Chaney Family Tree

            By Maude Chaney Higgins

William Henry Chaney and family settled in Tarrant County, Mt. Gilead Community, near Keller, Texas soon after the Civil War.

I shall write the first part of my story in the first person, until I write of my Father’s family, then I shall use the third person in the rest of the story.

Our ancestors were from France and England.  Louis XIV of France was persecuting the Huguenots, French Protestants, causing them to flee to the New World for religious freedom.  Two Dupree Sisters from France met two Chaney brothers in England.  They married and sailed to this Country about 1700 AD to find freedom.  They settled in North Carolina.  I can remember my Father corresponded with relatives in North Carolina.

Our branch of the Chaney family migrated to Missouri, Calahan County.  My Grandfather, William Henry Chaney, was a large land owner.  He had many slaves.

Grandfather’s first wife died young.  She left two small boys, Lewis and Lonnie.  He remarried.  Her name was Elizabeth.  I never heard her last name.  I never knew my Grandparents because they passed away before my parents were married.

When the Civil War was threatened, Grandfather bought more slaves because he thought that the South would win.  That and the war ruined him financially.  His two sons were old enough to join the Army.  Lewis was made Captain.  He played and important part in the service.  He burned bridges to hinder the Yanks but the last of the War, he was captured and imprisoned.  He was in prison when the war ended.

The carpet baggers from the North gave the Southern war torn people a terrible time.  They started driving the stock away and taking anything they wanted.  Grandfather saved some of their stock by hiding them in the deep woods.  Anything of value that they wanted to keep was hidden.  If the men in the family had a good pair of boots they would take them and leave them barefoot.  Grandfather, with his wife and four boys and two girls, loaded wagons with household goods, personal effects and live stock.  The wagon train was several weeks on their pilgrimage to Texas.

Captain Lewis stayed in Missouri.  His brother, Lonnie, went to Texas, but in later years returned to Missouri with his Brother.  Grandmother Elizabeth had three boys and two girls.  William, known as “Bill”, was her oldest.  There was Haseltine, Judson, Pinkney, Sidney and Sallie.

Grandfather built their house in the Mt. Gilead community, near Keller, Texas soon after the Civil War.  Their children grew up in the Mt. Gilead community.  Bill was sixteen when they left Missouri.  I have heard my father say that he was four years old when he left Missouri.  Grandmother died in 1881 and Grandfather died in 1883.  They are buried in the Mt. Gilead Cemetery.

Wm. Chaney, known as Bill, married Leona McCarty.  Her father was a land owner near Mt. Gilead.  Uncle Bill bought land near the McCarty farm.  Uncle Bill and Aunt Leona lived there until 1905 or 1906, when they moved into Keller.  Uncle Bill was the president of the Keller bank.  He owned the water works there.  He took great pride in the civic matters pertaining to the betterment of the affairs of Keller.  He had no children of his own, but he was very helpful in assisting young people to go to college.  I was very grateful to him for assisting me to attend Teachers College at Denton.  He told me that he had helped others and if I wanted to go that he would help me too.  Aunt Leona told me some nice things about my Grandmother Chaney.  She said your Grandmother was very efficient in training boys because every one grew up to be fine understanding men.  She told me that I was like my Grandmother in ways and actions.  It made me feel very proud to know that.  Uncle Bill and Aunt Leona lived in Keller until they passed away.  They were active in social and Church affairs.

Haseltine, oldest daughter, married and lived in Fort Worth.  She died young and left a daughter Mabel.  Judson never married, but moved with his brother, Pinkney and his wife, to Mangum, Okla.  Sallie and husband left Keller and went to Wichita Falls, Texas. 

Now I shall write the rest of my story in the third person as I write of my Father’s life and family at Keller.  Sidney Chaney, known as Sid, married Nellie Benton of Grandview, Texas.  He brought her to Keller to live.  Francis Marion was born in a log house near Keller.  I have heard him brag about being born in a log house.  Maude was born in a two story house in Keller, where the Baptist Church now stands.  Sid’s brothers wanted him to move to Oklahoma with them, so he left Keller with his family.  Maude and Marion were very young.  Maude was about a month old.  They didn’t stay but three years, Hattye was born there.  Nellie wasn’t happy there so they came back to Keller.  They lived on a farm north west of Keller and stayed there twelve years.  Lewis, the youngest child, was born there.  All of their children went to Keller school.

In 1908, Sid moved from Keller to West Texas.  His wife and three children, Maude, Hattye and Lewis went too, but Marion went to Denton Teachers College.  Maude went to Denton Teachers College two years later.  Sid and Nellie left West Texas and moved to Denton, Texas in 1912.  Hattye and Lewis went to school in Denton.  Marion was teaching in Fort Worth, Texas and Maude was teaching in West Texas.  Finally, in 1916, Sid and Nellie moved to Fort Worth and all of the family was together again.  Marion, Maude and Hattye were teaching and Lewis was going to High School.  By 1920, the family was broken up again.  All of the kids were married and out on their own.  Sid and Nellie spent the rest of their life in Fort Worth and passed away after World War II.

Sid’s oldest son, Francis Marion, married Nona Barns, a teacher in Fort Worth.  Marion gave up his teaching in Fort Worth and went to Officers Training in San Antonio, Texas because World War I was threatening.  Nona went to the camps while he was in training.  She stayed in New York while he was in France.  Their daughter, Frances Katherine, was born while he was in the Service.  When he was discharged from the Service, he went to Austin to finish his law course.  He was Captain when he came out of the Army.  He practiced Law in Fort Worth and moved to Dallas where he was an attorney at Law for 30 years.

Marion and Nona lost a son 8 years old, which was very tragic for them.  Their daughter, Frances, married a Major in World War II.  His name, Don Irwin and they are now living in Mansfield, Texas with three teenage sons, names, John James and Peter.  Don has an Agency for the Travelers Insurance.  Marion and Nona have both passed away in their seventies. 

Royal C. Higgins came to Fort Worth from North Carolina after World War I to visit an Aunt.  His cousin introduced him to Maude May Chaney and they were married in 1920.  He worked as a clerk in the Rail Road Office at the terminal in Fort Worth.  At the time, Maude was working at Swift and Co. operating a bookkeeping machine.  After they were married, Maude went back to teaching and taught two years.  In all, she taught seven years in Texas.  In 1923, Royal and Maude went to California.  He was still with the Rail Road and Maude worked in office as Bookkeeper.  They put in a Variety Store in 1928 and kept it until 1935.  Royal’s Father was sick and he was sent for, so he sold out and went to North Carolina.  Stayed there until 1942 and Maude’s Father was very sick so they went to Fort Worth.  They stayed there until her Father and Mother passed away.  In 1948, they went back to North Carolina and stayed until 1953, then came back to Los Angeles.  They lived in Los Angeles until November 1953, then moved to a nice little home in Corona, California.  They had spent so many years in Los Angeles that they were really glad to retire in this beautiful little City.

Hattye Savanah Chaney married Rodney A. Nichols.  Hattye was the only one of Sid’s children that remained in Fort Worth, Texas.  She and Rodney still live there.  Their daughter, Mary Jane, married Edward Lane of Denton, Texas.  Mary Jane and Edward have three children.  They live in Denton, Texas.  They have a business there.

Lewis Henry Chaney, youngest one of Sid’s family.  He carries his Grandfather’s name and his Uncle Lewis, the Captain Lewis of the Civil War.  Lewis married Clara Davis.  They now live in Monrovia, Calif.  They have a Guest Home for senior citizens.  Clara is a nurse and has a nursing home for bed patients.  Their son, Lewis Henry Chaney Jr., married Jane May Aubrey of Los Angeles.  They live in Los Angeles.  Lewis Jr. is a tax officer in the Income Tax Department, at the Los Angeles City Hall.  Jane works in the office for the city too.  Lewis Jr. and Jane have a son, Glen Neal Chaney.  Glen is married to Marlene Martin.  They live in Monrovia, Calif.  They both work.  He is a bookkeeper at Clara’s nursing home and Marlene works in a bank.

End