1940 US Census Indexing Project

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Sorting Out the WHELCHELs

I hope you will bear with me as this is a means for me to sort things out since nobody wants to hear me think it through out loud.

While transcribing the letters Stanley Safford wrote his mother during WWII, I tried to figure out who was who in the picture albums left behind so that I could add them to illustrate the text whenever possible.
It was rather rewarding to become s much more familiar with otherwise names without faces that we had heard thrown around in the conversation.

Grace Whelchel is my mother-in-law's mother.  She's the one who at times reminds me of Amelia Bedelia, not that she was clumsy or anything, just the way she dressed.
She was the oldest daughter of Cora Hartwell and Francis Marion Whelchel but she was not the eldest.  Loyd was three years older than Grace.  We didn't hear much about him though other than his daughter, Frances Whelchel, was my  mother-in-law's best friend.  Frances was born in between Stanley and Muriel so was almost like a sister to both of them in a way.


The other sibling we heard more about was Aunt Nina, the lady who more or less mentored Muriel and had hopes for her to pursue a modelling career.  Nina and her husband Bill Baker never had any children and so their large fortune was divided between their numerous nieces and nephews upon their deaths.

Oh and there was Aunt Eileen...  the one who stayed close to their mother in spite of all the feuding.

Those were not too hard to keep track of but there were twice as many names or more in just that group of children as Cora bore Francis 11 (eleven) children:
- Edwin Loyd Whelchel (married twice: 1 Esther Johnson, mother of Frances; 2 Fern Parker, mother of Robert Lloyd)

- Arthur Marion Whelchel (died as an infant)
- Grace Hazel Whelchel (married Wayne Safford - 2 children: Stanley and Muriel)
- Gladys Isabel Whelchel (married Roy Burton - at least one daughter Velera Louise)

- Nina Estella Whelchel (married Bill Baker, no children)

- Victor Clifford Whelchel (died at age 7)

- infant
- Clair Griswold Whelchel (married a Jean - )

- Eileen Blanche Whelchel (married Charles Lane - no children)

- infant
- Clell Wilbur Whelchel (married 3 times: 1. Helen Blume, mother of Clell Wilbur Jr; 2. Judith A Benkert; 3. Marianna Bew)


BUT Francis Marion Whelchel was a widower when he married Cora in 1895, and not only did he have a son from the previous marriage, his first wife, Eliza Jane Butler, but she had been married before she married Francis (to a John Chipman) and had two sons and maybe a daughter too from that union.  So Francis brought with him - at least that's how I explain the additional names in the pictures - 3 boys and a daughter to be raised by Cora, I'm assuming.
- Claude Chipman
- Clyde Chipman
- Evelyn Chipman
- Fred Whelchel

I haven't done much research on these guys as I am just now figuring this out.

In his letters, Stanley referred to an Aunt Mayme but I could not fit her anywhere, well...   She was Fred Whelchel's wife!
Another letter found, this one was written to Grace by Mae Chipman, Clyde's wife talked in length about the sad life she was living with him.  And she mentioned Fred and Claude and Evelyn as well.

Now let's add to the mixture the fact that Cora's mother was also married three times herself and had children with all three husbands.
Cora was the oldest, born in 1875 to James Willis Hartwell and Isabella Griswold.

Isabella was not married long to Cora's father before they divorced, as in 1879 she married Charles H Wilde with whom she had a son, George Henry Wilde, the following year.

Charles died in 1884 and so Isabella was left raising the two kids.
Luckily none of these two husbands had children from a previous marriage though that would not be the case for the third, William Henry Matthews whom she married in 1890.  William Matthews was a widower.  He and his first wife Nettie had one son Archibald "Archie" Matthews.  Isabella added two more sons to his brood: Ralph and Elmer Matthews.

George Wilde was married twice: 1. Menella Pemberton gave him 5 kids: Clarence, Paul, Louis Allen, Ruth E and George Henry Wilde Jr.; 2. Olive May Hodgins

Ralph Matthews married Bernice Lila Ogden who gave him 6 kids: Elton, Carl, Dorothy, Willard, Grace and Dean Matthews.

Are you still with me?...  No wonder Muriel said there were lots of cousins to divide up Aunt Nina's money into...  Still haven't figured out Aunt Maibelle though and let's not talk about the elusive Aunt Irene (Stevens) we never did find...

Anyway, this goes to show... Today's generation has not invented anything in creating chaotic family ties, but what I find most interesting is the close bonds that remained between these siblings, half siblings, etc.
They kept in touch, they helped each other, sometimes to their own detriment as some more letters have shown. They fought but they stayed in touch, even if the correspondence was not very regular.

What else did I learn? I learned to better understand the dynamics of my mother-in-law's family.  She might have had some pointed opinions, whether right or wrong, she never had any trouble voicing them, but she never pushed away a family member who needed her help, who would ask.  Was that a thing her generation learned from their parents and the Big Depression.  They didn't have much but they shared what little they had so another would not go without.
We live in a disposable society that could take great lessons from that generation...  We already have the crazy relationships down pat...

on the right holding her baby Clell is Cora, left of her is Grace Whelchel... not sure about the rest...  feel free to contact me if you know who everyone is...

If you're still with me, and you are a member of our family, I hope this will help clarify a few things for you as it did for me...