J. W. and Blanche Chilton in Springfield
My wife and I left Nashville on May 8, 2011 to spend a
little more than two weeks in Springfield, Missouri visiting our siblings and
Wichita, Kansas visiting our son and grandson.
On the way we stopped at Winona, Missouri to locate the grave of my
uncle, who died as an infant of about eighteen months, the year before my
mother was born. My wife had discovered
information about the grave doing genealogical research. I had planned to spend time in the
Springfield library trying to determine the movements of my grandparents. That intention resulted in parts of four days
there plus a most informative session at the home of my cousin who took us
through the files of her father, my uncle, who had many of his father’s and
mother’s correspondence.
First, I wanted to know why they left Winona and moved to
Springfield and then exactly when. I had
some piecing together of information to do and found far more than I had
anticipated. First, my grandfather,
James William Chilton, was an interesting man.
Self-educated, he passed the bar in California in 1913 and became a
successful lawyer for the Frisco Railroad and, I found out, for the American
Savings Bank in Springfield. He also
served two terms as mayor of Winona, Missouri and supervised the construction
of the city hall, still used there. He
was also a well-known writer and a successful owner and president of a bank,
the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank in Springfield.
J. W. was born in 1874 in Van Buren and married Virginia Crandall. A few years later they divorced, and he
married my grandmother, Blanche Chilton, a first cousin once removed. Their children: Ruth, J. W., Jr. (Bill),
Gladys, Edgar, Mabel, and Paul were all born in Winona. Edgar was born in 1908 and died in 1909. My aunt Gladys had a little notebook that was
supposed to belong to Edgar with notes written in it from family members, and
my uncle Bill had a letter that he supposedly wrote, but actually written by
his grandmother, sending best wishes to Edgar.
He had some childish scribbles on it.
Then there was a letter from my grandmother to “Willie” telling him that
Edgar was at the time standing at the hotel window watching the horses. They had taken him to St. Louis for
treatment, but he did not survive, dying in February 1909. Each child received a lock of his hair, and
my wife took a picture of the lock in my cousin’s possession. Subsequent to that they moved to Glendale,
California, and then apparently back to Winona before coming to
Springfield. After visiting Edgar’s
grave and thinking that perhaps I was the first family member to be there since
he died, as I heard no mention of anyone going there when I was growing up, and
remembering the one time my grandmother referred to him and showed her pain
even those many years later, we wondered if Edgar’s death was the motivation
for their leaving Winona for Springfield. What she said, and I remember it well
after all these years was, “I raised six children….well, five.” Then it could
have been merely that my grandfather saw greater chances for advancement in his
law career in the “big city.” As an up-and-coming
young lawyer, he once argued a case in which the lawyer on the other side was
Harry S. Truman, later to be president of the United States. I recall that my grandparents never cared
much for Truman. During his Winona years,
in 1897, my grandfather had his fourth finger amputated due to tuberculosis in
it, and my uncle Bill had his tender letter to Blanche informing her of the
surgery. My mother said he played the
violin beautifully before that, or so she must have heard, and after he could
not. I well remember his hand with the
missing finger. My sister recalls that
when she asked him what happened to his finger, he would reply, “A snake bit it
off.” There was another interesting
letter describing his bouts with uncontrolled nose bleeds, a condition my
mother mentioned to me that her father had.
Eventually this very debilitating disease went away. Evidently he lost great amounts of blood, even
threatening his life. His doctors
advised his avoiding physical activities, which may have been the factor in my
grandfather pursuing his careers of law, writing, and business.
The Farmers and Merchants Bank in Springfield was
established before J.W., his wife Blanche and their family arrived. It began in 1903 at 223 S. Campbell with J.
Y. Fulbright as president, O. Oldham vice-president, and H. H. Smith
cashier. By 1906, the year my father was
born in Moreland, Texas, there were no Chiltons in Springfield, but in that
year the bank moved to 330 S. Campbell, the northeast corner of Campbell and
Walnut where it would remain for thirty-three years. That site was later the location of Sullivan
Shoe Store where my parents bought my shoes for a number of years. In the intervening years the bank was first
listed with a telephone number (74) in 1915 and R. R. Ricketts had become
president, D. M. Diffenderffer vice-president, and H. H. Smith still cashier. Jesse Smith, perhaps his son, was listed as
bookkeeper.
J. W. and Blanche are first listed as Springfield residents
in 1917, living at 457 Cherry, a house that once stood in front of St. Agnes
Cathedral. J.W.’s occupation is listed
as attorney. My uncle Bill has a note
that they moved on Labor Day 1916. Bill
had noted that his father said he felt like “a fish out of water.” His position as attorney for the American
Savings Bank came about due to his relationship with Frank B. Williams. Both Ruth and Willie at one time in 1920-1921
worked for the bank at 400 South Ave., Ruth as a teller and Willie as a
messenger.
By the time of the 1918-1919 city directory, J. W. and
Blanche had moved to 986 S. Jefferson, a fairly large two-story house down the
street from Jarrett Junior High that I attended in the early 1950’s. My mother, who was born in 1910, remembered
that house. In 1917 the F&M Bank had
as its president G.G. Milliken, vice-president: W. W. Coffman, and H. M. Smith
as cashier. (Was H.M. Smith H.H. Smith’s son?)
By 1919 W. W. Coffman was obviously promoted to president, F.F. Thompson
was vice-president, and H. M. Smith was cashier. But in 1920 J. W. Chilton is
listed as the president of the bank. It
is interesting to note that Mr. Coffman was now vice-president with R. J.
Mitchell listed as cashier. He had moved
from vice-president to president and then back to vice-president. It would be interesting to know more of the
details on his career there. By 1926 he
had moved down to the position of cashier.
In that year F. F. Thompson was vice-president. The events leading to my grandfather’s giving
up an increasingly distinguished law career for banking came when H. M. Smith,
the cashier of the F&M Bank sold his stock to my grandfather, enabling him
to now have controlling stock and to become both owner and president. At the time my grandfather was listed as being
associated with the American Savings Bank. It would seem that Frank Williams was involved
in helping him to become the lawyer for ASB. It is interesting that by 1926, three years
before the depression, the American Savings Bank seems to have closed.
That same year the new bank president and owner moved to a
much larger and more prestigious house on south Pickwick. Pickwick was one of the most elite addresses
to have, and it is still a quality neighborhood. The street has its own history, which I also
researched while in Springfield. For a
long time the street ended at Grand, but the president of the traction company
saw an opportunity for developing real estate and had the street extended to
Catalpa in 1916 and built the 3 Elm St. car line to that point. By that time the Normal School at Pickwick
and Cherry, on the south east corner, had closed, removing an obvious destination
for riders. However, there must have
been some kind of road there earlier, as my grandparents’ house at 1151 S.
Pickwick was built in 1913. It included
gas jets which causes speculation as to why, as electricity was already
available. Was it not extended yet to areas outside the city? Or was the service unreliable? In any instance, those jets were a point of
curiosity for me as a child, and I was always told when I asked if we could
light them that they had been disconnected. I recall my grandmother’s saying
that they bought the house from a Mr. Smith, and indeed my research proved her
correct. Mr. Edgar M. Smith built the
house. He was an auditor for the Frisco
Railroad, and his wife’s name was Alice.
He was the only owner before my grandparents, and it was sold to the Eck
family in 1961 after my grandfather’s death, and it is now owned by their
daughter and son-in-law. Thus only three families have lived there. I spent a good part of my childhood in that house;
so many memories are connected to it. I
remember my grandmother showing me the window at the end of the large
wooden-beamed living room which was quite wide and had a large facing. She told me Mr. Smith told her it was so
built so it could simply be cut down to the floor and finished as a door for
any future addition to the house. That
addition was not made there, but rather on the north side by the Eck family.
I was interested in determining when the bank moved from the
northeast corner at 330 S. Campbell across the street to the northwest corner
at 331. I had assumed it was long before
I was born, but after having lunch with my cousin, who is a year and a half
older than I and never forgets anything, she said she remembered the 330
location. She remembered the corner entrance. The move actually occurred in 1939, and I
would have been two years old. I
remember well that building, which is still standing as of this time. It was an old saloon, and the drug store next
door but in the same building still had the old bar. I remember my grandfather’s office up front
and my uncle Paul’s opposite the door.
Paul was the cashier in my youth.
My Dad was a teller at first. I
recall the old spittoons that were positioned throughout the lobby, and the
vault door in which I once got my finger pinched trying to help Daddy close it
when I was about ten. The bank was in
that location only ten years before moving across the street to 408 W. Walnut. I well remember the night the move was made
and my uncle Paul letting me carry thousands of dollars in cash across the
street. The money was concealed by some
old lamps and desk items. I guess he thought that no one would bother a
ten-year old kid. That is NOT the way banks
make moves today. My grandfather had
lost the lease on the 331 property, which had obviously expanded into another
part of the building to the north, as the address was 331-333 at some time
before 1947. However, he bought the
building on Walnut and now owned the physical facility, the bank itself, and
served as president. My Dad always
admired his foresight and business sense.
Not that my Dad did not also possess those qualities, but he never had
the resources my grandfather did. By
that time my Dad, H. H. Lawrence, was assistant cashier, the title I remember
his having as I grew up. I recall the
yearly Farmers and Merchants calendar which appeared in our homes and
throughout town every year. It had the
special events for each day marked on it.
One unexplained mystery I uncovered came from the 1925 directory. The listing for the F&M Bank showed my
grandfather as president, but his residential listing showed him as treasurer
of the Groblebe Lumber and Material Company.
A study of the residents of the 1100 block of south Pickwick shows that
Jewish people owned most of the homes.
As this name appears to be Jewish, it could be a deal he worked out with
one of his neighbors. I have never heard
any mention of that position. Among the
neighbors on south Pickwick Street were Francis X. Heer and his wife. They built a large imposing house next door,
not listed in early directories before 1925 but appearing in 1938. I would assume it was built in the late
twenties. The Heers’ owned the largest
department store in Springfield on the Public Square. Their house was just to the north, but
separated by trees so we never could see over there. I remember once as a child rolling down the
hill by their porch and Mrs. Heer talking to me about hearing my grandmother’s
calling for Paul when he was young.
My grandfather kept his law books, although many books of
his vast collection were destroyed in a fire that damaged the third floor
library, or den, as they called it. He
willed the books to me, but I later gave them to my cousin’s husband who was a
lawyer. As a poet and writer, my
grandfather had a large collection of history books and literature. He was a great admirer of Edgar Allen Poe,
hence his naming his son Edgar Allen. My
cousin and I have speculated that he may have picked him as a favorite son, as
there is some evidence that he and my grandmother neglected Willie (Bill), his
oldest son. He had hoped for a son to
replace Edgar, but my mother was born.
She was aware that her gender was a disappointment to her parents. Maybe that is why she worked so hard to
please them. Then when the younger son,
Paul, was born, it was clear that he was the favorite. It is thought by the family that my
grandmother died suddenly the day after Christmas in 1953 when she was only 73
because she was so upset that Paul did not come to the family Christmas
gathering at her house. She was almost
obsessed with the idea that the whole family should be present for Thanksgiving
and Christmas gatherings at “the house.” My grandfather lived another eight
years to die in 1961. He never recovered
from Blanche’s death, and his last years were clouded with Alzheimer’s
disease.
H. H. and Mabel Lawrence
My mother, Mabel, was born in 1910 as the fifth child of J.
W. and Blanche Chilton. Mother was named
for Mabel Rollins, a close friend of the family in Winona, where she was born
and lived until their move to Springfield in 1916 except for the short time
they spent in Glendale, CA when Mother was two.
She said she remembered falling out a window there and hurting her
head. She never mentioned the Cherry St.
house, but she would, of course, remember the South Jefferson St. house where
she lived from age six to age ten. She
attended Greenwood High School and Lindenwood College in St. Louis. She met my father, Henry Hoyt Lawrence, at a
party held at the house of her friend Elaine Fayman at 1104 S. Pickwick. (Later
my best friend, Dickie Johnson, lived there with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
Hiram Johnson. Dickie was killed by his
father in 1948 in a hunting accident.)
My Father was from north Texas and was a traveling salesman at the
time. One of his friends told him about
the party. I know it was love at first
sight for my mother, and they had a happy marriage that lasted almost sixty
years. They were married at the home of
the pastor of the South Street Christian Church on the northwest corner of
Pickwick and Catalpa, 1059, where the Carnahans lived when I was a child. My parents later moved to 1050, later 1036
(streets in Springfield were renumbered in 1948, though not all house numbers
were changed) where I lived from age two to nineteen.
I know that for a while after they were married they lived
with my Father’s family in Sherman, Texas.
I think my mother wanted to return to Springfield, especially after my
Dad’s brother shot and killed her pet German Shepherd because it looked like a
wolf; thus, at some point in the 30’s they made the move. They were married December 16, 1931, and I
was born October 8, 1937. At one time
Daddy was working for Harlan Fruit Company in Springfield as a salesman, but I
can remember as a small child his working for Western Auto Tire Company. I can still remember the smell of the rubber
tires when I climbed with my mother to the second floor area where he
worked. My grandfather brought him on
board as a teller and later an assistant cashier of the F&M Bank.
They lived for some time with my grandparents at 1151 S.
Pickwick. I know that from reading my
Mother’s diary of that year with entries on how many times she took the
streetcar downtown to see a show. When I
was born, that stopped. Before the end of the year the diary stopped, and I was
the reason. I know they moved at some
point to a small house on East Sunshine.
That would have been after March 1938 and before March 1939, dates of the
telephone book. By the latter date they
were living at 700 S. Weller, a house my mother intensely disliked. Obviously, they were renting at both places,
as I remember their telling me that my grandfather helped them obtain a loan to
buy the house at 1050 S. Pickwick. With
the marriage of Mother’s younger brother, Paul, all the children were located
close to “the house” as they called the 1151 house of my grandparents, like
planets rotating around the sun. We
lived a block and a half, my aunt Ruth and her husband, Frank Knox, lived about
a half block or less from the back end of their property, which extended from
Pickwick to Fremont along Catalpa. My
uncle Paul and his wife, Ramona, lived a few doors to the south of Ruth and
Frank. My aunt Gladys never married and
continued to live with her parents until my grandfather’s death. My uncle Bill and his wife, Lucile, were the
farthest, about four blocks away on E. Loren.
I was interested in determining when they moved from 700 S.
Weller to 1050 S. Pickwick, and according to the telephone directories, that
would have been in 1939. In March 1939
they were still listed at 700 S. Weller, but by Nov. 1939 they were at the
Pickwick address. I was also interested
in learning when the house was built, as I could not find it nor the next door
house to the north listed for many years.
The red brick house at 1020 (earlier 1098) showed up in the city
directory as early as 1919 owned by Dr. Howell Boatner and his wife
Myrtle. Our house and the house to the
north are virtual twins, although recent owners of our house have added a
much-needed second story. I am sure they
were built at the same time, and county assessor’s records show that date as
1923. The occupants of the house to the
north of ours were Jesse Coon and his wife, Allie. Mr. Coon operated the Electrical Equipment
Company on South Ave, and his brother, Walter Coon, was president of the Union
National Bank where my uncle, Frank Knox, worked his way from janitor to vice
president, then to replace Mr. Coon as president. I am sure the Coons were the first
occupants. I had forgotten from whom my
parents bought the house, but the records show that the previous owner was
Joseph V. Bossi and his wife, Bessie J. Mr.
Bossi was secretary-treasurer of the J. P Cantrell Oil Company, and his wife,
unusual for a woman of that day, operated the Bossi Super Service Station which
advertised that it sold Skelly Gasoline, Oil, and Grease, Gulf Oil, Thermo
Royal and Super Thermo Royal Antifreeze, car lubrication, washing and
waxing. It was located at 754 N.
Grant. It was probably no coincidence
that Mr. Bossi as an oil man had something to do with his wife being in the
oil/gasoline retail business.
My sister and I had a wonderful childhood in the 1000 and
1100 blocks of South Pickwick, and we lived there until we bought a larger
house at the corner of Pickwick and Elm, 1421 E. Elm, where my parents lived
until they passed away: my father dying in 1991 and my mother in 1996. The Elm Street house was sold in 2002 to Dan
and Marla Fritz who have been in the process of restoring it to its former glory,
as that house was older than either my grandparents’ or my parents’ Pickwick
Street house, having been built in 1910, the same year as my mother’s birth.
