9. Phil Van Wert Chatfield

Jul 22, 1865: Birth of Phil Van Wert “Wert” Chatfield in Cañon City (near Florence), Fremont County, Colorado. Wert may have been named after the town and county of Van Wert in Ohio, the state where his father Isaac W. Chatfield was born and raised.

Aug 1, 1870: Colorado Territorial Census for Cañon City, Fremont County, Colorado:

Chatfield, Isaac: age 34, farmer, value of real estate $6,000, value of personal property $4,550, born Ohio Chatfield, Eliza: age 28, keeping house, born IowaChatfield, Ella: age 11, at home, born Kansas, attending school

Chatfield, Elmer: age 7, at home, born Colorado

Chatfield, Vanwert: age 5, at home, born Colorado

Chatfield, Jane: age 2, at home, born Colorado (note: Jacqueline)

Jun 3, 1880: Federal Census For Leadville, Lake County, Colorado:

Chatfield, I.W.: age 43, merchant, born Ohio, father born Connecticut, mother born VermontChatfield, Eliza: age 37, wife, keeping house, born Iowa, father born Ohio, mother born Ohio

Chatfield, Ella S.: age 21, daughter, born Kansas, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa

Chatfield, Elmer E.: age 17, son, handling horses, born Colorado, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa

Chatfield, Phil Vanwest, age 14, son, born Colorado, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa (note: Phil Van Wert)

Chatfield, Jacqueline: age 12, daughter, born Colorado, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa

Chatfield, Chas H.: age 9, son, born Colorado, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa

Chatfield, Callie: age 1, daughter, born Colorado, father born Ohio, mother born Iowa

Nov 20, 1881: Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado (pg 3):

LEADVILLE. Mrs. I.W. Chatfield has been at Denver for several weeks, attending a very sick son, who is now convalescing.

Dec 2, 1883: Death of Phil Van Wert Chatfield (age 17), at the St. James Hotel in Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado, of Bright’s disease, his parents at his bedside.

As They Were Told

Sulphur, Colorado Phil Van Wert (Wert) was Elmer’s closest companion—in and out of mischief often. When Wert died at age 17, the whole family was devastated.

According to Elmer Chatfield as told by his granddaughter, Beverly Kelly (Note: Elmer was two years older than Wert)

Bright’s Disease

Bright’s disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It is typically denoted by the presence of albumin (blood plasma) in the urine, and frequently accompanied by edema (tissue particulate).These associated symptoms in connection with kidney disease were first described in 1827 by noted English physician Richard Bright. Since that time, it has been established that the symptoms, instead of being, as was formerly supposed, the result of one form of disease of the kidneys, may be dependent on various morbid conditions of those organs. Thus, the term Bright’s disease, which is retained in medical nomenclature in honor of Dr. Bright, must be understood as having a strictly historical application.

The symptoms are usually of a severe nature. Back pain, vomiting, and fever commonly signal an attack. Edema, varying in degree from slight puffiness of the face to an accumulation of fluid sufficient to distend the whole body, and sometimes severely restrict breathing, is a very common ailment. The urine is reduced in quantity, is of dark, smoky or bloody color, and exhibits to chemical reaction the presence of a large amount of albumin, while, under the microscope, blood corpuscles and casts, as above mentioned, are found in abundance.

This state of acute inflammation may severely limit normal daily activities, and if left unchecked, may lead to one of the chronic forms of Bright’s disease. In many cases though, the inflammation is reduced, marked by increased urine output and the gradual disappearance of its albumen and other abnormal by-products. A reduction in edema and a rapid recovery of strength usually follows.

Acute Bright’s disease was treated with local depletion, warm baths, diuretics, and laxatives. There was no successful treatment for chronic Bright’s disease, though dietary modifications were sometimes suggested.Source: Wikipedia

May 29, 1889: Aspen Weekly News, Aspen, Lake County, Colorado (pg 1):

All competent authorities, prominent among them being F.F. Roberts, M.D., Professor of Chemical Medicine at University College Hospital, London, Eng., say “Bright’s disease has no marked symptoms of its own, but taken the symptoms of other (so-called) diseases.” If you have headache, fickle appetite, failure of eyesight, tube cysts in urine, gradual loss of flesh and dropsical swelling, extreme wakefulness, distressing nervousness, do not neglect such symptoms, or you will eventually have Bright’s disease, or some other effect of neglected kidney disease. Take Warner’s Safe Care, the only recognized specific for this disease.

LITTLETON CEMETERY

Littleton Cemetery Caretakers at the Littleton Cemetery believe that unofficial burials began there before the first records were kept and, in fact, before it was a designated burial ground. Numbered interments in the record books begin in 1869. In 1875 the cemetery was deeded to the local Weston Masonic Lodge. The cemetery belonged to the Lodge for about thirteen years before they deeded it to the Littleton Cemetery Association in January 1888. It was still referred to as the Masonic Cemetery for some time afterwards.

Three children of Isaac W. & ELiza Chatfield are buried in the Littleton Cemetery:

• Grace Chatfield: born probably between 1874 & 1877 – stillborn
• Myrtle Lovina Chatfield: born Nov 7, 1873 – died Oct 23, 1877 (almost age 4)
• Phil Van Wert “Wirt” Chatfield: born Jul 22, 1865 – died Dec 2, 1883 (age 17)

Littleton Cemetery is located at 6155 South Prince Street, Littleton, Arapahoe Co., Colorado
(Weston Lodge Number 22, A.F. & A.M., Littleton, Colorado, 1872 – 1973)

LITTLETON CEMETERY PROJECT, C’s, 1870’s – 1950’s:

NAME Last First * SEX/AGE/DEATH DATE * LOT, BLK, GRV * Relative or informantChatfield Grace F no info * no info * 1, 13, 6 * I.W. Chatfield; Parents

Chatfield Myrtle F no info * no info * 1, 13, 5 * I.W. Chatfield; Parents

Chatfield Wirt M no info * no info * 1, 13, 7 * I.W. Chatfield; ParentsSource: Nancy Garrett, Sep 19, 2003: ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/co/arapahoe/cemeteries/litteltoncem-c.txt

Chatfield kin buried in Littleton Cemetery:

• Nathan Stoddard Chatfield (age 68): Oct 8, 1816 – Aug 22, 1885                                   (uncle of Isaac W. Chatfield, father of Edward & James Herrick)
• Margaret Prudentia Chatfield (age 69): May 19, 1818 – Oct 10, 1887                             (wife of Nathan Stoddard Chatfield: Margaret Prudentia Herrick)
• Edward L. Chatfield (age 82): Aug 4, 1842 – Dec 3, 1924                                               (son of Nathan Stoddard Chatfield, cousin of Isaac W. Chatfield)
• Anna E. Chatfield (age 71): 1845 – Jun 28, 1916                                                             (wife of Edward L. Chatfield: Anna E. Bates)
• James Herrick Chatfield (age 67): Aug 16, 1851 – Apr 20, 1919                                     (son of Nathan Stoddard Chatfield, cousin of Isaac W. Chatfield)
• Anna M. Chatfield (age 33), Jan 11, 1856 – Feb 27, 1889                                               (wife #1 of James Herrick Chatfield: Anna Margaret Brasier)
• Mary E. Chatfield (age 63): Jul 1, 1856 – Dec 13, 1918                                                   (wife #2 of James Herrick Chatfield: Mary Elmina Dickinson)

 

Apr 5, 1907: Littleton Independent, Littleton, Arapahoe County, Colorado (pg 4):

Littleton Cemetery To Be Beautified

The cemetery association has bought seventy-five elm trees to be placed along the drive ways in the cemetery. Supt. J.H. Chatfield is now engaged in the work and also has several monuments to erect.

Note: James Herrick Chatfield (cousin of Phil Van Wert’s father, I.W. Chatfield); in 1919, he too is buried in Littleton Cemetery.

Photo by A.E. Rinehart, Denver, Colorado

On back of photo is written:

Mrs. I.W. Chatfield

706 Gillespie & 3rd, Aspen, Colo.

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Biographies of Western Photographers

Rinehart, Alfred Evans, Active in Denver from 1876 – 1897

• Associated with G.W. Kirkland, 1876
• Associated with Charles Bohm, 1875 – 80
• Partner with W.H. Jackson, operating as Rinehart & W.H. Jackson, 1880 – 1881
• Operating at 413 Larimer, 1881 – 1886
• Operating at 1637 Larimer, with William H. Rinehart, 1887 (or 1883)
• Operating at 1630 Arapahoe 1888, 1898 – 1901
• Operating at Londoner Block, 1889
• Operating at 1830 Arapahoe, 1890 – 1894
• Operating at 827 16th, 1895 – 1897

Source: Biographies of Western Photographers: A Reference Guide to Photographers Working in the 19th Century American West, by Carl Mautz, Carl Mautz Publishing, 1997

Alfred Evans Rinehart

Alfred Evans Rinehart, a pioneer photographer, came to Denver from Lafayette, Indiana in 1874. In the days of the old mining boom he was the leading portrait photographer of the city. His early studio at 1637 Larimer was in partnership with William Henry Jackson from 1880-1884.In 1888 Mr. Rinehart, a great lover of children, opened his new photography gallery at 16th & Arapahoe Streets, in the Wolfe Londoner building on the buildings top floor. A major article in a Denver Newspaper states, “The new photographic gallery opened by Mr. A.E. Rinehart, the popular photographer, in Wolfe Londoner’s new building, between sixteenth and seventeenth streets, attracts crowds of visitors. It is the largest and most complete establishment of the kind in the world, embracing more rooms, finer accessories and greater conveniences for retouching, copying, printing, and operating than any gallery heretofore opened.

The main saloon is reached directly by the elevator, visitor stepping from the elevator cab into a well lighted, cheerfully appointed reception room, where are new furnishings in cherry hard wood, and every appointment consistent with beauty and comfort. The ceiling is one of the first things that attracts the eye. It is a combination of frescoing and freehand modeling, and elaborate designs have been worked in polished bronze. It is, according to the statement of the artist, Mr. Ganthier, the only ceiling of the kind in the city. The floors are set in parquet work in hard woods and covered with Kurrachee rugs. The counter and the panel are of cherry hard wood. In the center of the room are placed several easels of bamboo and cherry and holding large portraits. The walls are hung with large frames holding some of the best specimens of Mr. Rinehart’s art and on the side of the room on handsome shelves are cabinets in easels and plaques. To the further side of the room a handsome grate sends forth its genial warmth and cheerful light. The curtains are of Madras, and add not a little to the bright, cheerful and handsome appearance of the room.

The gallery itself is the best appointed one ever constructed. It includes some twelve rooms grouped about an open court. To one side is the operating room, the largest ever opened by a photographer, being 26 X 58 in its dimensions. The accessories are all new and include the latest things in that line that have been painted by L.W. Seavey of New York. A special room to one side of the operating room is devoted entirely to the storage of accessories. A carriage built by Mr. Rinehart and his assistants holds the backgrounds, and those already in place are among the handsomest L.W. Seavey has ever painted. The cameras are all new and the gallery contains the largest portrait camera in the West. The best known chairs for sitters will soon be added to the operating room. Two dressing rooms are placed at one end of the operating room. Opening from the operating room are the accessory, washing, paint, and silvering room. Back of these is a large printing room admirably appointed. Across the passage and adjoining the main salon, or reception, is a large well appointed family room. Just back of the reception room is an elegantly appointed, superbly furnished artist’s studio. At present Mr. Rinehart devotes this room to his private house. It is one of the handsomest private offices ever opened in Denver.

The entire appointments of the buildings give to the various workmen and assistants employed every facility for turning out the best of work. Mr. Rinehart has retained most of the popular assistants he had at his former place of business on Larimer Street. They are among the most competent people to be found in their profession, and well capable of bringing out some of the finest pictures that have ever been seen in the West.”

He photographed many of Denver’s pioneers: Horace & Augusta Tabor, Baby Doe Tabor and her two baby daughters (Lily and Silver Dollar Tabor), Mountain Man Jim Baker and Kit Carson.Source: Photographs & Memories, by Sylvia Schmitt, 669 S. Pearl St., Denver, CO 80209; http://photos-memories.com