Edna M. Irvine to Charles W. Chesnutt, 2 December 1931
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Ans Dec 11/32
520 West 6th South
Salt Lake, Utah
Dec. 2, 1931
Mr. Charles W. Chesnut,
9719 Lamont Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio,
Dear Sir:
The following story, because of its interest, took a prize in a little contest sponsored by a local paper.1
In 1849, William Albert Chesnut, his wife Johanna and three children ranging in age from three to eight years, were on their way to the gold fields of California. Before crossing the mountains into Salt Lake valley, they were, that is the parents, murdered by their teamsters. The children were to have met the same fate but pleaded so hard that they were spared, and with threats as to what would happen if they told, they were headed down the mountain into Salt Lake valley.
They were eventually found by someone and were taken into some of the pioneer homes. The only information the eight year old girl could give as to their former home, was that it was by a big stream of water.
A daughter of this same girl has wished for years that she might learn something of the people of her grandparents but it seemed quite a hopeless task. As I am something of a genealogist she has asked me to see if I can possibly find any information. She is quite ill now and may not long survive and if I could get some news that would make her happy now that she is s downcast, it would give me much pleasure.2
I have taken some Chesnut names from the Cleveland directory and am writing to learn if it is possible that you may have heard of a family that disappeared and was nevermore heard from, such as I have described. Surely there must have been relatives who often wondered what became of these people. This lady is of the impression that they might have lived near the Missippi river. Of course that is only conjecture.3 A much smaller stream would look large to a child.
I can't promise any financial returns but if you can in any degree clear up this problem I assure you you will make this little woman most happy. She is posessed of little property and has few relatives, but if she has a long illness she may use all she has.
I shall look forward to an early reply.
Respectfully, (Mrs) E. M. Irvine (Mrs.) E. M. IrvineCorrespondent: Edna May Irvine (1878–1972) was a White woman whose family migrated from North Carolina to rural Utah after the Civil War. The family moved to Salt Lake City in 1890, where Edna May joined the Mormon Church in 1895 and became a full-time schoolteacher and taught Sunday school. She married John Irvine in 1909; the couple had five children. Edna May Irvine researched primarily her own family's genealogy, but seems to have helped others, as in the case of the descendant of the Chestnut family.
1. The few traces of the family of William Albert Chestnut (not Chesnut, 1812–1852) mostly align with Edna M. Irvine's account, which won second prize in a 1931 story contest on the occasion of the Covered Wagon Days. See the Deseret News [Salt Lake City, Utah] (July 22, 1931): 5. However, the murder of William and his wife Johanna Nancy (1816–1852) as they were traveling West from Missouri with their children occurred not in 1849, as Irvine thought, but in 1852. The three children, Ann Catherine, Sarah Mary, and William Alfred, were found by a Mormon pioneer group on their way West, led by Samuel Jefferson Adair (1806–1889). The children were raised by his and other Mormon families in Utah. [back]
2. The reference is to Cora Maud Malan Hileman (1880–1934), who was the daughter of Sarah Mary Chestnut (1845–1886) and her third husband, Stephen Malan. Cora Hileman had recently become a widow (April 1931) when Edna M. Irvine was making inquiries on her behalf. Sarah's older sister, Ann Catherine (1844–1863) had died very young giving birth to a daughter, Jemima Ann; Jemima Ann died in 1919. [back]
3. Most genealogical research suggests that William Albert Chestnut and his family came from Missouri, although some family stories suggest that they might have been from Kentucky originally. In either case, proximity to the Mississippi would have been a possibility. Nothing suggests a connection to Chesnutt's family in North Carolina. [back]
