While we were away, Chloe A-Little-Bit asked me about our family history. It was for a school project but it is the first interest any of the grandkiddos have shown in family history and so I aim to please! We had a great talk on the phone and I promised her some photos when I got home.
"Do you have a favorite item that has been passed down through the family?"
YES!!! This cabinet has been called "The Antique" since it came into our house when Mom dissolved my Grandmother's house.
The cabinet was originally a walnut bedstead but Chloe's great great great great grandfather rebuilt it. Murray Cheney was born in Addison, Vermont. He met his future wife, Caroline Pickett, while both families were living in Addison. When Caroline's father, Gilead Pickett, died her family moved to New York.
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| Murray Cheney |
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| Caroline Pickett Cheney |
Murray went exploring "out west" and when he arrived in Illinois he knew he wanted to settle there. He returned to New York and married Caroline. They traveled back to Illinois, probably with the bedstead, and had their second son, Chloe's great great great grandfather Gilead Pickett Cheney in 1832. He was the first white baby born in Jerseyville, Jersey County, Illinois. Later the family became avid abolitionists and the family home was an underground railroad where the runaway slaves were hidden in the cellar. The town of Jerseyville has five streets called "The Abolitionist Streets" these streets are named for the leading abolitionists in the town - one of them is Cheney Street.
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| Gilead Pickett Cheney |
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| Emily Caroline Picket Cheney |
Gilead Pickett Cheney married Emily Caroline Plowman. They owned and managed a store as well as a farm. They had several children including Chloe's great great grandfather Jonathan Plowman Cheney. The Gilead Cheney family moved to Saint Louis, Missouri for a time. They also operated a store there. Later the family moved to Estes Park, Colorado, and owned and operated a stone quarry.
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| Johnathan Plowman Cheney |
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| Sadie Jamison Cheney |
Johnathan Plowman Cheney worked at the family stone quarry and married Sadie Jamison in Estes Park, Colorado. They had three children one of them was Chloe's great grandmother, Catherine Louise Cheney. Jonathan later worked for a railroad in Wyoming.
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| Catherine Louise and Gerald (Jerry) |
Catherine Cheney married Gerald in Boulder, Colorado. They moved several times. San Diego California while Gerald was in the navy and later to Bremerton, Washington. They later moved to Manchester andSeattle, Washington; Butte, Missoula, Billings, Montana. Gerald worked for the Northern Pacific and later for the Burlington Railroad. Catherine and Gerald had four children including
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| Robert and Judy |
Chloe's Grandmother Judith. Judith married Robert and the had three daughters including
Chloe's mother Brianna. Brianna married Gabriel and the had two children including
CHLOE!!
The cabinet was originally a walnut bedstead but Chloe's great great great great grandfather rebuilt it. Murray Cheney was born in Addison, Vermont. He met his future wife, Caroline Pickett, while both families were living in Addison. When Caroline's father, Gilead Pickett, died her family moved to New York.
