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Robert Franklin Chandler Sr

Robert Franklin Chandler Sr. (8 February, 1906 - 27 December, 1977) was a textile mill worker and a security guard who was Bob's father and Chris's paternal grandfather.

Born and raised in rural Chilton County, Alabama, Robert was the son of Joseph Jessie Chandler, a peach farmer and day laborer, and Martha Frances Headley, a housewife who also worked as a farm laborer. He was one of the youngest of 14 children in a Baptist family, with five of his siblings dying in infancy. His father was an avid hunter, capable of hunting seven pigs in one day, a hobby many of Robert's brothers took up, though it is unclear if Robert followed suit. Growing up, Robert and his siblings often lived with relatives instead of their parents; Robert lived with his aunt and uncle, Sadie and James Littleton. Before that, Robert and his siblings did manual labor for the family's peach farm at an early age.

After dropping out of high school in his freshman year, Robert worked at a steel mill before moving to Lake City, Florida for a better job opportunities. In June 1926, Robert married Jean Hollomon of Wylie, Texas, the daughter of a pharmacist, at the Methodist church in Dallas. They were 20 years old at the time of their marriage and lived together in Lake City before moving back to Texas at Fort Worth, where he worked as an insurance agent. They had their only child, Bob, in September 1927 and shortly after that, they moved to Garland near Jean's hometown.

At the behest of Jean and his father-in-law, Robert worked as a pharmacist for about five years before moving back to Alabama in 1933, settling in Sylacauga. There, he worked for over 20 years as a supplier for Avondale Mills, a textile manufacturing industry where his siblings, nephews and nieces also worked at, excluding a few years of military work during World War II. Receiving $624 a year from Avondale, the family faced financial struggles to the point of moving periodically during the 1940s and having very limited values in their possessions, as recounted by Bob in a letter detailing their issues with poverty. To supplement the family's income, Jean worked filling batteries at Avondale and Robert engaged in the newspaper business while still working at Avondale. Jean unexpectedly passed away at the young age of 39 in May 1945, shortly before Bob finished high school. Robert Sr. remarried in April 1949 to Dorothy Julia Wolfe, the daughter of a lumber inspector. Dorothy had a daughter from a previous marriage, whom Robert later adopted.

In 1955, Robert and his family moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, settling in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the Piedmont Park neighborhood, next to Smith Reynolds Airport. They stayed there for the next 13 years. Robert found employment as a security guard for the Winston-Salem Merchant Patrol Inc., a private security company that provided services to retail stores, business premises, and industrial sites. His job involved patrolling properties, preventing break-ins, reporting crimes, and collaborating with law enforcement. One of the business building he worked in security at was a Western Electric's abandoned plant at Chatham Road, the same company where his son Bob worked as an electrical engineer. By late 1967, he took a larger role in the plant, serving as general superintendent and plant manager until his retirement in 1970. His son Ray, a high school student born in 1950, worked alongside his father as a guard at the same plant from 1966 to 1970, to supplement the family's income. Robert received only $70 a week, and although Ray earned a salary, the family still faced financial struggles.

In October 1966, Robert received an eviction notice. In February 1967, his landlord informed him that he had been evicted from his Piedmont Park apartment without an explanation. Robert took legal action against the Winston-Salem Housing Authority in Forsyth Superior Court to keep his home. For seven months, the housing authority refused to provide a reason for the eviction until finally in September, when they claimed that Robert's income was higher than reported, though his earnings had not reached the $4,900 indicated on the lease signed in 1955. The Chandlers were allowed to remain in their apartment while the case was on appeal, but they lost the case in January 1968. A judge ordered Robert to pay $345 in back rent immediately, $450 in $10 weekly installments, and to move out by April 1968. However, the judge expedited the eviction, requiring the Chandlers to move out by late January instead. After the ruling, Robert stated to a reporter that he wouldn't pay "a penny one" of the back rent, stressing that he had "no property, no money in the bank," and that they could collect nothing from him but a "judgement."

The Chandlers moved out in January 1968 to a rental house in the Forest Park neighborhood before relocating to a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the same area, near Bowman Gray Stadium and Winston-Salem State University. Robert retired in 1970 at age 64, after 15 years of service for the Merchant Patrol. He passed away in December 1977 at age 71 after three months of metastatic pancreatic cancer. He was Chris's last grandparent to die.

From 1950 to 1962, Robert and Dorothy had seven children, including Wayne Chandler in January 1955 and twin daughters Betty and Joan Chandler in April 1962. Various newspapers regarded Robert as a loving husband and father who fought hard for his family's survival. In 1966, believing his 16-year-old son Ray might have been electrocuted at work, Robert rushed to the workplace to save him and afterward called the fire department and rescue team for help; the boy was not hurt. Robert became an enthusiastic fisherman after moving to Winston-Salem, frequently visiting the Outer Banks to fish with his family. Locals remembered him as a friendly person who loved telling stories about his youth and once said that women should never be forced to conform to societal norms imposed upon them.

Joseph Otto Weston

Joseph Otto "Joe" Weston (3 October, 1896 - 8 April, 1955) was a lifelong tobacco farmer who was Barb's father and Chris's maternal grandfather.

Born and raised in rural area of Red Oak, Virginia, he was the 4th child out of 5th and the youngest son of a farmer Joseph Edward Weston Jr. and Sarah Ann Hamilton. Up until he was around 5 years old, he was unbreeched, meaning he wore girly clothes at a very young age. Dropping out of school at 5th grade, Joe started doing manual work on his parents' farm at an early age and continued farming for them until in his late 20s, when he established his own farm. His father and grandfather Joseph Jr. and Joseph "John" Weston Sr. were both tobacco farmers and he himself later became a self-employed tobacco farmer. He was briefly conscripted near the end of World War 1 in June 1918 but was exempted due to bad teeth. During the early years of World War 2, Joe began working in carpentry on construction projects, specifically for military camps like Fort Gregg-Adams in Prince George County and Fort Barfoot in Blackstone, as well as other projects in Newport News. This profession led him to identify as both a farmer and a carpenter.

Around the time he established his own farm, Joe, a Baptist, married Carrie Edna Wynn of South Hill, the daughter of a tobacco farmer who was a Methodist, when they were 15 and 30 respectively. They were married at a Baptist church in Carrie's mother's hometown Warrenton, North Carolina in February 1927, falsely stating their ages as 18 and 28 on their marriage certificate. From 1927 to 1950, they had 8 children together, including Corrina (1934), Barbara (1941), Harriet (1947) and Wayne (1950) and raised them in a low-income farming household in northwest Red Oak. Their property included a house, barn, 9.1 acres of land with a 971-pound tobacco allotment, a cow, pigs, a vegetable garden, and a well for water. Family members said during his children's upbringing, they would eat red eye gravy and fat back bacon, as well as tomato sandwiches for lunch. They had a lot of canned vegetables, traded canned goods with one of the family member and milked their only cow. They also mentioned in the Weston's home, they had a bucket of water from the well to drink in the kitchen and a coal stove in the main room with kerosene.

Joe would soon get into a couple incidences that would soon get to his death. When Barb was two years old, she witnessed his father falling off the roof, almost killing himself while painting his house. About 12 years later Joe would instantly pass away due to broken neck of 5th cervical vertebra from a work accident. While hauling woods, he fell near the rear of a wheel while climbing onto loads and as horses pulled off, the drawn wagon wheel ran over his neck, killing him. His body was discovered when a driverless horses & wagon arrived at a nearby service station. Barbara was 13 when he was killed and the younger children, Madeline, Harriet and Wayne were 11, 8 and 5 years old respectively. Funeral service were later held at Antioch Baptist Church in Red Oak and was buried in the church's cemetery, where he was a longtime member with his wife and children, along his parents and siblings. Despite the fact that he married a girl half his age, his family still loved him dearly and expressed profound sadness and sorrow over his death. In their 1966 local memoriam newspaper, Carrie and his eight children published a poem for the 11th anniversary of his passing, expressing their grief and remembrance.

Leaving Carrie to support the family and managing the farm, she got a job working for Craddock-Terry Shoe Company in Lynchburg to supplement their already worsening financial status until her death. Two years after Joe's death in October 1957, Carrie married a farmer and a longtime bachelor Elmer Thomas Rickman, who were both about 46 and were born a week apart. Elmer, who helped with the Weston family farm, would become a stepfather of a 16 year old Barbara and Carrie's younger children.

After his death, his property was inherited by his two children, Barbara and William Stanley Weston (1932 - 1984). Barbara and Stanley fought against each other to gain full control of their father's property, with Barbara initiating a lawsuit from March 1974 to March 1975. The court ordered the property to be sold at a public auction on March 22. The outcome of the lawsuit remains unknown. It's unknown why the two siblings each wanted to fully control their father's property, but knowing Barb, it's possible that Stanley's actions were driven by a desire to prevent her from selfishly selling the property for money.

Robert Wynn

Robert Pettus Wynn (17 Nov 1882 - 20 Jan 1954) was a tobacco farmer and a moonshiner who was Barb's maternal grandfather and Chris's matrilineal great-grandfather.

Born and raised in the South Hill area, Robert was the son of illiterate farmer, Francis Wynn, and Harriet Jones. He was the middle child of three but grew up as an only child after his siblings' death. Dropping out of school at 3rd grade, he remained illiterate for the rest of his life. He began doing manual work on his parents' farm at a very young age before later becoming a self-employed tobacco farmer around the time he got married. In December 1903, he married Victoria Malone Thompson of Warrenton, North Carolina at her father's house in South Hill, with a Methodist minister, when they were 21 and 17 respectively. From 1904 to 1924, they had seven children together, five girls and two boys, including Carrie Edna Wynn in December 1911, and have raised them on a farming household in the area between Baskerville, Boydton and mainly South Hill. Two of his children died at a relatively young age; his oldest son Bernard in 1939 at age 31 from a car accident and his daughter Carrie in 1968 at age 56 from a hereditary stroke.

Robert Wynn was described by his family members as a scoundrel who drank heavily and had a girlfriend during his marriage. His family members said he "failed to provide even the most basic support for his wife and children" and that he was a moonshiner. Victoria passed away in October 1935 after one year of uterus cancer, and about two years later in March 1937, Robert married to a widow of two, Virginia Harris Simons, the same girlfriend he cheated on Victoria with. Virginia became a widow of her first husband's death in January 1936, meaning Robert and Virginia both had an affair with each other behind their partners' back. His marriage with Virginia, with her two children living with him, lasted until his death in 1954.

Robert's health would later start to decline as he grew older. Weighting under 113 pounds at 5'6", the underweight Robert was diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease at age 61. 10 years later in January 1954, as a result of his hypertensive disease, he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke (i.e. blood begins bleeding into the brain) and subsequently passed away 48 hours later at age 71. He was later buried at his first wife's family cemetery "Thompson Family Cemetery" in South Hill.

John James Hollomon

John James Hollomon (3 May 1868 - 16 Mar 1950) (sometimes known as J.J. Hollomon) was a pharmacist who was Bob's maternal grandfather and Chris' patrilineal grandfather.

Born in Meigs County, Tennessee, he was the second youngest child out of 9 children to Meigs attorney and a lawyer, Esquire John Richmond Hollomon, and Mary Baker. Owing to his father's successful legal and political career, he was raised on a comfortably middle-class household at a hundreds of acres that contained a large farm. John worked on his parents' farm alongside his siblings while attending school, with his father's help, a "gentlemen farmer".

After finishing high school in 1886, John left Tennessee & moved to Wylie, Texas in 1890, a newly incorporated city in northeast Dallas with 400 residents. He worked during the 1890s for the postal service as a assistant postmaster before later switching his career the following decade. John was considered as one of the Wylie's oldest and earliest businessmen at the time. He was the vice president of the Wylie's first state bank in 1910s and donated moneys to local schools.

John was a well known pharmacist in the Wylie's Collin County for over 50 years, and owning his own pharmacy, Hollomon Drug Store since 1896. During his career, besides selling medicines, he gave away all kinds of materials, supplies, gifts and all other things from his pharmacy, that included school supplies, candies, cosmetics, baby gifts, pottery, etc. Giving away gifts and others from his pharmacy were generous enough that his pharmacy was one of the 40+ businesses and stores mentioned in Wylie's newspaper article, for helping out and gifting the local high school's students. He also let a dentist open one of their dental offices for practical session in his pharmacy.

John was married twice and had seven children, six of whom survived. In about 1899, he married Mary Francis Teer of Cumby, the daughter of a osteopathic doctor, and had four children together, including Jean Hollomon, Bob's mother. Mary died in July 1914 from complications of childbirth, the day after she gave birth to her daughter Mary Maxine Hollomon. John got married again in April 1915 to Helen Nelms of Denison, the daughter of a furniture salesman, who would work at his pharmacy as a sales clerk. They had three children together, two of whom survived, including Dr. John James "J.J." Hollomon Jr, Bob's half-uncle.

John was described as a highly respected person, a very generous and sweet man by family members and many friends of his. Bob reminisces that his grandfather had given him a straight razor "by means of [John's] last will and testament," and Bob instead broke it while using it as a screwdriver. Bob held into this regret well into his 60s, because he believed John wanted him to have it as a personal item and value. At the time of Bob writing his 1987 letters to Chris, Bob thinks of his mother, who passed away when he was 17, and maternal grandfather highly in a personal manner, to the point that he was a devout Methodist, like his mother and grandfather.

John faced serious health problems in the last years of his life. In December 1947, at age 79, he was diagnosed with diabetes. His condition was so severe that in September 1948, he was rushed by ambulance to a Dallas hospital, where he experienced frequent fluctuations in his health during his three-month stay. In November, John underwent two major operations, having both of his legs amputated within a span of seven days, after which his condition reportedly improved. As a result of the surgeries, he retired as a pharmacist after over 50 years and transferred ownership of his pharmacy to his wife, Helen, who continued working and managing the store after his death. Despite the amputation and retirement, John continued to work part-time alongside his wife at the pharmacy.

It seems his conditions didn't get any better after the surgery; he suffered a "bad attack" in October 1949, 5 months before his death, and was told that his health was improving again. In March 1950, he passed away 2 months away from his 82nd birthday at his home in Wylie, Texas after over two years of diabetes complications. His funeral service were held at a Methodist church in Wylie and was buried in a city's cemetery.

William Teer

Dr. William Teer (March 29, 1837 - October 19, 1919) was an osteopath and a Confederate army soldier who was Bob's matrilineal great-grandfather and Chris's great-great grandfather.

Born in Neshoba County, Mississippi, he was the third child out of eight siblings to a poor cotton farmer, Curtis Wiley Teer, and Dollie Jordan. He grew up in Neshoba County and later to Angelina County, Texas when he was 10 years old. The family relocated again to Hopkins County outside of Cumby in 1860, where he worked on his parents' cotton farm before enlisting for the Civil War.

In October 1861, aged 24, William and his two brothers James (1830 - 1863) and Wiley (1839 - 1862), enlisted in the Confederate Army in San Antonio. Serving in the Company K, 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment, William and Wiley participated in the New Mexico campaign under General Sibley. Both of his brothers died during the war; James died at a Union prison camp in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1863. William and Wiley fought in the battles of Valverde and later to Glorietta Pass, where in March 1862, when assisting in capturing artillery battery, Wiley was reportedly "lost or killed" and William was shot and seriously wounded. His right arm was shattered by a minie ball, sustained a damaged spleen and later contracted hepatitis at a hospital. After the capture of Texas Army's supply wagons by US Army, they retreated, abandoning William and other recovering soldiers at the Santa Fe hospital before subsequently being captured in April. He was later paroled a month later in May 1862, walking a 1,500-mile journey from Santa Fe, New Mexico to his home in Texas before returning to military service. Due to his injuries and disability, he was honorably discharged from his unit by General Thomas Green in September 1863 and returned to his home in Cumby, working as a cotton farmer despite his shattered right arm.

William was married four times throughout his life. In December 1862, he married his comrade's sister Mary Frances Carraway of Alabama, who passed away in 1867, with him being a single father of their daughter Martha. He then remarried Louisa Frances Spears of Tennesse in July 1868, but that marriage also ended early. In January 1871, he married Nancy Jane Coburn of Ashley County, Arkansas, presumably an orphan girl. From this marriage, he had seven children from 1871 to 1885, including Mary Francis Teer, Bob's maternal grandmother and the wife of John James Hollomon. After Nancy's death in 1894 and being a single parent to his younger children, William remarried Bettie King of Mount Pleasant in March 1907 at age 70, and this marriage lasted until his death in 1919.

In November 1903, inspired by the nerve damage in his shattered right arm and with nearly two decades of practice, William established himself as an osteopathic doctor in Tyler, Texas, specializing in "Exophthalmic Goitre, Biliary Calculi (Gall Stones) Paralysis, and all Nervous Diseases". He became the president of the State Association of Drugless Doctors of Texas and advocated massaging and other holistic approaches to wellness, as well as a method through what he called "scientific massage". As a doctor in Tyler, he was described as a highly respected figure, endorsed by many prominent members of the city's society. Despite his esteemed reputation and a legal title "Doctor", William faced legal challenges in 1910 when he was arrested for practicing medicine without a proper license. Having practiced what he called 'scientific massage' for over 25 years, he was charged under the new medical regulations in Texas, which restricted alternative practices. William refused to comply with the conditions set forth by the authorities, which would have barred him from treating the sick without formal medical credentials. Instead, he chose to serve his sentence, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to his practice and his patients. Even after paying the penalty, he continued to provide care without compensation, emphasizing his belief in the value of his work and his dedication to the suffering.

William retired in 1916 after suffering a paralyzing stroke and resided at Texas Confederate Home in Austin before moving back to Cumby in June 1918, a beloved city where he was considered a longtime prominent citizen. He later passed away in October 1919 at his youngest daughter's home Miller Grove after suffering a second paralyzing stroke.

William was mentioned in a biographies book about some of the men that served the Confederate States from Texas titled "Texans who Wore the Gray (1907)", written by a Confederate officer, journalist, and author Sidney Smith Johnson (1840-1910). Johnson described William as "a brave Confederate soldier, a man of fine education, and a Christian gentleman."

Joseph Chandler

Dr. Joseph Chandler (April 14, 1832 - January 4, 1925) was a herbalist and a Confederate soldier who was Bob's paternal great grandfather and Chris's great-great grandfather.

Born and raised in a rural farm nearby Kingston, Autauga County, Alabama, he was the second child out of ten to a Baptist minister, clergyman and a priest Rev. Sidney Smith Chandler Sr. and Mary Lucinda Walker. His lower class family lived on a rustic 250-acre cotton farm with many livestock such as cows, bulls, pigs and a horse, as well as various household and farming items including smoothing irons, hunting guns, a hatchet, numerous books, and a family Bible, along with two pets: a dog and a cat. Joseph and his brothers worked on the family's cotton farm for around a decade before he was enlisted for the Civil War, although he became the family's only active worker on the farm since his brothers got married and established their own farms.

According to his father's probates and wills files, Joseph's father disliked him from adolescence over his opposition to slavery and allegedly having a feminine traits, claiming that Joseph was an "effeminate man" who couldn't perform "even the most basic of masculine tasks" and believed that Joseph is better off as a woman. In the same records, Joseph as a child asked his dad why are "humans owning other humans" and why don't slaves be free if God loves all humans, in which Sidney, a slaveowner of two, responds by calling black people the n-word and that they "don't worship god". Sidney also wrote in one of his original will that he wants all of his estate, inheritance and property be given to his third son Edmund, with two older sons Joseph and James to be given none. This was later changed to be given to Joseph since James and Edmund passed away around the time of Sidney's death.

In May 1862, at age 30, Joseph and his two brothers James (1830 - 1862) and Edmund (1835-1963), enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private at Fort Gaines near Mobile. Two months after the enlistment, he contracted measles, which prevented him to perform his military duties and was absent for the remainder of 1862 until he re-enlisted in February 1863. Serving in the Company H, 38th Alabama Infantry Regiment, he fought against the Siege of Fort Gaines, then in the Battles of Mobile Bay and Selma, the latter of which he suffered a broken shoulder from a fall after he was shot underneath his horse. Joseph was later paroled at Selma in April 1865 before he was discharged in August due to his disability and returned to Autauga County. His two brothers died in the war; James died as a prisoner of the war at Springfield, Illinois in 1862 and his younger brother Edmund died in the battle in 1863.

Joseph was married twice throughout his life. In April 1867, he married for the first time at age 35, to his comrade's daughter and his brother's widow Mary Elizabeth Walker of Autauga County (no relation to Joseph's mother). Around the same month, he successfully petitioned to take guardship of his nephew and niece Ferdinand and Mary Chandler and raise them as well. He and Mary later had five children together from 1868 to 1879, including Joseph Jessie Chandler, Bob's paternal grandfather. He and his family lived the remaining 1860s and 1870s, initially in Autauga County, and Chilton County, then briefly in Florida before moving back to Chilton County before 1880, where they made their permanent home in nearby Jemison. After his first wife's death in 1887, he remarried in June 1888 to a widow Ruth Williams (née Dennis) of Autauga County, whom he remained married to until her death sometime in 1910s.

To support himself and the family's poverty situation while raising his children, he worked a variety of jobs throughout the late 19th century. Shortly after the war and receiving his father's final inheritance, he established his own farm around the time of his marriage, then later acquired a peach farm after his move to Chilton County before 1880. He also owned a saw mill, of which he briefly lived inside shortly after selling his residence to relocate to another residence. During his time in Chilton, he worked three jobs to support the family's needs, working on his peach farm, working as a shoemaker by trade and occasionally handling real estate transactions. He would even attempt apply for a Confederate pension in 1891 at age 59, to supplement his family's income, only to be approved in 1893 with 26$ a year pension. He missed five years getting his pension from 1893 to 1898. At the start of 1890s, he began practicing medicine through herbal medicine and selling them to patients, in which he earned the title Dr. by his county for his modest success as a herb doctor. He continued working at his peach farm in the early 20th century while also selling medicine.

By the time he was widowed in 1910s, he was living by himself in a two-room house at a 30-acre farm in nearby Jemison, with flock of cows and a lot of pigs as well as a watch, a "double-barrel gun" and a sewing machine. According to his pension applications in 1910s and 1920s in his 80s, he was living by himself through a poverty line with over 100$ through his name, with little support from his children despite them helping writing his pensions for him during last years of his life as he became nearly blind. He said he depends solely on his pensions and have no means of income besides selling medicine, as he became too old to continue working on his farm. Receiving 25$ and later 35$ a year since 1898, his pension finally got upgraded to first class in 1921, receiving 75$ a year. He later passed away at his home in January 1925 from an old age, three months shy of his 93rd birthday.

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barb high school photos

As we were young - School yearbook section, with photo of toddler Barb. As we were young - Another photo of child Barb. 1956 Library Club - Barbara standing third row, second to the left. 1956 Junior Varsity Basketball Team - Barbara sitting first row left. 1957 Future Homemakers of America - Barbara sitting on grass first row very right, as seen with a red star. 1957 Randolph Henry safety bus patrol - Barbara kneeling, as seen with a red star. 1957 Library Club - Barbara the treasurer for Library Club. 1958 Library Club - Barbara standing 7th to the right. 1958 Spanish Club - Barbara standing behind a few rows, as seen with a red star. 1958 Cheerleaders - Barbara as a cheerleader. 1960 Future Homemakers of America 1 - Barbara the FHA treasurer sitting on the couch second to the left. 1960 Future Homemakers of America 2 - Barbara the FHA treasurer standing the first row in the middle. 1960 Monogram Club - Barbara standing first row, third to the left. 1960 Spanish Club - Barbara standing high up, as seen with a red star. 1960 Randolph Henry safety bus patrol - Barbara the reporter for RH safety bus patrol, wearing glasses standing first row left. Barbara's senior year directory.