Typed by: Phyllis Seeley
HERBERT COLLINS CHAMBERLAIN
HERBERT COLLINS CHAMBERLAIN & THELMA (PENDERGRAFT) CHAMBERLAIN
OF HERBERT C. & THELMA CHAMBERLAIN
Surnames: HARLAN, LESTER, ALDRIDGE, HENRY, PENDERGRAFT, STAFFORD,
CHAPMAN, GARRETT, GIBBS, HENSON, SATTERFIELD, VANDERGRIFF
Herbert Collins
CHAMBERLAIN (called “HUB”), b November 6, 1898 in Blue Ridge, Falls County, Texas
- was a son of Angelo Ghiberta and Sarah (HARLAN) CHAMBERLAIN and a grandson of
two of Falls County Families who settled early in the Blue Ridge and Alto
Springs area of east Falls county: Silas and Ann Elizabeth (LESTER) HARLAN, and
Alexander Hunter and Temperance Killingsworth (ALDRIDGE) CHAMBERLAIN. His
maternal grandfather, Silas HARLAN, was the eldest surviving son of Dr. Isaiah
and Nancy (HENRY) HARLAN, who arrived in Texas while it was the State of Coahuila,
Mexico in the Fall of 1834, and received a grant of a league of land on February
20, 1835 at Viesca - seat of government of Sterling Clack Robertson’s Colony.
Hub’s in Blue Ridge is located on part of the Isaiah HARLAN league, and is
the built by his parents.
On April 17,
1937 in Waco, McLennan County, Texas, Hub married Thelma PENDERGRAFT. b March 25,
1914 - a daughter of Lewis Calvin and Pearl Mabelle (STAFFORD) PENDERGRAFT of
Rosebud, Falls County, Texas. Thelma’s mother was reared by her father amd
stepmother Andrew L. STAFFORD and Mahala (CHAPMAN) STAFFORD who were married
after the death of his first wife; and they are buried in Powers Chapel
Cemetery in Falls County, Texas.
During the
early part of his life, Hub attended the Grange and Blue Ridge Schools, and
then graduated from Reagan High School - also teaching in Reagan for one year
after graduation. He was one of the foremost members of the Reagan High School
Debating Team, a poet, and a very fine musician. He studied German during his
school days, and arranged music for the violin. He counted the piano, organ, violin,
and clarinet among the instruments played. Hub organized his own band, which
played weekly over the radio in Waco. During World War I, Hub enlisted in the
U.S. Army, but was not sent overseas.
Thelma was
manager of the School Lunch Program in Marlin Independent School District after
the Falls County W.P.A. School Lunch Program was organized by Hub’s cousin,
Marian Mitchell Garrett(later (GIBBS). Thelma also drove a school bus for a
number of years.
Hub and Thelm
have one son:
Douglas Henry
CHAMBERLAIN, b September 15, 1939 in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas, who married
first to Jimmie Lynn HENSON and had two children: Christopher Allen CHAMBERLAIN,
b April 17, 1965 in Hearne, Texas; and Jennifer Ann CHAMBERLAIN, b October 3,
1969 in Hearne, Texas. He married second to Judy Paulett SATTERFIELD, b March
15, 1947 in Sherman, Texas - daughter of Paul Alfred and Bessie Faye
(VANDERGRIFF) SATTERFIELD, and they have two children: Collin Paul CHAMBERLAIN,
b October 16, 1979 in Sherman, Texas; and Crystal Dawn CHAMBERLAIN, b December
1, 1983 in Sherman, Texas. Douglas works for the Texas State Department of
Human Resources, and family resides in Sherman,
Both of Hub’s
grandfathers were signers of the original Charter of Blue Ridge Baptist Church
when it was organized in 1859; and his paternal grandfather, Alexander Hunter
CHAMBERLAIN, having been a deacon in the Mars Hill Baptist Church in Mississippi,
was named the first Deacon of the New Church at Blue Ridge. It was appropriate
that Herbert Collins CHAMBERLAIN received the Certificate, signed by the
Governor of Texas, which named Blue Ridge a Texas Sesquicentennial Community
for the celebration of the 150th birthday of Texas. Hub and Thelma host the
annual CHAMBERLAIN Family Reunion, when CHAMBERLAIN’S gather from across the
nation.
Copyright Permission
granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County
Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County
Historical Commission, page 72 Column 2 and page 73 Column 1 and 2 and page 74
Column 1
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.
