More on Jane Chandler Rogers

Jane's marker in Citizen's Cemetery in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, TN, just gives her name as Jane Chandler and "wife of Spencer C. Rogers." There are no dates, but somehow Ancestry trees say she died in 1855.

Oh I just discovered that looking at her children's lives may give more information about her.
We had 2 daughter's death certificates naming her as their mother. Today I found a son, Arthur C. Rogers' death certificate.

 Sloppy writing and poor transcription leaves this record in the files as T. C. Rogers as his father. But it's also possible it was S. C. Rogers.  Jane Chandler was transcribed correctly.

But before going into her children's lives, I think it would be best to start with her siblings.  Let's see what Ancestry has to offer.

Lecretia Chandler b.1812 in Knox County TN, m. Wm.P. Ailes, d. 1867 Claiborn County TN

Malvina Chandler b. 1813, m. James Henderson 1830, m.2 Andrew Jackson Chambers, 1860, life long member of the Jones Chapel Baptist Church, where there is a record of Malvina Chambers death 15 Jul 1869...though her grave is unknown.

Benjamin Chandler

Benjamin Chandler b. 1814.Boyds Creek, Seveir County TN, m Catherine Newell, d. 1877, Escambia County FL (Pensacola area.) For some reason I had copied from another tree after his name (McCroskey?)  There are families of McCroskeys with Rogers ancestors still living in Sevier County TN. I don't understand why a Chandler would be considered related though. AH, as I looked into the families of some Chandlers I found that William and Mary Chandler had a daughter who married a McCroskey.

Jane Chandler Rogers comes next in birth order.

Bartley McGhee Chandler b.1817 Boyds Creek, Sevier County, TN, m Adela (Della) C. Huffaker, d. 1877 Pensacola, Escambia County FL (or 1870 New Orleans, LA?)

Timothy Chandler #2 (his grandfather of the same name had moved to TN after fighting in the American Revolutionary War) b.1820 Boyds Creek, Sevier County, TN, m. Mary Esther Smith Chandler (her second m. having been m. to his bro. Wm first,) d.1888 Boyds Creek, Sevier County, TN

William M."Bilce" Chandler, b. 1822, m. Mary Esther Smith @1846, (her first before m. second to his bro. Timothy later) d. 1852 Sevier County, TN

Armstrong Erwin Chandler, b. 1825, d. 1826 Boyds Creek, Sevier, TN

Mary Chandler, b. 1826 - unknown any details about her.

So this was fun, but time consuming of course. I found that 2 of Jane Chandler Rogers' brothers had married the same woman, Mary Esther Smith Chandler...in succession. Maybe the youngest of her children was fathered by her second husband, but I'm not going to worry about that. It at least was explained that her first husband William died in 1852, and then she married Timothy #2.

Many of the Chandlers lived and died in Boyds Creek, Sevier County Tennessee.

Oh, and there's another interesting story which I'll include because it's so different to hear about the lives of freed slaves, who took the Chandler name.

Walter Padge Chandler was born in 1887 and worked most of his life as a cook and butler at Wheatlands Plantation

Four Generations

 The Black Candlers at Wheatlands Plantation

Walter Padge Chandler, known as Uncle Padge was born in 1887. Both of his parents, Lewis and Flora Chandler were born as slaves at Wheatlands. His Great-Grandmother was named Jenny and was the first slave that Timothy Chandler (#1 who built Wheatlands originally) purchased in the late 1700's. When Timothy Chandler passed away, Jenny and another slave, Ester, were responsible for preparing meals for the Chandler family. The two women would carry all the water from the spring and cook in the open fireplace in the kitchen.

The original house burned down in 1825 and John Chandler rebuilt the house. Jenny and Ester were the first cooks in the new house. Jenny earned a reputation as an excellent cook and as she grew older taught her daughter Polly and another slave girl named Liz how to cook. By the time Jenny was no longer able to work, Polly and Liz took over the cooking duties. The spring which Jenny used to draw water was replaced by a hand-dug well after the spring went dry.

During the Civil War, Union forces encamped at the plantation while the Chandler men folk, who were confederate sympathizers, hid out in an undisclosed location away from the plantation. The soldiers raided farms throughout the county and returned with turkeys, hams and vegetables with which Polly prepared a big feast that was enjoyed by the soldiers, the Chandler women, and the slaves alike.

After the Civil War John Chandler allowed his former slaves, who wished to, remain on the Wheatlands Plantation and he paid them to work there doing essentially the same jobs they had done in the past. Padge’s Grandmother Polly was among those who stayed and continued working there as the cook. Up until this time the slaves never had a surname. Understandably, those who remained at Wheatlands began using the name Chandler as their last name.

Born about 1860, Flora Chandler grew up assisting her mother Polly in the kitchen at Wheatlands. Polly passed down the recipes to Flora that her mother Jenny had taught her. Although Flora married Lewis Chandler in 1878 and began raising a family that grew to include eleven children, she continued to work as a cook for Adela Chandler McMahan who inherited the place from her father. (Timothy #2)

Flora’s children began working at Wheatland’s which was called Ler- Mac for a number of years after Adela married Isaac N. McMahan. Flora’s second oldest child, Padge began working there as a houseboy when he was a young teenager. Padge’s duties were similar to those of a butler. He also assisted his mother in the kitchen and became an excellent cook.

When Flora was no longer able to work Padge was the natural choice for the position as cook. While Padge worked in the dual roles of butler and cook, several of his siblings worked in domestic jobs at Wheatlands as well. Padge remained at Wheatlands through an uncomfortable situation in which his sister Celia, who worked there as a maid, became pregnant by Adela’s teenaged son (Samuel) Timothy McMahan. At the time Celia was 22 and married.

Both Adela (Chandler McMahan) and her husband died in 1936 and their son and daughter-in law, (Samuel) Timothy and Blanche (McMahan) took charge of Wheatlands. Padge remained there as cook preparing the recipes the Chandler- McMahan family had enjoyed for generations. He supervised smoking hams using smoldering fires of corn cobs. An especially good desert Padge was known for was Lemon Pie using a handed-down recipe which he improvised to make it his own.

Throughout its history, there had always been more than one cook at any given time at Wheatlands until Padge assumed the duties. Never married, he lived on the premises of the mansion for many years.

Padge was living there in 1942 when an unimaginable tragedy occurred. During a heated dispute, (Samuel) Timothy McMahan Sr. was brutally beaten to death by his 19-year-old son, Timothy, Jr.

After the murder, Padge remained at Wheatlands for more than a decade before deciding to follow other family members and move to Knoxville. Although he missed certain aspects of working at Wheatlands where he had always taken pride in the meals he served, Padge adjusted to life in the city. Padge worked as a janitor for Swans’ Bakery in Knoxville for a few years before he retired. He passed away in 1966 at the age of 79. He was fondly known by his numerous nephews, nieces and extended family as Uncle Padge.

dgarrity11 originally shared this on 08 jul 2017 to Ancestry

Thank you so much for a very interesting history of the 2 families, living side by side! 

Final Note by editor of blog:
Samuel Timothy McMahan Sr.'s death certificate shows he was hospitalized from Oct. 14-19, 1942 when he died of perforated bowel and peritonitis, there was no mention of injuries, and no indication of foul play on the death certificate. But it did say he was divorced. None of the ancestry records of his or his son's details indicate that they had a fight, as Padge has said in the above article.  But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. His son did join the army and fight in WW II and Korea, and never married (that I can find.)