Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
NameJohn D. CHAMBERS 
23, p G26; no middle initial,2077
23, p G26; no middle initial,2077Birth20 Aug 1894, Ohio2184, place only,2185
Death27 Dec 1981, Medina, Medina, Ohio2185, month, year & county only,2186 Age: 87
MemoDeath residence zip: 44273
NicknameUncle John2181
FatherWilliam Slemmons CHAMBERS (1851-1935)
MotherElla Eugenia HYDE (1856-)
Individual Notes
• Frances married a prosperous fruit farmer.2077
• In the meantime, John Chambers, her eventual husband, started buddying up to my Dad and his twin, Bill, although John Chambers was much older (Daddy and Bill were about 7 or 8 or 10 when they left Seville for Sandusky). Chambers would play ball with the boys and taught them both to drive his truck, tractor and car when they were still in the grades. The year Fanny was to return to Seville from California, Chambers started building himself an enormous house on Seville Pike, with the help of his many brothers, two of which were "slow," and about whom John Chambers would say they were "halfwits." Anyway, when Fanny got home from California, who should appear but Sam Medina, the Italian (but born in this country) to court Fanny. Grandfather Walter Hay got out his shotgun and met Sam on the porch and suggested he should not be coming around again. John Chambers was hanging around with the boys in the yard. Then Grandfather put John Chambers in charge of escorting Fanny here and there and to be on the lookout for the no-good Sam Medina. John Chambers, on the first Sunday after Fanny got home, asked Grandfather to take her buggy-riding out to see his new house. (He always drove a big gas-guzzling Buick, so the buggy-ride must have been a ruse so he could have more time with her.) When she saw the house, she asked him why he built such a large house--it had 6 bedrooms on the second floor, and he told her he wanted to impress her so she would marry him. He didn't have the looks, but he had the bucks, and a bit of good-humored chutzpa. He was the largest fruit farmer in Medina County. After they married, he took Aunt Fanny out to Saturday night dinner every week, come rain or shine.2180
• Uncle John built the most lovely genteel house for Aunt Fanny before they were married. It had wrap-around porches outside, plus a back kitchen porch where Aunt Fanny and I would sit and snap beans in the summer. Inside the front door, guests were greeted by a wonderful side hallway, with the staircase sitting to the right and sweeping upstairs into an equally large hallway, with the bedrooms off the hall. They had parquet floors, beautiful moldings, built-in china cabinets. There was a maid's staircase that led down to the kitchen. They had a butler's pantry, and Aunt Fanny had quite a collection of beautiful china and lovely things. I think she picked up her taste for fine things being squired about in California by Cousin Louise when she lived out there. She probably wrote to John from California and described all of the Redington accoutrements in detail, and meeting those likes kept him and his brothers busy for most of a winter!2181
• John Chambers was 4 or 5 years older than Aunt Fanny. While he tended to make fun of her taste in "long-hair" music, he always saw to it that she had the latest Magnavox hi-fidelity record player, and built an antenna for her so that she could hear Karl Haas on the radio --I don't remember if he broadcast from Detroit or Ann Arbor, but the Earth stopped in our family every time his "Adventures in Good Music" came on, whether in Fanny's house or our house.2181
• Alice recounts that her father, John Chambers, owned the largest farm in Guilford Township, Seville, Ohio, and that his family attended the same church in Seville as did Walter and Alice Hay.2182
• In the meantime, John Chambers, her eventual husband, started buddying up to my Dad and his twin, Bill, although John Chambers was much older (Daddy and Bill were about 7 or 8 or 10 when they left Seville for Sandusky). Chambers would play ball with the boys and taught them both to drive his truck, tractor and car when they were still in the grades. The year Fanny was to return to Seville from California, Chambers started building himself an enormous house on Seville Pike, with the help of his many brothers, two of which were "slow," and about whom John Chambers would say they were "halfwits." Anyway, when Fanny got home from California, who should appear but Sam Medina, the Italian (but born in this country) to court Fanny. Grandfather Walter Hay got out his shotgun and met Sam on the porch and suggested he should not be coming around again. John Chambers was hanging around with the boys in the yard. Then Grandfather put John Chambers in charge of escorting Fanny here and there and to be on the lookout for the no-good Sam Medina. John Chambers, on the first Sunday after Fanny got home, asked Grandfather to take her buggy-riding out to see his new house. (He always drove a big gas-guzzling Buick, so the buggy-ride must have been a ruse so he could have more time with her.) When she saw the house, she asked him why he built such a large house--it had 6 bedrooms on the second floor, and he told her he wanted to impress her so she would marry him. He didn't have the looks, but he had the bucks, and a bit of good-humored chutzpa. He was the largest fruit farmer in Medina County. After they married, he took Aunt Fanny out to Saturday night dinner every week, come rain or shine.2180
• Uncle John built the most lovely genteel house for Aunt Fanny before they were married. It had wrap-around porches outside, plus a back kitchen porch where Aunt Fanny and I would sit and snap beans in the summer. Inside the front door, guests were greeted by a wonderful side hallway, with the staircase sitting to the right and sweeping upstairs into an equally large hallway, with the bedrooms off the hall. They had parquet floors, beautiful moldings, built-in china cabinets. There was a maid's staircase that led down to the kitchen. They had a butler's pantry, and Aunt Fanny had quite a collection of beautiful china and lovely things. I think she picked up her taste for fine things being squired about in California by Cousin Louise when she lived out there. She probably wrote to John from California and described all of the Redington accoutrements in detail, and meeting those likes kept him and his brothers busy for most of a winter!2181
• John Chambers was 4 or 5 years older than Aunt Fanny. While he tended to make fun of her taste in "long-hair" music, he always saw to it that she had the latest Magnavox hi-fidelity record player, and built an antenna for her so that she could hear Karl Haas on the radio --I don't remember if he broadcast from Detroit or Ann Arbor, but the Earth stopped in our family every time his "Adventures in Good Music" came on, whether in Fanny's house or our house.2181
• Alice recounts that her father, John Chambers, owned the largest farm in Guilford Township, Seville, Ohio, and that his family attended the same church in Seville as did Walter and Alice Hay.2182
Census
• 1900 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 5, b OH. Parents b OH.2184
• 1910 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 16, b OH. Parents b OH.2187
• 1920 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 25, b OH. Single. Manager, Warehouse. Parents b OH. Living with parents.2188
• 1930 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 34, b OH. Farmer; Fruit. Parents b OH.2183
• 1910 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 16, b OH. Parents b OH.2187
• 1920 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 25, b OH. Single. Manager, Warehouse. Parents b OH. Living with parents.2188
• 1930 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 34, b OH. Farmer; Fruit. Parents b OH.2183
Spouses
Birth22 Sep 1899, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut36, p 11; letter dated 22 Mar 1901,2138, month, year & place only,2077
MemoShe is 18 months old today. (Ref. 6)
Death16 Feb 1973, Medina, Medina, Ohio2179,2077,2130, date only Age: 73
NicknameAunt Fanny2077
FatherWalter Noble HAY (1870-1936)
MotherMara Alice LEATON (1877-1955)
Individual Notes
• Walter and Alice and little Frannie came here the 20th of December to spend the holidays. Frannie was taken sick and for four weeks she was at death’s door. Two physicians gave her up. We were all worn out with anxiety and watching and now she seems as well as ever. She is 18 months old today. I think they froze her almost to death taking her out in the severest weather an hour at a time - but she had a showy cap and lovely white fur robes which was all show instead of warmth and she came down with inflammation of lungs, stomach and bowels. Oh, such a sick child. We had such an excellent Dr. often staying with her all night. Well I hope they will not repeat it, if they do they will have no Frannie.36, p 11, lines 477-484
• [excerpts] It is interesting to me how the family traditions continued, of keeping a close watch over the daughters. Walter Hay, my grandfather, was overly protective of his daughter, my Aunt Fanny. The story was re-told, a thousand times, how, when Fanny finished high school, she was sent out to California (about 1917) to stay with Cousin Louise, and help her with the care of Bill Hewlett, who was 4, and a handful. She stayed for 3 years, until age 21. Aunt Fanny told me herself that she was never out of the site of a female chaperone, and that they took her around California to see the Spanish historical sites, to art museums, hear concerts, and introduce her to the finer things of life, which she loved. The reason behind the trip was that Sam Medina (pronounced Ma deena, and not Ma dinah, like the county that bears his family name--and Seville is now in Medina County and not Wayne Co. as it was 100 years ago--) who was a music teacher, college educated, and very Italian Catholic, came courting Aunt Fanny and she liked him. Grandfather Walter had Fanny on the next train to San Francisco!
After they married, he took Aunt Fanny out to Saturday night dinner every week, come rain or shine. I used to go for a long visit down to the farm every summer. She always wore dresses and stockings, no matter how hot it was. When she came to Sandusky to visit us, usually for Sunday Dinner, I recall she always chose to sit in a straight-back chair. "I prefer a straight chair," she would say. Aunt Ada and Cousin Louise taught her it was better for her posture to sit in a straight-back chair instead of schlumping in an easy chair. I can see her now, sitting with her knees together, ankles crossed and slightly to the side, her hands quietly resting in her lap. She taught me that a lady never crosses her legs. She didn't "put on airs" like Elizabeth O'Brien, but was just genteel, in the most lovely, quiet way. She got John Chambers to drink his coffee out of a china cup instead of a mug!2180
• We were close with Fanny and John. Once a month, Daddy would take his mother to Seville, and Fanny would keep her for a week, and then Fanny would bring her back and stay over, as Seville was about 2 hours away. We had "Sunday Dinner"--the long drawn-out ordeal that kids hate--twice a month, once at Fanny's and once at our home. Fanny had that dinner on the table at 1:00 P.M. and you could set your watch by it. My mother, a much younger woman, with artistic temperament (the trophy wife for my dad!) had a more leisurely approach, but you could see Uncle John taking the sneaky looks at his pocket watch as the dial eased down toward 1:30 P.M.2181
• Alice recounts that her mother Fanny, was courted by Sam Masi of Medina, not Sam Medina, of Medina, as I [previously] told you. Alice says that Sam Masi became a coach in a local high school, that he was quite handsome, but swarthy and "foreign-looking" and "our family didn't 'do' foreign." She recalls being told that Sam Masi was run off twice with a shotgun: one time he came courting to the front door, and Grandpa Hay greeted him with the shotgun and ordered him not to come around again. Alice believes that her mother continued to flirt with Sam, and that Sam, undaunted by Grandpa Hay's brandishing of the shotgun, waited until Grandpa was out of town, and tried to crawl into Fanny's second-floor bedroom window of the house in Seville, using a ladder. The family heard some noise outside, and our Grandmother Hay greeted Sam with a shotgun to his forehead when his face appeared at the open window on the second floor. Shortly thereafter Fanny was shipped out to California. Alice says that years later, Sam Masi appeared suddenly showed up at the house where Fanny now lived with her husband John Chambers, and his appearance caused "quite a bit of consternation in the family." Alice said that her Dad was terribly jealous of Sam Masi, and just the mention of Sam's name would get a rise out of John Chambers.2182
• [excerpts] It is interesting to me how the family traditions continued, of keeping a close watch over the daughters. Walter Hay, my grandfather, was overly protective of his daughter, my Aunt Fanny. The story was re-told, a thousand times, how, when Fanny finished high school, she was sent out to California (about 1917) to stay with Cousin Louise, and help her with the care of Bill Hewlett, who was 4, and a handful. She stayed for 3 years, until age 21. Aunt Fanny told me herself that she was never out of the site of a female chaperone, and that they took her around California to see the Spanish historical sites, to art museums, hear concerts, and introduce her to the finer things of life, which she loved. The reason behind the trip was that Sam Medina (pronounced Ma deena, and not Ma dinah, like the county that bears his family name--and Seville is now in Medina County and not Wayne Co. as it was 100 years ago--) who was a music teacher, college educated, and very Italian Catholic, came courting Aunt Fanny and she liked him. Grandfather Walter had Fanny on the next train to San Francisco!
After they married, he took Aunt Fanny out to Saturday night dinner every week, come rain or shine. I used to go for a long visit down to the farm every summer. She always wore dresses and stockings, no matter how hot it was. When she came to Sandusky to visit us, usually for Sunday Dinner, I recall she always chose to sit in a straight-back chair. "I prefer a straight chair," she would say. Aunt Ada and Cousin Louise taught her it was better for her posture to sit in a straight-back chair instead of schlumping in an easy chair. I can see her now, sitting with her knees together, ankles crossed and slightly to the side, her hands quietly resting in her lap. She taught me that a lady never crosses her legs. She didn't "put on airs" like Elizabeth O'Brien, but was just genteel, in the most lovely, quiet way. She got John Chambers to drink his coffee out of a china cup instead of a mug!2180
• We were close with Fanny and John. Once a month, Daddy would take his mother to Seville, and Fanny would keep her for a week, and then Fanny would bring her back and stay over, as Seville was about 2 hours away. We had "Sunday Dinner"--the long drawn-out ordeal that kids hate--twice a month, once at Fanny's and once at our home. Fanny had that dinner on the table at 1:00 P.M. and you could set your watch by it. My mother, a much younger woman, with artistic temperament (the trophy wife for my dad!) had a more leisurely approach, but you could see Uncle John taking the sneaky looks at his pocket watch as the dial eased down toward 1:30 P.M.2181
• Alice recounts that her mother Fanny, was courted by Sam Masi of Medina, not Sam Medina, of Medina, as I [previously] told you. Alice says that Sam Masi became a coach in a local high school, that he was quite handsome, but swarthy and "foreign-looking" and "our family didn't 'do' foreign." She recalls being told that Sam Masi was run off twice with a shotgun: one time he came courting to the front door, and Grandpa Hay greeted him with the shotgun and ordered him not to come around again. Alice believes that her mother continued to flirt with Sam, and that Sam, undaunted by Grandpa Hay's brandishing of the shotgun, waited until Grandpa was out of town, and tried to crawl into Fanny's second-floor bedroom window of the house in Seville, using a ladder. The family heard some noise outside, and our Grandmother Hay greeted Sam with a shotgun to his forehead when his face appeared at the open window on the second floor. Shortly thereafter Fanny was shipped out to California. Alice says that years later, Sam Masi appeared suddenly showed up at the house where Fanny now lived with her husband John Chambers, and his appearance caused "quite a bit of consternation in the family." Alice said that her Dad was terribly jealous of Sam Masi, and just the mention of Sam's name would get a rise out of John Chambers.2182
Census
• 1900 Census: Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan. Age 8/12ths, b Sep 1899, CT. Parents b IL.2138
• 1910 Census: Seville, Medina, Ohio. Age 10, b CT. Parents b IL.2139
• 1920 Census: Seville, Medina, Ohio. Age 20, b CT. Single. Parents b IL.2140
• 1920 Census: San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Age 20, b CT. Father b OH; mother b MO. Niece in household of Ada Redington.2170
• 1930 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 30, b MA. Father b IL; mother b MO.2183
• 1910 Census: Seville, Medina, Ohio. Age 10, b CT. Parents b IL.2139
• 1920 Census: Seville, Medina, Ohio. Age 20, b CT. Single. Parents b IL.2140
• 1920 Census: San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Age 20, b CT. Father b OH; mother b MO. Niece in household of Ada Redington.2170
• 1930 Census: Guilford, Medina, Ohio. Age 30, b MA. Father b IL; mother b MO.2183
Marriage30 Aug 1922, Seville, Medina, Ohio23, p G26; year and place only,2146
Marr MemoPresbyterian Church
ChildrenAlice Louise (1924-)
(Private)
(Private)