Margaret Martha (Wright) Chandler (1883 - 1951)

Born 20 May 1883 in Lauderdale, Alabama, United States

Ancestors

Wife of John Curtis Canerday Sr — married 3 Feb 1907 (to 1917) in Lauderdale, Alabama

Wife of Bethel Delano Chandler Sr — married 19 Mar 1919 in Green Hill, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States

Died 13 Dec 1951 at age 68 in Florence, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States

Biography

The daughter of Thomas Jefferson Wright (1861-1936) and Rebecca C. Forsythe (1859-1944), Mattie was born in Lauderdale County in 1883.^{[citation needed]} In 1900, her family farmed in Green Hill, Alabama.^[1] Mattie married John Canerday, the son of William Thomas Canerday and Susannah W. McMurtrey, marrying around 1907 after the death of his first wife, Edith Elizabeth Dial, who had passed away in 1906. John Canerday brought five children to the marriage, having lost four children in infancy:

1. Maude Inez Canerday (1893-1961)
2. Velma Hestella Canerday (1894-1953)
3. Mary Elizabeth Canerday (1899-1974)
4. Annie Beatrice Canerday (1903-1971)
5. Wilburn L. Canerday (1904-1980)

Mattie had five children of her own with William Canerday:

1. Georgia Lillian (Canerday) Johns (1908-1980)
2. James Eders Canerday (1911-2000)
3. Otis Canerday (1912-)
4. Leonard O'Neal Canerday (1914-2008)
5. Mabel Canerday (1916-1923)

John Canerday passed away in 1917 and Mattie remarried, marrying Bethel Chandler Sr sometime around 1918 or 1919. His wife also had passed away in 1917. In 1920, they farmed in Green Hill. The household included Mattie and Bethel; Irene and Milburn Canerday, Mattie's step-children from William Canerday's first marriage; her four surviving children from her marriage with William Canerday; and Bethel's two daughters from his first marriage.^[2] In October of 1921, Bethel was arrested for moonshining, the illegal manufacture of liquor, and he spent the next year in jail, being released on October 2, 1922.^[3] Mattie and Bethel had three children of their own together:

1. Nadine Chandler (1920-)
2. Bethel Delano Chandler, Jr. (1921-1997)
3. Evelyn Martha (Chandler) Haddock (1924-1996)

The prison term was difficult for the family, and it appears they lost their farm; in 1930, they lived in Florence, Alabama. Mattie worked as a seamer at a knitting mill and Bethel worked as a laborer at a flour mill. The household included Bethel's two daughters from his first marriage and Mattie's and Bethel's three children.^[4] By 1940, they had returned to Green Hill and were again farming on their own account. The household included Bethel's daughter, and Evelyn and Bethel, Jr., as well as Mattie's widowed mother, Rebecca Wright.^[5]

Mattie passed away in Lauderdale County at the age of 68 and is buried at Hill Cemetery in Antioch, Alabama.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9DS-4R4 : accessed 13 August 2021), Margaret M Wright in household of Thomas J Wright, Precinct 5 Green Hill, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 50, sheet 12A, family 199, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,024.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX8J-D7N : 31 January 2021), Marth M Chandler in entry for Bethel B Chandler, 1920.
3. ↑ see source citation on Bethel's profile
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:3LDR-Z3Z : accessed 20 February 2021), Mattie H Chandler, Florence, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 19, sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll ; FHL microfilm.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V1GB-G7X : 5 January 2021), Mattie Chandler in household of Bethel D Chandler, Election Precinct 5 Green Hill, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 39-10, sheet 8B, line 78, family 137, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 49. Ancestry Record 2442 #61528820 with attached Image
6. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVK9-BYNG : 1 August 2020), Martha Mattie Wright Chandler, ; Burial, Antioch, Lauderdale, Alabama, United States of America, Hill Cemetery. Find A Grave: Memorial #32895658