Skip to main content

Full text of "Autobiography of John Chambers"

See other formats 


mmmmmm 


JOHN  CHAMBERS 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/autobiographyofjOOchamrich 


Of  this  book  there  have  been 
printed  four  hundred  copies  of 
which  this  is  number  I  H  ^ 


\ 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

O  F 

JOHN    CHAMBERS 


'''<*'' 

'(!.»» 


\  1    rt)  f!  I  or:  v  \  PHY 


Of 


\  vf  u  V  \}  v; 


y.'A'AHUJAl)    YAUn. 

11  /  jiiiKi'i   .110  //.    ir.o-.iH 


Br 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


OF 


JOHN     CHAMBERS 


EDITED     BY 
JOHN     CARL     PARISH 


PUBLISHED   AT   IOWA   CITY  IOWA   IN    1908   BY 
THE    STATE    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    OF    IOWA 


COPYRIGHT  1908  BY  THE   STATE 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  IOWA 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

During  the  last  year  of  his  eventful  life.Ub-iii-Oham-'  •' 
bers,  second  Governor  of  the  Territory  ofvlowsi,^  ^i-ote'-J, 
out  in  response  to  the  request  of  his  youngest  son, 
Henry  Chambers,  an  autobiographical  sketch.  For 
over  half  a  century  this  important  manuscript  has 
remained  in  the  possession  of  the  family  of  Henry 
Chambers  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  carefully  preserved 
but  never  published. 

As  a  result  of  correspondence  with  Mr.  John  Cham- 
bers^ and  a  visit  to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  where  he  was 
entertained  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Henry  Chambers,  Pro- 
fessor Benjamin  F.  Shambaugh,  Superintendent  of 
The  State  Historical  Society  of  Iowa,  secured  the 
manuscript  for  publication  by  the  Society.  Acknowl- 
edgments are  due,  therefore,  not  only  to  Mrs.  Henry 
Chambers  and  her  family  but  also  to  Professor  Sham- 
baugh both  for  the  discovery  of  the  manuscript  and  for 
valuable  advice  and  assistance  in  preparing  its  pages 
for  the  press. 

Access  was  also  had  to  other  valuable  material, 
among  which  was  a  shorter  sketch  of  Governor  Cham- 
bers, together  with  a  record  of  the  births,  marriages, 

^  The  grandson  of  Governor  Chambers  and  the  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry 
Chambers  of  Louisville,  Kentucky. 


974.4(>7 


viii  EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

and  deaths  of  his  children.  The  sketch  and  entries  are 
in  the  handwriting  of  Governor  Chambers  and  are 
found  in  a  small  leather  bound  book  entitled  Family 
Record.  At  the  close  of  his  autobiography  Governor 
,  Chambers  in  speaking  of  this  record  refers  to  it  as  his 
'Family  'Register.  It  has  seemed  of  sufficient  value  in  a 
,«iippietie.nta:l ,  ;^ay  to  warrant  its  publication  along 
with  the  autobiography. 

The  writing  of  the  autobiography  is  explained  in  a 
letter  written  by  Governor  Chambers  to  his  son  Henry 
Chambers  on  December  5,  1851,  in  which  he  says: 
**For  some  days  past  I  have  spent  an  hour  or  two  in 
preparing  the  sketch  of  family  History  which  you  re- 
quest in  your  last  letter,  but  as  I  soon  tire  of  writing 
it  progresses  slowly  — I  am  pleased  however  that  you 
made  the  request  as  neither  of  your  brothers  seem  to 
have  ever  felt  or  expressed  any  interest  in  the  subject. 
It  will  at  last  be  a  mere  outline  without  interest  to  any 
person  out  of  the  family,  when  I  get  through  I  will 
send  it  to  you." 

Several  weeks  passed  before  the  arduous  work  was 
completed.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  January  12,  1852, 
that  he  wrote :  ''I  send  you  by  the  mail  that  takes  this 
the  ^sketch'  you  asked  for  some  time  ago.''  Before  the 
end  of  the  month  he  must  have  received  something  of 
an  enthusiastic  acknowledgment  from  his  son;  for  on 
January  26,  he  wrote :  ^  *  I  am  glad  you  are  pleased  with 
the  little  *  Biographical  Sketch'  I  sent  you."  In  the 
same  letter  he  laments  his  inability  to  put  the  material 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE  ix 

in  satisfactory  literary  form,  saying:  "It  has  been  one 
of  the  troubles  of  my  whole  life  that  I  never  could  at- 
tain a  style  in  writing,  with  which  I  was  satisfied  and 
I  never  wrote  anything  and  laid  it  a  side  for  a  short 
time,  [in]  which  I  did  not  find  much  to  correct  in  the 
style  &  language  when  I  came  to  examine  it  again." 

"While  on  the  subject  of  the  *  sketch'  ",  he  continued, 
"let  me  add  that  your  brothers  have  both  been  here 
since  I  sent  it  to  you  and  having  mentioned  to  each  of 
them  the  fact  that  you  had  such  a  paper,  Sprigg  said 
he  would  get  you  to  copy  it  for  him  and  Frank  very 
modestly  requested  that  I  would  write  a  similar  paper 
for  him,  which  I  assured  him  I  would  not  do.  They 
had  both  been  very  anxious  for  something  of  that  kind, 
but  unwilling  to  ask  for  it,  for  fear  of  giving  me 
trouble. ' ' 

The  original  manuscript  covers  thirty-three  closely 
written  pages  about  eight  by  ten  inches  in  dimensions. 
It  is  in  the  characteristic  handwriting  of  Governor 
Chambers  and  is  quite  legible.  In  editing  the  work  the 
effort  has  been  to  make  as  close  a  reproduction  as  pos- 
sible in  the  matter  of  spelling,  punctuation,  and  capi- 
talization. Letters  and  words  have  been  supplied  in 
editorial  brackets  and  foot-notes  added  simply  to  make 
clear  the  context. 

John  Carl  Parish 
The  State  Historical  Society  of  Iowa 
Iowa  City 


CONTENTS 

Editor's  Preface        ........  vii 

Autobiography  of  John  Chambers     .         .         .         .         .  1 

Family  Record  of  John  Chambers     .....  35 

Index        ..........  45 


PLATES 

John  Chambers,  from  an  oil  portrait     ■ .       .      .       .  frontispiece 

John  Chambers,  from  an  ivory  miniature     .      .     .  opposite  16 

Hannah  Taylor  Chambers,  from  an  ivory  miniature  opposite  16 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  JOHN  CHAMBERS 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  JOHN  CHAMBERS 

"Washington  Kentucky  2d  December  1851 

My  dear  Henry 

In  your  letter  of  the  27th  ulto.  you  say  you  "have 
often  had  occasion  to  regret  your  ignorance  of  our  family 
history  and  near  connections"  and  ask  me  at  some  leisure 
time  to  give  you  "an  outline  sketch  of  it,  particularly  my 
own  life  and  its  prominent  events."  And  as  that  which  is 
to  be  done  ought  always  to  be  done  promptly,  especially 
with  persons  of  my  advanced  age  and  unstable  health,  I 
proceed  to  comply  with  your  request,  promising  that  there 
is  very  little  in  our  family  history  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  history  of  thousands  of  other  families  in  this  country. 

I  never  saw  either  of  my  grand  parents,  or  any  relative 
of  my  beloved  mother.  My  grandfather  Chambers,  with 
two  or  three  of  his  brothers,  were  early  settlers  on  the 
Juniata  river  in  Pen[n]sylvania  where  my  father  and  his 
three  brothers,  and  one  sister  were  born,  the  family  were 
the  (I  think  immediate)  descendants  of  Irish  parents,  but 
I  have  understood  that  they  were  of  Scotch  origin,  and 
from  a  conversation  between  my  father  and  a  very  aged 
Scotchman  when  I  was  a  boy,  I  learned  that  my  more  re- 
mote ancestors  were  of  the  Scotch  clan  Cameron^  and  bore 
the  name  of  the  clan,  but  refusing  to  join  in  the  rebellion 
of  1645,  they  were  compelled  to  emigrate,  and  took  shelter 
in  Ireland,  changing  their  name  to  Chambers,  which  they 
were  afterwards  permit  [t]ed  by  an  act  of  the  British  Par- 


2  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

liament  to  retain,  from  Ireland  therefore  came  the  first  of 
the  family  of  which  I  have  any  tradition.  My  grandfather 
married  an  Irish  woman  whose  name  was  Sarah  Lee,  a 
woman  of  strong  and  cultivated  mind  and  imperious  tem- 
per— they  had  four  sons,  of  whom  my  father  (Eowland) 
was  the  oldest,  and  one  daughter.^  My  uncle  James  was 
the  next  oldest  to  my  father,  then  came  Joseph,  Benjamin 
and  Betsey,  the  latter  of  whom  I  never  saw.  My  father  in 
early  manhood  was  sent  to  New  York  and  was  employed  as 
a  clerk  in  an  extensive  mercantile  established^  belonging  to 
a  Mr.  Joseph  Forman,  who  had  married  Betty  Lee,  my 
grandmothers  sister.  From  your  grandfathers  account  of 
Mr.  Forman,  who  was  always  called  by  a  numerous  connec- 
tion ''Uncle  Josey",  he  must  have  been  one  of  the  most  ex- 
cellent men  of  his  day — his  wife,  a  woman  of  vigorous  in- 
tellect and  violent  temper,  was  just  the  reverse  of  her 
husband — they  were  the  parents  of  I  think  five  sons,  the 
only  one  of  whom,  who  made  much  noise  in  the  world,  was 
David  who  rose  to  the  rank  of  general  in  the  State  line  of 
the  Jersey  malitia  in  the  War  of  the  Eevolution,  and  was 
notorious  for  his  active  and  energetic  pursuit  of  the  ad- 
herents of  the  British  Crown,  then  called  tories.  they  were 
numerous  in  the  lower  counties  of  New  Jersey,  and  some  of 
them  became  the  victims  of  their  ill  judged  attempts  to 
subject  their  Whig  neighbors  to  the  depredations  of  ma- 
ruading  parties  of  the  British  Army,  and  their  adherents — 
Genl.  Forman,  then  commonly  called  by  them  "Black 
David"  was  charged  with  the  illegal  and  murderous  execu- 

"  An  unpublished  genealogy  of  the  Chambers  family,  prepared  by  Mr.  Harry 
Brent  Mackoy,  a  great  grandson  of  Governor  John  Chambers,  names  seven 
children  of  this  marriage — four  sons  and  three  daughters.  One  of  the  daugh- 
ters is  presumed  to  have  died  in  early  childhood.  The  remaining  six  children 
are  mentioned  in  the  will  of  their  father,  James  Chambers. 

'  The  word  * '  establishment ' '  was  evidently  intended. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  3 

tion  of  some  of  them,  without  trial,  and  it  lead  to  retalia- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  British,  these  charges  against  Genl. 
Forman  were  unfounded,  the  utmost  extent  of  his  conduct 
went  no  further  than  to  hunt  diligently,  and  punish  prompt- 
ly, under  the  sentence  of  Courts  Martial,  such  tories  as  had 
made  themselves  active  partisans  against  their  country, 
this  I  have  ascertained  from  several  of  the  old  officers  of 
that  day  &  it  was  confirmed  by  your  grandfather.  Of 
''uncle  Josey's"  other  sons  I  rem[em]ber  only  the  names 
of  Ezekiel  and  Joseph,  they  were  all  respectable,  but  not 
distinguished  men — "Uncle  Josey"  was  a  brother  of  the 
great  grandfather  of  the  present  generation  of  the  Formans 
now  residing  in  this  county  and  including  your  brother-in- 
law  Mr.  J.  S.  Forman  his  brothers  &  sisters,  that  is  to  say, 
he  was  the  uncle  of  old  Mr.  Thos.  Forman  who  lived  &  died 
on  the  old  Forman  farm  adjoining  this  old  town.  After 
the  death  of  my  grandfather  and  mother,  my  aunt  Betsey 
[(] their  only  daughter)  then  a  young  girl,  was  placed  un 
der  the  care  of  her  aunt  Betty  Forman,  (who  had  no  daugh- 
ter) and  was  so  har[s]hly  &  crueally  treated  by  that 
wretched  woman,  as  to  render  her  insane,  before  even  my 
father,  who  lived  in  the  family  discovered  the  cause  of  it. 
After  her  recovery  she  married  a  Mr.  Irvin  and  became  the 
mother  of  several  children,  one  of  whom,  a  man  of  gentle- 
manly manners  and  fine  appearance,  once  called  on  me  at 
Washington  City — held  some  place  in  the  quarter  master's 
department  I  think,  but  I  have  no  further  knowledge  of 
him.  My  uncles  James  and  Joseph  settled  at  an  early  day 
in  the  western  part  of  Pen[n]sylvania,  the  former  had  but 
three  children,  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  In  the  year  1840 
I  saw  the  youngest  of  the  sons  at  C[h]illicothe,  he  was  an 
extremely  rough  man,  and  told  me  he  was  the  only  sur- 
vivor of  his  fathers  family,  had  himself  a  large  family  and 
was  poor — he  lived  in  Ohio.    My  uncle  Joseph  removed  to 


4  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

Ohio  and  lived  in  Jefferson  county,  some  miles  from 
St[e]ubenville.  he  raised  a  very  numerous  family,  and 
died  a  few  years  ago  at  a  very  advanced  age — I  have  seen 
two  of  his  sons,  and  have  learned  that  a  larger  portion  of 
the  family  are  by  no  means  respectable.  Your  grandfather 
remained  in  New  York  several  years  after  the  death  of 
'* Uncle  Josey  Forman"  engaged  in  some  business  con- 
nected with  the  foreign  commerce  of  that  city  and  went  sev- 
eral voiges  to  European  ports,  after  which  he  married  my 
mother  whose  name  was  Phebe  Mulican,*  an  orphan  girl 
raised  on  Long  Island.  I  have  heard  her  say  that  when  she 
was  married  she  had  no  living  relatives  that  she  knew  of, 
except  one  brother  who  commanded  a  vessel  trading  be- 
tween N.  York  and  Liverpool  which  perished  shortly  after- 
wards at  sea,  with  all  who  were  on  board  of  her —  After 
the  birth  of  your  uncle  William  and  Aunt  Davis  (in  New 
York)  my  father  formed  a  partnership  with  a  Mr.  John 
Martin,  an  Englishman,  who  owned  a  fine  farm  and  exten- 
sive mills  on  the  north  branch  of  the  Raratin  river,^  in 
Somerset  County  New  Jersey,  at  a  place  called  Bromley 
Bridge,  but  afterwards  extensively  known  as  the  Burnt 
Mills — ®  They  established  an  extensive  retail  store  at  that 
place  and  dealt  largely  and  prosperously  in  the  produce  of 
the  country,  'til  the  War  of  the  Revolution  commenced — 
Mr.  Martin  claimed  large  estates  in  England  and  perhaps 
was  allied  to  the  aristocracy  of  that  Kingdom,  and  finding 
his  position  in  the  United  States  (Colonies)  becoming  dan- 
gerous, he  sent  to  my  father  to  collect  all  the  money  he  could 

*Thi8  name  is  spelled  in  the  Mackoy  genealogy,  Phoebe  MuUican. 

'  The  Earitan  Eiver. 

•  Neither  the  name  Bromley  Bridge  nor  Burnt  Mills  appears  on  the  map  of 
New  Jersey  to-day,  but  the  place  may  be  approximately  located  by  its  position 
on  the  north  branch  of  the  Earitan  Eiver,  in  Somerset  County,  New  Jersey, 
two  miles  from  Pluckemin.    See  page  254. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  5 

and  meet  him  in  N.  York  without  delay,  he  did  so,  and  gave 
what  money  he  had  raised  to  Mr.  Martin  without  well  un- 
derstanding the  object  he  had  in  view.  Mr.  Martin  then 
told  him  that  he  was  hiding  from  the  American  authorities, 
and  had  a  vessel  in  port  ready  to  sail  for  England  the 
moment  he  went  on  board.  Your  grandfather  urged  in  vain 
the  necessity  of  some  adjustment  of  their  business,  but  Mr. 
Martin  was  too  much  alarmed  for  any  thing  of  that  sort, 
but  assured  my  father  that  on  his  arrival  in  England,  he 
would  immediately  furnish  him  with  full  evidence  of  per- 
fect right  to  all  property  in  Jersey  which  in  the  meantime 
he  was  to  consider  as  his  own  including  the  lands  &  mills. 
Mr.  Martin  left,  and  died  soon  after  his  return  to  England. 
My  father  settled  up  the  business,  paid  all  the  debts  and 
discontinued  the  store,  but  kept  the  mills  in  operation  un- 
til a  flash  of  lightning  struck  &  consumed  them  at  noon  day, 
with  a  large  amount  of  flour  and  grain.  In  the  meantime 
Independence  had  been  declared  and  the  Eevolution  was  in 
full  progress.  Your  grandfather  became  an  enthusiast  in 
the  cause,  lavished  all  his  means  in  support  of  it,  took  the 
command  of  a  regiment  of  the  Jersey  Malitia,  and  from  ex- 
posure in  his  first  tour  of  duty  became  a  cripple  from  a 
rheumatic  attack,  which  rendered  him  unable  to  mount  his 
horse,  and  after  being  lifted  to  and  from  his  saddle  for 
some  time,  was  compelled  to  retire  from  the  service,  and  I 
think  never  resumed  his  command,  but  as  soon  as  he  was 
able,  was  again  actively  employed  in  obtaining  supplies  for 
the  army,  yielding  up  without  compensation  or  account  the 
products  of  his  farm  and  expending  his  means  without 
stint.  I  remember  to  have  seen  a  note  to  him  from  Genl. 
Washington,  written  after  the  battle  of  Trenton,  when  en- 
camped at  Plackimin,''^  two  miles  from  the  Burnt  Mills,  de- 

*  Pluckemin,  Somerset  County,  New  Jersey. 


6  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

scribing  the  shoeless  and  naked  condition  of  the  army  in 
the  midst  of  a  severe  winter,  and  their  total  destitution  of 
provisions,  and  appealing  most  earnestly  to  your  grand- 
father to  endeavor  to  send  them  something  to  eat — (I  have 
often  regretted  the  loss  of  that  note.) 

When  your  grandfather  moved  into  New  Jersey  he  took 
with  him  his  youngest  brother,  (Benjamin)  then  a  youth. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  war  he  procured  for  him  a 
Capt[ai]ns  Commission  in  the  regular  army,  in  which  he 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war  retiring  with  the  rank  of 
Majr.(all  the  officers  having  been  promoted  one  grade  before 
their  discharge) —  he  then  settled  in  Maryland  and  mar- 
ried his  cousin,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Ezekiel  Forman,  one  of 
the  sons  of  ''uncle  Josey".  he  was  for  many  years  Clerk 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  Cecil  County,  &  known  as  General 
Ben.  Chambers.  He  was  the  father  of  the  present  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Maryland,  Genl.  Ezekiel  Forman 
Chambers,  who[m]  I  first  met  with  in  the  winter  1828  as  a 
Senator  in  Congress  from  his  state,  he  was  then  a  general 
of  the  state  of  Maryland,  he  had  several  brothers  &  sisters 
whom  I  have  never  met  with,  two  of  the  former  settled  in 
Mississippi  as  cotton  planters,  one  of  whom  died  there,  but 
the  other  was  alive  the  last  time  I  heard  of  him. 

After  the  "War  of  the  revolution  your  grandfather  found 
himself  greatly  reduced  in  his  circumstances,  but  full  of 
enthusiasm  at  the  glorious  result  of  the  War,  and  being  a 
man  of  very  remarkable  vigor  of  intellect,  prompt  and 
capable,  he  was  in  attendance  upon  all  the  public  meetings 
preliminary  to  the  formation  of  the  government,  and  con- 
stantly associated  with  the  officers  of  the  late  army,  he  soon 
fell  into  intemperate  habits  (as  did  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  Officers  of  the  late  army.)  Business  was  abandoned 
or  so  neglected  that  everything  went  to  ruin.  And  to  cap 
the  climax,  the  Heirs  of  Mr.  Martin  came  over  from  Eng- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  7 

land  and  claimed  the  land  we  lived  upon,  and  Mr.  Martin 
not  having  performed  his  promise  to  convey  it,  before  his 
death,  it  had  to  be  given  up,  and  thus  the  family  were  with- 
out a  home  and  with  very  slender  means  of  support,  in  this 
immergency,  your  uncle  William  returned  from  the  "Wes- 
tern Wilderness  where  he  had  spent  two  or  three  years, 
and  gave  so  glowing  an  account  of  Kentucky,  that  it  was 
determined  that  the  family  should  emigrate,  and  all  the 
stock  and  other  property  that  remained  was  sold  off,  and 
two  Jersey  waggons  procured  with  two  stout  horses  for 
each,  and  thus  equip  [p]ed,  with  some  beds  &  their  furni- 
ture, the  clothing  of  the  family  and  necessary  provisions, 
in  the  summer  of  the  year  1794  we  commenced  our  journey 
to  ''the  land  of  promise."  And  after  a  most  tedious  and 
laborious  journey  across  the  mountains,  we  reached  the 
Monongahela  river,  where  we  were  detained  several  weeks 
before  we  could  get  boats  to  prosecute  our  journey,  and 
there  we  found  ourselves  surrounded  by  the  ''Whiskey  In- 
surrection"— a  rebellion  against  the  payment  of  duty  on 
stills  &  distilled  spirits.  We  were  accompanied  on  our 
journey  by  the  family  of  Mr.  Eobt.  Davis  who  had  married 
my  oldest  sister,  (your  Aunt  Davis  who[m]  you  remember) 
and  of  his  brother  Mr.  Peter  Davis,  each  of  whom  had  a 
waggon  and  team,  these  two  families  preceeded  us  in  the 
first  boat  that  was  finished  &  we  soon  followed  and  joined 
them  at  this  place.  Your  uncle  Jas.  Chambers  was  left  in 
New  Jersey  as  a  clerk  in  a  country  store,  his  health  being 
delicate  it  was  doubted  whether  he  could  bear  the  journey, 
which  of  course  had  to  be  performed  on  foot,  by  the  male 
part  of  the  family.  Arrived  in  Kentucky,  the  family  con- 
sisted of  my  father  and  mother,  my  two  youngest  sisters, 
your  uncle  Benjamin  and  myself.  I  was  now  fourteen  years 
old  and  my  education  had  been  sadly  neglected.  I  could 
hardly  read  or  write  intelligibaly,  and  had  passed  rapidly 


8  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

and  carelessly  through  the  common  rules  of  Arithmetic^ 
and  had  my  language  corrupted  and  mixed  up  with  a  sort 
of  ''low  dutch"  (descendants  of  the  Hollanders  who  first 
settled  New  York  (New  Amsterdam)  and  from  thence 
spread  over  New  Jersey,  and  with  whose  descendants  I  had 
been  associated  as  playmates  and  school-fellows. [)]  A  few 
days  after  we  became  settled  here,  My  father  in  a  fit  of  ill 
humour,  which  had  now  become  very  common  with  him,  told 
me  I  must  seek  some  employment  and  that  he  could  not 
maintain  me  in  idleness —  two  hours  afterwards  I  was  be- 
hind the  counter  of  a  new  comer  by  the  name  of  Moore  who 
had  just  opened  a  small  stock  of  goods,  he  paid  my  board, 
and  when  he  had  pretty  nearly  sold  out  his  stock,  I  found 
employment  on  the  same  terms  behind  the  counter  of  a  Mr. 
Wiggins,  the  next  spring  your  uncle  Wm  came  and  pro- 
posed to  send  me  to  Lexington  to  go  to  school  at  the 
''Transylvania  Seminary",  and  in  March  1795  I  went  there 
—  in  July  a  vacation  occurred  and  there  was  some  difficulty 
in  the  school  which  I  thought  rendered  it  doubtful  whether 
it  would  be  resumed,  and  as  my  brother  had  by  frequent 
admonitions  to  diligence  and  some  estimates  of  the  expense 
of  my  education,  convinced  me  that  he  could  not  afford  to 
educate  me  there,  I  determined  to  return  home,  to  which  my 
father  yielded  with  manifest  displeasure,  and  was  very 
stern  and  distant  with  me  when  I  got  home.  I  found  he 
was  cultivating  a  little  field  of  corn,  &  the  morning  after 
my  return  I  got  up  early  and  fed  &  watered  his  old  horse 
and  went  to  ploughing —  Nothing  was  said,  and  after  sev- 
eral days  diligent  labors  I  had  put  the  little  field  in  good 
order,  and  then,  for  the  first  time  went  down  town,  where 
I  found  a  new  store  just  opening  under  the  firm  of  Brown- 
son  [  ?]  and  Irvin,  and  soon  became  their  assistant  behind 
the  counter.  In  all  these  employments  a  part  of  the  agree- 
ment was  that  they  were  to  pay  my  boarding  at  home,  sa 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  9 

that  by  early  rising  I  could  always  make  my  mothers  morn- 
ing fires  and  bring  water  for  the  days  consumption.  I  was 
now  drawing  towards  the  close  of  my  fifteenth  year  and 
continued  with  these  gentlemen  until  I  was  seventeen,  and 
became  very  much  attached  to  them,  as  they  seemed  to  be 
to  me 

The  next  year,  Mr.  Eobt.  Davis  having  removed  to  Au- 
gusta and  your  Aunt  Logan  (who  was  married  soon  after 
we  reached  Kenty.  under  an  engagement  made  in  New 
Jersey)  to  Jefferson  County  and  my  sister  Polly  having 
died  in  the  summer  1795,  it  was  thought  necessary  that  my 
father  and  mother  should  go  to  Augusta  to  be  near  one  of 
her  daughters,  because  my  mother  had  then  become  sub- 
ject to  periodical  fits  of  strong  convulsion,  which  it  may  be 
well  here  to  remark  continued,  during  the  residue  of  her 
long  life  to  afflict  her,  without  in  the  least  impairing  her 
general  health  or  her  mind. 

In  the  year  1797,  District  Courts  were  established  in 
Kenty.,  and  the  seat  of  one  of  the  Courts  fix[ed]  at  this 
place,  and  your  uncle  Francis  Taylor,  then  a  practising  law- 
yer was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Court —  The  jurisdiction  of 
this  Court  was  limited  to  important  civil  cases  and  to  the 
trial  of  criminals  &  and  consequent  [l]y  the  fees  of  the 
Clerks  office  were  very  inconsiderable  and  but  for  the  hope 
that  additional  jurisdiction  would  be  extended  to  the  Court, 
the  office  would  hardly  have  been  worth  holding.  Towards 
the  close  of  1797  Mr.  Taylor  applied  to  my  employers  to 
release  me  and  let  me  go  into  his  office,  which  with  some  re- 
luctance they  consented  to.  Mr.  Taylor  had  a  tolerable 
library  for  that  period  and  urged  the  benefits  I  might  de- 
rive from  reading  and  especially  in  studying  law,  which  the 
small  amount  of  business  in  the  office  would  enable  me  to  do. 
He  agreed  to  board  me  and  cloth  [e]  me,  I  finding  my  own 
bed  &  furniture  and  he  proposed  that  my  father  should  bind 


10  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

me  to  liim  until  I  was  twenty  one  years  old,  which  I  agreed 
to,  with  the  remark  that  an  Indenture  of  that  kind  would 
do  very  little  good,  as  if  a  sense  of  duty  did  not  bind  me, 
the  indenture  would  not,  and  I  never  heard  of  the  indenture 
afterwards — I  applied  myself  with  unremit[t]ing  atten- 
tion to  the  business  of  the  office  and  at  the  end  of  six 
months  thought  myself  the  better  clerk  of  the  two,  and  in- 
deed was  able  to  do  all  the  duties  of  the  office  with  very  lit- 
tle instruction  from  anybody.  In  the  Spring  of  the  year 
1800  Mr.  Taylor  wished  to  remove  to  his  farm  on  the  river, 
and  proposed  to  me  to  give  me  the  fees  of  the  office,  if  I 
would  stay  in  town  and  take  charge  of  it —  he  was  not  will- 
ing to  resign  because  he  still  clung  to  the  hope  of  its  be- 
coming more  valuable.  I  accepted  his  proposition  and  kept 
an  accurate  account  of  the  available  fees  for  one  year  & 
found  them  fall  something  short  of  four  hundred  dollars,  at 
which  I  had  estimated  them.  In  Novr.  of  that  year,  one 
month  after  I  attained  my  twentieth  year  I  obtained  a  Law 
License,  for  which  I  was  certainly  anything  but  well  qualli- 
fied,  but  I  had  read  a  great  deal  in  three  years,  not  only  of 
law,  but  of  almost  every  thing  I  could  lay  my  hands  on. 
And  thus  at  twenty  years  old  I  found  myself  a  lawyer,  by 
License.  The  next  Spring  finding  my  mothers  situation 
by  no  means  comfortable  notwithstanding  that  I  had  appro- 
priated a  considerable  part  of  my  little  income  to  her  use,  I 
proposed  to  bring  her  and  my  father  here  and  to  live  with 
them  this  I  soon  accomplished,  and  soon  succeed [ed]  in 
making  her  more  comfortable  than  she  had  been  for  many 
years.  This  was  a  source  of  great  gratification  to  me,  for  I 
loved  &  venerated  my  mother  beyond  all  others  of  Gods 
creation,  and  the  arduous  &  suffering  struggle  she  had 
made  to  raise  her  children  and  keep  them  together  when 
young,  and  impress  correct  principles  upon  their  minds,  en- 
titled her  to  all,  and  much  more  than  all,  I  was  ever  able 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  H 

to  do  to  make  her  happy 

My 

father 


the  autumn  of  1821  when 

he  sunk  to  the  grave  in  the  66th  year 

of  his  age,  and  thus  ended  a  man  endowed  by  nature  with 
an  uncommonly  clear  &  vigorous  mind,  educated,  &  pos- 
sessing the  highest  qualifications  for  business  .... 
.  I  had  now  begun  to  obtain  some  small  business 
as  a  lawyer,  and  occasionally  a  case  which  gave  me  an  op- 
portunity of  exercising  my  speech-making  faculties,  and  I 
was  enabled  to  keep  a  servant  for  my  mother  and  to  live 
comfortably  with  strict  economy,  and  thence  forward  was 
made  to  feel  that  my  efforts  to  get  along  were  appreciated 
favourably,  and  a  good  [d]eal  of  small  business  in  the  in- 
ferior courts  came  into  my  hands.  Ardent  and  devoted  to 
my  clients,  they  soon  became  friends,  all  which  improved 
my  prospects  and  increased  my  business.  About  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  preceeding  year  my  brother  James  came  to 
Kentucky  &  brought  with  him  his  wife  and  one  child,  (now 
Mrs.  Phillips).  In  the  Session  of  the  Legislature  of  1802-3 
the  district  and  quarter  sessions  courts  were  abolished  and 
in  their  stead  Circuit  Courts  established,  embracing  the 
jurisdiction  of  both.  Here  was  a  clerkship  established 
worth  having,  this  took  away  a  part  of  my  means  of  living, 
but  I  felt  that  I  could  live  without  it.  Mr.  Taylor  who  had 
lost  an  office  worth  nothing  to  him,  and  Capt[ai]n  Thos, 
Marshall  who  had  lost  the  quarter  sessions  court  clerkship 
worth  a  handsome  annual  income,  were  candidates  for  the 
new  office.  I  was  urged  by  my  friends  to  enter  the  lists, 
and  I  believe  if  the  office  had  been  then,  as  now,  elective  by 
popular  vote,  I  would  certainly  have  obtained  it,  but  I  hesi- 


12  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

tated  until  advised  by  one  of  the  three  judges  upon  whom 
the  appointment  depended.  He  advised  me  to  offer  assur- 
ing me  of  his  vote,  and  of  his  belief  that  another  would 
vote  for  me,  but  he  was  mistaken,  that  one  really  pre- 
fer [r]ed  Captn.  Marshall,  who  finding  that  neither  of  the 
others  would  in  any  event  vote  for  him,  joined  with  the 
third  judge  to  persuade  his  friend  to  vote  for  Mr.  Taylor. — 
this  I  learned  long  afterwards.  I  consented  however  to  en- 
ter the  list  of  candidates  and  here  seemed  for  a  while  to  be 
the  turning  point  of  my  fortunes.  I  was  denounced  imme- 
diately as  a  monster  of  ingratitude  towards  Mr.  Taylor, 
who  it  was  said  had  taken  me  into  his  office  through  charity, 
and  now  I  had  the  presumption  to  oppose  him  for  one  of 
the  most  valueable  offices  in  the  state —  to  all  this  I  only 
replied  that  I  did  not  believe  Mr.  Taylor  would  deny  that  I 
had  faithfully  fulfilled  all  my  obligations  to  him,  and  that 
I  certainly  never  would  have  entered  his  office,  with  either 
an  express  or  implied  understanding,  that  through  all  time 
to  come  I  must  yield  to  him  unresistingly  every  office  for 
which  he  might  choose  to  be  a  candidate  and  especially  an 
office  which  I  had  served  four  year  to  quallify  myself  for. 
But  there  was  more  involved  in.  the  controversy  than  the 
office  or  the  question  of  gratitude  to  my  late  employer.  In 
the  preceeding  year  his  half  sister,  Margaret,  the  only  child 
of  his  father  by  his  second  wife,  came  to  Kentucky  on  a 
visit  to  her  brother  and  his  family —  She  was  an  accom- 
plished and  lovely  girl  and  from  my  earliest  acquaintance 
with  her  I  became  attached  to  her,  and  at  the  time  this 
clerkship  was  depending  we  were  engaged  to  be  married, 
but  the  secret  rested  with  ourselves.  I  consulted  her  about 
withdrawing  from  the  contest  as  the  evident  effect  of  it 
was  to  estrange  her  brother  and  myself  and  insure  his  op- 
position to  her  fathers  consent  to  our  marriage.  She  met 
the  question  as  only  such  a  woman  could.     She  said  my 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  13 

withdrawal  and  our  subsequent  marriage  would  give  rise 
and  plausibility  to  the  imputation  that  she  was  sold  to  me 
as  the  price  of  my  withdrawal  from  the  contest,  and  altho 
she  knew  her  brother,  being  an  only  son,  had  great  influence 
with  her  father,  she  did  not  fear  it.  She  had  been  raised 
in  his  bosom  from  her  very  infancy,  without  a  mother,  and 
she  knew  he  had  confidence  in  her  judgment  and  prudence 
and  would  not  sacrifice  her  happiness  under  any  influence 
that  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him.  Mr.  Taylor  was 
elected  Clerk  and  I  soon  after  informed  him  of  my  engage- 
ment to  his  sister,  and  stated  my  object  in  doing  so,  to  be  to 
give  him  time  to  communicate  with  his  father,  as  his  sister 
&  myself  were  both  about  to  address  him  on  the  subject,^ 
the  reply  was  very  stern  and  to  the  effect  that  he  would  im- 
mediately send  his  sister  home  to  her  father.  I  told  him 
such  had  been  her  wish,  but  that  her  health  was  then  very 
delicate  and  I  had  earnestly  advised  her  against  encounter- 
ing the  journey  of  500  miles  on  horseback,  (then  the  only 
means  of  travel,)  he  answered  that  she  could  as  well  make 
the  journey  then  as  when  she  came  to  Kenty  I  reminded 
him  that  more  than  half  the  journey  had  then  been  made  on 
the  river  and  that  her  health  was  then  good,  he  persisted 
however  in  saying  that  she  should  return  immediately  to 
her  father,  and  upon  my  telling  him  that  in  that  case  I 
should  accompany  her,  he  answered  abruptly  that  I  should 
not  do  it —  here  I  thought  forbearance  ought  to  stop  and 
I  told  him  so,  and  that  I  would  in  defiance  of  him  or  any- 
body else  go  with  her,  and  that  any  attempt  to  obstruct  me 
would  be  fatal  to  who  ever  made  it —  That  if  he  would 
treat  her  kindly  until  her  fathers  pleasure  was  know[n], 
that  it  was  her  determination  &  mine  for  the  present  to 
submit  to  it.  I  heard  no  more  of  her  being  sent  away,  and 
in  due  time  her  father  answered  her  &  her  brothers  &  my 
letters,  regret [t]ing  that  she  had  placed  her  affections  upon 


14  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

a  young  man  who  [m]  he  did  not  know  and  could  not  judge 
of,  and  especially  one  whom  her  brother  disapproved  of. 
To  Mr.  Taylor  he  expressed  his  regret  at  what  had  taken 
place,  but  said  he  had  raised  that  daughter  without  a  moth- 
er and  she  had  inspired  him  not  only  with  the  most  un- 
bounded affection,  but  with  great  confidence  in  her  judg- 
ment and  prudence,  and  to  her  he  was  willing  under  all 
circumstances  to  commit  her  fate  in  the  matter  of  her  mar- 
riage, and  that  his,  Mr.  Taylors  opposition  to  her 
marriage  he  hoped  would  at  once  cease,  to  me  he  said  that 
nothing  but  his  unbounded  confidence  in  his  daughter  could 
have  induced  him  to  consent  to  her  marrying  a  young  man, 
poor,  and  dependent  upon  his  own  exertions  alone  for  even 
a  living,  which  he  commended  my  candour  in  stating  to 
him  without  reserve.  He  concluded  by  saying  he  was  not 
able  or  willing  under  existing  circumstances,  to  make  ad- 
vances to  his  daughter.  We  were  shortly  afterwards  mar- 
ried at  Mr.  Taylors,^  and  a  melancholy  scene  it  was,  one 
young  man  at  my  request,  and  one  young  lady  at  hers,  at- 
tended—  the  next  day  I  took  her  home,  for  I  had  provided 
a  home  for  her  tho[ugh]  a  poor  one.  I  took  her  the  next 
year  to  visit  her  father  and  after  giving  birth  to  two  still 
born  children  (both  females),  she  died  in  rather  less  than 
four  years  after  our  marriage.^  In  her  death  I  met  the 
first  shock  of  that  kind,  after  I  attained  manhood,  it  was 
a  severe  one,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  was  alone  in  the  world.  In 
the  year  after  our  marriage  her  father  expressed  his  wish 
to  send  her  some  servants,  but  I  declined  it,  hinting  gentle- 
ly  at  his  former  remark  on  the  subject.  But  my  old  friend 
Mr.  Vestner  [1]  then  a  merchant  here  called  to  see  Majr. 
Taylor  and  advised  him  to  send  the  servants,  for  which 

•  This  marriage  took  place  on  June  16,  1803. 
•The  date  of  her  death  was  March  4,  1807. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  I5. 

purpose  he  made  arrangements,  and  the  first  knowledge  of 
it  I  had,  was  the  arrival  of  the  servants — a  woman  and 
boy,  a  small  girl  and  three  children,  at  the  death  of  their 
Mistress  I  (as  she  had  wished)  emancipated  the  woman, 
and  then  applied  to  Mr.  Frank  Taylor  to  receive  the  others 
for  his  father,  as  under  the  laws  of  Maryland  they  could 
not  be  sent  into  that  state  again,  he  refused  and  said  he 
knew  his  father  would  not  receive  them,  and  it  so  turned 
out.  he  said  there  was  no  person  so  well  entitled  to  them 
as  I  was. 

On  a  subsequent  visit  to  Maryland  I  found  your  dear  and 
excellent  mother,  just  in  the  full  bloom  of  womanhood,  ad- 
mired by  every  one,  and  sought  after  by  some  gay  dis[s]a- 
pated  and  unpromising  young  men  of  ''the  first  families" 
I  at  once  saw  her  danger,  her  mother  had  died  two  or 
three  years  before  and  she  was  at  the  head  of  her  fathers 
family.  I  advised  her  aunts  and  sisters  to  caution  her 
against  two  young  men  particularly,  as  unworthy  of  her, 
but  the  answer  was,  they  were  young  men  of  great  promise 
and  well  connected  and  would  be  good  matches  for  any 
girl  in  the  County.  My  first  wife  had  been  dead  but  a  few 
months  and  I  felt  the  delicacy  of  proposing  so  soon  to  mar- 
ry again.  I  pondered  seriously  upon  it,  and  ask[ed]  my- 
self the  question  shall,  I  leave  this  young  and  lovely  crea- 
ture to  be  sacrificed  to  a  reckless  sot,  or  enter  the  lists  and 
carry  her  off,  to  wait  longer  may  be  fatal  to  her  future 
happiness.  I  hesitated  no  longer  and  in  a  few  days  she 
flew  to  my  arms  for  affection  and  protection,  and  no  wife 
ever  more  deserved  or  enjoyed  both —  here  let  me  remark 
that  both  the  young  gentlemen,  I  had  wished  her  to  avoid, 
married  lovely  girls  whose  parents  were  rich  (one  of  them, 
a  cousin  of  your  mother)  and  ended  their  respective  car- 
ries ^°  before  middle  age  in  great  poverty  and  perfectly  be- 
sotted. 

"  The  word  ' '  careers ' '  was  evidently  intended. 


16  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

Upon  communicating  to  your  grandfather  Taylor  my 
wish  to  unite  myself  again  with  his  family,  he  expressed 
great  pleasure  at  it,  and  on  my  return  to  Kenty.  your  uncle 
Taylor  was  kind  enough  to  say  that  if  he  had  had  to  choose 
a  husband  out  of  the  whole  circle  of  his  acquaintance  for 
his  sister,  the  choice  would  certainly  have  fallen  upon  me. 
Your  grandfather  1^  died  before  my  return  to  Maryland, 
suddenly,  at  McConnellstown  in  the  mountains,  when  re- 
turning from  the  Bedford  Springs  w[h]ere  he  had  been  in 
the  hope  of  finding  relief  from  a  severe  attack  of  gravel,  to 
which  he  had  long  been  subject.  I  found  his  three  orphan 
daughters  residing  with  their  sister  Mrs.  Jos.  Sprigg,^^ 
who  married  your  Uncle  Sprigg  on  the  same  day  that 
your  grandfather  married  his  half  sister,  Mrs.  Hall,^-'^ 
afterwards  the  mother  of  the  three  orphans  I  have 
just  mentioned.  I  married  your  mother  and  brought 
her  immediately  to  Kentucky,  and  went  on  prosperously 
in  the  practise  of  my  profession,  until  in  an  evil  hour,  I 
was  induced  to  engage  in  the  Hemp  business,  built  a  Rope 
walk  and  at  the  end  of  four  or  five  years  found  myself 
twenty  thousand  dollars  loser,  and  in  debt  beyond  ray 
means  of  immediate  payment.  I  kept  my  business  to  my- 
self and  maintained  my  credit  until  I  struggled  pretty  well 
through  my  indebtedness,  living  economically  and  wasting 
nothing,  about  this  time  (1812)  the  United  States  were 
compelled  by  circumstances  to  declare  War  against  Great 
Brittain.  the  whole  country  was  thrown  into  great  excite^ 
ment.    Men  of  business  were  required  for  Legislators  and 

*^  This  refers  to  Ignatius  Taylor,  the  father-in-law  of  John  Chambers. 

"Evidently  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Ignatius  Taylor  by  his  first  wife,  and  a  sister 
of  Mr.  Francis  Taylor. 

"  Mrs.  Barbara  Bowie  Hall  was  the  third  wife  of  Ignatius  Taylor  and  tho 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Hannah  Lee  Bowie  who  later  married  a  Joseph  Sprigg.  Sec 
page  275. 


i 

t, 

[ 


16  ArTOBKXVRAPHY    OP    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

*^<r!   ' ommunicating  to  your  grandfather  Taylor  my 
(^  myself  again  with  his  family,  he  expressed 
re  at  it,  and  on  my  return  to  Kenty.  your  uncle 
and  enough  to  say  that  if  he  had  had  to  choose 
'*  of  the  whol^  circle  of  his  acquaintance  for 
loice  woailcf  certainly  have  fallen  upon  me. 
•r"  di^  before  my  return  to  Maryland, 
at  McConnelji^towTi  in  the  mountains,  when  re- 
luniiug  from  the  Bedford  Springs  w[^  id  been  in 

the  hope  of  finding  reliew  fcom  a  sever  —nvel,  to 

which  he  had  long  been^uBject.    I  fon  aphan 

daughters  residing  with  Isbeir  sister  Mrs.  Jos.  Sprigg,^^ 
who  married  your  Uncle  Sprigg  on  the  same  day  that 
your  grandfather  married  his  half  sister,  Mrs.  Hall,^^ 
afterwards  the  mother  of  the  three  orphans  I  have 
just  mentioned.  I  married  your  mother  and  brought 
her  immediately  to  Kentucky,  and  went  on  prosperously 
in  the  practise  of  my  profession,  until  in  an  evil  hour,  I 
was  induced  to  engage  in  the  Hemp  business,  built  a  Rope 
walk  and  at  the  end  of  four  or  five  yen"  *- - -^  myself 
twenty  thousand  dollars  loser,  and   in  id   my 

means  of  immediate  pa^nent.  my  busine.^s  to  my 

m\f  and  maintained  myjreiiit  uiiii  d  pretty  well 

♦  '  "IneffS,  Gving  ♦•  and  wasting 

i  *'"*5>   tl81*J)    in.-    I  Milt- i   States  were 

'*-  ,       I    iiii;>i.iS<«g  to  declare  War  against  Great 

Brittain.  the  whole  coimti!|r  was  thrown  into  great  excite- 
ment.   Men  of  businessjv^e^-e  required  for  Legislators  air^l 

s    « 

"  Thin  wtfetB  to  Ignatius  Tanor,  the  father-in-law  of  John  Chambers. 

'  V  a  daughter  of  Mrxignatiua  Taylor  by  his  first  wife,  and  a  sister 
of        .   .  .  aicis  Taylor. 

*  Mrs.  Barbara  Bowie  Hall  was  the  third  wife  of  Ignatius  Taylor  and  the 
daogbter  of  Mrs.  Hannah  Lee  Bowie  who  later  married  a  Joseph  Sprigg.  See 
Tpmg^  275. 


I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  17 

I  was  made  a  candidate  for  the  House  of  Eep's  and  elected 
through  a  very  fierce  and  close  contest,  and  was  fortunate 
enough  to  please  my  constituents.  The  next  year  I  de- 
clined being  a  candidate,  intending  to  make  a  campaign  that 
fall  if  possible,  a  good  many  voted  for  me  notwithstand- 
ing, the  present  Judge  Eeid  was  a  candidate  and  very 
popular,  having  made  a  bloodless  campaign  of  thirty  days 
the  proceeding  fall,  he  was  of  course  elected,  and  I  believe 
he  yet  thinks  he  achieved  a  triumph  over  me  on  that  oc- 
casion. The  winter  of  1812  while  I  was  a  member  of  the- 
Legislature  was  a  time  of  deep  and  painful  feeling  in  Ken- 
tucky. Genl.  HulP*  who  had  been  intrusted  with  the  com- 
mand of  about  two  thousand  men  to  strengthen  DeTroit 
had  ingloriously  surrendered  that  post.  General  Winches- 
ter^^ followed  with  a  large  but  temporary  force,  enlisted  for 
thirty  &  sixty  days.  Many  of  them  were  Kentuckians 
Genl.  Harrison ^^'  then  governor  of  Indiana,  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  the  Battle  of  Tippecanoe  in  the  pro- 
ceeding year  against  an  Indian  force,  was  now  invited  to 
Kentucky  and  upon  coming  here,  tho[ugh]  not  a  citizen  in 
fact,  was  appointed  a  Majr.  General  of  Kentucky,  and  led 
out  a  portion  of  the  force  intended  for  Winchesters  com- 
mand who[m],  (he  being  only  a  Brigadier  General,)  Har- 
rison under  his  Kentucky  commission  took  the  command 
of  in  chief  to  the  great  gratification  of  the  army,  but  feeling 
the  awkwardness  of  his  position  as  a  states  officer  com- 
manding a  XJ.  S.  general  who  had  been  expressly  designated 
to  the  command,  he,  after  organizing  the  army  as  well  as  he 
could,  prepared  to  retire  and  had  made  his  farewell  address 
to  the  troops,  when  an  expressed ^'^  reached  him,  with  a  U. 

"  The  word  * '  express ' '  is  evidently  intended. 

^William  Hull. 

"James  Winchester. 

*•  William  Henry  Harrison. 


18  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

S.  Majr.  Generals  commission,  and  orders  to  assume  the 
command  in  chief,  which  he  did  and  immediately  detached 
Genl.  Winchester  to  advance  rapidly  to  the  rapids  of  the 
Maumee  river  and  there  secure  his  position,  and  wait  the 
arrival  of  the  main  body  of  the  army,  but  instead  of  obey- 
ing his  orders,  Winchester  pushed  on  to  the  river  Eaison^^ 
within  striking  distance  of  the  British  and  Indian  strong- 
hold at  Fort  Maiden,  from  thence  he  informed  Genl.  Har- 
rison of  what  he  had  done,  and  urged  his  advance.  Har- 
rison at  once  saw  ruin  in  the  movement,  it  was  midwinter, 
the  ground  covered  with  ice  &  snow,  and  it  was  impossible 
to  save  these  in  advance,  and  he  irmnediately  so  informed 
Govr.  Shelby^®  by  express  and  urged  him  to  stand  ready 
to  reinforce  him.  He  then  proceeded  by  forced  marches, 
but  before  he  could  reach  Winchester  he  met  the  few  fugi- 
tives from  the  battle  ground^*^  who  had  escaped  mas [s]  acre 
and  capture,  and  fell  back  to  Maumee,  where  he  erected 
Fort  Meigs,  and  awaited  the  arrival  of  reinforcements. 
Govr.  Shelby  had  communicated  Harrisons  letter  to  the 
Legislature  and  with  closed  doors  they  had  prepared  the 
necessary  measures  for  the  anticipated  result  of  Winches- 
ters disregard  of  orders.  The  news  of  the  defeat  came  by 
express  &  arrived  after  night  and  was  suffered  to  spread  in 
a  crowded  theatre,  where  the  wives  and  daughters  of  nearly 
two  full  companies  and  many  office [r]s  were  collected.  I 
never  saw  and  hope  never  to  see  again  such  another  scene 
of  wild  distress  and  agony.  Many  were  helpless  widows 
and  orphans,  who  went  there  as  they  thought  happy  wives 
&  children.    Immediate  measures  were  adopted  to  reinforce 

"  The  Eiver  Eaisin  flows  into  the  west  end  of  Lake  Erie  between  the  Detroit 
Eiver  and  the  Maumee  Eiver. 

"  Isaac  Shelby,  Governor  of  Kentucky  from  1792  to  1796  and  from  1812  to 
1816. 

*This  disaster  on  the  Eiver  Eaisin  occurred  January  22,  1813. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  19 

Harrison,  but  it  was  about  midwinter  and  the  weather  un- 
usually severe,  and  before  the  troops  could  be  embodied, 
clothed  &  provisioned  Spring  came,  and  with  the  return  of 
Spring  came  the  British  &  Indians  to  the  attack  of  Fort 
Meigs.  During  the  seige,  the  Kentucky  reinforcement  ap- 
proached, and  an  express  sent  out  in  the  night  from  the 
fort,  directed  the  advance  to  take  boats,  land  just  above 
the  fort  on  the  enemies  side,  destroy  some  batteries 
there,  spike  the  guns  and  return  immediately  to  their  boats 
and  descend  to  the  Fort  in  full  view.  The  landing  was  af- 
fected, the  guns  spiked  and  all  precisely  as  ordered,  but 
having  driven  off  the  enemy  stationed  there,  the  impetuous 
Kentuckians  must  have  a  race  after  the  flying  enemy,  and 
their  gallant  Colo.  Dudl[e]y2^  could  not  controul  them,  this 
gave  the  whole  British  and  Indian  force  from  below  time  to 
meet  them,  and  a  slaughter  commenced.  Many  were  kill[ed], 
more  made  prisoners  and  a  few  only  reached  the  boats  and 
landed  safely  at  the  fort.  The  British  shortly  after  re- 
treated and  the  fort  remained  safe,  but  they  renewed  the 
attack  afterwards,  when  the  fort  was  under  the  command  of 
Genl.  Green  Clay,^^  Genl.  Harrison  being  in  the  interior  of 
Ohio  preparing  for  the  increase  of  his  force  and  to  advance 
upon  the  enemy,  the  seige  again  proved  abortive  and  the 
enemy  retreated  to  their  stronghold,  (Fort  Maiden.)  I  have 
given  you  this  historical  detail  rather  as  a  key  to  my  own 
subsequent  course  than  from  any  necessity  for  it,  because  it 
might  all  be  found  in  the  official  correspondence  of  Genl. 
Harrison  of  that  period.  The  excitement  throughout  Ken- 
tucky consequent  upon  the  defeat  of  Winchester  and  Dudley 
was  excessive,  and  revenge  for  the  slaughter  of  our  citizens 

"  William  Dudley. 

**  Green  Clay  of  Kentucky  was  the  father  of  Cassius  M.  Clay  and  a  cousin 
of  Henry  Clay. 


20  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

was  the  order  of  the  day.  In  the  siuniner  succeeding,  Govr. 
Shelby  offered  to  lead  in  person,  a  body  of  men  to  the  sup- 
port of  Harrison  sufficient  to  insure  success.  His  offer  was 
accepted  and  in  August  he  marched  with  about  3500  men 
all  on  horseback.  Just  before  he  set  out  he  wrote  to  me  of- 
fering me  a  place  in  his  staff,  but  I  had  previously  promised 
to  join  Genl.  Harrison  as  a  volunteer  aid  de  camp,  as  soon 
as  he  would  inform  me  that  the  active  opperations  of  the 
campaign  were  about  to  commence.  Here  it  is  proper  to 
remark  that  Genl.  H.  and  myself  were  strangers  and  that 
his  invitation  to  me,  was  given  upon  the  recommendation  of 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  to  whom  I  was  known,  and 
in  August  he  requested  Colo.  Bodley  who  was  returning 
from  the  lines  to  call  on  me,  and  urge  my  joining  him  imme- 
diately. I  did  so,  and  found  him  at  Camp  Seneca^^  on  the 
Sandusky  river  about  the  first  of  September,  and  was  an- 
nounced the  next  morning  in  general  orders  as  an  aid  of 
the  commander  in  chief.  Here  was  entirely  a  new  Theatre 
for  me.  Ignorant  as  the  horse  I  rode  of  everything  like 
military  life,  I  had  to  begin  with  the  a,  b,  c,  of  my  study, 
but  determined  to  make  myself  useful  if  possible,  I  began 
to  look  about  me  for  something  to  do,  and  from  the  de- 
ranged state  of  the  Genls.  military  papers,  I  soon  found 
employment  for  myself  and  two  educated  soldiers,  (drunk- 
en lawyers  who  having  ruined  themselves  by  their  intem- 
perance took  shelter  from  starvation  by  enlisting)  with 
their  labour  under  my  direction  I  soon  produced  order  out 
of  confusion,  to  the  generals  very  great  gratification. 

On  the  tenth  of  September  Commodore  Perry^*  encoun- 
tered the  British  squadron  on  Lake  Erie.    We  could  hear 

*•  This  camp  was  located  on  the  Sandusky  Eiver  in  the  northern  part  of  what 
is  now  Seneca  County,  Ohio. 
**  Oliver  Hazard  Perry. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  21 

the  guns  at  Seneca,  near  ninety  miles  from  the  scene  of 
battle,  the  next  morning  the  Genl.  gave  orders  for  the  ad- 
vance of  the  army  towards  the  Lake,  and  followed  the  first 
detachment  accompanied  by  myself  and  two  Indians  about 
five  miles  from  the  camp  and  an  equal  distance  from  Lower 
Sandusky  he  received  by  express.  Perry's  celebrated 
note — ''We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours" —  he 
then  advanced  at  full  speed  and  instantly  ordered  off  all 
the  force  at  Lower  Sandusky  towards  the  Lake  and  the 
next  morning  followed  them  with  a  regiment  of  Pen[n]syl- 
vanians,  and  that  evening  we  found  ourselves  encamped  on 
the  shore  of  the  Lake  with  a  few  artillerymen  and  their 
guns,  the  next  day  the  troops  from  Seneca  began  to  arrive 
and  the  succeeding  day  Govr.  Shelby  came  in  with  his  great 
reinforcement.  In  a  day  or  two  Commodore  Perry  landed 
his  prisoners  and  in  the  next  three  days  the  army  embarked 
for  Cannada  in  the  ships  of  the  squadron  &  eighty  old  trans- 
port boats.  We  landed  at  "Put-in  Bay"  on  the  Isleland 
and  concentrated  the  army  there,  from  thence  in  two 
-days  reached  the  Cannada  shore.  The  Kentuckians 
horses  being  left  on  the  American  side.  The  remainder  of 
the  campaign  is  history  and  I  must  refer  you  to  it.  My  own 
part  in  it  remains  to  be  told,  it  was  much  more  distinguished 
by  cheerful,  and  perhaps  energetic  discharge  of  all  the  du- 
ties assigned  to  me,  than  by  any  personal  achievement.  Yet 
I  was  specially  noticed,  with  a  few  others,  in  the  generals 
official  account^^  of  the  battle  of  the  Thames,^^  as  having 
given  Genl.  Proctor^'^  a  severe  chase  after  he  fled  from  the 
battle  ground,  from  which  Harrison  said  he  only  escaped 

^  See  report  of  General  Harrison  to  John  Armstrong,  Secretary  of  War, 
October  9,  1813. 

'*  In  this  battle,  fought  on  October  5,  1813,  the  American  army  under  Gen- 
-eral  Harrison  completely  routed  the  combined  forces  of  the  British  and  Indians. 

"Henry  A.  Procter  was  at  that  time  in  command  of  the  British  forces. 


22  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

*'by  the  fleetness  of  Ms  horses."  It  was  an  act  of  great 
rashness,  rather  deserving  censure  than  praise,  for  nine  of 
ns  to  pursue  a  British  Genl.  with  his  life  guard  of  forty 
dragoons,  and  some  Indians  until  night  stop[p]ed  us,  but 
like  many  thousands  of  other  acts  of  rashness  in  battle,  it 
became  fame,  as  far  at  least  as  the  circle  of  our  personal 
acquaintance  extended. 

At  the  close  of  the  campaign,  I  received  a  letter  of  thanks 
from  the  commanding  General,  with  permission  to  return 
to  my  family,  his  thanks  to  his  aids  by  name  were  also  ex- 
pressed in  his  official  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  I 
pushed  for  home  without  delay  and  found  my  family  uniting 
in  the  general  rejoicing  through  out  the  land  in  the  glorious 
result  of  the  campaign.  Thus  ended  my  very  brief  mili- 
tary carier,  and  I  have  often  thought  of  it  since  as  one  of 
the  follies  of  my  younger  days. 

I  had  left  a  wife  and  three  children  at  home,  badly  pro- 
vided for  if  I  had  have  died  or  been  killed,  to  engage  in  a 
business  of  which  I  was  wholly  ignorant  and  in  which  the 
chances  were  more  than  equal  that  my  ignorance  would  ex- 
pose me  to  ridicule  if  not  to  censure.  The  next  year  I  was 
urged  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature  but  declined  it. 
The  succeeding  year  I  was  elected  very  contrary  to  both  my 
inclination  and  interest,  (Your  uncle  James  Chambers  was 
elected  at  the  same  time  to  the  Senate,  having  frequently 
served  before  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives)  from 
thenceforward  my  rapidly  increasing  family  deter [r]ed  me 
from  engaging  in  popolitical  life  again  until  1828,  when  a 
very  exciting  election  in  which  the  member  of  congress 
from  this  district  resigned  his  place  and  was  the  Whig 
candidate  for  Govr.  ( Metcalfe  )2®  brought  me  out  by  the 

*  Thomas  Metcalfe  "was  a  member  of  Congress  from  Kentucky  from  1819 
to  1828,  was  Governor  of  that  State  from  1829  to  1833,  and  was  in  the  United 
States  Senate  from  1848  to  1849. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  23 

nomination  of  a  convention  to  supply  the  vacancy.  I  was 
elected  and  at  the  end  of  the  term  again  retired.  In  1831 
and  1832  I  was  again  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature. 
In  the  last  of  those  years  I  was  offered  a  seat  on  the  bench 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  on  the  recommendation  of  both  the 
political  parties  of  the  day,  but  declined  it,  and  in  the  win- 
ter 1834-5  was  appointed  to  that  Court  and  would  probably 
have  taken  my  seat  in  it,  but  a  severe  attack  of  dyspetia 
deter [r]ed  me  and  I  resigned  in  April,  and  soon  after  be- 
came a  candidate  for  Congress,  partly  in  the  hope  that  the 
exercise  and  excitement  of  the  canvass  would  restore  my 
health,  and  it  did  do  so  effectually.  I  was  again  elected  and 
again  in  1837.  In  March  1839  I  retired.  Here  I  should  have 
remarked  that  the  death  of  your  excellent  mother  took  place 
in  Novr.  1832  but  for  which  I  should  probably  never  have 
again  taken  any  oflSce  which  would  seperate  us  for  any  con- 
siderable time,  but  your  sister  Hannah  and  her  husband 
having  come  to  live  in  the  family,  I  felt  that  my  children 
would  be  as  safe  with  her  affectionate  care  of  them,  as  if  I 
remained  with  them  &  I  again  launched  into  politics  as  I 
have  stated,  but  when  I  retired  in  1839  I  had  determined 
to  continue  in  private  life  and  to  continue  my  practice  as  a 
lawyer,  then  considerably  diminished  by  my  frequent  and 
long  absences  in  Congress.  But  the  candidacy  of  Genl.  Har- 
rison in  the  next  year  again  forced  me  into  the  political 
arena.  The  infamous  slanders  propogated  against  his 
moral  and  military  char[ac]ter,  render [ed]  it  a  duty  in- 
cumbent upon  those  who  knew  personally  the  falsehood  of 
many  of  those  slanders,  to  stand  forth  in  his  vindication. 
I  was  one  of  those,  and  from  the  great  convention  here  in 
April  of  that  year  until  the  election  I  devoted  myself  to  the 
work,  as  the  general  &  many  others  were  pleased  to  say, 
with  considerable  efficiency.  This  with  his  previous  friend- 
ly feeling  towards  me,  rendered  me  a  marked  personal 


24  AUTOBIOGEAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

favorite  with  him,  which  in  the  honesty  of  his  heart,  he  fre- 
quently stated  before  and  after  his  administration  com- 
menced, to  my  no  small  annoyance,  for  it  brought  upon  me 
innumerable  applications  for  the  exertion  of  my  supposed 
influence,  to  obtain  offices  for  friends  and  even  strangers, 
which  to  avoid  becoming  an  annoyance  to  him  I  had  de- 
termined not  to  attempt  for  any  person,  and  I  carried  it 
out.  I  went  with  him  to  Washington  and  with  the  under- 
standing that  I  was  not  to  be  recognized  as  such,  performed 
the  duties  of  his  private  Secretary  which  place  was  to  be 
filled  by  his  son-in-law,  Wm.  Taylor,  as  soon  as  he  was  able 
[to]  join  him  with  his  family.  The  General  (now  Presi- 
dent) avowed  to  his  cabinet  his  wish  to  induce  me  to  re- 
main at  Washington,  and  he  charged  them  to  designate 
some  office  for  me  which  would  induce  me  to  do  so.  The 
Office  of  Treasurer  was  designated  as  the  least  laborious 
&  best  paid  of  any  other.  I  declined  it,  and  he  became  evi- 
dently anxious  &  uneasy  on  the  subject,  and  when  I  deter- 
mined to  return  home,  he  told  me  it  would  have  a  most 
singular  appearance  if  I  did  not  take  office  under  his  ad- 
ministration that,  it  was  universally  expected  and  if  I  re- 
fused it,  it  would  render  my  friends  who  were  also  his, 
unfriendly  towards  him.  I  told  him  I  could  easily  obviate 
that  by  causing  it  to  be  published  as  upon  my  authority, 
that  my  private  affairs  had  induced  me  to  decline  office,  but 
this  did  not  seem  to  satisfy  him,  and  I  at  last  told  him  I 
would  accept  the  office  of  Govr.  of  Iowa,  which  he  had  pro- 
posed and  I  had  previously  refused,  but  I  told  him  it  was 
probable  that  I  should  retain  that  office  but  a  short  time.  I 
was  appointed  the  same  day,  but  urged  by  some  of  the 
cabinet  not  to  accept,  but  to  agree  to  remain  which  it  was 
urged  was  essential  to  the  Presidents  happiness,  as  his 
heart  seemed  to  be  set  upon  having  me  near  him,  but  I  had 
upon  very  mature  reflection  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  25 

personal  friend  &  conj&dent  of  a  President  was  by  no  means 
so  enviable  a  position  as  was  generally  supposed,  and  that 
the  very  reputation  of  occupying  it  was  the  certain  means 
of  creating  unceasing  &  inveterate  vituperation  &  slander. 
In  one  short  month  the  kind  old  man  was  called  to  his  final 
account.^^  I  closed  his  eyes,  saw  him  laid  in  his  vault,  re- 
mained with  his  daughter-in-law  and  grand  children  one 
week,  made  private  memorandoms  of  his  business  for  his 
son  and  set  out  for  Iowa.  You  know  the  rest.  I  served 
under  his  appointment  four  years,  was  reappointed  by 
President  Tylor  and  removed  by  James  K.  Polk,  about  six 
or  seven  months  after  he  came  into  the  administration  to 
make  room  for  a  political  partisan,  this  probably  saved  my 
life  for  the  time  being,  for  my  health  had  so  entirely  failed 
that  that  I  could  not  have  sustained  myself  under  a  further 
prosecution  of  the  laborious  duties  of  office.  I  should  too 
have  considered  myself  in  some  measure  degraded  by  hold- 
ing office  subject  to  removal  by  Mr.  Polk.  I  knew  the  man 
personally —  he  was  a  third  rate  statesman,  a  sprightly 
county  court  lawyer  and  an  unscrupulous  partisan. —  Peace 
be  to  his  ashes. 

Thus  ended  my  political  &  professional  life,  for  both  my 
age  and  health  forbid  the  idea  of  a  further  prosecution  of 
the  latter. 

In  this  sketch  of  our  family  and  of  my  own  life,  I  have  in 
order  to  render  the  chain  unbroken  as  far  as  I  could,  passed 
over  some  other  family  relations  which  must  now  be  sup- 
plied. My  grandfather  Chambers  had  one,  and  perhaps 
more  sisters,  but  I  have  been  only  able  to  trace  the  descen- 
dants of  the  one  who  married  a  Mr.  Alexander  and  settled 
in  Virginia.  I  have  met  with  a  number  of  her  descendants, 
of  whom  the  late  Judge  McClurg  was  one,  on  his  mothers 

"President  Harrison's  death  occurred  on  April  4,  1841. 

6 


26  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

side.  Jas.  Alexander  Paxton,  was  another —  an  obscure 
family  in  Fleming  County  by  tbe  name  of  Alexander  were 
the  immediate  descendants  of  that  great  aunt,  the  father  of 
the  family  being  her  son  and  having  the  family  name  of 
Kowland.  his  likeness  to  my  father  was  most  striking. 
My  grandmother  and  Aunt  Betty  Forman  had  two  or  more 
brothers,  one  of  whom  settled  in  Virginia  and  one  in  Mary- 
land Genl.  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  commonly  called 
''horse  Harry"  from  having  command [ed]  the  Virginia 
Light-horse  in  the  Eevolution,  was  a  descendant  of  the  one 
who  settled  in  that  state.^°  The  general  was  a  man  of  tal- 
lents,  a  gallant  and  distinguished  officer,  but  a  very  reckless 
and  dishonest  man  in  all  his  business  transactions  obtain- 
ing money  by  a  total  disregard  of  honesty  &  spending  it  in 
wanton  waste.  Of  the  one  who  settled  in  Maryland,  the 
descendants  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  them,  were 
very  respectable.  One  of  them  I  think  served  as  a  Govr.  of 
the  state,  and  a  descendant  of  his,  was  some  years  ago  a 
very  promising  young  lawyer  in  Fredericktown. 

Here  I  must  remark  that  I  have  never  taken  any  pains  to 
trace  my  relationship  to  remote  relatives  without  I  found 
them  both  poor  and  respectable.  The  rich  want  no  distant 
relations,  and  the  worthless  don't  deserve  any.  The  de- 
scendants of  my  grandfathers  brothers  are  exceedingly 
numerous  in  Pen[n]sylvania,  and  I  have  found  them  in 
every  state  in  which  I  have  traveled. 

I  have  said  very  little  of  my  brothers.  You  know  the 
families  of  the  oldest  &  youngest  of  them  Wm.  and  James. 
Your  uncle  Benjn.  was  an  unsettled  and  wandering  man  in 

**  The  statement  that  Light-Horse  Harry  Lee  was  a  descendant  of  a  brother 
of  the  grandmother  of  Governor  John  Chambers  is  a  mistake,  as  will  be  easily 
seen  by  consulting  the  genealogy  of  the  Lee  family  of  Virginia.  The  second 
wife  of  Governor  Chambers  was,  however,  a  direct  descendant  of  the  Lees  of 
Virginia,  her  maternal  grandmother,  Hannah  Lee  Bowie,  being  a  daughter  of 
Philip  Lee,  grandson  of  Eichard  Lee,  the  emigrant. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  27 

early  life.  He  married  at  about  24  or  25  years  old  in  Jeffer- 
son County,  a  girl  very  favorably  spoken  of  by  those  who 
know  her.  I  never  saw  her.  She  lived  but  a  year  or  two,  and 
left  no  offspring.  He  then  wandered  for  several  years  and 
wound  up  his  travels  by  a  marrying  again — a  coarse  but 
good  woman —  the  mother  of  his  three  sons,  whose  history 
you  know,  he  became  intemperate  and  lived  at  my  expense 
principally  until  he  and  his  wife  died  in  the  same  day,  when 
their  children  were  sent  to  me,  and  gave  me  much  trouble 
and  expense  —  the  only  survivor  of  them,  is  I  believe  in 
California — 

the  next  one  (the  doctr.) 

you  know  died  two  years  ago  childless,  the  youngest,  James 
died  leaving  some  children  in  Hlinois.  Your  Aunt  Logan 
now  the  only  survivor  of  my  brothers  &  sisters,  you  know. 
Here  husband  was  an  educated  man,  but  entirely  inefficient 
to  any  useful  purpose.  For  many  years  I  had  to  furnish 
them  a  home  and  the  principal  means  of  subsistence. 

It  is  now  proper  that  I  should  give  you  some  idea  of  your 
mothers  family — the  most  singularly  connected  &  mixed 
up  family  I  have  ever  known,  owing  to  the  fact  that  your 
grandfather  Taylor  married  three  widows  each  of  whom 
had  children  before  he  married  them,  so  that  the  brothers 
&  sisters  of  the  half  blood  had  brothers  &  sisters  also  of 
the  half  blood  who  were  in  no  way  related  to  other  brothers 
&  sisters — for  instance,  your  Uncle  Taylor  &  Aunt  Sprigg 
had  a  half  brother  and  sister,  (their  mothers  children) 
named  Paren  [f],  who  were  in  no  way  related  to  either  of 
my  wives.  My  first  wife  had  two  half  brothers  named  Jour- 
dan  [  ?]  who  were  in  no  way  related  to  your  Uncle  Taylor 
&  Aunt  Sprigg  or  to  your  mother.  Your  mother  had  a  half 
brother,  Thos.  B.  Hall  and  several  sisters  of  the  Hall 
family  who  were  not  related  to  your  Uncle  Taylor  &  Aunt 


28  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

Sprigg  or  to  my  first  wife.  And  the  connection  was  still 
further  complicated  by  the  marriage  of  your  grandmother 
Taylors  half  brother,  Joseph  Sprigg,  to  your  grandfather 
Taylors  oldest  daughter,  by  which  she  became  the  aunt  of 
her  sisters,  and  he  the  brother-in-law  of  his  nieces.  And  it 
extended  still  further.  Joseph  Sprigg  father  of  your  uncle 
Jo.  Sprigg  married  a  widow  Bowie  who  at  that  time  had 
two  daughters,  your  grandmother  and  her  sister  Mrs.  Belt,^^ 
by  their  mother  he  had  a  numerous  family,  towit  your 
uncles  Jo.  Sprigg, —  Osborn  Sprigg, —  Thos.  Sprigg, —  Cor- 
bin  Sprigg,  Wm.  Sprigg  (long  known  in  the  West  as  a 
Judge,  first  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  then  of  the  ter- 
ritorial court  of  Louisiana  &  then  of  Illinois,)  and  two 
daughters,  Mrs.  Charles  Carrol  of  Bellview,  and  Miss  Han- 
nah Sprigg  who  died  unmarried,  these  were  your  grand- 
mother Taylors  half  brothers  &  sisters.  After  the  death  of 
their  mother  their  father  married  again,  and  by  this  mar- 
riage had  one  son  (yet  alive,  Hon.  Saml.  Sprigg  of  Prince 
Georges  County  Maryland — ex-governor  of  that  state — ^^ 
he  of  course  was  not  related  to  your  mother,  and  was  my 
attendant  as  grooms-man  when  I  married  her — by  the  way 
he  was  the  devisee  of  a  rich  uncle,  his  fathers  brother,  and 
married  a  lady  of  large  fortune  and  has  lived  most  magnifi- 
cently upon  it  until  (I  understand  that)  it  has  evaporated. 
This  outline  embraces  I  think  as  much  of  our  family  his- 
tory and  perhaps  more  than  you  will  feel  any  interest  in. 
There  have  been  many  incidents  in  my  own  life,  that  I  have 
past  over  as  being  of  no  importance,  but  which  in  their  ef- 
fects &  consequences  were  very  interesting  to  me  at  the 
time  of  their  occurrence — for  instance  it  was  quite  an  in- 
teresting event  to  me  when  in  my  18th  year  I  was  made 

"  A  genealogy  of  the  Lee  family  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Register,  Vol.  XXVI,  p.  62,  gives  this  name  as  "Bell". 
**  Samuel  Sprigg  was  Governor  of  Maryland  from  1819  to  1822. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  29 

Clerk  of  the  board  of  Trustees  of  this  old  towii,^^  and  again 
when  I  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a  town  Trustee,  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Attorney  for  the  Commonwealth  &c.  &c.  In 
all  these  little  offices  I  contrived  by  diligence  to  make  my- 
self useful  and  was  generally  considered  as  influenced  by 
considerations  of  public  good  in  accepting  them. 

In  two  volumes  of  "Harpers  Family  Library"  entitled 
the  life  of  Perry,  you  will  see  a  number  of  extracts  of  a 
letter  from  me  to  the  present  Commodore  ''Mathew  C. 
Perry "^^  relative  [to]  my  knowledge  of  and  intercourse 
with  the  ''Hero  of  Lake  Erie" — his  deed,  brother,  it  was 
the  result  of  one  of  my  army  associations  which  I  enjoyed 
exceedingly.  I  am  refer  [r]ed  to  by  name  as  the  writer  of 
the  letter  by  Capt[ai]n  Mackenzie,^^  better  known  by  the 
name  of  Slidell — now  dead — a  man  of  fine  talants  and 
great  firmness  of  character.  It  was  him  who  hung  Spen- 
c[e]r,  the  son  of  the  Secretary  of  War,^^  for  mutiny  at  sea. 

In  my  long  life  (for  remember  I  was  seventy  one  years 
old  on  the  sixth  day  of  October  last)  I  have  had  many 
rivals,  who  sometimes  became  enemies  for  the  time  being, 
it  has  been  my  rule  never  to  exult  over  those  who  were  less 
fortunate  in  our  professional  and  political  contests,  and  so 
far  as  I  know,  there  is  not  now  nor  has  there  been  for  the 
last  ten  or  twelve  years,  a  single  one  of  my  old  competitors 
who  do  not  meet  me  with  great  cordiality,  except  per- 

"  Washington,  Mason  County,  Kentucky, 

•*It  was  Mathew  Calbraith  Perry  who  in  1854  negotiated  a  treaty  which 
opened  the  Empire  of  Japan  to  western  influences. 

"  Alexander  Slidell  Mackenzie  was  the  son  of  John  Slidell.  The  name 
Mackenzie,  being  that  of  his  mother,  was  added  to  his  own  at  the  request  of 
a  maternal  uncle.  In  1842,  while  in  command  of  the  brig  "Somers",  he 
hung  three  men  for  mutiny,  one  of  whom  was  the  son  of  John  C.  Spencer,  at 
that  time  Secretary  of  War.  He  was  tried  by  court  martial  at  his  own  re- 
quest and  acquitted. 

"•John  Canfield  Spencer  was  Secretary  of  War  from  1841  to  1843. 


30  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

haps  two  middle  aged  lawyers,  wlio[m]  I  can  only  treat 
with  passing  civility,  because  I  know  them  for  knaves,  and 
they  are  too  well  aware  of  it,  to  attempt  to  approach  me 
familiarly. 

Old  men  who  have  spent  much  of  their  time  in  public  life 
or  the  pursuit  of  popularity  and  office,  are  generally  consid- 
ered when  they  retire  from  such  pursuits  from  the  necessity 
indicated  by  age  and  some  times  by  disease,  as  disposed  to 
condemn  their  own  pursuits  &  censure  those  who  are  pur- 
suing the  course  they  have  abandoned.  Such  is  not  exactly 
my  course.  I  would  not  however  with  my  experience  pur- 
sue the  same  course  if  I  had  my  life  to  live  over.  It  leads 
to  the  neglect  of  some  of  the  duties  which  a  man  owes  to  his 
family,  of  much  more  importance  to  him  &  them  and  per- 
haps to  the  Country  than  any  services  which  he  can  render 
to  the  Eepublic,  without  indeed  he  happens  to  be  one  of 
those  rare  individuals  of  whom  an  age  produces  only  a 
few — a  very  few  examples.  It  leads  too  in  many  instances 
to  habits  of  neglect  in  matters  of  business  and  not  unfre- 
quently  to  dissipation — of  these  I  have  known  many  pain- 
ful instances :  but  truely  I  am  unable  at  present  to  call  to 
recollection  an  instance  in  which  a  clever  man  of  ordinary 
or  even  a  little  more  than  ordinary  capacity,  beloved  by  his 
acquaintances,  and  to  use  the  appropriate  term  popular, 
has  either  benefit  [t]ed  himself  or  his  family  in  a  life  devot- 
ed to  the  public  service,  and  it  almost  makes  me  shudder  to 
look  back  upon  the  numerous  instances  that  have  come  un- 
der my  observation,  in  which  such  men  and  others  much 
more  distinguished,  have  left,  or  have  yet  to  leave  ruined 
families — ruined  in  fortune,  ruined  in  their  morals,  de- 
graded in  their  habits  and  course  of  life — the  only  reward 
of  a  life  devoted  to  the  public  service  by  their  fathers. 
There  are  two  evils  of  very  extensive  prevailence  in  this 
our  land.    One  is  the  effect  of  imputed  talents  in  particular 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  31 

individuals  of  numerous  families,  from  which  every  ass  of 
a  whole  generation  claims  distinction.  The  other  is  the 
arrogance  of  poor  stupid  wretches  who  found  their  claims 
for  notice,  if  not  for  distinction,  upon  the  wealth  of  some 
ancestor  or  relation,  or  perhaps  worse,  upon  the  accidental 
possession  of  it  in  their  own  persons.  I  have  yet  to  see 
wealth  pass  by  de[s]cent  beyond  the  third  generation,  but 
I  have  seen  &  see  every  day  the  second  generation  who 
have  squandered  the  labours  of  their  predecessors  or  are 
squandering  it,  in  miserable  low  degrading  dissapation,  or 
more  disgraceful  gamblings  with  the  most  degraded  of  the 
black-leg  tribe,  with  whom  they  would  not  lock  arms  in  the 
street  &  yet  shut  themselves  up  with  them  night  after  night 
&  day  after  day,  permit  [t]ing  their  pockets  to  be  picked  by 
them.  I  pray  God  to  guard  my  descendents  against  evil 
habits,  but  especially  against  drunken [n]  ess  &  gambling. 

I  had  intended  to  copy  this  and  curtail  it,  there  being  a 
good[d]eal  more  of  it  than  necessary  but  I  find  writing 
more  laborious  than  usual  and  must  send  it  to  you  just  as 
it  is,  knowing  that  it  will  not  be  exhibited  to  anybody,  ex- 
cept your  brothers  and  sisters  to  whom  you  would  of 
course  not  object  to  showing  it  if  they  should  wish  to  see  it. 

I  will  at  some  other  time  send  you  a  copy  of  my  ' '  Family 
Eegister",  (which  is  in  a  bound  book.) 

Your  affectionate  Father 
Mr.  Heney  Chambers 
Louisville 

Kentucky 


FAMILY  RECORD  OF  JOHN  CHAMBERS 


FAMILY  EECOED  OP  JOHN  CHAMBERS 

[The  sketch  and  entries  here  printed  were  written  by 
Governor  Chambers  and  cover  ten  pages  of  a  small  leather- 
bound  book  on  the  back  of  which  appear  the  words  Family 
Record.  Six  additional  pages  are  given  np  to  entries  con- 
cerning the  family  of  Henry  Chambers  and  concerning  the 
parents  of  the  wife  of  Henry  Chambers.  These  entries  are 
of  course  of  a  much  later  date  and  by  a  different  person. 
In  the  back  of  the  book  several  pages  have  been  removed 
and  this  explanation  written  in:  "Some  accounts  cut  out 
here".  The  remaining  pages  are  blank.  The  record  kept 
by  Governor  Chambers  in  this  book  is  here  printed  with 
the  autobiography  since  it  contains  much  that  it  not  found 
in  the  larger  sketch.] 


[1] 


37 


John  Chambers  son  of  Rowland  and  Phebe,  was  born  on 
the  6th  day  of  October  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and 
eighty  at  Bromley  Bridge  in  the  County  of  Somerset,  State 
of  New  Jersey,  and  in  the  summer  of  1794  left  that  county 
together  with  his  father  &  mother  and  their  entire  family 
for  Kentucky  (detained  some  time  in  the  Monnongahala^^ 
Country  waiting  the  arrival  of  his  father  who  had  taken 
the  city  of  New  York  in  his  way)  and  arrived  at  Limestone 
(Maysville)  after  a  very  tedious  and  laborious  passage 
down  the  Ohio  river,  late  in  the  month  of  October  1794  & 
settled  immediately  in  Washington  in  the  County  of  Mason. 

"  The  figures  in  brackets  indicate  the  paging  of  the  original  manuscript. 
*•  Monongahela. 


36  FAMILY   RECORD    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1794-95  assisted  occasionally 
in  a  retail  store  belong  [ing]  to  a  Mr.  Wiggins 

[2] 

and  a  very  short  time  in  one  belonging  to  one  Lewis  Moore. 
In  [the]  Spring  [of]  1795  was  sent  to  Transylvania  Semi- 
nary at  Lexington,  remained  at  school  there  until  June  or 
July,  when  some  difficulties  between  the  president  of  the 
institution  (Harry  Toulman)  and  the  Trustees  lessened 
the  reputation  of  the  institution  which  combined  with  pe- 
cuniary difficulties,  precluded  all  hope  of  regular  Education. 
And  a  clerkship  in  the  retail  store  of  Messrs.  Brawnson  [?] 
and  Irvin  in  Washington  was  resorted  to  for  employment 
and  subsistence.  In  December  1797  entered  the  office  of 
Francis  Taylor  Esqr.  Clerk  of  the  Washington  District 
Court,  and  a  practising  attorney,  with  an  agreement  that 
the  time  not  occupied  in  the  duties  of  the  Clerks  Office 
might  be  employed  in  reading  law.    continued  to  reside  in 

[3] 

his  family  until  the  spring  [of]  1800  when  he  [Taylor] ^^ 
removed  to  his  farm  on  the  Ohio,  and  very  liberally  gave 
up  the  emoluments  of  the  office  (to  the  deputy)  as  a  com- 
pensation for  attending  to  its  duties — (and  it  afforded  a 
decent  competence.  In  the  November  1800  obtained  a  li- 
cense and  ioamediately  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law 
in  the  inferior  courts.     *See  page  12.'*^ 

[12] 
*See  page  3 

"The  name  Taylor  is  written  in  at  some  later  date  in  pencil. 

*•  It  is  evident  that  Chambers  wished  to  insert  here  the  material  that  ap- 
pears on  pages  12,  13,  and  14  of  the  original  manuscript.  That  order  has 
therefore  been  followed  in  editing  the  manuscript. 


FAMILY   RECORD    OF    JOHN    CHAIVIBERS  37 

In  1812.    was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
Kentucky. 


1813.  Served  as  a  volunteer  Aid  de  Camp  to  Genl.  Harri- 
son and  was  in  the  Battle  of  the  Thames  in  upper  Can- 
nada — see  Genl.  Harrison['s]  letter  to  Secy,  of  War  and 
his  letter  of  thanks  to  J.  C. 


1815.  Again  elected  to  the  House  of  Rep's  of  Kenty. 


Served  [second] ^^  year  in  the  office  of  District  Atto.  for 

the  Commonwealth 
1828    Elected  to  the  House  of  Rep's  of  the  United  States 

for  one  Session  to  fill  a  vacancy,    declined  a  re-election. 


1831  &  1832 

1830  &  1831 — Served  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  Kentucky .^2 


1835  Appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Ken- 
tucky, resigned  without  taking  a  seat  in  the  court  &  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  24th  Congress. 

1837    Re-elected  to  Congress  and  served 

[13] 

to  the  close  of  the  25th  Congress  (3d  Iklarch  1839)  de- 
clined a  re-election 


*^  This  word  was  written  in  the  original  manuscript  and  then  crossed  out. 

**  This  entry  appeared  in  the  manuscript  on  page  13  after  the  entry  for 
1837,  but  was  preceded  by  a  symbol  which  also  appears  after  the  entry  for 
1828,  indicating  that  the  writer  wished  it  to  be  read  in  that  connection.  The 
editor  has  therefore  placed  the  entry  in  its  proper  chronological  position. 


38  FAMILY    RECORD    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS 

4tli  March  1841  and  from  thence  to  4th  Apl.  same  year 
acted  as  the  private  Secretary  of  President  Wm.  Henry 
Harrison  (without  appointment  &  not  so  called)  having 
in  the  mean  time  towit,  on  the  25th  March  1841  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  President,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of 
Iowa,  upon  the  duties  of  which  office  he  entered  on  the 
13th  May  of  the  same  year. 


Appt.  a  Commissioner  in  conjunction  with  T.  H.  Crawford 
Esq.  Comsr  of  Indian  Affairs  &  J.  D.  Doty  Govr.  of  Wis- 
consin to  treat  with  Sac  &  Fox  Indians,  in  Oct.  1841. 
Negotiation  failed. 


Septr.  1842.    Appointed  sole  commissioner  for  the  above 
purpose.    Succeeded  fully  on  11th  Octr.  1842. 


July  1843    Appt.  Commisisoner  to  treat  with  the  Winne- 
bago Indians.    Negotiation  failed. 

[14] 

1844    Eeappointed  Governor  of  Iowa — by  President  Tyler. 

Octr.  20th  1845 —  Eemoved  from  office  by  President  Polk^ 
to  make  room  for  a  political  partisan. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  removal  from  office  was 
made  without  the  imputation  of  improper  conduct  or  of 
neglect  of  duty,  or  other  cause  assigned. 
Augt  1849  Appointed  Comr.  jointly  with  Govr  Eamsey^^ 
to  treat  with  the  Sioux  Indians  in  Minnesota.  Suc- 
ceed [ed]  only  in  part. 

**  Alex.  Ramsey  was  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  from  1849  to 
1853,  and  Governor  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  from  1860  to  1863. 


FAMILY    RECORD    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  39 

[3]  continued 

1803  June  16tli  married  Margaret  Taylor,  daughter  of 
Majr.  Ignatius  Taylor  (then)  of  the  County  of  Washing- 
ton State  of  Maryland. 

1804— 12th  May.    A  still  born  female  child 

1807.    22d  Feby.  another  still  born  daughter. 

1807 — 4th  March.  Margaret  the  wife  of  John  Chambers 
departed  this  life,  having  then  nearly  completed  her  26th 
year.     She  was  born  22d  May  1781 

[4] 

1807  October  29th  Married  (near  Hagerstown  in  Mary- 
land) Hannah  Taylor  daughter  of  the  above  named  Majr. 
Taylor  and  sister  of  the  half  blood  to  the  deed.  wife. 

Hannah  Taylor,  the  second  wife  of  John  Chambers  was 
born  on  the  9th  January  1791. 

Of  this  last  mentioned  marriage  came  the  following 
children. 

Margaret  Taylor  Chambers —  Born  2d  December  1808 
at  11  Oclock  &  30  minutes  P.  M:— who  on  the  12th  of 
September  1826  married  to  Hugh  Innis  Brent  of  Paris 
in  the  County  of  Bourbon,  Kncky.  H.  I.  Brent  died  2d 
September  1845 

Joseph  Sprigg  Chambers — Born  30th  October  1810.  One 
clock  P.  M.    Married  Martha  Ann  Phillips 

Hannah  Chambers — born  16th  July  1812  1  Oclock 
A.  M. —  married  to  Doctr.  John  Wm.  Henry  September — 
1831.  died  8th  July  1847  15  minutes  of  seven  Oclock  A. 
M-  [leaving  an  infant  about  a  week  old  called  John  Cham- 
bers who  died  in  the  succeeding  winter.]** 

**  This  entry  was  written  in  the  manuscript  but  crossed  out. 


40  FAMILY   RECOED    OF   JOHN    CHAMBERS 

[5] 

James  Chambers — born  4th  March  1814  half  past  7 
Oelock  P.  M. — a  healthy  and  beautiful  child.  He  died 
on  the  29th  of  April  1814— 11  Oelock  P.  M.  having  suf- 
fered much  for  several  days. 


Matilda  Chambers— born  17th  March  1815.  9  Oelock  A. 
M.  Married  to  Charles  Scott  Brent  10th  February  1835 
— (C.  S.  B.  is  brother  of  Hugh  I.  Brent  &  resides  also  in 
Bourbon  Cty.  Kentucky) 


Francis  Taylor  Chambers— Born  29th  July  1817— Mar- 
ried Frances  Marshall  July  1838 — on  the  31  Jany.  1840. 
She  gave  birth  to  a  male  child,  (named  John  Marshall) 
and  died  on  the  12th  day  of  the  Feby.  1840— He  after- 
wards married  Eliza  Durret  who  left  one  child  a  daughter 
named  Elizabeth  and  in  1848  married  Elizabeth  Febi- 
srer. 


Jane  Chambers — Born  18th  August  1819 — i/^  past  3  P. 
M. —  Married  to  John  Samuel  Forman  8th  March  1838. 
[Died  on  the  18th  day  of  August  1853  at  11  oelock  &  20 
minutes  A.  M.  in  Washington  Ky.  Buried  in  the  Forman 
cemetery]*'' 


Mary  Chambers — Born  18  August  1821  about  6  oelock 
P.  M.  died  2d  Sept.  [18]49  12  oelock  Merid[i]an  buried 
in  the  same  grave  with  her  sister  Laura. 

[6] 
Laura  Chambers —  Born  19th  September  1823  at  30  min- 

*  This  entry,  made  subsequent  to  the  death  of  Governor  Chambers,  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  another  party. 


FAMILY    RECORD    OF    JOHN    CHAMBERS  41 

Tites  after  11  oclock  A.  M.    Married  to  Doctr.  John  A. 
Lyle  of  Paris  Ky.  1848 

Died  2d  Septr.  1849  buried  at  Paris  in  the  same  grave 
with  her  sister  Mary. 


John  James  Chambers — Born  20th  November  1825  at 
30  minutes  after  6  o'clock  P.M. —  Died  at  Paris,  Ken- 
tucky at  Y2  past  12  o'clock,  Merid[i]an  30th  September 
1844.  Buried  at  Washington.  Thus  ended  one  of  the 
most  amiable  noble  boys  of  his  race — 


Henry  Chambers — Born  24th  January  1828  at  30  min- 
utes after  4  o  'clock  A.  M. 

[7] 

Lucretia  Chambers — Born  14th  March  1830  at  5  o'clock 
P.  M.  died  5  March  1836. 


Hannah  the  2d  wife  of  John  Chambers  died  on  the  11th 
November  1832  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

John  Chambers,  by  whose  hand  all  the  foregoing  mem- 
oranda (save  that  of  Jane  Chambers'  death)  were  writ- 
ten, died  on  the  21st  day  of  September  1852  at  15  minutes 
after  three  o'clock  P.  M.  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in- 
law —  Charles  S.  Brent  in  Paris  Ky.  He  was  buried  in 
the  old  grave  yard  in  Washington  Ky.  He  was  at  his 
death  near  the  completion  of  the  72d  year  of  his  age. 
(H.  C.)4« 

**  These  are  the  initials  of  Henry  Chambers  by  whom  this  final  paragraph 
was  inserted. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Alexander,  Mr.,  25 
Alexander,  Eowland,  26 
Autobiography  of  John  Chambers,  1 
Bedford   Springs    (Maryland),   Igna- 
tius Taylor  at,  16 
Belt,  Mrs.,  28 
Bodley,    Colonel,    carries    message    to 

John  Chambers,  20 
Bourbon  County  (Kentucky),  39 
Bowie,  Mrs.  (Hannah  Lee),  marriage 

of,  to  Joseph  Sprigg,  28 
Brawnson  and  Irvin  (See  Brownson), 

John  Chambers  clerks  in  store  of,  36 
Brent,    Charles    Scott,    40;    death    of 

Governor  Chambers  at  home  of,  41 
Brent,  Hugh  Innis,  39 
British  squadron,  defeat  of,  on  Lake 

Erie,  20 
Bromley    Bridge     (Somerset    County, 

New  Jersey),  4,  35 
Brownson  and  Irvin  (See  Brawnson), 

John  Chambers  clerks  in  store  of,  8 
Burnt  Mills    (Somerset  County,  New 

Jersey),  4 
California,  27 
Cameron,  Scotch  clan,  1 
Camp   Seneca,    John   Chambers   joins 

Harrison  at,  20;  reference  to,  21 
Canada,  army  embarks  for,  21 
Carrol,  Mrs.  Charles,  28 
Cecil  County   (Maryland),  6 
Chambers,  Benjamin,  2;  marriage  and 

career  of,  6 
Chambers,  Benjamin,  brother  of  Gov- 
ernor Chambers,  7;  later  career  of, 

26,  27 
Chambers,    Betsy,    aunt    of    Governor 

Chambers,  2 
Chambers,  Ezekiel  Forman,  career  of, 

in  Maryland,  6 


Chambers,  Francis  Taylor,  request  of, 
for  an  autobiography  of  Governor 
Chambers,  ix;  entries  concerning,. 
40 

Chambers,  Governor  John,  autobio- 
graphical sketch  written  by,  vii; 
family  record  kept  by,  vii,  viii; 
letters  of,  to  Henry  Chambers,  viii^ 
ix;  Autobiography  of,  1;  arrival 
of,  in  Kentucky,  7,  35;  acts  as 
clerk  in  store,  8,  36;  goes  to  Tran- 
sylvania Seminary,  8,  36;  enters 
employ  of  Francis  Taylor,  9,  36; 
becomes  deputy  clerk  of  court,  10; 
receives  license  to  practice  law,  10, 
36,  attitude  of,  toward  parents,  10, 
11;  law  practice  of,  11;  candidacy 
of,  for  Circuit  Court  clerkship,  11,, 
12;  engagement  of,  12,  13;  inter- 
view of,  with  Francis  Taylor,  13; 
marriage  of,  14;  death  of  first  wife 
of,  14,  15;  marries  Hannah  Taylor,. 
15;  engages  in  hemp  business,  16; 
elected  to  Kentucky  legislature,  17; 
joins  staff  of  General  Harrison,  20; 
arranges  papers  of  General  Harri- 
son, 20;  part  of,  in  Battle  of  the 
Thames,  21,  22,  37;  commendation 
of,  by  General  Harrison,  21,  22,  37; 
election  of,  to  Kentucky  legislature, 
22,  37 ;  election  of,  to  Congress,  and 
to  Kentucky  legislature,  23,  37;  ac- 
tivity of,  in  campaign  of  1840,  23; 
accompanies  President  Harrison  ta 
Washington,  24,  38;  appointment 
of,  as  Governor  of  Iowa,  24,  38;  at- 
tends President  Harrison  at  death, 
25;  career  of,  in  Iowa,  25;  election 
of,  to  minor  offices,  29;  letter  from, 
to  Mathew  C.  Perry,  29;    attitude 


46 


INDEX 


of,  toward  political  life,  and  preva- 
lent evils,  29,  30,  31;  Family  Bec- 
ord  kept  by,  35;  appointed  Judge 
of  Court  of  Appeals,  37;  treats  with 
Indians,  38;  family  of,  39,  40,  41; 
death  of,  41 

Chambers,  Hannah,  39 

■Chambers,  Henry,  sketch  of  Governor 
Chambers  written  for,  vii;  letters 
of  Governor  Chambers  to,  viii, 
ix;  Autobiography  addressed  to, 
1;   family  of,  35;  birth  of,  41 

'Chambers,  James,  settling  of,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 1;  marriage  of,  to  Sarah 
Lee,  2;   sisters  of,  25 

Chambers,  James,  uncle  of  Governor 
John  Chambers,  2,  3 

Chambers,  James,  brother  of  Gover- 
nor Chambers,  7;  migration  of,  to 
Kentucky,  11;  election  of,  to  Ken- 
tucky legislature,  22;  reference  to, 
26 

Chambers,  James,  40 

•Chambers,  Jane,  40,  41 

Chambers,  John,  correspondence  with, 
vii 

Chambers,  John,  39 

Chambers,  John  James,  41 

Chambers,  John  Marshall,  40 

•Chambers,  Joseph,  uncle  of  Governor 
John  Chambers,  2,  3 

Chambers,  Joseph  Sprigg,  39 

Chambers,  Laura,  40 

Chambers,  Margaret  Taylor,  39 

Chambers,  Mary,  40 

Chambers,  Matilda,  40 

Chambers,  Mrs.  Henry,  Professor 
Shambaugh  entertained  at  home  of, 
vii 

Chambers,  Mrs.  James  (Sarah  Lee), 
marriage  of,  2;  brothers  of,  26 

Chambers,  Mrs.  John    (Hannah  Tay- 
lor), marriage  of,  15,  39;   children 
of,  39,  40,  41;   death  of,  41 
•Chambers,  Mrs.  John  (Margaret  Tay- 
lor), engagement  of,  12;   proposed 


return  of,  to  Maryland,  13;  mar- 
riage of,  14,  39;  death  of,  14,  15, 
39 

Chambers,  Mrs.  Eowland  (Phoebe 
Mullican),  marriage  of,  4;  removal 
of,  to  Augusta,  Kentucky,  9;  re- 
turn of,  to  Washington,  10;  atti- 
tude of  John  Chambers  toward,  10, 
11;  reference  to,  35 

Chambers,  Polly,  death  of,  9 

Chambers,  Eowland,  conversation  of, 
concerning  ancestry,  1;  early  life 
of,  2;  life  of,  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, 5;  business  of,  6;  removal  of, 
to  Augusta,  Kentucky,  9;  return 
of,  to  Washington,  10;  death  of, 
11;  reference  to,  35 

Chambers,  Sarah  (See  Logan,  Mrs. 
Joseph),  marriage  of,  9;  reference 
to,  27 

Chambers,  Sprigg,  desires  copy  of 
Autobiography,    ix 

Chambers,  William,  birth  of,  4;  re- 
turn of,  from  Kentucky,  7;  John 
Chambers  sent  to  school  by,  8;  ref- 
erence to,  26 

Chillicothe  (Ohio),  3 

Clay,  Green,  in  charge  of  Fort  Meigs, 
19 

Contents,  xi 

Crawford,  T.  H.,  appointment  of,  to 
treat  with  Indians,  38 

Davis,  Mrs.  Robert  (Phoebe  Cham- 
bers), birth  of,  4;  marriage  of,  7 

Davis,  Peter,  migration  of,  to  Ken- 
tucky, 7 

Davis,  Robert,  accompanies  Chambers 
family  to  Kentucky,  7;  removal  of, 
to  Augusta,  Kentucky,  9 

Detroit,  surrender  of,  17 

Doty,  James  D.,  appointment  of,  to 
treat  with  Indians,  38 

Dudley,  William,  defeat  of,   19 

Durret,  Eliza,  40 

England,  estates  of  Mr.  Martin  in,  4; 
departure  of  Mr.  Martin  for,  5 


INDEX 


4T 


Erie,  Lake,  victory  of  Perry  on,  20 

Family  Becord,  published  with  Auto- 
iiography,  vii,  35 

Family  Eegister,  reference  to,  by  Gov- 
ernor Chambers,  viii,  31 

Febiger,  Elizabeth,  40 

Forman,  Betty,  cruel  treatment  by, 
3;  marriage  of,  3;  reference  to,  26 

Forman,  David,  career  of,  in  Eevolu- 
tion,  2,  3 

Forman,  Ezekiel,  3,  6 

Forman,  John  Samuel,  reference  to, 
3;  marriage  of,  40 

Forman,  Joseph,  son  of  "Uncle  Jo- 
sey",  3 

Forman,  Joseph  (Uncle  Josey),  fam- 
ily of,  2,  3;  death  of,  4 

Forman,   Thomas,   3 

Forman  cemetery,  40 

Fort  Maiden,  18,  19 

Fort  Meigs,  attack  on,  19 

Fredericktown,  26 

Great  Britain,  war  between  United 
States  and,  16 

Hagerstown   (Maryland),  39 

Hall,  relatives  of  Hannah  Taylor 
named,  27 

Hall,  Mrs.  (Barbara  Bowie),  marriage 
of,  to  Ignatius  Taylor,  16 

Hall,  Thomas  B.,  27 

Harper's  Family  Library,  29 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  in  command 
of  western  army,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21, 
22;  offers  staff  position  tp  John 
Chambers,  20;  report  by,  of  Battle 
of  the  Thames,  21,  22,  37;  cam- 
paign of,  for  President,  23;  efforts 
of,  to  give  position  to  John  Cham- 
bers, 24,  38;  death  of,  25 

Henry,  Dr.  William,  39 

Historical  Society  of  Iowa,  The  State, 
manuscript  sketch  secured  for  pub- 
lication by,  vii 

Hollanders,  descendants  of,  8 

Hull,  William,  surrender  of,  17 

Illinois,  27,  28 


Indiana,  General  Harrison  Governor 
of,  17 

Iowa,  Territory  of,  John  Chambers 
Governor  of,  vii;  appointment  of 
John  Chambers  as  Governor  of,  24, 
38 

Iowa,  The  State  Historical  Society 
of,  manuscript  sketch  secured  for 
publication  by,  vii 

Ireland,  ancestors  of  Governor  Cham- 
bers in,  1;  migration  from,  2 

Irvin,  Mr.,  marriage  of,  to  Betty  For- 
man, 3 

Irvin,  Brownson  and,  John  Chambers 
clerks  in  store  of,  8,  36 

Jefferson  County  (Ohio),  4,  9,  27 

Jourdan,  relatives  of  Margaret  Tay- 
lor  named,   27 

Kentucky,  migration  of  Chambers 
family  to,  7,  35;  courts  in,  9;  trip 
of  Margaret  Taylor  to,  13;  refer- 
ence to,  16,  39,  40,  41;  troops  of, 
17,  19 

Lake  Erie,  victory  of  Perry  on,  20 

Lee,  Betty,  marriage  of,  to  Joseph; 
Forman,   2;    cruelty   of,  3 

Lee,  Henry,  26 

Lee,  Sarah  (See  Chambers,  Mrs. 
James),  marriage  of  James  Cham- 
bers to,  2;  brothers  of,  26 

Lexington  (Kentucky),  John  Cham- 
bers in  school  at,  8,  36 

Limestone  (Maysville,  Kentucky),. 
Chambers  family  reaches,  35 

Liverpool,  4 

Logan,  Mrs.  Joseph  (Sarah  Cham- 
bers), marriage  of,  9;  reference  to,. 
27 

Long  Island,  4 

Louisville  (Kentucky),  family  of  Hen- 
ry Chambers  at,  vii 

Lower  Sandusky,  21 

Lyle,  Dr.  John  A.,  41 

McClurg,  Judge,  25 

McConnellstown,  death  of  Ignatius. 
Taylor  at,  16 


48 


INDEX 


Mackenzie,  Alexander  Slidell,  John 
Chambers  mentioned  by,  29 

Maiden,  Fort,  18,  19 

Marshall,  Frances,  40 

Marshall,  Thomas,  candidacy  of,  for 
Circuit  Court  Clerkship,  11,  12 

Martin,  Mr.,  partnership  of  Kowland 
Chambers  and,  4;  departure  of,  for 
England,  5;  heirs  of,  6;  failure  of, 
to  transfer  land,  7 

Maryland,  Chambers  family  in,  6; 
Taylor  family  in,  15;  trip  of  John 
Chambers  to,  15,  16;  reference  to, 
26,  28,  39 

Mason  County    (Kentucky),   35 

Maumee  Eiver,  army  advances  to,  18 

Maysville  (Kentucky),  Chambers  fam- 
ily reaches,  35 

Meigs,    Fort,    attack    on,    19 

Metcalfe,  Thomas,  resignation  of, 
from  Congress,  22 

Minnesota,  Sioux  Indians  in,  38 

Mississippi,  Chambers  family  in,  6 

Monongahela  Country,  delay  of  Cham- 
bers family  in,  35 

Monongahela  Eiver,  Chambers  family 
reaches,  7 

Moore,  Lewis,  John  Chambers  clerk 
in  store  of,  8,  36 

MuUican,  Phoebe  (See  Chambers, 
Mrs.  Rowland),  marriage  of  Row- 
land Chambers  and,  4;  removal  of, 
to  Augusta,  Kentucky,  9;  return  of, 
to  Washington,  10;  attitude  of 
John  Chambers  toward,  10,  11;  ref- 
erence to,  35 

New  Jersey,  Tories  in,  2;  Rowland 
Chambers  moves  to,  4,  6;  Holland- 
ers in,  8;  reference  to,  9;  birth  of 
John   Chambers  in,  35 

New  York  (City),  Rowland  Cham- 
bers sent  to,  2;  references  to,  4,  5; 
Rowland  Chambers  visits,  35 

New  York,  settlement  of,  8 

Ohio,  3,  4,  19,  28 

Ohio  River,  trip  down,  35 


Paren,  relatives  of  Francis  Taylor 
named,  27 

Paris,  (Kentucky),  39,  41 

Parish,  John  Carl,  Editor's  preface 
by,   vii 

Parliament,  British,  act  of,  concern- 
ing name  Chambers,  1 

Paxton,   James   Alexander,   26 

Pennsylvania,  Chambers  descendants 
in,    26 

Perry,  Oliver  Hazard,  victory  of,  on 
Lake  Erie,  20;  message  of,  21;  let- 
ter from  John  Chambers  concern- 
ing, 29 

Perry,  Mathew  C,  letter  to,  from  John 
Chambers,    29 

Phillips,  Martha  Ann,  39 

Phillips,  Mrs.,  daughter  of  James 
Chambers,   11 

Plates,  list  of,  xiii 

Pluckemin  (Somerset  County,  New 
Jersey),  camp  of  Washington  at,  5 

Polk,  James  K.,  removal  of  Governor 
Chambers  by,  25,  38 

Procter,  Henry  A.,  pursuit  of,  21,  22 

Put-in-Bay,  army  lands  at,  21 

Raisin  River,  massacre  at,  18 

Ramsey,  Alex.,  appointed  with  John 
Chambers  to  treat  with  Sioux  In- 
dians,  38 

Earitan  River,  mills  of  Rowland 
Chambers  on,  4 

Reid,  Judge,  a  candidate  against  John 
Chambers,  17 

Revolutionary  War,  persecution  of 
Tories  during,  2;  commencement 
of,  4 

Sac  and  Fox  Indians,  negotiations 
with,  38 

Sandusky,  Lower,  21 

Sandusky  River,  Camp  Seneca  on,  20 

Seneca,  Camp,  John  Chambers  joins 
Harrison  at,  20;  reference  to,  21 

Shambaugh,  Benjamin  F.,  visit  of,  to 
Louisville,  viii;  acknowledgements 
to,  vii 


INDEX 


49 


Shelby,  Isaac,  receives  news  from 
Harrison,  18;  joins  General  Harri- 
son, 20,  21 

Sioux  Indians,  negotiations  with,  38 

Somerset  County  (New  Jersey),  4,  35 

Spencer,  John  C,  son  of,  hung  for 
mutiny,  29 

Sprigg,  Corbin,  28 

Sprigg,  Hannah,  28 

Sprigg,  Joseph,  marriage  of,  16,  28 

Sprigg,  Joseph,  marriage  of,  to  Mrs. 
Bowie,  28 

Sprigg,  Mrs.  Joseph,  marriage  of,  16, 
28;   reference  to,  27,  28 

Sprigg,  Osborn,  28 

Sprigg,  Samuel,  Governor  of  Mary 
land,  28 

Sprigg,  Thomas,  28 

Sprigg,  William,   28 

State  Historical  Society  of  Iowa, 
manuscript  sketch  secured  for  pub- 
lication by,  vii 

Steubenville    (Ohio),   4 

Taylor,  Francis,  John  Chambers  em- 
ployed by,  9,  36;  removal  of,  to 
farm,  10,  36;  candidacy  of,  for 
Circuit  Court  clerkship,  11;  appoint- 
ment of,  13;  objection  of,  to  mar- 
riage of  sister,  13;  John  Chambers 
married  at  home  of,  14;  remarks 
of,  concerning  marriage  of  John 
Chambers,  16;  reference  to,  27 

Taylor,  Hannah  (See  Chambers,  Mrs. 
John),  marriage  of,  15,  39;  chil- 
dren of,  39,  40,  41;  death  of,  41 

Taylor,  Ignatius,  letters  of,  concern- 
ing marriage  of  Margaret  Taylor, 
13,  14;  servants  sent  to  daughter 
by,  14;  death  of,  16;  marriage  of 
daughters  of,  39 

Taylor,    Margaret      (See     Chambers, 


Mrs.  John),  engagement  of,  to  John 
Chambers,  12;  proposed  return  of, 
to  Maryland,  13;  marriage  of,  14, 
39;  death  of,  14,  15,  39 

Taylor,  William,  son-in-law  of  Presi- 
dent Harrison,   24 

Thames,  Battle  of  the,  part  of  John 
Chambers  in,  21,  22,  37 

Tippecanoe,  Battle  of,  17 

Toulman,  Harry,  President  of  Tran- 
sylvania Seminary,  36 

Transylvania  Seminary,  John  Cham- 
bers in  school  at,  8,  36 

Trenton,  Battle  of,  5 

Tyler,  John,  Governor  Chambers  re- 
appointed by,  25,  38 

United  States,  war  between  Great 
Britain  and,  16 

Virginia,  25 

Vertner,    Mr.,    advice    of,    to    Major^ 
Taylor,  14 

Washington,  George,  letter  from,  to 
Eowland  Chambers,  5 

Washington,  D.  C,  reference  to,  3; 
refusal  of  John  Chambers  to  re- 
main at,  24 

Washington  (Kentucky),  Autobiogra- 
phy written  from,  1;  reference  to, 
29;  Chambers  family  settles  at,  35; 
reference  to,  36 

Washington  County   (Maryland),  39 

War  of  1812,  outbreak  of,  16 

Whiskey  Insurrection,  in  1794,  7 

Wiggins,  Mr.,  John  Chambers  clerks 
in  store  of,  8,  36 

Winchester,  James,  in  command  of 
army,  17;  defeat  of,  at  Eiver  Rai- 
sin, 18,  19 

Winnebago  Indians,  attempt  by  John 
Chambers  to  treat  with,  38 


974467 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


k