Mrs Carrie (Herbert Fuller) Chaffee
Mrs
Herbert Fuller Chaffee (Carrie Constance
Toogood), 47, was born on August 28, 1864 Manchester IA.
In
1886 she entered Oberlin
College, Oberlin Ohio where she studied at the Conservatory of Music
(1 year) and the College - Art (1 year). She enrolled for 3 years but
in 1887 she met Herbert Chaffee (see picture).
They were married on December 21, 1887 and a son was born on September
28, 1888. Earlier that year they had moved to North Dakota where Herbert
took charge of the family farming business so neither Carrie nor Herbert
graduated.
Trained
in music, she gave voice lessons to the children of prairie farmers
while managing a complex household and giving birth to six children:
Eben Whitney Chaffee, Dorothy Chaffee Stroud, Herbert Lawrence Chaffee,
Florence Adele Chaffee, and Lester Fuller Chaffee (one other child died
in childhood). Mrs Chaffee was renowned for her decisive mind and her
willingness to confront any situation.
Mrs
Chaffee and her husband boarded the Titanic at Southampton as
first
class passengers (cabin E-31), they
were returning from a European trip to their home in Amenia, Cass Co.,
North Dakota.
Mrs
Chaffee was rescued from the Titanic in lifeboat 4,
but her husband was lost. After his death Carrie took an active role
in managing the Land Company's assets, and was also a leader in charitable
work in North Dakota and in Minneapolis MN, she was a charter member
of, and active in, the American-Chinese Education Committee, Canton,
China. She died July 4, 1931 in Amenia, ND.
References
Clement A. Lonsberry (1917) North Dakota History and People.
Vol. II, p. 877-878. Chicago, S.J.Clarke Publications.
Oberlin College Records
Acknowledgements
John
Chaffee, USA
Homer Thiel, USA
Tammy L. Martin, USA (Oberlin College Archivists
Herbert
Fuller Chaffee
Mr
Herbert Fuller Chaffee, 46, was born
on November 20, 1865 at Sharon, Litchfield County, Connecticut, the
son of Eben Whitney Chaffee and his wife Amanda Fuller Chaffee. Members
of the Chaffee family had lived in Sharon since the Revolutionary War.
Herbert
was educated in the common schools in Sharon, a seminary in New York,
and the Williston Seminary, a scientific school in Easthampton, Massachusetts.
He graduated from the latter school in 1885. In 1887 he was living in
Ellsworth, CT and in that year he entered Oberlin
College in Oberlin OH where he studied at the Conservatory of Music.
He enrolled for 2 years but probably moved to North Dakota to help run
the family firm as he did not graduate.
While
at Oberlin he met his future wife Carrie Constance Toogood of Manchester, Iowa. They
were married on December 21, 1887 and a son was born on September 28,
1888 in Amenia, ND.
Herbert's
father came from Litchfield Co., CT and came to Dakota in 1875 where
he founded the bonanza-farming business "Amenia" -- Amenia-Sharon
Land Co (organized with bondholders of the Union Pacific Rail Road)
which had its headquarters in Amenia ND. Herbert Chaffee eventually
became the chief executive officer of the family business which, at
its greatest extent, controlled 42,000 acres of prime farmland, 34 grain
elevators, a grain-trading firm, and three company towns with dozens
of smaller company-owned businesses. Its holdings were worth perhaps
$150 million in today's dollars. H. F. Chaffee, who routinely worked
a 72-hour week, felt that this was only the beginning. He had developed
sophisticated management systems and was constantly expanding the operation.
He
continued in business in North Dakota, purchasing the interests of the
remaining investors of the Amenia & Sharon Land Company in 1893.
"Through
his sound scientific and business judgment he established a farm business
that is unique and stands today as a memorial of his faith in the future
of his adopted state and his unswerving fidelity to high ideals." (Lonsberry
1917).
Chaffee
was a Republican and a member of the Congregational Church.
Chaffee
and his wife had been on a European trip and boarded the Titanic
at Southampton, travelling in first
class (cabin E-31). They
were returning to their home in Amenia, Cass County, North Dakota.
Herbert
died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
After
Chaffee's death, remaining family members ran the firm jointly but continually
disagreed on business strategy. In 1922 the company was dissolved and
its assets distributed. Very little of its holdings remain in family
hands today.
References
Clement A. Lonsberry (1917) North Dakota History and People.
Vol. II, p. 877-878. Chicago, S.J.Clarke Publications.
Oberlin College Records
Acknowledgements
John
Chaffee, USA
Homer Thiel, USA
Tammy L. Martin, USA (Oberlin College Archivist)