CHARLES ARTHUR CHANDLER.
Charles Arthur Chandler is one of the self-made men of Atchison. Some men are successful because of a fortunate chain of circumstances attending their efforts which we commonly refer to as “good luck”; others by dint of steady employment, saving their surplus funds and investing them wisely, are enabled to secure the necessary wherewithal to embark in business and attain a substantial modicum of wealth. It is to the latter class that Mr. Chandler properly belongs. While good fortune has generally attended his industry and plans, his success is due to the husbanding of his resources, and planning ahead with the coöperation of a faithful wife, so that he could eventually be his own employer and engage in mercantile pursuits for himself. Since January 1, 1910, he has been engaged in the lumber business in connection with the Shulz-Fisk Lumber Company, one of the oldest concerns in the city. Four men are employed to take care of the extensive business which comes to the yards. Lumber, lime, cement, plaster and building material of all kinds are sold in large quantities. The extensive yards, 100×250 feet, are rated as among the best equipped and most modern in northeastern Kansas, and the management is constantly improving the appearance and facilities of the buildings.
Mr. Chandler was born November 22, 1860, in Fond du Lac, Wis., a son of Charles and Maria (Moore) Chandler, natives of Munson, Mass., and Montreal, Canada, respectively. The Chandler family is a very old one in America, and an extensive genealogy of the family has been compiled. William Chandler, progenitor of the family in this country, emigrated from the ancestral home in England to Roxbury, Mass., in 1637, dying there November 26, 1641. He had a son named John, born 1635, who married Elizabeth Douglas, of Roxbury, Mass. Succeeding generations are as follows, in a direct line to C. A. Chandler: Captain Joseph Chandler, born June 4, 1683, wife, Susannah Perrin, of Roxbury, Mass.; David Chandler, born May 28, 1712, wife, Mary Allen, of Pomfret, Conn.; Elijah Chandler, born May 3, 1737, wife, Sarah Frizzel, of Woodstock, Conn.; Charles Chandler, born June 23, 1779, wife, Margaret Edgerton, of Munson, Mass.; Charles Chandler, born February 21, 1822, wife, Maria Moore Shepard; C. A. Chandler, born November 22, 1860, wife, Effie Rook, of Atchison, Kan.; Elijah Chandler was a soldier in the French and Indian war. Charles Chandler, father of the subject of this review, was a “Forty-Niner,” who made the long trip to California across the plains in 1849. He mined gold in the placer fields of the Golden State for some time, and then returned to the East, via the Nicaragua route, settling down in Fond du Lac, Wis., where he engaged in the grain business with fair success. He died at his home in Fond du Lac in 1896, at the age of seventy-five years. He was the father of three children: Mrs. Charles E. Rogers, Fond du Lac; Fred Shepard, also of Fond du Lac, and Charles A., with whom this review is directly concerned. The mother of these children, Maria Moore Shepard, was born in 1826, and is a direct descendant of Governor William Bradford, of Massachusetts. The genealogical tree in a direct line from the colonial governor is as follows: Gov. William Bradford; his son, Maj. William Bradford; Alice Bradford married Maj. James Fitch, 1649–1727; Daniel Fitch, 1693–1752, wife, Anna Cook; William Fitch, 1720—, wife, Mary Paine; Abigail Fitch, 1745–1785, married Joseph Moore, 1745–1823; Anna Moore, 1770–1854, married Timothy Shepard, 1764–1817; Maria Moore Shepard, 1826, etc.
C. A. Chandler was educated in the public schools of his native city and fitted himself for the profession of civil engineer by a considerable amount of home study and practical experience. After getting launched in his chosen profession, he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad and remained in the employ of this railroad for a period of twenty-five years. He first came to Atchison in May, 1885, and has since been a resident here.
Mr. Chandler is the owner of the Graham farm of 310 acres near Cummings, Atchison county, Kansas. Every dollar’s worth of property which he owns has been accumulated by his own endeavors; not one dollar was ever received by him through inheritance or gift, and he and his wife have the great satisfaction of knowing that what they have and own is theirs by right of industry and thrift. Mr. Chandler is a Republican, a member of the Episcopal church, and is fraternally associated with the Masonic order, a member of Active Lodge, No. 158, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married February 4, 1891, to Effie Rook, of Atchison. To this union have been born: Horace F., born September 19, 1896, a graduate of the Atchison High School, class of 1913, and now a sophomore in Kansas University, Lawrence; Esther, born March 5, 1898, senior student in the Atchison High School, class of 1916. The mother of these children is a daughter of Judge Horace M. Jackson, a biography of whom is published in this volume.