George Sanford Chamberlin, Sr
                       Civil War Veteran                      
   CSA
               Company C, 2nd Florida Cavalry
    1861-1865
          (shown here with his great-granddaughter Joan Clyatt)

                             
George Sanford Chamberlin was born in
Monteocha, Alachua County, Florida on 
January 31, 1842 to Captain Willis Chamberlin (Seminole Indian War)
and Mary Ann Colding,  
who were married on March 31, 1839 in Alachua County Florida.
George was the second of three sons born to
Willis and Mary Ann.
A son, John, was born  about 1840 and a third son,
Garrett Vincent was born about 1844.

George attended school at the East Florida Seminary.
The Florida Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church established the
East Florida Seminary in Micanopy Florida in 1852.
The original building was located near the edge of the
Micanopy Cemetary, on 40 acres donated
by Joel B. Smith of Micanopy.

They planned to build two brick buildings,
one for boys and one for girls,
but wound up with just one wooden building.
It's cornerstone is located in the archives of
Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL.
Although it has the same name as a school
which was started in 1853 in Gainesville,
and which became a part of the University of Florida,
the two are unrelated. This school closed down in 1860
shortly after Rev. John C. Ley, it's principal, teacher, financial agent,
and president of the board of trustees, left to become a chaplain
for the 2nd Florida Regiment in 1860.

The school building was bought by George Riggs,
who used the first floor for a workshop and the second story
became a public school. The building was later purchased by
W.W. Geiger, who had it torn down in 1908.
On a portion of this property bordering on Seminary Avenue
and facing west, was a small Episcopal Church
donated by D.R. Wright. It was moved here in 1899 from Wade, Florida.
It was torn down during the early 1920's.
(This information is from the Micanopy Historical Trail website).

George Chamberlin enlisted in the war between the states
in September 1861 at Fernandina, Florida
in the Owens' Marion Dragoons under Captain James B. Owens,
later transferring to the Second Florida Cavalry (Confederate),
serving in C Troop under Captain Chambers. He was present
on the last roll and was paroled at Baldwin May 17, 1865.
                   
Regimental Battles fought by Company C, Second Florida Cavalry include:
Battle at Gainesville Florida, Battle on August 4, 1863;
Battle at Olustee, Florida on February 14, 1864;
Battle at Olustee Florida on February 22, 1864;
Battle at Cedar Creek, Jacksonville Florida on  March 1, 1864;
   Battle at Olustee Florida on March 15, 1864;
Battle at Tampa Florida on March 22, 1864;
Battle at Gainesville Florida on July 15, 1864;
Battle at Palatka Florida on August 2, 1864;
Battle at Petersburg,Virginia on September 15, 1864;
Battle on October 1, 1864;
Battle on October 8, 1864;
Battle on October 15, 1864;
Battle at Olustee Florida on November 15, 1864;
Battle on January 5, 1865;
Battle at Lake City Florida on January 6, 1865;
Battle at Natural Bridge Florida on March 4, 1865;
Battle at Natural Bridge Florida on March 6, 1865;
Battle at Marshall Swamp on March 12, 1865.

George Chamberlin's brothers John and Garret were both killed
or died during the civil war.
John enlisted in Company C, 10th Florida Infantry
on August 15, 1861 at Lower Spring.
He died at Rico's Bluff from pneumonia on April 10, 1862.

Younger brother Garrett enlisted in the
First Florida Infantry Company H, March 24, 1861
                    at Gainseville, FL with  the rank of Private.
He appears as a 2nd Corporal inearly 1862
and was promoted to 4th Sgt August 11, 1862
He died at the Battle at Stones River in Murfreesboro, TN
on  January 2, 1863.

                     Regimental History for the First Florida Infantry includes:
Battle at Santa Rosa Island, Florida on October 8, 1861;
Battle at Santa Rosa Island, Florida on October 9, 1861;
                  Battle at Fort Pickens, Georgia on November 22, 1861;
Battle at  Shiloh, Tennessee on April 6, 1862;
                      Battle at Murfeesboro, Tennessee (Stones River) on January 3, 1863.
                        
After the war George met 
Lucretia Lancaster of South Carolina,
and on on March 15, 1875
they were married in Alachua County Florida.
 



George and Lucretia had eight children
they were:





The Old Home in Micanopy, Florida


Maude and Lucretia, the two youngest daughters
came down with measles
at the same time that Martha did,
 they died within hours of each other on August 21, 1898.
George was a farmer and owned a large farm bordering on
 Lake Wauberg in Alachua County Florida,
and the Atlantic Coast Railroad crossed at the corner of his property.

Above is a photo of the Old Home which burned down in 1889.
A few years later, George S. Chamberlin Sr. rebuilt his home on this site.

Three generations were raised in this house.
After growing up  in this house,
George Sanford Chamberlin, Jr. (hereafter referred to as 'Sanford'
lived in it and raised his children there. His sister, Martha had a life estate in the home,
and Sanford was to inherit it from her.
Martha outlived Sanford however, and sold it to a family interested in antiques.

The house had two stories. The second floor had four bedrooms and hallways connecting them.
There were also two upstairs porches. The first floor had two porches, a living room, one bedroom,
a huge dining room, kitchen and an area called the courtyard. The courtyard was an
open area with screens across one side.
 It separated the kitchen and dining room from the rest of the house.
A bathroom  was built on the back porch sometime around 1942.


House built by George after the original home burned down in 1889.


               

The map on the right is of the town of Tacoma,
of which George Chamberlin was one of the Founding Fathers,
the map on the left is a closeup that better shows
the location of George's property.

(This map is in the Micanopy Historical Museum)


                                                               
                                                                       
An unpublished reminiscence of the artist,
James Calvert Smith (1879-1962) titled
"Micanopy"
recalls what life was like in Micanopy Florida in the late 19th Century during the years that George
was raising his family. George, along with the father of the author of the aforementioned reminiscence
were instrumental in forming the community of Tacoma, Florida. There properties were adjacent to
each other and both became citrus growers. George Chamberlin is mentioned in Smith's Acknowledgements and Informants. It states - Mr. Chamberlin, of Connecticut (who came to) Florida before the civil war and fought in the Confederacy. *(Note-This statement is partly inaccurate in that George was born in Florida, his father is believed to have come down from Massachusetts or Connecticut to fight in the Second Seminole Indian War.)
 His reminiscence can be found online at  
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/alachua/micanopy.html.
The online text comprises only about 50% of the full text.
The original version, along with a 40 page typescript copy, is on file at the
 P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida,
where it is available for those who want to read it in full.

For those interested in learning more about the time period during the Civil War in Northern
Florida, there was also a book compiled from letters and diaries of an officer in the same regiment as
George Chamberlin, they were both in the Second Florida Cavalry, but different companies.
 The name of the book is  'Rose Cottage Chronicles',
Civil War letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida.
The book is out of print now, but can be found through the library system and through some
booksellers at a high price, expect to pay about $60-100 for a copy.
Winston Stephens and his wife lived in Welaka, Putnam County Florida.
Putnam County now borders Alachua County,
which is where Micanopy is located. In fact, Micanopy is only a few miles from Welaka.

Alachua County is one of the parent counties of Putnam County.
The point to all this is that much of what is described in the book
'Rose Cottage Chronicles'
is the way life would have been in Micanopy for the Chamberlin family as well.
 The letters from Winston Stephens to his bride Octavia Bryant
describe what life was like for him while away at war.
Winston Stephens and George Chamberlin most likely
 knew each other, or at least knew of each other.


                                                            
                                                 
The following is from a letter of memories written by
George's daughter Martha Chamberlin


I  used to hear my mother and father tell of the things they had to do to get along when they were young.
 This was during the civil war and the years that followed. I liked best to hear the stories on winter evenings.
 I remember my father always sat on the left of the fireplace and my mother on the right. I sat between them.
 
 My father told many interesting war stories, as he had been a soldier
all through the war between the states. He lived again the hardships
of those days when our boys were fighting  for their beloved southland.

 My mother, for her part, told how the women made cotton thread on their spinning
                      wheels and later wove it  into homespun. They wore hoopskirts then, so it took many yard
           of cloth to make a dress. The women went to a great deal of trouble to make their fabrics
              attractive. All through the neighboring fields and woods they searched for barks and roots
,           from which they would brew their dyes. They made beautiful hats and bonnets out of
 palmetto leaves, for crowns and linings they used homespun cloth. Once a year they sheared
         their sheep and were able to make a limited amount of woolen thread. A good bit of this
 thread was used for knitting socks and  other garments for the soldiers.

Before long a good many people began to grow cotton.
I was told that a great deal of cotton, which sold for a
dollar a pound, was hidden in a sinkhole near Gainesville.

My father bought one hundred acres of uncleared land near Micanopy.
He had some colored men help him clear it,
 he paid them with sweet potatoes and syrup.
Mother and dad said that people really worked hard in those days,
 they rose early and it was usually late at night when they retired.

Later on Mr. W.A.Smith (the father of James Calvert Smith,
artist and author of the unpublished reminiscence
titled "Micanopy"),
came down from New York and bought land near my father's place.
After he had built a nice little home, he wrote for his wife and children,
Lola and Will, to come. Mr. Will bought land near my father's house
too. Most of the land had been cleared and used to grow cotton on.
My father and Mr. Will used to enjoy watching
each other's crops, and they used to discuss at length
the different ways of cultivating them.

Mr. Will owned a white horse that he called 'Bab', a slow and
 faithful creature that lived to a ripe old age.
 My father owned two oxen which were rather unruly at times.
He called them 'White' and 'Toby'.

In those days people used crates to ship their vegetables in.
These crates were made with three heavy boards,
one at each end, one in the middle, and slats nailed across them.
We didn't have a railroad running through
this part of the country at that time, so the people had to
haul their vegetables to Arredonda, which was a
 long pull over sandy roads. Later a steam boat was put in
Paine's Prairie to transport the vegetables across
the water. This made it more convenient for the people
because the haul on the other side was short.

Finally the railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line, was extended through Micanopy.
By that time people had more money
and now they had horses and mules to haul their vegetables.

More and more people came to this neighborhood.
Of course they wanted a school. Mr. W.A. Smith was too old to attend
school, but he was interested in those around him.
A meeting was called and Mr. Smith was chairman. His son, Will, said
 that he would give an acre of land to put a building on.
My father gave fifty dollars toward getting lumber. Others gave
for the same purpose. They soon had their schoolhouse.

Then Mr. Smith called a meeting to appoint trustees.
They decided three would be enough. Dr. James Harrison, Mr. Joe Christman,
 and George S. Chamberlin, my father, were appointed.
This building was used as a church too. Our Sunday School, Christmas trees,
Christian Endeavour and Literary Society were held there.
In fact, all our entertainments were held there.

While all these changes were taking place,
the people in our neighborhood were becoming more and more interested in orange groves.
My father planted seeds in strong new land, and had a bearing grove in six years.

WIth all their hardships during the war and in the following years,
these early settlers seemed to get as much
fun out of life as people do now.

Mother and Daddy said there was a Methodist Church at a place called Oakridge,
and people would walk five  and six
miles to attend church. On these occasions they would put on their
best homespun, but they carried  their shoes and
stockings in their hands, and would sit on a log near the church to put them on.

The people would gather together often for quiiltings,
cornhuskings, log rollings, candy pullings and dances.
Some of the men would go to the dances and get drunk.
They would pull their pistols from their boots and cause a riot.

I think people had more hospitality in those days than we have now.
They were always glad to entertain strangers
who were passing through their country.
It was a treat to these travelers to eat wild turkey, geese and deer, with
sweet potato pone was a favorite dessert.
Pound cake was baked on special occasions. In those days women made
cheese. I mean good cream cheese. They also made something called curds,
I imagine that is our present day cottage cheese.

Those days when my Mother and Daddy were young,
were exciting days filled with hardship and unrest. History  
was being made, but those sturdy settlers carried on with a
courage that was natural to them. They enjoyed themselves
 to the changes ushered in by the Civil War.
It was not long before they saw the wild country of their younger days,
shape iteslf into busy communities and numerous farms.

Now, as the years pass, the few remaining people who
lived during the Civil War days, have little except memories
 to remind them of the days of their youth and memories tend
to magnify the pleasant things and slip over the unpleasant
ones. For this reason, the people now living who saw the
Civil War times, might smile as their thoughts turn back
through the years, as if to say:  "Those were the days."


These memoirs were found in the Micanopy Historical Society.

Martha, known as Marty to her family, was blind, but she had learned
to type and corresponded with many people. Marty was the daughter of
George Sanford Chamberlin, Sr. and Lucretia Lancaster Chamberlin, and had been blind since she was a
very small child. She was almost blind at birth and went totally blind as a teenager when she had measles.

Two sisters, Maude and Lucretia, died of measles at this same time. She had one other sister,
Mayme who married and lived to be a great grandmother. Martha never married or had children. The house
in Micanopy was left to her by her father.
She lived there until she was 97 years old.

She was born on April 18, 1878 and died June 13, 1975. She is buried in the Micanopy Cemetary near her parents.

(This letter by Martha Chamberlin is also in the back of the book  'My Life' by William George Chamberlin,
which is an unpublished autobiography available only to family members)


 

                         
                                                                      This photo of Martha (Martie) Chamberlin
                                                                                                on the left and her blind teacher.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
                                                             

Soldier's Pension Claim
Under the ACT of 1909
State of Florida
County of Alachua

On this the 28th day of August, A.D. One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nine
personally appeared before me,  a  Justice of the Peace in and for the county and State aforesaid,
George S. Chamberlin who, being duly sworn according to law,
declares that he is 67 years of age, having been born on the 31st day of January 1842, in the county of Alachua,
in the state of Florida. That he is a bona fide citizen of the county of Alachua, State of Florida.
That he has resided in the State of Florida continuously since the day of (all his life).

That he is the identical person who enlisted at Fernandina,
under the name of George S. Chamberlin
on the 13th day of September, 1861, in Marion Dragoons, Co. C, 2nd Florida Cavalry
 in the service of the Confederate States who was
honorably discharged at Baldwin, in the state of Florida at the close of the war.

That I served faithfully until HONORABLY DISCHARGED from the service of the
Confederate States in the year 1865, and did not desert the service of the Confederate States
nor take the oath of allegience to the United States until after the surrender of the Confederate Armies.

That I was at Baldwin, Florida at the close of the war.
That I do not own property, including real estate, personal property, stocks, bonds, mortgages or other
collateral secuirties of any kind in this or any other state, nor does my wife own with me jointly
or seperately property to exceed in value the sum of five thousand dollars.
That the following is a true and correct statement of all the property owned by me or by my wife,
jointly and seperately, in this or any state:
Real Estate, located at Tacoma, Florida   185 acres valued at $800
Cattle, horses and other livestock.....1 (horse?) value $50, 40 cattle value $200
Personal property  value $250
Total $1000

That I have heretofore been granted a pension from the state of Florida under pension
certificate number 5023, at the rate of $100 per annum.
That my post office address is Micanopy, County of Alachua, State of Florida.
Signed by George S. Chamberlin
Attested by: O.G. Ferguson and S.T.Crawford
Justice of the Peace, J.W. Smith



This is a photograph of Civil War veterans taken in front of a store in Micanopy,
this photograph was donated to the Micnopy Historical Society and is in their museum in
Micanopy by Lorraine Chamberlin Howell.
(George Chamberlin is 6th from the right in the back row, standing in front of the column.)


Application for Pension Increase
On September 10, 1915,
George Chamberlin applied for an increase in pension
from his civil war military service.
He states that he is 74 years of age.
A physician's affidavit states that  George by
reason of the natural infirmities incident to advanced age,
74, physically unable to earn a liveliehood by manual labor.


                               

George S. Chamberlin Obituary
July 29, 1936

Last Veteran of Confederate Army In County is Buried at Micanopy

The flag of the Confederate States of America was flown for perhaps the
last time in this county last week when it was unfurled above
the open grave of George S. Chamberlin, whose death and burial
at Micanopy Thursday brought to a conclusion the age-long straggling march
of the 'thin gray line' of the host of Lee and Jackson in this county.
A veteran of four full years of service in the Confederate Army,
Mr. Chamberlin, at the age of 94 had survived all the rigorous hardships
of active warfare and lived to see each of his scores of comrades
in the county go down before him at the hands of time, until he alone stood
out as the sole of the glory of the Lost Cause for which he and his fellows fought and bled.
Born at Monteocha, in this county, on January 31, 1842,
Mr. Chamberlin had been a lifelong resident of the county-and during
all of his years never set foot outside of Florida. His father came here
from Mass. as a United States soldier sent to subdue the Indians;
but during the California gold rush he departed for the west and was never
heard of again, leaving the young Chamberlin an orphan to be reared by relatives.
Mr. Chamberlin was educated at the old East Florida Seminary,
then located in Micanopy.
At the opening of the Civil War he enlisted with the Marion Dragoons under
Capt. James B. Owens, later transferring to the Second Florida Cavalry, serving in C Troop under Capt. Chambers. He saw action but twice during the war, in a battle
fought at Gainesville and in a single skirmish with Union Troops near here.
Following the civil war Mr. Chamberlin joined with a group of friends in forming the community known as Tacoma, which was developed into one of the finest citrus growing areas of it's day.
Mr. Chamberlin fractured a hip in an accident in 1929, and since that time had been confined to bed at his home at  Tacoma.
Surviving him are three sons, R.M., J.W., G.S. Chamberlin;
two daughters, Mrs. D.E. Jones and Miss Martha Chamberlin, all of Micanopy;
12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
  Mr. Chamberlin for many years was an active member of Stonewall Jackson Chapter Confederate Veterans, which formerly was one of the largest and most active  chapters in the state. The passing of years so thinned its ranks however, that three years ago the post  was declared dissolved. Mr. Chamberlin remaining its only member.
Records of the chapter, upon its dissolution, were placed in the county's archives
at the Court House.
Daughters of the Confederacy joined friends of the old veteran at his
graveside and it was they who followed the time-honored custom of unfurling
over the grave the flag of the confederacy, the flag which may never again be
unfurled in the county.

Research...research...research...

                                                         
A visit to the Micanopy Historic Society Museum opened a floodgate of valuable
 information that helped us learn more about George Chamberlin.
His grandaughter Lorraine Chamberlin Howell (daughter of George Sanford Chamberlin, Jr.) donated many items to the Historical Society. Among these items was a
photograph of Civil War veterans posed in front a general store in Micanopy.
George Chamberlin is in this photograph. (See above)

A trip to Micanopy Cemetary led us to find many Chamberlin ancestors,
among the graves was the white marble marker for Civil War Veteran
George S. Chamberlin.  There was an iron Confederate Cross in front
of the marble marker. We photographed these markers in April of 1999, and a
                  cousin who recently attended a funeral at Micanopy Cemetary said she did not
see the CSA marker, which means the gravesite was vandalized
and the marker stolen. This as you may imagine is very distressing to family
                   members. Not only will future generations be unable to experience the sight of
the marker, but also civil war historians will lose out on the oppportunity to
experience this important artifact.
                                                   
                                                       






1850 Alachua County Florida census (http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgilchr/1850acc/3.HTM)
1860 Alachua County Florida census (http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgilchr/1860acc/81.HTM) and
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgilchr/1860acc/82.HTM)
Alachua County Early Settlers (http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eflalachu/earlysettlers.html)
The American Civil War homepage
Marriage License of George Chamberlin and Lucretia Lancaster -http://www.clerk-alachua-fl.org/Archive/AncientJ/FrontPage.cfm?BID=239&DID=627&CDLtr=&SN=&GN=
Marriage License of Willis Chamberlin and Mary Ann Colding (George's parents) - http://www.clerk-alachua-fl.org/Archive/AncientJ/FrontPage.cfm?BID=236&DID=8&CDLtr=&SN=&GN=
Confederate Army Veterans - Boys of '61- Gainesville, Florida
Micanopy Cemetary- Micanopy Florida
George Chamberlin obituary
Confederate Application File for George Chamberlin
Battle at Gainesville
Micanopy  Historic Society Museum
Micanopy Historical Trail
World Chamberlain Genealogical Society
Chamberlin Family Genealogy Forum



Website design copyright Shelley Chamberlin 2005
shelleychamberlin2001@yahoo.com