Unearthing things people wanted buried
Jessie Callin was the youngest of four children born to James Monroe Callin (1844–1901) and Rosalina Bedora Davenport (1848–1876). She was born in March of 1876, so she was only a few months old when her mother died on 20 September.
Her father was the brother of John H. Callin (my great-great-grandfather, author of War Poems) and George W. Callin, author of the original 1911 Callin Family History. George was married to the former Mary Ann St. John, and it was her parents who took Jessie in as an infant and raised her. Jim and Rosa’s three older children, Albert, Arthur, and Bessie, went to live with Rosalina’a parents.
Jessie seems to have remained with the St. John family, even after her father remarried in 1880. Jim and his second wife, Almira, had three daughters, Cora, Carrie, and Aurilla, and an unnamed infant who died in 1887. At some point they relocated to Deerfield, Michigan, before returning to Bowling Green, where Almira died of tuberculosis in 1889. She was only 31, and Jim was left widowed again with three daughters under 10 to care for.
Meanwhile…
Al Chudley, An English Tailor
Albert Henry Chudley was the son of Henry Chudley (1844–1914) and Emma Lattaney (1846–1878), most likely born on 4 Nov 1867 in Saint Thomas, Devon, England. He was raised in Saint Sidwell, Devon, and lived with his maternal grandparents in Crediton, Devon, after his mother’s death. Then, at age 15, he arrived in America on 1 April 1883.1
Within a decade, Al had become a well-liked resident of Bowling Green, and went into business as a tailor, forming the Hull & Chudley tailoring firm. On 25 June 1893, he married “Jessie Callin, better known as Jessie St. John,” and his naturalization as a U.S. citizen was completed on 3 November of that year. At first, the young couple lived in the home of the St. John family, and things seemed to be going well.
But at this point in our history, the records stop telling us what we need to know, and we only have the outline of their story. Despite having a lot of little pieces of evidence, the bigger picture seems to disappear…
Behind a Cloud
When George W. Callin compiled his Callin Family History in 1910, here is what he recorded for his niece, Jessie:
Record of Jessie Callin Chudley, who was the 2nd daughter of James Callin, who was the 2nd son of William Callin, who was the 3rd son of John Callin, who was the 2nd son of James 1st.
Born in 1876.
Married in 1893.
Born to this union two children.
Laverne, born in 1894.
Lila, born in —-.
There are records to support those facts, as well as a few additional details. Wood County marriage records and The Daily Sentinel-Tribune in Bowling Green recorded the wedding. Birth records show that Al and Jessie had a daughter, Lu Verne, on 30 Jan 1894, in Bowling Green.
On 13 February 1896, The Daily Sentinel-Tribune told us cryptically that, “A. H. Chudley’s child is reported quite sick.” Two weeks later, on 26 Feb, “Dr. C. S. St. John reports a new baby at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Al Chudley.” I would have to conclude that Lu Verne was “quite sick,” but there was no follow up to tell us when she got better.
At first, I assumed this second baby was Lila, but the Wood County birth records show that Al and Jessie had a baby they named “Chas.” on 25 Feb 1896:
Confusingly, one of those records indicates that “Chas.” is female, and the other indicates male. We’re going to let that marinate for now.
In May of 1896, The Daily Sentinel-Tribune published two brief items about the Chudley family moving to Gallipolis, which is 230 miles south of Bowling Green on the state line between Ohio and West Virginia. On 12 May, the household effects of A. H. Chudley were shipped to Gallipolis, “where Mr. Chudley has a position at his trade.” On 16 May, “Mrs. A. H. Chudley and baby left to-day for Gallipolis, their future home.
On 30 January 1899, in The Daily Sentinel-Tribune, a funeral notice for Mrs. S. W. St. John (the mother of the family that raised Jessie) noted that “Mrs. Jessie Chudley and children, of Tecumseh, Mich.” attended. Tecumseh is in Lenawee County, about 40 miles north of Toledo, Ohio.
In 1900, Jessie and Lila R Chudley are recorded in Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan. Jessie is recorded as “married,” but there are no records for Al, Chas., or Lu Verne in 1900. I have concluded that by this point, probably between Gallipolis and Tecumseh, Albert Henry Chudley left his wife and children. He is not seen in any records I can find between 1896 and 1906, notably the 1900 Census. (His story will come on a later date.)
There are only a few more clues before we lose sight of Jessie and Lila, too. In 1901, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported brief items about Jessie visiting her sister, Bessie McFann, in Toledo (January) and Mrs. Jessie Chudley and daughter, Miss Lila, visiting friends in Tecumseh. City Directory entries in 1902 and 1904 list Jessie in Jackson, but in 1904, the obituary for her grandmother, Laura Davenport, and a Toledo City Directory also place her in Toledo.
Our last information about Lila has her spending the 1903 Christmas holiday in Sandusky with Mrs. A. A. Magill, of that city.
No Clear Explanations
Those were the facts, but what do they tell us?
One explanation might be that “Chas.” and Lila were twins, and that Chas. did not survive the birth. An even simpler explanation might be that Lila’s given name was something like “Charlotte” and the clerk abbreviated it as “Chas” for some reason.
George Callin didn’t know Lila’s birthdate, so it’s possible Lila was born a year or so later, when her parents were still living in Gallipolis.
I’m fairly sure that Lu Verne and Lila were sisters, and that the family was together until around 1897, and living in Gallipolis. But I don’t know what happened to Albert or Lu Verne. Albert, as I said, may have left as early as 1897, and the last mention of Lu Verne (as one of Jessie’s “…and children” in 1899) doesn’t even name her. And the last sighting of Jessie (1904) or Lila (1903) does not tell us much.
I assume they were alive, probably in Toledo, when George compiled The Callin Family History, but none of them appear in the 1910 Census. At least, I haven’t found them.
A Sad Fate for Lu Verne
There are census records for someone named “Harriet L Chudley” who was a patient of the Traverse City State Hospital for the Insane in 1930, 1940, and 1950. She died in Kawkawlin, Bay County, Michigan, on 28 February, 1976, and her birthdate was recorded as 30 January 1893 (in Ohio). The 1930 Census recorded the birthplaces of her parents as England (father) and Ohio (mother).
Despite the birthdate being a year off, the rest of the facts are consistent with this being Lu Verne. Since she doesn’t appear in the 1920 Census, I suspect she lived with her mother until after 1920, and since she was committed in northern Michigan, I suspect they may have lived in the state. But again, there are no records to help us figure that out.
And so, we don’t know what happened to Jessie Callin Chudley after 1904, we don’t know what happened to Lila R Chudley after 1903, and we don’t know what happened to Harriet/Lu Verne Chudley between 1899 and 1930. Judging by Harriet’s fate, it seems apparent that this family had a difficult time, and given the stigma surrounding mental illness, it is no wonder they didn’t leave a record for us.
We do know what happened to Albert Henry Chudley, but his story doesn’t answer any of these questions. For now, we will have to sit with the mysteries we have, and hope to learn the answers another day.
- “Wood, Ohio, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L99C-15WP?view=explore : Jun 18, 2025), image 302 of 2024; Ohio. County Court (Wood County).
Image Group Number: 005486563 ↩︎ - “Wood, Ohio, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RYW-SP57?view=explore : Jun 18, 2025), image 89 of 282; Ohio. County Court (Wood County).
Image Group Number: 004017405 ↩︎ - “Wood, Ohio, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRKJ-9725?view=explore : Jun 18, 2025), image 122 of 283; Ohio. County Court (Wood County).
Image Group Number: 004978700 ↩︎
Say hello, cousin!