our subject spent his childhood and youth under
the parental roof, pursuing his primary studies in
the schools of Charleston, and completed his education at Jacksonville, Ill. The next important
step in his life was his marriage, Dec. 31, 1867,
with Miss Clara R. Conditt, the adopted daughter
of Mrs. M. G. Braddock, formerly of Charleston,
but now of Humbolt Township. Mr. and Mrs.
Chambers became the parents of six children,
namely: Edwin, born Nov. 19, 1868, and now at
home with his parents; Mary E., born June 12,
1871, and who died Feb. 25. 1872; Francis B., born
Nov. 3, 1872, and died July 25, 1874; Olivia B.,
born Dec. 5, 1874, at home with her parents; Nannie May, born June 21, 1877, and Ralph M., Jan. 1, 1880.
In 1872 Mr. Chambers purchased 100 acres of
his present farm, and afterward added twenty acres.
He is engaged to a considerable extent in the
breeding of graded stock, including Clydesdale
horses and Durham cattle, and he carries on general farming. He built his present residence in
about 1874. The house which first stood on the place was burned in 1874, together with most of
its contents. Our subject and the various members
of his family are connected with Salem Baptist
Church, of which Mr. C. has been a member for
the last twelve years, and his estimable wife for
twenty-three years. He is a stockholder in the
Coles County Agricultural Fair Grounds, and has
been identified with many of the enterprises calculated to advance the prosperity of the county.
During the late war, Mr. Chambers fulfilled
faithfully the duties of a loyal citizen by proffering
his services for the preservation of the Union, en-
listing in Co. C, 54th Ill. Vol. Inf., in the fall of
1861, and enduring the vicissitudes of a soldier’s
life for a space of three years and eleven months.
He marched by the side of his comrades over the
greater part of the South, and met the enemy in
the siege of Vicksburg, at the capture of Little
Rock, Ark., and in many other important battles of
the war. He went out under the command of Col.
Harris and came back with the troops of Col.
Mitchell, now Warden of the State Penitentiary at
Chester.
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