Most likely a descendant of Pierce Chute, considered the ancestor of the Chutes of Tralee. It is currently suspected that his father, (Captain) Thomas Chute was the son of Pierce Chute, Sr. owner of the Western Herald. That son, also identified as being a military man, was connected by Kerry historian Mary Hickson to the 22nd Regiment: "Thomas Chute was a soldier in the 22nd Regiment and his visit home to his father, Pierce Chute was announced in the Kerry Evening Post on 4 December, 1839." (Source: "Chute's Western Herald", by Janet Chute.) If this Captain Thomas Chute, father of Pierce Thomas Chute, can be connected to the 22nd Regiment in his lengthy military history, this will confirm the relationship.

Colonel Pierce Thomas Chute entered the army in 1876, and was made Captain in 1885 and Major in 1896. He served in Burma from 1885-1889 (medal with two clasps). He was in the European War in command of the 8th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (1914-1915, Star, War and Victory medals). He also commanded the Depot Royal Munster Fusilliers and 101st Recruiting Area, from June 1916 - September 1918.

"Major Pierce Thomas Chute was Second-in-Command of the 1st Battalion RMF throughout the South African War of 1899-1902. He was awarded the D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order) and twice mentioned in despatches. Little is known about his life, other than he survived WW I, and by 1927 was holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel."

"Harold E. Chute, 82, of St. Joseph, died Sunday, April 22, 2001, at his home. He was the husband of Beata Brand Wolak Chute, formerly of the New Ulm area. Services are 10:30 a.m. Thursday at First Methodist Church in St. Cloud, with burial in the Lakeview Cemetery in Aitkin with military honors. Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers. Visitation is 4-8 p.m. today at Daniel Funeral Home in St. Joseph and one hour before services Thursday at the church. He is survived by his wife, Beata of St. Joseph; children and their spouses, Janet and David Czeck, Julie and Donald Schreifels, Janet and David Wells, June Anderson, Joyce Chute and Dale Cannon, Pete Chute; 11 stepchildren; 14 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and brothers, Russell and Robert. He was born June 12, 1918 in Aitkin, to H. Edward and Julia (Hoving) Chute. He married Beata Brand Wolak on Feb. 14, 1984 in St. Cloud. He served in the Navy during World War II."

Harold was the oldest of three children born to Harold Edward, Sr. and Julia (Hoving) Chute. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Eleanor Jane Johnson in 1980. Together they had six children. In 1984 he married his second wife, Beata Marie Brand Wolak.

Harold E. Chute, 82, of St. Joseph, died Sunday, April 22, 2001, at his home. He was the husband of Beata Brand Wolak Chute, formerly of the New Ulm area.

Services are 10:30 a.m. Thursday at First Methodist Church in St. Cloud, with burial in the Lakeview Cemetery in Aitkin with military honors. Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers.

Visitation is 4-8 p.m. today at Daniel Funeral Home in St. Joseph and one hour before services Thursday at the church. He is survived by his wife, Beata of St. Joseph; children and their spouses, Janet and David Czeck, Julie and Donald Schreifels, Janet and David Wells, June Anderson, Joyce Chute and Dale Cannon, Peter Chute; 11 stepchildren; 14 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and brothers, Russell and Robert. He was born June 12, 1918, in Aitkin, to H. Edward and Julia (Hoving) Chute. He married Beata Brand Wolak on Feb. 14, 1984, in St. Could. He served in the Navy during World War II.

Source: (Paragraphs 2-4) New Ulm Journal, New Ulm, MN April 25, 2001, Contributed by Betty Armstrong; Paragraph 1: See Source Reference.

Calvin was born September 5, 1926 at home on the farm near Cooperstown, Illinois and lived there until his induction into the military service and returned to live there briefly after his discharge. Calvin was born twenty-two months after LaVern. He was a large baby weighing in at thirteen pounds, LaVern had only weighed twelve pounds. I was born eighteen months after Calvin, consequently, we grew up together. And by the way, I was a small baby, I too only weighed twelve pounds. (Our mother was a diabetic which explains the excessive birth weight of us boys, I don't think mom's diabetes was known until later in her life.) I remember very little of my early childhood as it relates to Calvin. He attended all eight years of elementary school in the Cooperstown Grade School. There were only three students in his class. He was a good student and brought home good grades, he never gave the teacher or my parents any trouble. Calvin was a very mild mannered and agreeable child. In this day and age, they would say he was the typical second child. I do remember however, he and LaVern had conflict at times. I don't remember that Calvin and I ever had trouble. I remember that Calvin and I would play out under a big tree in the front yard. I also remember we would sing together, but I don't know whether we carried a tune or not. I also remember following Calvin around while he did the farm chores, feeding, milking, gathering eggs, etc., before I was old enough to do chores. While I don't remember any specifics, Calvin was probably responsible for a lot of my early development.

By the time Calvin was old enough to do manual labor, Mom's work load had increased tremendously. By the time Calvin was ten years old there were a total of nine members in the family. (Six of us boys, Mom, Dad and Grandpa Chute.) Mom desperately needed continual help in the house. Everyone assisted in many of the household chores, such as keeping the stoves fueled with wood, carrying water from the well, picking and assisting in preparing vegetables for cooking, etc., but Calvin seemed to have a larger role in the household responsibilities. He was a great help to Mom, I don't remember that he did any of the cooking, however. This is not to say that Calvin did not take part in the morning and evening chores, he did as many of the chores as anyone else. It is also true to say that Calvin took part in a lot of the field activities, planting, cultivating and harvesting. You could say that Calvin was a very busy person. On June 19, 1938, at the age of twelve, Calvin accepted the Lord in the morning worship service at the Cooperstown Baptist Church, under the preaching of Henry Spencer. LaVern and I also accepted the Lord during that morning worship service. The text of the sermon was, His Life was Bound up in the Lads Life, taken from Genesis, Chapter 44, Verse 30. Calvin has been a devout Christian all his life, he has worked in church, holding many positions of responsibility. He has been a leader and a role model for his family and all who know him. Glenna had occasions to hear words of praise of "Cal" from those who had worked with him in a company that was a competitor of the company she worked for. She stated that it made her quite proud to have an Uncle "Cal" that so many people respected and had such great regard for his honesty and integrity.

When Calvin finished grade school he entered high school in Hersman, Illinois, where LaVern was enrolled. He joined LaVern in a walk, two miles each way, to the home of Ms. Lena Fry, a teacher at Hersman High and rode the twelve miles to school with her, Calvin's performance in high school was equally as successful as it was in grade school. His grades were always above average, he participated in sports, lettering in basketball and baseball. His best sport was baseball. His position was pitcher and he done well, it was said that he might be big league material. The one thing everyone remembers about Calvin and his interest in sporting activities was that he was always throwing. Whenever he was out in the field, pasture or on the way to school he was always throwing rocks or anything else that he could find to throw. After two years at Hersman, the high school closed and all their students transferred to Mt. Sterling High School. Calvin attended his junior and Senior years at Mt. Sterling, he played on the junior varsity team in basketball and was a starting pitcher in baseball. His performance as a pitcher was quite good and on one occasion, struck out the opponents side with nine pitches, all inside curve balls. He was not known for his hitting, however he did hit the longest home run that anyone had ever seen hit on that ball field.

As soon as Calvin graduated from high school, he was drafted into military service. He went for basic training at Camp Robinson Arkansas, near Little Rock. After basic training he had a short delay en route for his overseas assignment. He traveled by train from Illinois to California, where he traveled by troop ship to Okinawa. The armistice had been signed and Okinawa was used as a prisoner of war camp. Calvin was placed in the Military Police Corps and was assigned guard duty in that camp. I'm not sure the duration of his stay there, my recollection is that it was about fifteen months. He returned home after discharge to the farm in Cooperstown where he was born and raised. The family had always gone to the Cooperstown Baptist Church but due to problems in the church we transferred our membership to the South Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Beardstown, Illinois. The family had been attending in Beardstown about six months when Calvin returned home from service. He began attending church there with the family and soon became acquainted and interested in Rosalyn Violet Fair who was a member there. After a few months they were engaged and soon were married. By this time the family had moved from Cooperstown to a farm in the river bottoms near Chambersburg, Illinois. After their marriage, they moved to a house near the family home and assisted in the farming operation.

Calvin enrolled in a Farming Training Program provided by the government for agricultural training, which was a benefit offered in the G.I. Bill, available to veterans. In about a year Calvin was hired as a farm hand on a farm near Chapin, Illinois. He was there a couple of years and when the Mrs. Tuckers Food Processing Plant opened in Jacksonville he applied and was hired to work there. He first worked in the refining department and later became a departmental mechanic in the processing department. He had moved from Chapin, first to Jacksonville then to Murrayville. In 1967 Calvin was involved in an incident at the plant that could have been disastrous. Calvin got involved when he voluntarily assisted in rescuing a fellow worker from a large tank that had caught fire. There had been a fellow worker welding inside a processing tank when fumes from the tank ignited. Calvin was on the outside of the tank when the fire began. He saw the flames and in an effort to put it out and rescue the fellow worker, he was burned on his arms, face and upper body. They were not severe burns, so he recovered quickly. I don't remember how much work he missed.

By the time he began working for Mrs. Tucker's Products, he and Rosie had four girls, Carol, Peggy, Diana and Barbara. In 1968 soon after Mom died, Calvin moved all his family but Carol to Riverside, California. Carol was married and remained in Illinois with her husband. Calvin worked in the mechanical department of a factory that manufactured cement pipe products. He worked there for several years, when he was recruited by a uniform cleaning company to take charge of their new construction operation. He assisted in building several new plants in California and Arizona and also refurbished and reconstructed others. His area of expertise was in the placement and assembling of laundry machinery and equipment. Calvin was not educated in this field, his position would normally require a mechanical engineer. Which goes to prove practical experience is as good as a degree in many cases. Calvin has had the good fortune of excellent health. He has had little sickness and no severe illnesses. I know of no injuries, other than the factory accident, except a injury to his cheek when he was a child. We were returning from church one Sunday morning, after arriving in front of our house, there was a foot race to see who could get to the house first. Calvin slipped on a patch of ice and fell into the front porch step. It caused a bruise which developed into a hard ridge on his cheek that lasted for several weeks and may account for a slight twitch of that cheek today.

Rosie has not been so fortunate health-wise for the past several years and Calvin has been a willing and consistent care giver. Three of their girls and families live nearby and they all help each other and are in close contact.

Written by Harold Glenn Chute, brother of Calvin Edward Chute, 2001.

As I Remember It: MY BROTHER - Robert Gale (August 29, 1930 - )

Written by Harold Glenn Chute

Gale was born August 29, 1930 on the same farm near Cooperstown where all us older brothers were born. He too weighed twelve pounds at birth. Gale was a rowdy and likable little kid. His hair was almost white, Aunt Marjorie nicknamed him "Cotton". I remember that Gale, as a small child, was never shy and probably fell in the category of a pest. Gale accepted the Lord at the Cooperstown Baptist Church in 1941. I remember more about growing up with Gale than with any of my other brothers, probably because I was the nearest his age and we did more things together, such as playing in the branch, ice skating, swimming, playing games like croquet, softball, hide and seek with neighbor kids. Vernon, and James Chute (Lucille's boys) and Richard and George Morrell visited many afternoons. We spent a lot of time looking for and killing snakes and ground hogs, and fighting bumble-bees' nests. I remember on one occasion when Gale and I were on the way to visit the Morrells, we walked through a cornfield and ate raw corn off the cob and we both wound up with a stomachache. On another occasion on the trip back from the Morrells, we located a bumble bees nest, hid behind a bank and threw rocks at the nest. We must not have been very well hidden because by the time we arrived home both my eyes and one of Gales were nearly swelled shut from bee stings.

Gale attended all eight years of elementary school at Cooperstown, he made good grades and was well liked in school. He started his freshman year Mt. Sterling High School where I was a junior. I drove a Model "A" Ford to school and took liberties in using the car, those liberties did not meet with Gale's approval and probably would not have meet my parents approval. Liberties such as driving up town at lunch time with about fifteen kids hanging onto the car and driving to Mt. Sterling Lake, etc. He would continually threaten to tell on me. We had the usual sibling rivalry that most have at that age. Gale did not do well in sports at Mt. Sterling; there was a lot of competition. He also did not take to high school very well, especially his freshman and sophomore years. His grades were very low and he failed a class or two. We moved to Chambersburg in 1947, he attended his last two years of high school there. His grades improved tremendously, to As and B's. There was only 37 students in the Chambersburg High School, he played baseball and basketball and did quite well. The school was very competitive with other schools in the conference, so evidently he had what it took once he got going.

Gale graduated high school in 1948 and started working for James Crawford, the largest farmer in the area. The fall after graduation he began working at a local service station in Chambersburg. By this time the Korean War was in full swing. I had joined the Illinois Infantry National Guard located in Beardstown and Gale joined that same unit. We attended weekly guard meetings and the next two summers we went to Wisconsin for a two-week training period. I transferred to the 170th Fighter Squadron of the Illinois Air National Guard in Springfield, Illinois in 1951. In February the unit was called into active duty, effective March 15. At this time Marion had also joined the Infantry guard located in Beardstown. Gale and Marion both transferred to the 170th Air Guard with me and we reported for active service on March 15, 1951. Gale's duty was in food service. His entire Air Force active duty was in food service. He started as a potato peeler and within fifteen months he was a cook. Our active duty was served at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas and from there to George Air Force Base in Victorville, California. After 16 months the Korean War had ended and all members of our unit was offered a discharge at the convenience of the Government.

After discharge Gale returned home to Chambersburg, Illinois and again began to work in the local community. He worked at the same service station and for local farmers. Gale became acquainted with Jocelyn (Bonnie) Yvonne Ransom, who lived in Meredosia. They were married in the fall of 1952 and lived in Meredosia as newlyweds. Within the first four years of their marriage Gale and Bonnie had three children, Bobby, Steve and Eddie.

Mrs. Tuckers Food Products had built a processing plant in Jacksonville and opened for business in the winter of 1952. I began to work there in March of 1953. Gale and Marion both applied for employment, Marion was hired right away, and in the fall of 1953 when the plant became operational and products were being produced, Gale was hired as a truck driver. He hauled products throughout the Midwest and into the south. Gale was involved in a very serious trucking accident in the summer of 1954. He and another truck were returning from delivery in Missouri, when Gale fell asleep at the wheel and ran into the back of the lead truck. His tractor ran completely under the back of the lead truck and the tractor was totally destroyed. Gale awoke just before impact and realizing that he could not stop, attempted to jump from the truck. He had just gotten the door open and was in the process of jumping when the impact occurred. The only part of the cab of the truck that was not reduced to head high rubble, was the door. His head and shoulders went through the door and prevented him from a full on body impact. The impact speed was estimated to be 60 MPH. His only injury was a bruised right lower leg, which did not require treatment. At this time I was the night supervisor of the finished products department working from midnight to eight in the morning. I slept during the day and about four in the afternoon, I awoke from a sound sleep, set straight up in bed and knew something had happened to Gale. That evening I learned of the accident.

In 1969 Gale and Bonnie suffered a tragedy in their family. Their oldest son Bobby was killed in an automobile accident. Bobby was in the Air Force and was on the way home from Chanute Field, lost control of his car during inclement weather, swerved into the lane of an oncoming car and was struck broad side at high speed. Bobby was killed instantly.

In the mid-70's Gale and Bonnie moved to Riverside, California. Gale was employed atthe same factory where Calvin worked. Gale worked in the maintenance department and was elected shop steward of their union. He bought a house and a fifth wheel travel trailer and he and Bonnie vacationed through out the west for several years. Gale retired in 1993 and he and Bonnie moved back to Meredosia and took up life as they left it in 1954. They bought a lot and a new doublewide mobile home and set up permanent residence in Meredosia. Gale became self-employed, roofing buildings, building small buildings, constructing fences and many other small construction projects in the community. His work was quite popular and probably kept a retired guy too busy.

Then, in 1997 Bonnie was diagnosed with cancer. She was hospitalized for treatment; her condition improved to the extent that she was going to be moved to a nursing home in Jacksonville. The day prior to her being moved she had a stroke and died. (We have learned that the chemo treatments can cause strokes and death.) Gale continued to live in Meredosia and to pursue his work as usual. In 1998 Gale married Jan Young. Gale and Jan had been acquainted for many years and in fact had been related by marriage early in their life. Jan had been married to Bonnie's brother as a young woman, had divorced him and been remarried for a number of years. Her husband had died not long before Bonnie's death. Jan lived in Jacksonville and after their marriage Gale moved into Jan's home.

Gale had the good fortune of being strong and healthy all these years. When Gale was about fifteen years of age he suffered a broken leg, the event was very unusual. The lane running to our house was very narrow, with steep banks covered with brush. When grandpa thought the brush was hanging too far into the roadway, he would take his knife and cut the branches back, leaving sharp ends pointing toward the road. I was driving the pickup truck, Gale was riding on the running board. When we came to the narrowest place in the lane, the sharp end of a limb stuck Gale in the side, he had no place to go but off the truck. The bank was steep and when he lit on the bank, his leg slid under the truck wheel and I ran over him. I believe his broken leg was the only broken bone in the family.

In the fall of 1999, Gale's gall bladder was removed. In January 2000, they discovered colon cancer, with concerns for spots on his liver. His cancer operation occurred in early February, received good news that all the cancer had been removed and the spots on his liver was not cancerous. However, by fall he was having trouble and discovered that cancer had reappeared in the lower spine and he would need twelve months of low dosage radium treatments. He was into those treatments two or three months when Jan was rushed to the hospital and had quadruple heart by-pass. She has recuperated well and as of the new year 2001 they are both doing well.

Obituary, Jocelyn Yvonne ("Bonnie") Ransom Chute

Jocelyn (�Bonnie�) Chute, 60, of Meredosia died Wednesday at Memorial Medical Center. Survivors: husband, Gale; two sons, Steve Chute of Meredosia and Edward Chute of Riverside, Calif., seven grandchildren; two brothers, Stanley and Roland Ransom, both of Meredosia and two half sisters, Mrs. Harvey (Norma Jean) Davis od Dawson and Mrs. Henry (Louise) Dunlap of Denver, Colo. Service 2 p.m. Saturday, Schaefer-Cody Funeral Home, Meredosia. Burial: Oakland Cemetery, Meredosia.

Source: "The State Journal-Register", Springfield, Illinois, 17 JAN 1997

"Born in Boxford, Mass., Sept. 8, 1778; married Dorothy, daughter of Benjamin Pearson, Oct. 17, 1805; was a farmer and a man of integrity; lived near the Byfield meetinghouse, Newbury; he was also captain of militia. He died at St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 24, 1820, after which the family moved to Newburyport, where the widow died May 9, 1870, aged eighty-six; nearly fifty years a widow."

Source: Chute, William Edward. A Genealogy and History of the Chute Family in America: With Some Account of the Family in Great Britain and Ireland, with an Account of Forty Allied Families Gathered from the Most Authentic Sources. Salem, Massachusetts, 1894. Page 74.

"439+ Richard (Chute), b. Sept. 3, 177S; m. Dorothy Pearson."

Source: Thurston, Brown, 1635-1892: Thurston Genealogies, Second Edition. Brown Thurston, Portland, Maine. 1892. Page 40

"Richard Chute, impelled by the Byfield spirit of enterprise and probably the needs of his family, went forth from the old Chute house by the church, somewhere between 1816 and 1820 with a brother, each with a load of shoes whose pegs had been toilsomely whittled out by hand. His brother went to Evansville, Ind., but he pushed on to St. Louis. He never came back but died in St. Louis, October 24, 1820, leaving a widow and five young children. The widow was of good Byfield stock - Dorothy Pearson, aunt of the late Benjamin Pearson, and she reared her family respectably and well, one, Ariel Parish, to become the well known preacher, another, Benjamin P., to be a teacher more than forty years, both college graduates."

Source: The Story of Byfield, John Louis Ewell. Page 235.

When we were small my brother Charles and I used to go to our grandfather's house in Newburyport for short visits. One of the delights of these visits was our great Uncle Benjamin Pearson Chute. He had come in his old age to live with his brother, Andrew Chute, who was our grandfather. Uncle Ben had a little downstairs bedroom full of books and papers, for he had been a literary man, a teacher all his life. He was a great talker and a natural born story teller, very willing to be cajolled into entertaining us small fry by tales of his early life. He had lost much of his memory for the present, it kept slipping away, but Oh, how well he could remember the past! He loved to talk of it and we adored listening. We would both try to climb on his lap, pull his chin whiskers or his thick mop of white hair and tease for a story. Those bright blue eyes of his were very merry and jolly. Come to think of it, my brother, Charles, who often sat curled up contentedly in Uncle Ben's arms while he talked, had, in his maturer years, the same mop of silvery white hair and the same bright blue eyes.

One day when we children had been pestering Uncle Ben for a story, he took Charles on his knee and had me sit on a hassock at his feet and told us a story - true story, he said - about his father Richard called Dick and Dorothy, his wife. It went something like this:

"I was only four years old, but I remember one morning running as fast as my legs would carry me, all the time waving my arms and shouting "goodbye" to my father. My brothers were way ahead of me, and behind me in the kitchen doorway of the farmhouse, my mother stood wiping her eyes. From her cot bed by the window, sister Betsy's little face peeped out (Betsy was crippled by a bad back and could not walk or run). All of us were watching a wagon moving slowly out of the drive and along the road. Father walked beside the oxen, turning back again and again to wave his hand and call "goodbye". But soon the team rounded a bend in the road and was lost to sight. We boys turned back and joined our mother, all of us very sober and tearful.

This happened long ago, to be exact in the early spring of 1820. Richard, or Dick Chute, my father, who was leaving his family that sunny morning was starting on the long, hard trip from his farm in Newbury, Massachusetts to St. Louis, Missouri. His wagon held not only his bedroll and food for the trip but a big load of shoes, shoes he had made himself. He was a farmer, his land being near the Byfield meeting house in the township of Newbury on the Merrimac River in northeastern Massachusetts. To eke out his living on the small stony farm, he made shoes during the winter months. He had a little workshop in the corner of the barn and there cut and sewed his shoes. Most of them were big, heavy boots needed by frontiersmen for which there was a ready market in the West.

He was leaving behind on the farm his wife, Dorothy, who was a very smart and energetic young woman. They had five children. Alex, the oldest, was 14, Betsy, the invalid, 10, and the three very active younger boys Ariel, Andy, and Benny were 12, 6, and 4 years old, respectively. Dick knew his wife would be quite capable with the boys' help of carrying on alone until time to plough and plant. He had arranged with a neighbor to do that heavy work, because he knew he could not possibly return until early autumn.

The family needed money so badly. The year before, Father had sent his load of shoes by a wagon train and he had never heard from them or received his pay. This year he must have money for tax, installment on the mortgage, and other necessities. The farm supplied their food and fuel - that was about all. It was for this reason he felt he must go himself to St. Louis with his shoes. He would join a train of wagoners when he reached the main road West.

At the time he left us he was only forty-two, just a young man in the prime of life. But he never came back to his home and family, for somewhere along the way West he caught typhoid fever and died. In those days pasteurized milk was unknown. The wells, from which came drinking water, were often contaminated. A drink of water from such a well along the roadside or milk bought from some dirty barn could quickly cause typhoid, and many people in those days died from this cause.

For a long time my mother waited for Father's return. Summer passed, September, also October and still no word from him. She felt sure he must be nearly home. Every day she watched the road, hoping to see the ox team plodding toward her bringing home my dear father to his family. We boys talked constantly of things we had to tell him - what we had done during the summer. In November came a letter. It had been a long time on the road. It contained the sad news of Father's death. Enclosed in the letter were a few bills, all the money that was left from the sale of oxen, wagon and shoes after expenses of sickness and death were paid.

Mother, stunned at first by the news, soon pulled herself together as was necessary because of the situation in which she found herself. She was a widow with five children, no money, no property except the farm. What should she do to keep them all alive and well? Besides, she must educate her boys. With characteristic strength she applied herself to her problem. Alex was old enough to fend for himself very soon. He could get a job, for he was a very big boy for his age, already a husky young man. But she must earn money herself to care for Betsey and the three small boys.

At this time in 1820, factories were being built along the Merrimac River which supplied plenty of water power. A boarding house near a factory might be her answer, she thought. It would provide a home, food, and money, perhaps enough for the boys' education. She decided she would sell her farm and buy or rent a big house for boarders near a factory. Luckily, she did sell the farm right away and with the money bought a big house in Laurence, Massachusetts. Girls were coming in from farms eager to earn cash money by working in the mills instead of just earning board, room, and a few dollars a month on the farm. Dorothy had no trouble finding boarders. She filled her house with these farm girls out to get rich in the factories. Betsey from her cot in the kitchen helped accounts. The three boys went to public school and ran errands. Later Dorothy moved to Newburyport and for many years kept a large boarding house there.

She prospered as time went on and was able to accomplish part of her ambition. She saw two of her boys, Ariel and Ben, graduate from Bowdoin College in Maine. But her wish to give to her country trained preachers was not entirely granted. Ariel did go through Andover Theological Seminary after his graduation from college and for some years held a pastorate near Boston. But later he felt he could not subscribe any longer to the strict creeds of the church of his day. He gave up the ministry, moved his family to Sharon, Massachusetts, and he himself was Custom House manager of the Port of Boston for the rest of his life. Ariel had five children. His son, your father's cousin Dick, gave heed to the cry of those times, "Go West, young man", and became a prosperous lumber man in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Well, I never wanted to be a preacher. I had my heart set on being a teacher, and that's what I was all my long life. First I was teacher in several New England academies. When slavery became the burning question of the day, I took it up and became an ardent abolitionist speaking and writing in behalf of the oppressed black people. After the Civil War, my New England conscience could not endure thoughts of the deplorable condition of the mass of freed slaves in the South. I simply had to do something about it myself, so I gave up my comfortable job and went south to Alabama to gather a school full of black people and teach them. But of course feeling was running so high all over the South that one northerner should come down and start teaching "niggers" to read was intolerable. I was ostracized and ill treated to such an extent that my health was ruined. I had to give up. I went out west to some of my relatives, found a teaching job in Wichita, Kansas and other places till as an old man I came back here to Newburyport to live with my brother Andrew, your grandfather.

Someday I'll tell you some stories about him because you should know about his early life. But don't forget this story of your great-grandfather, Dick. I was only four years old but I remember it perfectly. I watched my father go away with his ox team. I never saw him again.

But Dorothy, my mother, lived to be a very old lady of eighty-six, always bright and active till the end of her life. The adjective which has always been applied to her is indomitable. And so she was, the indomitable Dorothy Pearson Chute, your great-grandmother.

The information compiled is sketchy and incomplete, and is still being researched. The name Frederick George Chute was mentioned as a possible connection to Mary Eileen Chute Scheider, and may have been her father. This information is still being researched, and should not be considered accurate until verified. The researcher believes that Mary Eileen Chute Scheider was sent to live with relatives in Chiltern, Victoria, Australia for a number of years before marrying Tasman Gordon Anderson. There may also be a connection with Baron Von Meuller, the famous botonist who worked in Australia, although the connection between the Chute and Von Meuller familes is uncertain.

Samuel Arthur Chute worked as an operator for Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp, in their shipping department, and was in the United States Navy during World War I.

According to Cindy Viator, descendant of George Tupper Alexander Chute through Callie Howell, his date of birth was 16 MAY 1845.

Correspondence, Margaret MacRae Chute to George M. Chute, Jr.

Please excuse my tardiness in answering your letter. I misplaced it when we had painters working here.

The following is the information for which you asked:

"Oscar Moody Chute, 92, an Evanston elementary school administrator who spearheaded the city's efforts to voluntarily desegregate classes, died Sunday, Jan. 7 in Evanston Hospital of complications related to pneumonia.

At a tumultuous time when few were willing to challenge the status quo, Mr. Chute was able to get integration started in District 65," Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton said.

Morton, who called Mr. Chute her mentor, was one of the first African-American teachers Mr. Chute assigned to a school staffed by white educators in 1957.

"It was a time of societal unrest, but he was a classy guy and he was able to go on quietly about it ... He was always ready to bring the newest in education to Evanston," Morton said.

Another black teacher from Mississippi told the Pioneer Press newspaper in 1992 that she was nervous about teaching in an all-white school. But the woman said her anxiety disappeared when Mr. Chute came to her classroom in September 1959 and told her to have a good day and a good year.

"I had both," the teacher told the newspaper.

Mr. Chute became superintendent of the former Evanston School District 75 in 1946. A year later, he was named superintendent of Evanston/Skokie Elementary School District 65, a merger of Districts 75 and 76.

During his 20-year tenure, he helped the district garner voter support for seven new schools and seven additions to older facilities.

When Mr. Chute left the district in 1966, Chute Middle School in Evanston was named after him.

Mr. Chute later was interim president of the National College of Education, now National Louis University, in the 1970s.

Though he retired from elementary education after more than three decades, Mr. Chute remained a fixture on District 65's campus; often visiting with children. Even when he became seriously ill and unable to walk last year, he still mingled with the students.

"He was just so warm and accepting of children," said Tom Sprengelmeyer, a 7th-grade teacher at Chute School.

Mr. Chute also helped beautify and improve Evanston. One of the major projects he helped establish was the Ladd Arboretum.

"Not only was he a magnificent educator, but he was also concerned about the community," Morton said.

For the winter holidays, Mr. Chute, the son of a candymaker, would spend his days in the kitchen making hand-dipped chocolates that he would deliver.

"His Christmas list would grow longer and longer every year," daughter Allison Waitley said.

Mr. Chute, one of eight children, was born in Salem, Mass. He married Margaret, his late wife, while in his mid-20s.

Mr. Chute earned a bachelor of science degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, in 1929. He earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1934 and a doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1946.

Besides his daughter, survivors include three grandsons and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Chute Middle School, 1400 Oakton St., Evanston.

A memorial, service for Oscar M. Chute, a longtime resident of Evanston and former superintendent of Evanston-Skokie School District 65 is set for 2:30 p.m. Jan. 13 a Chute Middle School, 1400 Oakton St. Dr. Chute died Jan. 7 at Evanston Hospital. He was 92.

A distinguished scholar and academic administrator, Dr. Chute served as assistant superintendent of School District 75 in Evanston in 1946. It was Dr. Chute who formulated the plans for the desegregation of the schools and assumed the superintendency one year later when districts 75 and 76 were combined to form District 65. He served as superintendent until 1966.

Upon direction from the Board of Education, Dr. Chute formed a committee of widely representative community and educational leaders to integrate the schools. The transition under his leadership was smooth. Also during his tenure, the community voted funds to build seven new schools, replace one and make additions to seven other buildings.

Upon his retirement, Dr. Chute was recognized for his contributions to the community by naming Chute Middle School in his honor. Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton, a former teacher and principal in District 65, recalled that Dr. Chute was a man of "great class and great foresight" who constantly was 'exposing his teaching staff to innovations in education.'

"He was superintendent at a time when our school district. was known for its excellence in education," said Morton, whom Dr. Chute hired in 1953. She recalled that he had a wonderful relationship with Northwestern University and arranged for teachers in districts 65 and 202 to take courses and workshops through the school.

"The point was to have teachers from both school districts' taking the same courses," she noted.

Dr. Chute also had a special knack for bringing teachers and principals on board with new ideas, so that teacher training and implementation ran smoothly, she said. "By the time you got done doing what he wanted you to do, you would 'think ' it was your idea," Morton said.

The late superintendent's role in desegregating the Evanston school system should not be overlooked, said Morton, who became the first black classroom teacher assigned to a previously all white faculty under his leadership in 1957. "It was Dr. Chute who formulated the plans for the desegregation of the schools, and it was he who started the desegregation process of moving (African-American) teachers into schools" other than the all-black Foster School, said the mayor.

"He really responded to societal changes," Morton said, noting that he brought in wide range of reading materials to reflect those changes.

Born Nov. 16, 1908, in Salem, Mass., Dr. Chute received a bachelor of Science degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, a master's in education from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Illinois. He also received honorary doctorates from Colby College and National College of Education (now National-Louis University) in Evanston, where he served as interim president in 1972.

After his retirement, Dr. Chute continued to serve Evanston as a member and a leader of many civic organizations. He also was a member of many national educational organizations. Dr. Chute also lectured world-wide.

Many of Dr. Chute's friends enjoyed his gifts of hand-dipped chocolates and the retired educator's many tales of fishing.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret. Survivors include his daughter, Allison (Alan S.) Waitley; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

District 65's current superintendent, Hardy Ray Murphy Jr., said Monday that "in keeping with Dr. Chute's generous spirit and dedication to education," he has been working with District 65 and National Louis University in recent months to establish a foundation to support the training of early childhood educators.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Oscar M. Chute Foundation for Early Childhood Training, c/o R. Lockwood, Bank One, 1603 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201.

On November 19, 1993, Oscar Chute '29 became a great-grandfather. To mark the occasion, Mr. Chute sent the newcomer a note: "Dear Scott, You came into this world naked but you are not broke."