Death Notice, Donald Edward Chute

Donald E. Chute - RUSHVILLE - Donald E. Chute, 88, of Rushville died at 7:20 p.m. Sunday at Culbertson Memorial Hospital in Rushville. Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at First Southern Baptist Church in Rushville. Burial will be in Hersman Cemetery. Worthington Funeral Home in Rushville is in charge of arrangements. Surviving are his wife, Lucile; six sons, LaVern of Versailles, Calvin and Gale, both of Riverside, Calif., Harold of Carlsbad, Calif., Marion of Merodosia and Harlan of El Reno, Okla.; three step-sons, Vernon of Greenville, James of Rushville and Gerald of Peru, Ind.; one step-daughter, Darlene Lahr of Medora; 34 grandchildren; and 43 great-grand-children.

SOURCE: State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL, December 25, 1990. [died: December 23, 1990.]

Obituary, Lucille Estes Chute

RUSHVILLE - Lucile Chute, 93, of Rushville died at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, May 23, 2004, at Snyder's Vaughn-Haven Nursing Home.

Born Oct. 22, 1910, in Camden to Bennie and Clara Cleeke Estes, she married James Halsted Chute on Aug. 16, 1930, in Virginia, Ill. He died Sept. 6, 1939.

She later married Donald Chute on April 10, 1973, in Rushville. He died Dec. 23, 1990.

She also was preceded in death by three brothers, two sisters, one grandson, one great-granddaughter, one stepgrandson and one step great-grandchild.

Surviving are three sons, ... one daughter, ... five stepsons... ; 14 grandchildren; 20 step grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren; 42 step great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and 17 step great-great-grandchildren.

She worked as a licensed practical nurse at Sarah D. Culbertson Memorial Hospital, where she assisted in the delivery of many area babies from 1949 until retiring in 1972.

She was a former member of Cooperstown Baptist Church and was a member of First Southern Baptist Church in Rushville since its founding, serving as a Sunday school teacher, Bible school teacher and as camp nurse for the Sandy Creek Association.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First Southern Baptist Church. The Rev. Mike Hall will officiate. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Worthington Funeral Home. Burial will be in Langford Cemetery in Woodstock Township, Schuyler County.

Memorials may be made to First Southern Baptist Church or Snyder's Vaughn-Haven Nursing Home.

Source: Peoria Journal Star, May 25, 2004, Page: B4

My father was born on September 11, 1902, on a small farm in Brown County, Illinois, near Cooperstown and near a local landmark known as Star Bridge. His parents were Edward and Nanette "Nettie" Black. At his birth he had three sister siblings, Mary, Olivia and Glenna. Dad's mother died of influenza when he was two weeks old. There was an influenza epidemic, which took the lives of thousands during the early 1900's. Due to my grandfather's inability to care for the family and tend the farm, he found it necessary to break up his family.

My grandmother's brother Charles Black took Mary (the oldest) to Cabool, Missouri to live with his family. Mary never returned to live in the family unit, she continued to live with Uncle Charles, completed a college education in elementary education, moved to Ft. Worth Texas and taught in the elementary school system there. She continued to teach school until she was 80 years of age. Aunt Mary married late in life to Isaac. A. Craig of Ft. Worth; they never had children. Isaac died when Aunt Mary was in her 70's. After his death and her retirement (at an approximate age of 75) she returned to college, learned the Portuguese language, volunteered for the Peace Corps, and was assigned to Brazil where she taught English to elementary students. After her tour of duty she returned to Rushville, Illinois and lived the remainder of her life with her sister, Olive Schramm.

My Grandmother's sister Lelia (Black) Gillette and her husband Frank lived near Rushville, Illinois, about eight miles from Grandpa's home, and took Olive to live with them. Olive was raised in the Gillette household and she too never returned to the family unit. She married Maurice Schramm, and they moved onto a farm near the Gillette's home. They lived on that farm until late in life, then moved into Rushville and lived there until their death. They had five children, Kenneth, Mary, Ada, Robert and Kermitt.

Glenna was placed in the home of another relative, I'm unaware of who that relative was. I know she lived in Springfield, Illinois until adulthood, never returning to the Chute family unit. Glenna married Roland Stead and they made their home in Lombard, Illinois, and then retired in Tucson, Arizona where they remained until their death. They had two children, Barbara and Ivan.

Grandpa's sister Nellie Bunfill and her husband Will took Dad, who was just two weeks old, into their home. Raymond, Nellie and Will's 3-month-old baby was still nursing and Nellie began nursing my father as well. Raymond and Dad were raised like twins for the next two years and when adults Ray married my mother's sister Ethyl.

Dad continued to live with Nellie and Will for about two years and when Grandpa married Della Anderson. Dad went back to live with his father and Della. Alfred, Dad's half-brother was born in 1907.

Alfred married Helen Quinn when he was approximately 20 years old and moved into the Quinn home. The Quinn farm was 400 acres and located near Cooperstown. Mr. Quinn died soon after their marriage and Uncle Alfred continued to operate the farm and lived there until Aunt Helen died. They had no children. Uncle Alfred moved to Mt. Sterling after Helen died and lived there until his death. In his later years he married Maude, and when she died he married Elizabeth, who also preceded him in death.

Dad attended eight years at Fern Dale Grade School, a small one room school house near the home of Nellie and Will Bunfill. I know little of Dad's life from his infancy until he married. Dad, at the age of 20 married my mother, Cecil Eugene Herren on September 16, 1923. They moved into a tenant house on the farm of a Mr. DeWitt located two miles south of Star Bridge, he worked on the farm by the day. In the summer of 1924, grandpa's third wife Elizabeth Thompson passed away leaving him alone once again. In the fall after the crops were gathered on the DeWitt farm, Dad and Mom moved into the home with my grandfather. The farm was very small, only 64 acres and was located about a mile north of Star Bridge near Cooperstown. All six of us boys were born there on Grandpa's farm.

When Dad moved into grandpa's home, Dad became the farm operator, in charge of crops and livestock. Things went quite well until 1928 when the depression affected all farming operations as it did most enterprises in the U. S. and in fact the entire world was in depression. Farming in those days was a community activity, each farmer helping others with various tasks, such as: thrashing wheat and oats, cutting and storing hay and butchering livestock. In addition to running the small farm, Dad worked by the day for others, building fence, clearing brush, mowing fence rows and many other small tasks. The depression hit the family very hard, work was scarce and wages were unbelievably low. Dad worked, at times, for 35 cents an hour and was expected to work ten hours a day, times were so hard for all families that food could be scarce. Had it not been for our ability to raise most of the produce for the table and the livestock we slaughtered, we would have had very little to eat. Our community was made up of very small farms; many of them were owned by relatives, cousins, uncles, etc.

In 1936, Dad was elected Road Commissioner of Cooperstown Township, for a term of four years, his pay was six dollars a day, which was a very good wage for the time. I remember as a result of his salary my parents could purchase what was considered luxuries at the time, like a radio, bed mattresses and other small household items. The duties of the road commissioner were to maintain roads, mow the right of ways, repair and build bridges. The road equipment he operated consisted of a small flat bed truck, a Caterpillar tractor, a road grader, and a heavy metal road drag. Dad ran for re-election in 1940 and lost the election. After losing the election he devoted all his time to the farm and working off the farm for extra income.

Dad began working at a limestone rock quarry near our home. Soon after he began work there a serious accident occurred which had a devastating effect on him, as it did on the entire community. He was working an arms length distance from his cousin, Housted Chute, when a air compressor exploded resulting in Housted's death, he died two days after the explosion. One of Housted's arms was severed in the explosion and Dad was assigned the responsibility of taking care of the arm until proper legal arrangements were made. The arm was buried in a shallow pit near where the explosion occurred and when word came that Housted had died, Dad had to dig up the arm, keep it in his possession until the next day and then take it to the mortuary. The severed arm was stored in our smokehouse over night and it is true to say this effected the whole family. For three days Dad hardly said a word, only stared out of the window or if the radio was playing he stared toward it. Housted had been married to Lucille, they had four small children, Vernon, Gerald, James and Darlene.

In 1944 Dad ran again for the commissioner position and was elected for another four-year term. I was old enough by then to take on most of the farming responsibilities. That same year we purchased a Farmall H Model tractor, until that time all farming was done with horses. in 1947, Dad bought a 160-acre grain farm in the Meredosia River Bottoms near Chambersburg, Illinois the family moved there in the summer of 1948. In 1952 Dad sold the Chambersburg farm and purchased another near Buckhorn, Illinois. Us boys were all gone by this time and Mom and Dad lived there only about three years, sold that farm and bought a 65 acre farm two miles south of Versailles, Illinois. He began to slow down and limited his working activities to operating the little farm and weaving rugs on their rug loom.

About six months after Mom's death, Dad remarried. He married a lady Mom and Dad had met on one of their vacation trips. In Mom and Dad's later years they had become prosperous enough to take an extended vacation each year. They were in Pennsylvania on one such vacation and as usual Sunday mornings found them looking for a church to visit. That morning after church service, a member named Marie and her husband asked them to their home for Sunday lunch. Mom corresponded with Marie frequently over the next few years and sometime during these years Marie's husband passed away. When Mom died Dad wrote to Marie to relay Mom's death to her and they continued to correspond and they soon were married. Within three years of their marriage Marie died with cancer and Dad married for the third time. He married Lucille Chute the widow of his cousin, Housted Chute. Lucille had remained unmarried since Housted's death. in 1987, Dad and Lucille left the farm at Versailles and bought a small house in Rushville, Illinois, Dad died there in December of 1990. Lucille sold the house in 1999 and moved into a nursing home at her own request.

Dad was 38 years of age when the World War 11 draft for military service began, due to the size of his family and the farming operation, which was considered vital to the war effort, Dad was exempted from military service. As one of the younger male adults left in the community, Dad became involved in many of the community activities, he was elected to the local school board and served in that capacity until we moved from the area in 1947. Dad was a very devout Christian, was saved early in his life and was very active in the church. The first church he attended was Richland Baptist Church in Schyler County, where his grandfather Alfred was the pastor. When he and Mom were married, they moved their membership to the Cooperstown Baptist Church. Dad held many offices in the church, he was chorister, taught the men's class in Sunday School, and was a deacon. Dad's Christian commitment was well known through out the county. He was highly respected by all who knew him. I don't think he had an enemy or anyone who disliked him. Needless to say he was a very strong influence on his family. We attended church every Sunday and the Baptist associational meetings throughout the Sandy Creek Baptist Association.

Dad was a very rounded individual. He played ball, croquet, swam and ice skated with us boys. He was up to any task that came his lot to perform. On the farm there was unique tasks that had to be done. He could wring and castrate hogs he had the know-how and the ability to wring a bull, this took knowledge and a very skillful hand. Unless these tasks were done properly the life of the animal was in jeopardy. He knew when to plant crops, knew when the moisture content was right for harvesting. He had the know how to repair harness and farm machinery. He knew how to make cane sorghum by use of a large evaporating pan, it took the right amount of heat and you must know when the sorghum was ready to draw off the fire, he sold over a 100 gallon each year. During the fall of each year Dad would harvest wild honey from a hollow tree where bees had made a hive and only rarely did he get stung. He planted enough sweet corn each year that we marketed several bushel of roasting ears in Mt. Sterling and Rushville. The family also marketed several gallons of blackberries each year. Although the whole family was involved in this, it was Dad's initiative that made it happen. When he was elected road commissioner, some how he knew how to operate the Caterpillar, the road grader and knew how to build road bridges.

Beginning in 1936 when Grandpa and Grandma Herren moved from the farm, east of Versailles, they gave their rug loom to Mom and Dad. In his spare time and during inclement weather, Dad was continually weaving rugs for our use and for sale. There was always a rug in the making in the loom. While I never realized it then, we kids lived in a continual learning atmosphere. I learned to do many things as I grew up on the farm and I just now realize I learned much of it from Dad.

Dad was always in very good health in his younger years. In 1936 he had pneumonia, it had a negative effect on his health for a while. Other than pneumonia I don't remember that he had other illnesses, accidents, or even a broken bone. In later years Dad became allergic to many things, most of which related to farming, like dust and weed pollen. The allergies caused severe hives and extensive swelling, which would sometimes last as long as two weeks. Dad continued to weave rugs until about two years prior to his death. He had arthritis in his lower back that he suffered with daily but seldom complained. In 1989 Dad's health began to deteriorate, his condition would get bad enough to send him to the hospital for a few days. The hospital stays would result in rehab time at a nursing home, until he improved enough to return home. This cycle would start all over again within a short time. Upon his fourth return to the hospital, the cycles ended, he died in the hospital in Rushville, Illinois in December 1990. He is buried in the Hersman Cemetery beside Mom.

My mother was born in Schyler County Illinois on December 18, 1901 to Milton and Elizabeth Herren. The home site was about three miles south of Star Bridge, a landmark known by everyone in the community. Mom was the oldest of ten children. Starting with the oldest, her siblings were Elsworth, Ethyl, Donald, Kenneth, Ruby, Lois, Marjorie, Horace and Hallet. In the mid-1930's, Grandpa and Grandma Herren moved to Abingdon, Illinois. Lois and Hallet were the only two siblings still living at home at the time. A note here: Mom's middle name given to her at birth was Eugene and when she was old enough to recognize it as a man's name she used "Eugenia" as a middle name.

Elsworth (Uncle Bud) married Ruth, Loren was born and less than four years into their marriage they were divorced. Within two years Uncle Bud married Gladys. Their marriage produced four children, Virgil, Eileen, Mary and Roger. They moved from Browning, Illinois where they lived when they were married to Abingdon, Illinois, in 1932. Aunt Gladys and much of the family still lives there, Uncle Bud died in the 70's.

Ethyl married Raymond Bunfill (you will learn in other parts of these memories that Ray was three month old when his parents took Dad, at the age two weeks, and raised them much as twins for two years). Their children are Lozelle, Grace, Helen, and Gordon. They made their home within ten miles of where they both were born, in Brown and Schyler Counties. They farmed all their work life and moved from the farm to Mt. Sterling in the 80's. Aunt Ethel died within four years of leaving the farm.

Donald married Eileen, she died three months after they were married, he moved to Abingdon in 1932, and remained unmarried until 1944. Uncle Don had lost an eye in early life making him exempt from military service. He remarried (I don't know her name), they had no children and within three months after their marriage, the military exempt rules changed and Uncle Don was drafted into military service, into a non-combat activity. He was discharged in 1946 and soon after his discharge died suddenly with a heart attack.

Kenneth married Gladys Root, they had three children, Ramona, Doris and Susan. Uncle Kenneth moved his family to Abingdon in 1934. He later returned to Brown County and began farming, remaining in Brown County until his death in the early 80's.

Ruby married Herman Ralston; they had two children, Leroy and Barbara. They moved to Abingdon in the early 30's from Browning, Illinois where they lived when they were first married. They later moved to Galesburg, Illinois, then to Burlington, Iowa where the family still lives. Aunt Ruby was my favorite member of Mom's siblings, probably because I knew her better due to Leroy and I being close cousins. She was funny, liked to tell funny stories and have a good time. Herman died before she did and he had been her caregiver for some years as she had glaucoma and other health problems, Aunt Ruby died in 1998, she and Uncle Herman are buried in Burlington, Iowa. Leroy died in 2000 and is buried near them. Barbara continues to live in Burlington and we stay in touch by phone.

Lois lived a single life until the 70's. When she grew to adulthood she took an apartment in Abingdon and lived there until entering the Air Force in the late 40's. When she was discharged she took residence in Riverside, California. Aunt Lois was born with a serious physical defect: She was declared a female at birth and lived as a female until the mid-1970's. She was classified as a female due to the lack of external male organs but she also did not have a normal exterior female organ. From both Lois and Aunt Ruby I have a good grasp of what she must have gone through for her whole life. She had an imbeded male testicle removed when she was in her early 20's, the doctor in Abingdon tried to help her but medical knowledge about such problems was very scarce in those days and society did not talk of such things. The Abingdon doctor suggested that she join the military, his rationale was that when help for her problem come available it would be very expensive and military members would receive such help through the Government. She took his advice and enlisted in the Women's Air Force, the Doctor had to help her get in to the Air Force by verifying her medical examination and vouching for her.

She retired from the Air Force as an Engineer and by the mid-1970's the medical community had identified this physical problem and developed surgical procedures to partially correct these errors of birth. (Statistics tell us that literally thousands of children are born with this problem each year.) After a long series of counseling, operations and extended medical treatment, Aunt Lois' gender was corrected and she officially became classified as a male. She worked so hard to keep her "record" clean during her years of living in a woman's body. Aunt Ruby told of Lois coming to visit her in her early years and since they lived in a very small two-bedroom house she would send Lois to sleep with Barbara in her bed. Ruby told us that in later years when the truth was known of Lois' condition, that Lois told her how she would wait until Barbara went to sleep and then would sleep on the floor because she knew she was a man and felt it immoral to get into bed with her niece. How Sad! Ruby also told about she and Lois working in the same factory as young sisters and Lois would never go in the restrooms, on break, while the other girls were in there. It was many years later when Ruby learned, why.

After years of counseling and surgeries, Lois went to court and changed her name to Lee O'Hern and married his life long acquaintance, her name was Mary, she died after they had been married nine years. Uncle Lee lived in the Southern California area the remainder of his life and died in the early 90's. Lee's mother (Grandma Herren was quite old when all this took place) disowned him saying her daughter was dead and she did not know this person. This had to be quite hurtful to Lee.

He had always vowed to write a book of his life and he would have been quite capable of such a book, Lee had a wonderful command of the language. I spoke with him three or four years before he died and he said he could not write the book, the memories were too painful and he would have to relive all those years to write the story of his sad life. I can only imagine!

Marjory married James Rutherford; they had two children Jo Ann and Gary. They moved to Abingdon in the mid-1930s from near Versailles, Illinois, where they had lived when they were first married. They divorced in the mid-1950s and Aunt Marj remarried, I don't recall his name but he died in the 70's. A few years later Aunt Marj remarried Uncle Jim, seems he had gotten his life together, quit drinking and became a Christian. Uncle Jim has since died, but Aunt Marj still makes her summer home in Abingdon and she winters in Texas near her daughter. Their son Gary died of a brain aneurysm when he was twenty-one years old.

Horace died at age thirteen with leukemia.

Hallet was drafted into the active military service in 1942. After basic training he was sent to the Pacific and was killed in the invasion of Leyte Island. This was in the first wave of the landing, his unit made a successful landing but Uncle Hal was killed within the first hour. The report given to the family was that he died of a brain concussion caused by an exploding artillery shell. In fact, a friend of the family was in the same invasion and hearing of Uncle Hal's death went to verify the report. The friend claimed to have viewed the body reported to the family that he was shot in the forehead. I have always wondered why the discrepancy, possibly several were killed at the same time and it was assumed they were all killed with the shell explosion. Uncle Hal was married but estranged from his wife, he had changed his beneficiary to his mother, consequently Grandma Herren received the $10,000 G. I. Insurance - He was buried on the island but after the war, his body was returned to the states, I believe he is buried in Abingdon.

I know very little about Mom's early life, actually nothing except at birth she suffered a head injury and carried the scar to her grave. The scar was not unsightly and appeared as a deep crease across her forehead caused by birthing forceps, very few people knew she had it due to the way she could wear her hair. She also had only three front teeth instead of the usual four. Glenna seems to have inherited that from her Grandmother, that is another defect that is not noticeable, you would have to count them to know there are only three.

Mom and Dad were married on September 16, 1923 and moved into a tenant house on the farm of a Mr. DeWitt, in less than a year they had moved into the farm home with my Grandpa Chute. LaVern was born one year, one month, one week and one day after their marriage. Calvin came along two years later and every two years another son was born, through 1932, the sixth son was born in 1936, four years later.

Mom was a very busy person all her life. From my first recollection, Mom was in a continual meal-preparation program. The family arose around 7:00 a.m. and by the time the morning chores was done, Mom had breakfast on the table. Breakfast always consisted of eggs, meat, fried potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. We had milk to drink and there was always jams, jellies, sorghum, and honey on the table. The quantity required was another story, remember six sons, a husband and a father-in-law was seated around the table for every meal. For breakfast, everyone ate two eggs, which was eighteen. She peeled five pounds of potatoes. We ate nearly two loaves of bread which most of the time she baked. As soon as the breakfast dishes were done, Mom began preparing lunch. The same pattern occurred in meal preparation and clean-up through out the day. During the day Mom would always bake bread, both buns and loaves and there was always a cake or a fruit cobbler.

During the summer, food preparation required many trips to the garden to gather fresh vegetables, lettuce plucked, beans hulled, potatoes dug and corn shucked. In addition to food preparation, there was laundry to be done every day, with the big wash day on Monday, which took all that morning she was attempting to keep nine people clean. She had a washer, powered by a gasoline engine, but the laundry was a major operation. During the winter months, water for the machine was taken by bucket from the cook stove reservoir When weather permitted water was heated outdoors in the 40-gallon rendering kettle. This required many trips to the well and lots of fire wood. Cold water for the rinse tubs was carried from the well. The rinse water supply required three trips to the well, each trip with two, three-gallon buckets.

Wash day was not a happy day for anyone, except perhaps me. I had some unusual experiences during wash days. I wasn't very old but I remember, on more than one occasion, I would remove the cap from the gasoline can, stick my nose in the spout and inhale. I had discovered that a few whiffs of the fumes made everything spin round and around. I would sniff, remove my nose, watch everything spin and then sniff again. I'm pretty sure Mom knew nothing of these happenings. These kids today getting high on aerosol cans of "stuff' have nothing on me as I discovered sniffing 70 years ago! I think this happened only a few times but probably accounts for the brain damage I may have.

There were many other tasks for which Mom was responsible. There was usually a baby in the house, mending to be done, house cleaning and during the summer, with so many running in and out, keeping the house free of flies was a major task. During the summer there was canning the produce from the garden and truck patch to be done every day. Mom canned around 250 quarts of each vegetable, blackberries, apples and peaches, she shredded cabbage and made about 20 gallons of sauerkraut.

In the fall of the year, we butchered six to eight hogs. Mom supervised the cutting of the meat, grinding and stuffing sausage, cutting and rendering lard, she made around 50 pounds of sausage into patties, fried them and packed then in one half gallon jars, another 25 pounds was stuffed into casings and was smoked along with hams. Most of the hams were sugar cured, bacon sides were packed in salt. We separated cream from the milk morning and night. Mom made cottage cheese from milk curd also she made cheddar cheese (I thought the cheddar was not very good). Mom kept the table supplied with butter, which she churned, usually two times a week. In addition to all this, she helped pick blackberries, peeled apples and peaches for canning.

Mom was also active in many community activities. She was an officer in the PTA, attended a quilting bee every Thursday and attended church with the family twice every Sunday. Imagine, having clean clothes ready for six boys and three adults and getting them ready for church twice every Sunday. I remember each time we would leave for church with instruction not to scuffle and get grass stains on our clothes, but somehow grass stains always came home with us.

Mom was very industrious and always looking for ways to enhance the welfare of the family. Every spring she ordered up to 500 baby chickens to raise for food and to keep a laying flock. In the 30's and 40's Mom would kill and dress a dozen fryers each Saturday, which we delivered to her regular customers in Mt. Sterling. My piano teacher took two fryers each Saturday in payment for my piano lessons.

In the early 30's Grandpa and Grandma Herren moved from the farm to a small house in Versailles. Grandma had a rug loom, which she gave to Mom. Mom continually cut rug rags from any fabric she would be given or from worn out clothing of the family, she sewed them into a continuous string and rolled them into balls. The rag balls would be separated in such a manner to create the desired rug design. She wove rugs for our use, gave them to family members and sold some as well. She would also hire to weave rugs for others from their rag balls. This was an additional source of revenue for the family. In later years Mom drove a school bus for the Versailles School District, which helped with income for the family. She drove the truck from the combine and corn picker to the elevator, and at times could be found riding a tractor doing lesser farming chores.

Mom was a very strong-minded person and highly opinionated. She and Grandpa were in some kind of debate most of the time. Neither of them ever won, so the debates were continuous. Grandpa was lefthanded and that seemed to be a bone of contention where Mom was concerned, I remember them arguing a lot about that. Grandpa always insisted that half the population should be left-handed because then running a cross cut saw would be easier. Mom and Grandpa were mildly on each other's case most of the time, but in the long run they got along reasonably well, considering a father-in-law and daughter-in-law living under the same roof would have some differences.

Mom developed diabetes in her mid 40's, or rather it was detected at that time. Likely she had it most of her life, a tell-tale sign was the weight of her babies. All of us weighed twelve pounds, except Calvin, and he weighed thirteen. Mom took insulin shots twice a day the rest of her life, she developed a heart condition later in life, probably due to the diabetes. Mom had a severe heart attack in 1968, while visiting Aunt Lois in California. At that time the doctor indicated that several previous attacks were apparent, but had gone undiagnosed. She died there in Riverside as a result of that heart attack, her remains were shipped back to Illinois. She is buried in the Hersman Cemetery and Dad rests beside her since 1990.

Obituary,Wanda Rosella Little Chute

Wanda Roselle Chute age 78 of Versailles, Illinois passed away at 9:05 a.m. Sunday, February 10, 2008 at the home of her son in Joliet, Illinois. She was born July 15, 1929 in East Chicago, Indiana the daughter of Oscar Albert and Minnie Estelle Smith Little. She married Donald LaVern Chute on June 22, 1947 in Beardstown, Illinois and he survives.

Mrs. Chute was a homemaker. She was a devoted member of the First Baptist Church of Versailles where she served as church pianist, and touched the lives of hundreds of children as director of the Christian Characters Club for many years.

She was preceded in death by her parents and 1 daughter Linda Shaw.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, February 14, 2008 in the First Baptist Church of Versailles with Pastor Larry Chute, Pastor Greg Hill, Pastor Mickey Myers and Pastor Harlan Chute officiating. Burial will be in the Hersman Cemetery south of Mt. Sterling. Visitation will be from 5:00 until 8:00 Wednesday evening at the Hendricker Funeral Home in Mt. Sterling. Friends may also call one hour prior to services on Thursday at the church. Memorials are suggested to the First Baptist Church of Versailles.

Condolences for the family may be left on line at www.hendrickerfh.com. The Hendricker Funeral Home in Mt. Sterling is in charge of the arrangements.

Source: Hendricker Funeral Home

As I Remember It: DONALD LaVERN CHUTE, by Harold Glenn Chute

LaVern was born at home on October 24, 1924 on the family far near Cooperstown, Illinois, he weighed in at twelve pounds. He lived in that home until he was drafted into the Army in 1942, and then briefly after his discharge. On June 19, 1938 at the age of fourteen he accepted the Lord in the morning worship service at the Cooperstown Baptist Church under the preaching of Reverend Henry Spencer. Calvin and I also accepted the Lord during that morning service. The text of the sermon was, His Life is Bound Up in the Lads Life, taken from the book of Genesis, Chapter 44, Verse 30.

LaVern attended all eight years elementary school in the Cooperstown Grade School beginning in 1930. He was a good student, made good grades and graduated in 1938. He attended three years at Hersman High School, it was a very small school, probably not more that fifty or sixty students. Ms. Lena Fry was a teacher at Hersman High and lived about two miles from our home, LaVern walked those two miles each way daily where he caught a ride with her to Hersman which was about twelve miles from our home. LaVern was active in sports, he played baseball and basketball, lettering in both sports. The school at Hersman closed after his third year and he transferred to Mt. Sterling High to complete his fourth year of high school. Mt. Sterling was eleven miles from home and our means of transportation to school was by an individual who converted his pick-up truck into a bus, hauling about twelve students.

Calvin and I also attended Mt. Sterling High at that time. LaVern did not participate in sports after the transfer. Soon after graduation from high school LaVern was drafted into the Army. Lozelle Bunfill, our first cousin, traveled on the same bus with LaVern to Camp Fanning at Tyler, Texas where they reported for basic training duty, I don't think they were assigned to the same company. Mom, Dad, Uncle Ray and Aunt Ethel traveled to Tyler to visit LaVern and Lozelle. I stayed at Uncle Ray's to help with the chores while Uncle Ray was away. Lozelle's sister, Grace May was living back at home with her parents and siblings (Helen and Gordon) since her husband Jim Bradbury had been inducted into the Navy. On the third day after our parents departure to Texas, word came from the War Department, that our Uncle Hallet had been killed. Hallet was Mom's youngest brother. Grace May came to Mt. Sterling, picked me up from school and we went to Versailles, Illinois to be with Grandma Herren until our parents returned.

After basic training, LaVern and Lozelle returned home during a brief delay en route. There was a lot of excitement in the community on their first weekend back home. On Sunday, both LaVern and Lozelle attended church dressed in their uniforms. They were the first to visit Cooperstown as soldiers of the U.S. Army. We all were so proud! After the delay LaVern was then transferred via rail to the West Coast where he boarded a troop ship into the Pacific Theater of operation. By the time of his arrival the invasion of Okinawa had begun. He was close on the heels of that invasion and was soon in the thick of the war, with severe intense fighting. According to LaVern, there was no let up, no lulls, just continual fighting. The Japanese had dug in deeply, most were in a honey comb of caves. During the night on the seventh day of fighting, LaVern was wounded. His company was dug in and someone, while entering or leaving the foxhole during the changing of the guard, stumbled over their supply of hand grenades, dislodging a pin causing one to explode. There were fatalities in the foxhole. Shrapnel entered LaVern's hip and the metal was laying on his hip bone. He was evacuated from Okinawa to a hospital for operation and recovery, he still has the shrapnel fragment that was removed from his hip. After his rehabilitation, he was scheduled to return to the front and while killing time waiting for his orders he was wrestling with another soldier and in the scuffle, LaVern's ankle was broken. The shin bone was severed from the leg bone, surgery was required and silver pins were used to reattach the bone fragment. His condition was such that he was no longer capable of active duty, consequently he was scheduled to be sent home. The armistice was signed before he actually arrived home, he was discharged with a permanent disability and receives a pension for that disability. He was discharged soon after his arrival home.

After his discharge from the Army and some convalescing at home he assisted in the farming operation with limited participation. The family had transferred their church membership to the South Grand Baptist Church in Beardstown, Illinois. LaVern soon became acquainted with a member of that church named Wanda Rosella Little, they began dating, was engaged and then married June 22, 1947. They have four children, Sharon, Larry, Linda and Deborah. Soon after their marriage, they moved to a small farm, which Dad had purchased to raise livestock and in the early sixties LaVern bought the farm. The farm is located south of Versailles, Illinois. He and Wanda raised their family there and still reside on the same farm. Not many people today stay put that long as expressed by his children during their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

LaVern was employed by the Central Illinois Public Service Company, a electricity power utility in Meredosia, Illinois. He began as an equipment operator, moving coal to the power station furnaces and retired as a station mechanic. His employment was cut short somewhat, due to a heart condition that required open heart surgery to replace a heart valve. This operation was done in 1986. 1 remember very vividly, setting with the family awaiting the completion of the operation. The doctor told us his condition was very grave and twenty-four hours would tell us the outcome. He recovered and continues to do very well as of today. He has in fact become the primary care giver to Wanda as her health is pretty bleak due to a blood condition which requires transfusions on a continual basis, like monthly and sometimes sooner. They continue to live in Versailles and worship at their church and are very close with their children and grandchildren. None of their children live close, but they are still a very close family. Each of their four children are in "Christian work" related fields.

LaVern has lived a "very" devout Christian life. He has, all his married life, been active in the Versailles Baptist Church. He is a deacon, had served as chorister, has taught Sunday School continuously, has been very active with the development of the church, including remodeling. He cut timber from his farm, had it sawed and used it in the new construction of the church. Since his retirement, LaVern has a woodworking hobby, making all kinds of household items for himself and his children, they say when he makes one of anything there must be three more made soon. Throughout the years, he has raised and butchered beef cattle, raised produce and shared it with his children. His living out his life within ten miles of where he was born and raised could be a reflection of his steadiness and never changing beliefs.

"Charles Lennard Chute was Barrister-at-Law at Inner Temple. Wife's first name: Laura Joan. Received his education at Eton, Magdalen College, Oxford and received his M.A. degree in 1906. Served in France as Staff Captain and as Brigade Major.

Bequeathed the Vyne to the British National Trust in 1956.

Source: Chute, George Maynard, Jr. Chute Family in America in the 20th Century. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan & London, 1967

From Burke's Peerage: Sir Charles Lennard Chute, 1st Bt., M.C. (1919), of The Vyne, Basingstroke, Hants, Lord of the Manor and Patron of the Living of Sherborne St. John, Barrister-at-law, Inner Temple, 1903, D.L. (1939), J.P. (1921) and C.C. (1925), Hants, Chm Hants C.C., and of Quarter Sessions; Chm. Hampshire War Agric. Cttee, 1939-1947; served in Workd War I 1917-19, as Bde-Major 164th Inf. Bde in France; cr. a Baronet 4 July 1952, b. 6 May, 1879, educ. Eton, and Magdalen Coll. Oxford (M.A. 1905), m. 6 Aug 1912, Laura Joan, dau. of late Rev. Robert Lowbridge Baker, of Ramsden House, Oxfordshire (see Burke's L.G., 1921 Edn).

Also:

"Likewise, an untitled country gentlemanlike C. L. Chute, of The Vyne in Hampshire, was simultaneously chairman of the quarter sessions, of the county council, and of the Agricultural Committee. Lord Portsmouth, who was his colleague on the Agricultural Committee, described him (and his class) well: 'apart from his estates, his whole life was devoted to the county of his birth in a selfless voluntary capacity. Of absolute personal integrity, he typified everything that was good in the old landlord ruling class, as well as a little of its lack of imagination." Like many other notables, Chute laboured long and laborious hours, in adverse circumstances, and with no remuneration, to ensure that local administration was carried on, and that production targets in agriculture were met."

SOURCE: The Decline and Fall of the British Aristrocracy, David Cannadine, Vintage Books, 1999 edition. His source is Lord Portsmouth, A Knot of Roots (1965), p. 197-8.

"CHUTE, Charles Lennard, Esq., of The Vyne, Hampshire. Eldest son of Chaloner William Chute, Esq. J. P. and D L of The Vyne, who d. 1892, by Eleanor Jane, 2nd dau of Sir Wyndham Spencer Portal, 1st Bart., of Malshanger, Hants; b. 1879; m. 1912 Laura Joan, 5th dau. of the late Rev. Robert Lowbridge Baker, M.A., of Ramsden House, Oxfordshire. Mr. Chute, who was educated at Eton and at Magdalen Coll., Oxford (B. A. 1902 M. A. 1906), and called to the Bar at the Inner Temple 1903, is Patron of 2 livings. - The Vyne Basingstoke; Union Club, s.w.; 9, Thurlow Court, Pelham Crescent, s.w.; 11, King's Bench Walk Temple, e.c."

Source: Halford, Edward, 1823-1897. The County Families of the United Kingdom: Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Containing a Brief Notice of the Descent, Birth, Marriage, Education and Appointments of Each Person, His Heir Apparent or Presumptive, As Also a Record of the Offices Which he Has Hitherto Held, Together with His Town Address, County Residence and Clubs, 49th Edition, Printed at The Ballantyne Press, Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd., Colchester, London � Eton, England, 1919, Page 262

Stanley James Chute: Born in Everett? Mass; moved about 1910 to Brooklyn, New York. Attended Columbia University, 1909 to 1911. Was a small man (5'9"), coxswain on the Columbia Crew. Transferred to Cornell University in 1911 and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1913. Worked in coal mines after graduation; then for Alcoa doing heat exchangers until he went with the M.W. Kellogg Company. Became head of their Heat exchanger dept. During WW II he oversaw the heat exchangers for the Manhattan Project at Tuccolla Tenn. Retired 1955. He and Elsa traveled extensively until her death in May of 1959. In December of 1959 he married Edith Markley Farrar, a friend of Elsa's, who lived in Ridgewood. They also traveled extensively. She built a house in East Brewster, Mass. on Crosby Lane, half a block from the bay, and they lived there half the year and at Jamesburg, New Jersey in a condo retirement community. He liked people and was a very volatile personality. Elsa always said he was very charming "outside": "an outside engel and and inside teutel". Never liked being alone. Enjoyed fishing and playing bridge; was a Mason but never worked at it - only joined in college for the fun. Good swimmer and diver; liked to putter and build things of wood. Belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity in Cornell and probably was a "party" boy. Instrumental in writing the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers (TEMA) Standards that is used worldwide and as a result was recognized as expert in the field. Had very blue eyes, balding about 40, foot size 8; about 5'9", a good father and teacher, good sense of humor with a built-in sense of justice and very ethical. Taught me my love of science and wood working - both parents were good at teaching and fostering a sense of curiosity that I believe is very important in raising children - I was my father's "boy" and got to like boy things like fishing etc. He taught both my sister and me how to swim as my mother never did learn and was really afraid to go over her depth - she always did nothing but the "fanny dunk" and she said she always held her breath when Virginia or I was in deep water.

Letter from Edith May Markley Chute to George M. Chute, Jr.

Did anyone ever write you a thank you for the pictures? (Illegible), it's been a half year ago. How the time flies.

Some where in the shuffle I've lost the address of the place in Boston where we might get the Chute Family History in America up to 1894 or such. Would you send it to me again? I'll get the letter written next time before a year goes by and I lose the address again.

Stanley and I spent the months of February and March in Fort Meyers Beach, Fla., and we really picked a good time to go south. We had a big snow Dec 11th and that was 18". It never melted and we had another 18" on top of that before we left the 24th of Jan. Guess they had about another 36" after that and it melted just before we came back the 4th of April.

We will be home here until the 31st of July when we meet our daughter from Michigan and our one from Pound Ridge N.Y. at Cape Cod. Stanley wrote to Winnie (Chute) Woodworth in Nova Scotia for Harry Chute's address in Edmonton. Wrote Harry but have had no word. Will send what ever information I do get, when I get it.

Hope you have had a good year and will have a pleasant summer.

Nov 26, 1971

Dear George & family,

Here it is nearly Christmas again. A sad one for me as Stanley passed away the 26th of May. He would have been 82 today. He died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm. They did open heart surgery in Boston but he didn't make it.

I hope you will continue to send me news of the Chutes. Especially when the up-to-date book comes into print. I want at least 3 copies.

I am flying to the Northwest for Xmas with my son. Address:

I spent some of the summer in Kansas, Chicago & Detroit. I expect to settle at Cape Cod when all is settled. Do come see the Cape. I'd love to have you when you come East again. You have a son in Scarsdale*, I believe. I have been at Virginia's for Thanksgiving and after Christmas in Seattle I'll go to Nancy's in Palos Verdes, Cal. I also have a sister and cousin in that area, so will be there Jan & Feb anyway.

[*Jackie's Note: The son she mentions is my father, but we were all in Pelham, New York and not Scarsdale. She was very close - both are in Westchester County.]

Letter from George M. Chute, Jr. to Edith May Markley Chute

Thanks for your 26 Nov letter, but we are very sorry to hear of Stanley's passing. He seemed to be such a robust man; but time takes its toll.

You are fortunate to have your son and the two girls' families to visit, even though they are well scattered. We do not fly, so those distances would be a considerable obstacle.

In several Christmas letters you have mentioned that you wished to learn more about a new Chute family book. But the only Chute data that I have prepared were the 125-page mimeographed* copies I sent to various libraries in 1967. I never have planned to have it printed in book form as the present-day costs are excessive for less than 1000 copies. I enclose three more copies of the page 68 that shows your portion of the family, hoping this will meet your needs.

My Christmas notes of recent years mentioned a book that I was revising, but that was my college textbook, "Electronics in Industry", first printed in 1946. The new 4th edition came out in April, which my son Bob helped me to revise. But it has no connection with my Chute family data. Sorry that it may have misled you.

While I still gather whatever Chute information I can, I do not expect to be able to add to ir revise the previous 125 pages. Time is catching up.

I enclose our present Christmas note. Hope you will have a comfortable and pleasant Christmas.

"Julia Hawes Cleaveland Notes: "The Pioneers", written by Helen Cleaveland Chute Lightner.

Clarissa Hawes sat by the center table where the big oil lamp gave good light for sewing. It was Saturday night and the mending must be done. As she worked, she kept glancing at Alfred, her husband, sitting across the table in the old Morris chair, a book open before him. How handsome he was! Tall, slim, just turning thirty. His thick dark hair without a trace of gray. Anyone would know he was a New Englander, born and bred, she thought - except for his eyes. She knew that when she spoke to him he would look up and as always his big, soft, brown eyes would contradict his strong, craggy, rather stern countenance.

"Alfred," she said, "Is there something worrying you? Seems to me you haven't turned many pages in your book. You sit and stare at it as if your thoughts were miles away. I've noticed that you seem preoccupied lately. What is the trouble? Can't you share it with me?"

"Well, Clarissa, I admit I am a bit disturbed about Mother. What did you think of her last letter?"

"I thought it sounded as though she were adjusting herself and filling her time with services to her church and community. But you know any woman who has for years taken full care, day and night, of an invalid daughter would of necessity find herself feeling empty and rather lost for some time after her daughter's death. You must expect that."

"I know that is true." Alfred replied. "Also, Mother is resourceful and can keep herself busy. She has all her relatives around her and many friends, and she has a good life. But, you see, I know her so well I understand the way she feels. She isn't happy because she isn't needed by anyone. Mother and I were especially close always. After my father died she confided in me and consulted me. I know that filling her days full of interesting projects or good works won't do. Underneath she is not happy - life seems empty, dreary, and useless."

"Maybe, she should adopt a couple of orphan children and care for and rear them," suggested Clarissa.

"Oh! that wouldn't do. It would still be a scheme to fill her time. What would you think, Clarisa, of asking her to come out here to live with us? It isn't always easy or best to have another woman in the home, but with the new baby coming this summer you surely will need another hand, and I was thinking about the school you have so often thought we ought to start. With no Public School the children in this new town are running wild and are much in need of the training and discipline that a school gives. If Mother came and took over the house under your direction, of course, you could be free to start a school along the lines we have been planning. The Church vestry could be used until a school building could be found. Wouldn't you like to do that, Clarissa?"

"Yes, indeed I would and I see it might be the solution for your Mother's happiness, and for ours. But do you think she could be happy here? What a change from the stately beauty of old Holliston with its white houses, green lawns, and tall elms to this rough, crude frontier settlement with not even so much as a plank road. What a contrast! Could she take it and be happy?"

"She would take anything and like it if she thought she was needed and essential to the picture. If I could make her feel we really needed her she would come. At least I think she would. But are you sure, Clarissa, that you are willing to do this? It is really for you to decide, not me."

"Yes," said Clarissa, "I have always admired and loved your mother. I think she is the sort of person who would fit into our home life. And you may be sure I will do my part."

"Then it is settled that I am to write to her. I'll do it tomorrow morning. Perhaps it might be wise to suggest that she try it for a year, just close or rent her home in Holliston, not sell it or pull up her roots until she has tried life with us out here in the wilderness. It may prove too hard for her. If she comes for a year it will be easy for her to go back home if she decides it is best. Let's see, this is April. The baby is due in August. Summer is the best time for her to travel for it is a very hard trip as we well know. Let's suggest she come in June or July."

Silence reigned in the little room as Clarissa stitched away and Alfred turned to his book. Then Clarissa broke the silence. "Alfred, there is something I want to ask you. Do you ever feel sorry you decided to give your life as a Home missionary? You enjoyed teaching in Franklin Academy so much, and you could have had any one of several good sized churches in the Boston area where we could have had a comfortable and pleasant life, and our children the best education. Ministers of the gospel were needed there too and you had been given every opportunity in academy, college, theological school. You were ready to take a big church and they wanted you. Are you still sure you chose rightly?"

"Clarissa, dear, you know me. I couldn't settle down to an easy job. I'm not that sort of a person. I'm a pioneer at heart and I like the idea of adventure. I wanted to go West. Then, as you know, the churches and good people in the East were much concerned over the Western frontier where new towns were springing up with no churches, no school so that people were giving way to crime and all sorts of evil because there was no one to care for their moral and spiritual life. No wonder a Home Missionary Board was formed to send men and women out to work for christianizing our growing West. I was thrilled to be a part of this group and still am. I wouldn't give it up for work in the biggest, richest church in Boston, or anywhere."

"But are you satisfied with the results, Alfred? Do you think we are accomplishing our mission? It is often so discouraging, and there seems so little progress."

"Well," said Alfred, "it hasn't been quite what I expected, and of course I haven't done half I wished and intend to do. But at least we have a church building. It was standing only half built when we came. The church membership has doubled and we do have a fine Sunday school growing in numbers constantly."

"And don't forget, Alfred," said Clarissa, "there is someone to marry the young and bury the dead. Someone to visit the sick and give them consolation. Hardly a day passes that you aren't meeting some young person or old person for that matter to give counsel. You have already made a big place for our church and its ministry in the three years we have lived and worked here."

"Now, I'll ask you, Clarissa. How do you feel about your life here? You are living hundreds of miles from your Boston home in a little frontier town in Indiana called Marian newly founded. You live in an ugly house with no conveniences and not much chance for beauty anywhere around you. You toil all day at menial tasks because there is no help to be had. All your spare time, if you can find any, is given to church or parish work. You have no fun, no leisure, no chance to improve your mind thus far. There are no women of your education and culture here. How about it? Do you feel you are wasting your youth and wearing yourself out in trivial matters?"

"Darling, I'm happy just to be here with you, sharing your life and work. Also, I gave my life, too, as a missionary in the service of Christ - not as a preacher but as a teacher and friend. Don't worry about me. We will go on together and make the next three years even more fruitful, God willing!"

When Cynthia Leland Hawes back East in Holliston, Massachusetts received her son's letter, she was pleased but rather uncertain as to the feasibility of the plan for her to go West to live. Her brothers and in fact all her relatives with one accord begged her not to consider it. Her oldest brother, Amory Leland, who managed her affairs, refused to talk seriously about the plan. "You are too old, Cynthia. You are fifty-eight, almost ready for an arm chair by the fireside. You couldn't stand that rough life and that noisy busy household. You would miss cultural opportunities you have and going into Boston for lectures or concerts. Oh, Cynthia, it is just a crazy idea. Don't consider it."

Brother Amos and his wife, sister Nancy Cutler and others were shocked. "It is a terrible trip, too hard for you to take alone. You mustn't dream of going. We won't hear of it," they all said.

So weeks passed as Cynthia delayed her decision. But more and more as time went on she felt how useless her days were and she longed to go where she knew she could be a real help. By the middle of June, she made up her mind. She would go as suggested for a year, closing her home and pretending to her family and friends that was merely a visit. Reluctantly, they helped her with her plans and finally bade her goodbye. Some were in tears feeling sure they would never see her again. Fifty-eight years of age in 1847 was considered really old, almost like seventy years of today. But Cynthia was not crippled, had all her senses and plenty of energy though her hair was white and her face, innocent of cosmetics, very wrinkled.

Alfred, advised of her coming, set to work building a downstairs bedroom off the kitchen. The kitchen chimney would be used in setting up a stove for heating the new room. Water could be quickly and easily brought from the kitchen. She should be warm and cozy, no stairs to climb. "Your mother must have a warm room of her own where she can go for quiet and rest," Clarissa had said. "We won't decorate it as I know she will bring pictures and ornaments and probably one of her famous patchwork quilts for the bed."

Days went by and on June 29th Grandma Hawes arrived and was royally welcomed. She was delighted with her room. She was very happy to see them all and especially her little 2-year-old Clara - her first and only grandchild. It was really remarkable the way she fitted into the family routine. The extra rest Clarissa now could take helped her prepare for the baby's coming. This occurred on August 25, 1847 - a boy named for his father Alfred Edwin. How proud they all were of the little boy who seemed healthy and strong from the very beginning. Now, Grandma was very much needed; she felt it and rejoiced. Alfred and Clarissa often heard her singing over her work, so happy was she to know there was a place in the world for her still.

In October Clarissa started a small school, gathering into it most of the younger children of the Sunday School, about twenty-five in all. The children came to school at one o'clock and stayed four hours. Grandma and Clarissa thus had their mornings for housework. Afternoons, while Clarissa was at school, Grandma took charge at home and also started preparations for supper. When Clarissa returned at five o'clock, together they fed the babies and put them to bed and served supper. Evenings, Clarissa prepared school work unless church duties called her. Days were very full but everyone was happy.

The months passed and at the end of the year Alfred was able to write home to his uncles, "Mother seems very happy and says she is quite content to make her home with us permanently." The Holliston relatives couldn't quite believe it. They thought Cynthia must be sacrificing her own happiness for the sake of her son's family. But if she wanted it that way, they could not and would not try to persuade her to come home.

On December 30, 1848, when baby Alfred was a year and a half old, another baby, George came to join the family, and two years later on February 16, 1851, a baby girl. "What a lovely family," said Grandma, "Two boys and two girls. Just perfect."

The baby girl was named Julia Cleaveland for the wife of a dear friend. Dr. John Parker Cleaveland and his wife Juliana Chamberlain Cleaveland were living in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dr. Cleaveland was minister of a large Congregational Church. A Bowdoin graduate with a divinity degree from Marietta College, he had in his youth been tutor and professor in various eastern schools and even President of Marshall College before finally settling down to the ministry. First he succeeded Lyman Beecher in a Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then held pastorates in Providence, Rhode Island, Northampton (later Lowell, Massachusetts). Juliana was his second wife. They had no children and hoped to adopt one. Mrs. Cleaveland was very much interested in missionary work, and at the time of the baby girl's birth in the Hawes family on the frontier, she was in correspondence with them and sending missionary boxes and money to help in the work. Alfred and Clarissa greatly appreciated her loving interest and friendship. They wrote Mrs. Cleaveland they were naming the new baby Julia Cleaveland for her. They described the little one as an unusually pretty baby with big blue eyes. Where did she get them? All the rest of the family had brown eyes. And where did she get her merry disposition, smiling and laughing at everybody and making friends with all who noticed her.

Clarissa's school by now had grown to nearly one hundred pupils. A house had been converted for this school so it no longer met in the church vestry as it had at first. Clarissa was still at the head, but several other mothers had been taken in to help. It was a big undertaking and big responsibility very taxing to Clarissa with her growing family and the demands made on a pastor's wife. Grandma Cynthia worried about her during the months before baby Julia's birth. She was too tired and exhausted every evening when she returned from school. But life went on. The church was growing as well as the school. The town was growing. The forest surrounding it was being pushed back, and with removal of the trees new farmland was ready for use, good rich black soil that attracted farmers from the East who were tired of their thin, rock-filled land in New England. The population of Marion also increased but it was constantly shifting. Plenty of wagon trains pulled in, but very often wagon trains set out from the town seeking adventure further west. In 1849 Marion saw many trains made up to go to California for gold. The church people promised well and for a time were active and helpful, and then they went to distant parts. It seemed as though the minister had to do everything himself from works of a janitor to preaching with no reliable helpers. Bravely, Clarissa and Alfred carried on in church and school till the tragic 1854 - the tenth year of their ministry in the field.

This year started happily enough with the birth of a baby boy in early February. Francis Leland was his name and he seemed to do well but not so his mother. Clarissa did not recover well: she was too exhausted to try to get up and take up her duties. She took a bad cold - or so they thought. She grew weaker, instead of stronger, became feverish, and coughed incessantly. Her doctor looked grave but said nothing for two weeks. Then one day, when he found her too weak to sit up in bed, he examined her most carefully and knew his fears were well founded. He told Alfred and Grandma Cynthia that he was now sure that Clarissa's cold was really the dreaded consumption. Hers was the violent type called "galloping consumption" which could race through the lungs in a few weeks time. This heartbreaking news brought deep anxiety and sorrow to Alfred. For a time he did not tell his wife, but she soon guessed the truth. As her days were numbered, Alfred sat constantly by her bed, holding her hand and trying to give her some of his strength. Grandmother had the whole household to care for, as well as the tiny new baby who had to be given constant care since his mother could not feed him.

Clarissa died March 20, when the baby was but six weeks old, Julia two years, George four years, Alfred six, and little Clara nine years. Grandmother's heart ached for the motherless children, but most of all for the husband who shut himself in his room for days wrestling with his grief and trying to rise above it for the sake of his family and his work. Tragedy came again into the little parsonage for the baby, Francis, soon gave up the struggle and was buried beside his mother in the little churchyard. Grandmother carried on as best she could, but it was almost beyond her strength to keep the family routine and take a mother's place with the four little ones. She noticed, too, that Alfred looked ill, but she laid it to his grief. Soon, however, he began to cough, and fear gripped her heart. Was he too to be taken? No one in those days knew of any cure for consumption. It was a death knell to anyone who was found with it. Also, no one in those days knew that it was infectious, and that care must be taken to save those living with or near a sufferer. No doubt Alfred had taken his case from his wife. So it proved. By August, he was very ill.

During the years that Clarissa and Alfred had lived in Marion, Indiana they had frequently mentioned in their letters that they found themselves weakened by ague or as we would say malaria. It sapped their strength and energy constantly. Perhaps this was one reason they hadn't the strength to resist the tuburculosis germs, but succumbed quickly to that killer. Maybe their food was unsatisfactory -- no vitamins, no fresh fruits or vegetables during the long winter, refrigeration being in its infancy. On August 31, Alfred died just five months after his beloved wife, and he was buried beside her and their little Francis in the churchyard.

Now Grandma Hawes was alone with the four children. She was shocked and saddened beyond belief by these sudden deaths. She could not but be glad and thankful that she had come out here to live with this dear family where she had been a rock of strength and comfort. Before Alfred died, he talked often with her about the children. She must take them to Holliston, he said, and in time settle them in homes where they would be loved and cared for. He knew that at her age, she could not assume the care and education of all four children. "I'm sure Julia will be taken at once by Mrs. Cleaveland," he said. "I do hope you may be able to place the two little boys together, maybe in some minister's home. There must be many homes which would be happy to take gentle little Clara, nine years old."

"Trust me, Alfred dear, do not be concerned. I'm sure I can do what is best for them. Your uncles will help me. There must be some plan in God's mind for all this. Trust Him and trust me. Close your eyes, my dear, and do not fear for your little ones."

"But my work, Mother. It isn't done. It is only begun. There is so much more I wanted to do. I've only had ten short years, and that's not enough."

"Who can estimate success? Only God. Perhaps you have done more in your short life, thirty-six years only, than many in seventy-six years of living. God will accept your work as it stands. Leave all that to Him," said Grandma Hawes.

After it was all over Grandmother began preparations to leave for Holliston. The church people were sympathetic and very kind. Everyone helped, and by September 15, she and four grandchildren said goodbye to Marion and all their friends and started the long trip East. The Cleavelands were most happy to take Julia. They legally adopted her and changed her name to Julia Hawes Cleaveland. She became a little Cleaveland girl as she had no recollection of Indiana days or of her parents. Her new parents were enough for her. She was the darling of the home, the joy of the family. As she grew up, she still kept her lightheartedness and her merry disposition. She had a happy childhood with every possible advantage. She lived to be sixty-five years old, and it is she who figures in the Chute stories.

After several attempts to find the right home for the two boys, Grandma finally gave George to a Wesson family in New Haven. They did not adopt him or change his name, but they loved him as a son and treated him as such. He graduated from Yale, did graduate work in geology, went to Heidelberg, Germany to study for two years. Returning to the United States, he was put at the head of the Geological Department of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. He became very well known in his field, and was also talented in art and music. He never married. Julia saw him during her girlhood occasionally, and he attended her wedding in 1880. Shortly after this he died in Colorado Springs whence he had gone with hope of regaining his strength.

Clara stayed with her grandmother for awhile and then went to live in the home of a minister friend of her father, a Reverend Mr. (C?) Conklin, first in Freeport, Maine, then until her marriage in East Bloomfield, New York. Here she met and married Frank Chaoin(?). They had four children, but only the two girls Clara and Alla lived to grow up. The family moved to California for the mother's health. But it did not save her, and she died also of tuburculosis in her early thirties.

Alfred was never adopted. He lived with relatives in Missouri. He worked in grape vinyards near his sister Clara in East Bloomfield, and when she went to California, he followed her. Only Arthur survived. He became a very successful businessman in California, married the boss's daughter, Bertha Peyton, and had a girl and a boy who is the only one to carry on the Hawes name.

The descendants of Clara and Alfred remained in California for the most part. Clarissa Hawes died at the advanced age of eighty-three. She always said that the Lord must have prompted her to decide to go West to Alfred's home, for surely she had been sorely needed during the seven years that she was a member of the household of pioneer home missionaries in Indiana."

From the notes provided in the Chute Family Worksheet, by great-grandson A. Lionel Chute:

Mrs. Julia C. Chute Early in the morning of Oct. 19, 1916, Julia C. Chute, wife of Rev. Edward L. Chute of Paxton, Mass., passed into the life beyond. She had been but three weeks in the new home at Paxton when the summons came. Although for so short a time with the people, her winning personality had secured a place in many hearts as appeared by the tokens of respect and affection given by the entire commmunity.

Mrs. Chute was the daughter of Rev. Alfred and Clarissa (Partridge) Hawes and was born at Marion, Ind., Feb. 16, 1851. At the early death of her parents on the Home Missionary field she became the adopted daughter of Rev. John P. Cleveland , D.D., of Providence, R.I., later of Northhampton and Lowell, Mass. After studying at Inghham University, New York, and Ipswich Seminary, she took up the study of art, graduating from the Normal Art School, Boston, in 1875. For a time she taught drawing and painting at Portsmouth, N.H. In July, 1880, she married Rev. Edward L. Chute of Newburyport, Mass., and began her long and useful life as pastor's wife at Saugus, Mass. Love of beauty and a singular sweetness of disposition together with strength of will, were her prominent natural characteristics. Her heart early and easily opened to the love of God. From this source flowed the sunshine which radiated from her personality and the service which she continuously gave to all. Her mind was intensely practical. A certain judicial temper, and sense of right marked all her opinions and actions. At home with all classes she was eager to befriend and help those less fortunate than herself. Her love given so freely to her family and friends was always seeking new objects. Not prominent in public life, her chief joy was to visit with her husband among the families of the parish. She gathered the children about her and taught them not only the Bible and the worship of God, but to love beauty, help the needy and to develop and train themselves for useful living. Her home was her delight. In it her skillful and tireless hands for more than thirty years wrought fabrics of beauty and ornaments of grace. Most of all did she seek for her children the education and character which would help them to noblest living.

Her last illness was brief. Stricken suddenly on the 6th, she died on the 19th. Almost her last words to her husband as he was leaving for the midweek service were characteristic, "Give them all my love." The funeral was from the church in Paxton, conducted by the Rev. F.E. Emrich, D. D., of Boston. Interment was at Newburyport, Mass., where Mr. And Mrs. Chute formerly lived, and where before marriage they were associated as Sunday school workers.

E.L.C. -Epitaph from a newspaper clipping (don't know the publication)