Things My Mother Never Told Me

 A mostly unknown family history unfolded for me when I uncovered the hidden stories within my mother Mother Mary Chesney's collection of vintage postcards.

For years, the I had treasured a small wooden box containing 57 postcards from the early 1900s that Mother gave me. Initially valued primarily for the 4 Santa postcards among the 23 Christmas cards in the collection, the I had mostly examined just the front images.

Everything changed when I decided use genealogy methods to carefully examine the messages, postmarks, and addresses on the backs of these 100+ year old postcards. This closer examination revealed a wealth of family history details previously unknown to me, including:

• Mother's childhood residences in Kansas: Fulton, Natoma, Codell, and Paradise
• The story of cousin Opal Alyce Chesney, who was orphaned at age 2 and raised by her grandparents
• Evidence of Mother's brother Everett's WWI service in the 38th Balloon Company
• The family's experiences with the devastating "Codell Cyclones" - tornadoes that struck the same town on May 20th for three consecutive years (1916-1918)
• Handwritten notes from Mother's grandparents, providing rare personal connections to ancestors

Particularly significant was the discovery that Mother's father had rented farmland in several locations before finally purchasing property near Paradise, Kansas. I also gained insights into why postcards were such a popular form of communication during Mother's childhood (1915 was the peak year with at least 10 cards received).

The journey through these postcards connected me to multiple generations of Chesney family history and helped me understand Mother's early life in ways I’d never known before. By "mining" the messages, signatures, and addresses; and using genealogy research practices I uncovered a detailed family narrative that spans generations.

Now the cards have been digitized and safely preserved in archival sleeves, ready to continue telling this part of my Mother’s family's story for generations to come - a far more valuable treasure than I initially realized when I first received the little wooden box of postcards.

This summary was generated by AI

 This is the script for a virtual presentation I made in 2021 to the Muskogee County Genealogical Society. It has been edited for a few corrections and updating. If you view the script you will be able to see the images that illustrate the script.

Script of PowerPoint Presentation 

Family Tragedy

I was 2 1/2 years old when I attended the graveside service for my grandfather, Edward Kent Chesney, who died May 23, 1945.  I distinctly remember standing at the back of a big tent with my older brother and sister during the service, when someone entered the tent and said something to whoever was presiding.  Then the announcement was made to the whole family gathered that day:  Neal Chesney, had been killed in action. EDITED: 05.06.2021 See the bottom* of this post for more of what I've learned since my original post in 2014.

Edward Neal Chesney was the only son of  Everett Mize and Ruth Lenora Craig Chesney.

The following is a transcribed letter from my grandmother, Clara Louise Reynolds Morgan Wheeler, written to my father when he was in the Navy during WWII:

December 26, 1944
South San Antonio Texas

George:
Thought I may be able to say “so much” this morning that will be so lovely to tell, as it will be to read!  We were thinking of you so much all Christmas Day!  And we do trust by another Christmas, you dear boys can be HOME! ... one somewhere on the Pacific!  and one in India!
    ...On Sunday, Mrs. Chesney (Everett’s wife) was at church, and her son, Neal!  Neal is stationed at Camp Hood here in Texas, and had three days leave, and came here and his mother met him! (Mean at Isabelle’s).  He had to leave Christmas Day (about eleven o’clock I think) so they had to have their dinner early and they did, and when coming from the depot, Elmer, Isabelle, Bernice (Mize) “Ruth”, and Tommy, came by and spent a while with us, and we were so glad to have them!  Luckily, I had fixed some tangerines, (we raised here at our back door) with a box of marsh-mallows the day before, and they were delicious! and what a treat they were they thought, and we sat down in our kitchen (at the little table that had the lovely cloth and napkins on it that Ruth had given me for Mother’s Day) and we ate tangerines and fruit-cake, with pecans “served” with WATER!  Oh we had such a lovely time!  And I had some pecans that were too large for the nut-cracker, and I gave them to “Ruth”.
    If it only made her heart a little light after telling her boy good-bye, I’m only too glad.

Neal was killed in action at Luzon, April 30, 1945, a few months after this letter was written (and this letter may recount what was the last time his mother saw him before he reported for duty).  The telegram from the Secretary of War, informing his parents of Neal’s death arrived, May 25th, 1945, precisely during his grandfather's interment.  The memory of this unusual circumstance stayed with every member of the Chesney family present at that funeral -- including me, even though I was only 2 ½ at the time.  None of us has ever mentioned Grandpa Chesney’s funeral without also mentioning, almost in the same breath, the tragic news that was delivered that day.  Neal was the only member of our family who lost his life due to WWII.

Please note that Neal's mother is the "Ruth" mentioned in Clara's letter, not my mother.

 Neal's headstone is actually the back of his parent's marker.  I do not know if his body was recovered. 

 

EDITED 06.05.2021: I have learned since posting this information that what I thought was a cenotaph on the back of his parents headstone, is in fact his epitaph. Neal's body was repatriated when the cemetery where he was buried in the Philippines (Santa Barbara American Cemetery, Luzon, P.I.) was decommissioned and the bodies were sent to the Manila American Cemetery to be either repatriated or re-interred.

I've also discovered his WWII hospital Admission Card (NAI: 570973) held in Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775 - 1994. Record Group 12. The National Archives at College Park, MD. USA. This record describes his mortal wound was inflicted by a rifle bullet in the neck, most likely inflicted by a sniper hiding in the many caves on Hill 508 during the Luzon Campaign on the Villa Verde Trail.

 The inscription reads:
EDWARD NEAL
BORN, NATOMA, KANS. NOV. 3, 1924
KILLED IN ACTION, LUZON, P.I.
APRIL 30, 1945
32ND DIV. U.S. ARMY
SON OF EVERETT & RUTH CHESNEY

This is the "Ruptured Duck" emblem awarded to WWII military personnel.  Notice that it is anchored in the footing of the headstone above.