Two Brothers & Friends: Charles H. Chatfield

by Catherine Sevenau on March 11, 2011

Charles Henry Chatfield

From the book of Two Brothers and Friends, A Chatfield History & Genealogy, 1966, by Harry E. Chatfield: (a distant cousin from a branch of the Chatfield family)

Born 21-September-1870 in Fremont County, Colorado, Charles Henry Chatfield was introduced to the rigors of cattle raising quite early in life when at 15 years of age he accompanied his father on a cattle drive that brought 1000 head from the Texas panhandle to Isaac’s Yellow Creek Ranch in Rio Blanco County. Afterward, when not attending school, he followed the life of a cowhand on one of his father’s cattle ranches.

Charles married, on 26-December-1894 at Grand Junction, CO, Nellie Chamberlin, a no-nonsense, devout Catholic woman who would have a profound effect upon his life in later years.

About 1907  Charles moved the family to Treasure County, Montana, where he established a large ranch in the vicinity of the hamlet of Sanders and became a highly successful rancher. Then came news from family members in California about the golden opportunities there: land was cheap, flax was the big new crop, and the weather was mild. Tired of the cold in Montana, Nellie persuaded Charles to sell their holdings and join the relatives in California. However, when he went to town to finalize the sale and pick up the money, he did not return for four days. Nellie sent one the hired hands to look for him. When Charles was located, he had gambled away all of the money – more than $150,000!

Nellie, beside herself with anger, remained determined to move the family to California, so she sold the only remaining property they owned, a team of horses, for $300. With her nine children in tow, she boarded a train at Sanders, leaving Charles behind. They arrived at Los Molinos, CA, on 1-June-1913. Charles followed a few days later, a much disgraced man.

Although Nellie took Charles back, she never forgave him for gambling away their fortune. When they moved to Chico, they lived in the same home, but in separate rooms, and when he died 29 years later, she refused to buy a headstone for his grave. She carried her grudge to the grave, being buried in a different section in the same cemetery.

Source: TWO BROTHERS & FRIENDS: A CHATFIELD HISTORY & GENEALOGY, Volume IV, Copyright 1990 by Harry E. Chatfield, Chatfield Western Publications. Box 5703, Security, Colorado, 80931