In 1904 a young man from Stanbridge disembarked from the Carpathia and presented himself at the immigration desk on Ellis Island, New York. The adventures of Arthur 1881 in America had begun.
Arthur’s descendants live in Missouri, Florida and California, Georgia, Texas, Kansas and Connecticut. It is to Bob and Sam Chancellor that we are indebted for the fascinating details of Arthur’s life.
Bob has written a most beautiful book entitled Pieces of String Too Short to Save; a Memoir About Life, Journalism and Foreign Service, copyright 2011, and he has given me the entire chapter he wrote about his grandfather and family.
Bob has also sent me the promo sheet for his book, and he has given me directions on how to purchase it.
In order to give us a timeline of Arthur’s life, in very sharp focus, Sam has sent us a nicely concise synopsis.
Quickfind
Arthur 1881 not very long after 1904.
Photo courtesy Bob Chancellor
So who was he, this Arthur Tearle 1881, and how do I know he really came from Stanbridge? Let me answer the last question first. On his Missouri State Board of Health death certificate we can see he died in Cooper, Boonville, Missouri on 4 Jan 1936. The facts, supplied by his wife on this death certificate, say he was born 28 Oct 1881 in Stanbridge, Bedfordshire, England and that his parents were John Tearle and Maria. These are the exact credentials for Arthur 1881, son of John 1840 and Maria nee Bliss. Arthur is 9yrs old in the 1891 Stanbridge census and in the 1901 Northampton census he is 19yrs old and a draper’s assistant. I’ll leave the rest of his story to be told by the Chancellor brothers.
In the crucial matter of his ancestry, if you look on the Stanbridge page, you will see the photo of the two side-by-side graves, one of John (“sixty years sexton of this parish”) and Maria and the one on the right for James and Mary. John and James are brothers and while John is the father of Arthur 1881, and the g-grandfather of Bob and Sam Chancellor, James is my gg-grandfather, the father of Levi Tearle, the blacksmith of Wing (see the Wing page) and Levi is the father of Arthur 1874, my grandfather - see the New Zealand page. Which means that Bob and Sam are not too distant from me as cousins. John and Maria had many more children than just Arthur and you can see some of their graves on the Stanbridge page. The children were: Annie 1868 who married Charles Rose, Frederick 1870 who died unmarried in 1895, the twins Kate and Eliza 1873, Sabina 1875 who looked after her father from the time Maria died in 1883, Phoebe 1877 who married George Horne, Thomas 1880 who died a baby in 1880, and finally Arthur 1881.
Arthur 1874, son of Levi. The resemblance to his nephew Arthur 1881 is remarkable. If you compare the photos of me as a young man in New Zealand, you can see that the resemblance between both Arthurs and me is quite noticeable. Even our hair parts on the same side and has that wave over the forehead.
Pour yourself a cup of tea, relax in your most comfortable armchair and enjoy what Bob and Sam have brought us.
The story of Arthur 1881 and his family by Robert Tearle Chancellor
The Tearle family in America - a timeline by Sam Chancellor
The promo sheet for “Pieces of String Too Short to Save; a Memoir About Life, Journalism and Foreign Service,” copyright 2011, by Bob Chancellor
Our common ancestor is Thomas 1807 who married Mary Garner. Their family was: James 1827, my gg-grandfather, who married Mary Andrews from the nearby village of Eggington, John 1829 who died in 1829, William 1832 who married Catharine Fountain, some of whose family became hub members of the Willesden cell, Sarah 1834, who died 1837, Emma 1837 who married George Pratt, John 1840 who married Maria Bliss and is the g-grandfather of the Chancellor brothers, and Anne 1842 who married Henry Walker Simmonds.
Thomas’ parents were Richard 1773 and the redoubtable Elizabeth nee Bodsworth. She was 18 years old when she married in 1795 and she had 13 children in the 27 years from William 1796 to Joseph 1823, not counting any children who died before they were baptised.
Richard’s parents were John 1741 and Martha nee Archer. They had seven children, and their children form the largest branch of the Tearle family. As you can see from photographs of the TearleMeets in the Stanbridge Church, the chart of this one family barely fits along the central aisle of the church.
John’s parents were Thomas 1709 and Mary nee Sibley. This couple had eight children and the descendants of those children account for almost all the Tearles in the world today.