This Boston – East Bridgewater Chandler family, the head of which was the late Hon. Peleg Whitman Chandler, long one of the leading counselors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and one of a family of lawyers, comes of a Massachusetts-Maine branch of the ancient Duxbury family whose progenitor was Edmund Chandler. The branch just alluded to for several generations at New Gloucester and Bangor, Maine, and at Boston in this Commonwealth, has been one of liberal education, college-bred men, men who have adorned the legal profession, and it has allied itself through generations with a number of the ancient and first families of the Old Colony.
Here in East Bridgewater the family is represented by one of the sons of Horace Parker Chandler, Esq., of Boston, and grandson of the distinguished late Hon. Peleg Whitman Chandler of that city. This East Bridgewater citizen, Cleaveland Angier Chandler, is in the midst of the activities of this section. He may justly take pride in the careers of his long line of Massachusetts forbears, in the many of them connected as patriots with that memorable struggle of the Colonies for independence, among whom were Peleg Chandler, member of the Committee of Safety of New Gloucester, Maine, 1778-1783; Hugh Orr, appointed on the Committee for Plymouth county, Mass., to raise men for New York and Canada, employed to make arms, and under whose superintendence a foundry was erected for casting cannon; Oakes Angier, who signed the Association Test at Bridgewater; Isaac Parsons, captain, Colonel Prince’s regiment, May 2 — Dec. 31, 1780, service at the eastward; Edward Howard, who signed the Association Test, 1776; Parker Cleaveland, who served as chaplain at several stations during the Revolution, notably Cambridge, in Connecticut and on the Hudson; Parker Cleaveland, Jr., sergeant, Col. Paul D. Sergeant’s 16th Massachusetts regiment, May 22 — July 31, 1775; Ephraim Hathaway, captain 3d company, 2d Bristol County regiment, April 26, 1776, captain, Colonel Pope’s regiment, service at Rhode Island on the alarm of Dec. 8, 1776, captain, Col. Thomas Carpenter’s regiment, July 20, 1777, to Aug. 24, 1777, service in Rhode Island; Sylvanus Lazel, private, Captain Orr’s company, Col. John Bailley’s regiment, at Lexington alarm, private, Capt. David Kingman’s company, Col. Edward Mitchell’s regiment, alarm Squantum, March, 1776; Edward Mitchell, colonel, 3d Plymouth County regiment, Aug. 31, 1775, same regiment Feb. 7, 1776, same for service at Bristol, Rhode Island, Dec. 8, 1776.
There follows in chronological order from Edmund Chandler, the first American ancestor of this branch of American Chandlers, and in detail the family history and genealogy.
(I) Edmund Chandler appears an inhabitant of Duxbury, where he was made a freeman in 1633. He was constable of the town in 1636-37. His death occurred in 1662. In his will, proved June 4, 1662, he mentions children:
- Samuel Chandler
- Benjamin Chandler
- Joseph Chandler
- Sarah Chandler
- Ann Chandler
- Mary Chandler
- Ruth Chandler
(II) Joseph Chandler, son of Edmund, married and had children:
- John Chandler, who married Sarah Weston
- Joseph Chandler
- Edmund Chandler
- Benjamin Chandler
(III) Joseph Chandler (2), son of Joseph, married in 1701, Martha Hunt, and their children were born as follows:
- Philip Chandler, born in 1702
- Mary Chandler, born in 1704
- Joshua Chandler, born in 1706
- Zachariah Chandler, born in 1708
- Edmund Chandler, born in 1710
- Ebenezer Chandler, born in 1712
- Sarah Chandler, born in 1714
- Martha Chandler, born in 1716
- Jonathan Chandler, born in 1718
- Judah Chandler, born in 1720
(IV) Philip Chandler, son of Joseph (2), born in 1702, married in 1725 Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Phillips, and lived in Duxbury. Their children were:
- Nathan Chandler, born in 1726
- Betty Chandler, born in 1728
- Perez Chandler, born in 1730
- Esther Chandler, twin born in 1732
- Martha Chandler, twin, born in 1732
- Peleg Chandler, born in 1735
- Philip Chandler, born in 1738; married Christian, daughter of Blaney Phillip
- Asa Chandler, born in 1743
- Mary Chandler, born in 1744
- Elijah Chandler, born in 1747
(V) Peleg Chandler, son of Philip and Rebecca (Phillips) Chandler, born April 27, 1735, in Duxbury, Mass., married at North Yarmouth, Maine, Dec. 9, 1762, Sarah, daughter of Barnabas Winslow, who was a direct descendant of Kenelm Winslow, who with his brother Josiah, both brothers of Gov. Edward Winslow, came from Droitwitch, Worcestershire, England, probably in 1629, at least were here Jan. 1, 1632-33, when Kenelm was made a freeman. He removed from Plymouth to Marshfield about 1641.
After their marriage Mr. Peleg Chandler and wife removed from North Yarmouth, Maine, to New Gloucester, in that State, a distance of some fifteen miles, being conveyed thither in an oxcart, the first wheeled vehicle that had been used to perform that journey. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler were two of the five members who composed the first Orthodox Congregational Church in the town. Both died in New Gloucester, he Aug. 24, 1819, and she in 1823. Their children, all born in New Gloucester, were:
- Mercy Chandler, born Sept. 16, 1763, married Fisher Hatch
- Sarah Chandler, born Dec. 13, 1765, died in 1776
- Philip Chandler, born May 23, 1767, married Deborah Hewett and second, Jane Moody, of Portland, Maine
- Martha Chandler, born Aug. 12, 1769, married Capt. Isaac Parsons
- Peleg Chandler, born July 26, 1771, died in 1773
- Peleg Chandler (2) was born Sept. 9, 1773
- George Washington Chandler, born Dec. 7, 1775, died Feb. 9, 1778
- Sarah Chandler, born June 27, 1778, died Dec. 3, 1780
- Salome Chandler, born Sept. 22, 1783, married Dexter Bearce
- Samuel Chandler, born Aug. 11, 1785, died in September, 1785
(VI) Peleg Chandler (2), son of Peleg, born Sept. 9, 1773, in New Gloucester, Maine, married there Dec. 7, 1797, Esther, born Jan. 18, 1775, in New Gloucester, daughter of Col. Isaac Parsons, and his wife Salome Merrill, he a direct descendant of Jaffrey Parsons, of Gloucester, Mass., through Deacon Isaac Parsons.
Peleg Chandler was graduated from Brown University with the class of 1795. He studied law and settled in its practice in his native town, remaining there until 1826, when he removed from New Gloucester to Bangor, Maine. He held the office of judge. He died Jan. 18, 1847. The children of Peleg and Esther (Parsons) Chandler, all born in New Gloucester, Maine, were:
- Betsy Parsons Chandler, born Sept. 5, 1798, married Dr. Josiah Deane
- Esther Parsons Chandler, born Aug. 20, 1800, died in that same year
- Charles Parsons Chandler, born Oct. 29, 1801, died in 1857
- Hannah Anderson Chandler, born Sept. 18, 1803, died in 1808
- Sarah M. W. Chandler, born Dec. 13, 1805, married Rev. Ariel P. Chute
- Theophilus P. Chandler, born Oct. 13, 1807, married Eliza J. Schlatter
- Hannah A. Chandler, born June 13, 1809, married William H. Popes
- Esther Parsons Chandler, born Jan. 24, 1812, married Henry Quincy Andrews
- Horace Philip Chandler, born April 13, 1814, died in 1818
- Peleg Whitman Chandler was born April 12, 1816
(VII) Peleg Whitman Chandler, son of Peleg (2), was born April 12, 1816, in New Gloucester, Maine. He was graduated in 1834 at the Bangor Theological Seminary and at Bowdoin College in 1837. He studied law with his father and at the Harvard Law School and was admitted to the Suffolk bar. He located in the practice in Boston, was a city councilman, 1843-45, and president of the council the two last years; representative, 1845-47; city solicitor, 1845-53; Fourth of July city orator in 1844; trustee of Bowdoin College, and received the degree of LL. D. from Bowdoin in 1867. He published two volumes of noted criminal trials and was connected for some time with the editorial management of the Boston Daily Advertiser.
The Boston office of city solicitor was not established until 1827, the city having begun and continued for more than five years without a law department. Mr. Chandler succeeded as city solicitor perhaps one of the most learned men in the service of Boston — John Pickering — and he left two monuments behind him, the city code of ’50 and the charter of ’54. Mr. Chandler died in Boston, Mass., May 28, 1889.
The Peleg W. Chandler Collection was acquired by the Hayes Presidential Center in 1953.
Mr. Chandler married Martha Ann, daughter of Prof. Parker Cleaveland (Harvard College, 1799), for years the leading geologist of the United States, at Bowdoin College. Their children were:
- Ellen Maria Chandler died April 13, 1908
- Horace Parker Chandler
- Parker Cleaveland Chandler, died March 20, 1908
(VIII) Parker Cleaveland Chandler, son of Peleg Whitman and Martha Ann (Cleaveland) Chandler, was born Dec. 7, 1848, in Boston, and was fitted for college at the Boston Latin School. He was graduated from Williams College in the class of 1872. He studied law in the office of his father, who had long been one of the foremost counselors at law in Massachusetts, and at the Harvard Law School, from which institution he was graduated in 1874. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1875 and practiced in Boston and New York, almost exclusively engaged in corporation matters.
Mr. Chandler was managing counsel in the famous contest covering seven years of the Drawbaugh Telephone Company vs. the American Bell Telephone Company; was the representative of Cyrus W. Field in the New York & New England railroad litigation of 1888; and was for some years counsel for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company; the Boston gas companies, and several electrical corporations. Mr. Chandler followed in his father’s footsteps as an adviser in affairs of state as well as of law, keeping in touch with politics and social life. He was one of the originators of the Bristow movement within the Republican party in 1876, which was the earliest movement to advance civil service reform. Later, in the campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, in 1880, he was manager for Senator John Sherman; and during the heated Butler campaigns in Massachusetts he had charge of the Citizens’ reform movement in Boston, and at that time drew the original drafts for the present registration laws of the State. He also gave much time to the study of the science of municipal government, and wrote for the press on political questions. With all his activity in politics he never aspired to public office.
Mr. Chandler was a member of numerous clubs in Boston and New York, among them the University Clubs of both cities, and the Union, Algonquin, St. Botolph and Athletic Clubs of Boston. He died in New York City March 20, 1908.
(VIII) Horace Parker Chandler, son of Peleg Whitman and brother of Parker Cleaveland Chandler, was born in Boston, Sept. 13, 1842. After graduating from Harvard, in 1864, he entered the real estate business in Boston, where he still resides, having become one of the best known men in his line in that city. He has engaged extensively in the business, and aside from his prominence in that line is one of the leading citizens of Boston. He was married in East Bridgewater, Mass., to Grace W. Mitchell, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., daughter of James H. Mitchell, and a descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent families, who was born in East Bridgewater and lived there. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chandler:
- Cleaveland Angier Chandler
- Grace Chandler
- Whitman Mitchell Chandler, who died Sept. 27, 1899
- Ellen Chandler
- James Mitchell Chandler, who was a student at Bowdoin College
- Peleg Whitman Chandler
(IX) Cleaveland Angier Chandler, son of Horace Parker Chandler, was born Sept. 28, 1867, in Chicago, Illinois, and was reared in Boston, receiving his early education in the Boston Latin School there and later attending St. Paul’s School at Concord, N. H. In 1886 he became a member of the editorial staff of the Boston Globe, with which paper he was connected for a period of fifteen years, during which time he rose to the position of assistant to the managing editor. After leaving the Globe office he became one of the owners of the H. B. Humphrey Advertising Company, at No. 44 Federal street, Boston, being connected with that concern as vice president, and through his long experience in newspaper work he has succeeded in making a great success of the enterprise. Mr. Chandler is not only a business man of remarkable talent, but he is a man of refined tastes and high culture, progressive and public-spirited, and one who is an acquisition to the community in which he has elected to make his home. Since taking up his residence in East Bridgewater, where he moved permanently in 1906, he has interested himself in its growth and progress. He is president of the East Bridgewater Board of Trade, chairman of the East Bridgewater board of health, chairman of the East Bridgewater sewer commission, and member of the East Bridgewater school committee. He is independent in local political matters but Republican on national questions. Mr. Chandler is also vice president of the Massachusetts State Board of Trade; secretary treasurer of the Old Colony Union; treasurer of the Plymouth County Campaign Committee and Club; and also a member of the Boston Athletic Association; Boston Yacht Club; Massachusetts Society, Sons of the American Revolution; Society of Mayflower Descendants; Bostonian Society; Eleusis Lodge, A. P. & A. M.; St. Andrew’s Royal Arch Chapter; Boston Council, Royal and Select Masters; St. Bernard Commandery, Knights Templar; Royal Arcanum; Boston Sales Managers Club; transportation committee, Pilgrim Publicity Association, and publicity committee, Boston Chamber of Commerce.
In October, 1897, in East Bridgewater, Mr. Chandler married Louise Prescott Allen, daughter of Granville C. and Abbie Louise (Ballou) Allen, and four children have been born to them:
- Elizabeth Allen Chandler
- Whitman Mitchell Chandler
- Louise Cushing Chandler
- Parker Cleaveland Chandler
