Shaun’s Grandmother Norma inherited a lot of scraps from people because, like me, she didn’t throw away any random papers or photos that ended up with her. These scraps made their way to me after spending some time in the basement at my in-laws. Investigating the lives of strangers has always excited me (when I was a janitor is was very hard not to dig in the trash and make up stories about the the lives I found there) so when I got Uncle Chester’s box of bills and receipts and photos and letters, I knew very little about him.
A few things I learned from my father in-law: Chester was a lighthouse keeper, he had lived in Hawaii, he married there but no one knew anything about this wife, when he returned to Cleveland, OK he was divorced and lived with his father, W.C. Allen. Later I learned that he had four children with his first wife. The rest I pieced together from photos, letters, searching records for lighthouses in Hawaii, and old newspapers.
John Chester Allen was born January 5, 1894 in Denver, Missouri to William Chester and Minnie Mae Cobb Allen.
Chester’s brother, William Benjamin Allen (called Ben, he was Grandma Norma’s father) was born in 1897. The brothers shared a birthday, January 5th.
Minnie thought that W.C. Allen had died, but actually he was in prison for murdering a man over a gambling dispute.
Thinking she was a widow, Minnie Cobb Allen married Milton Aaron Gould in December of 1903.
Minnie Gould died just over a year after her marriage.
Her obituary says she was ill for about a year. This might be a euphemism for a difficult pregnancy, but she also might have had tuberculosis. Regardless, the family story is that she was heavily pregnant, hanging laundry on the line, when W.C. returned and she died of shock at the sight of him.
Chester was 11 and Ben 8 at the time of their mother’s death.
Chester attended High School in Douglas, Nebraska, graduating in 1913.
Dear Aunt Alice –
How are you nowdays
Am still going to school and like it just fine.
This picture isn’t so very good, but you can guess who it is. Ha!
We are having a lot of snow here
May many happy birthday may attend you all throughout your life.
ans soon Chester.
In March of 1915, Chester married Anna Gladys Irons in Douglas, Nebraska.
Their first son, Gerald Lee Allen, was born December 13, 1916.
In 1917 when he registered for the WWI draft, Chester was 23 and living in Nebraska with his wife, Anna Gladys Allen and son, Gerald. He listed his occupation as “farming for myself”.
In the 1920 census, John Chester, “Hannah G” (Gladys) and Gerald were living in Palmyra, Otoe, Nebraska.
On December 22, 1920, a daughter, Elva Allen was born, followed on June 7, 1922 by a second son, Harold E. Allen.
And then!
On July 8, 1925, Chester Allen disappeared!!!
Shortly after he disappeared, the bank sued Chester for a debt of $2,086.14, and the motivation for his disappearance was presumed to be avoiding this debt.
A month later, Gladys gave birth to a son named Delwin Dean Allen. His headstone says he lived from August 24 to October 4. I think the obituary may instead give the dates of his illness. Chester was not mentioned in the obituary, and the card of thanks was signed only by Gladys, her children, and her parents.
On August 27, 1927, Chester’s brother, Ben, aged 30, died of double pnuemonia as a result of having typhoid fever. He left a widow and 6 young children, including Grandmother Norma.
In 1930, Chester’s ex-wife Gladys was still living with her parents and their children, but she soon married a man named Guy Ware and in 1933 they had a son named Lyle.
I don’t know exactly where Chester was from 1925 to the late 1930s. During this time he joined the army and eventually ended up in Hawaii.
In February 1939, Chester married Mrs. Mary Anna Avilla. Her birth name was Maria Ana Cabral. She was 41, once divorced and had a 17 year old son and 16 year old daughter.
In December of that year, Mary Allen was granted a divorce for alleged nonsupport.
On September 11, 1940, Chester’s daughter, Elva, who had married Irwin Meyer, died, aged 19, leaving a young baby daughter named Carolyn.
Around this time, Chester’s ex-wife, Gladys, her husband Guy and sons Harold and Jerry moved to Washington State.
Chester left the navy yard to join the Coast Guard as a lighthouse keeper. He was keeper at Kilauea Point Lighthouse and said he saw debris from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 from his lighthouse on a neighboring island.
By 1945, Chester had moved back to Oklahoma, and his father, W.C. moved in with him. Chester was working at a service station.
Cleveland, Okla
Jan 14 1945
Dear Sister Nerva,
Your very nice Christmas card and letter of December 22nd received. Was glad to hear from you. Did not get them until after the New Year.
Chester (John Chester Allen) has a nice home here. He is working at a service station. He gets $25.00 a week. My granddaughter Edna (Landon) and two children (Donna and Bud) are here with us. Her husband Luther Landon was reported missing in action, but she was informed later he had showed up O.K. We were all delighted with the news as he is a splendid man and if he had been lost I don’t think Edna would have lasted long. They are devoted to each other. They have two fine children. A girl 7 (Donna) and a boy (Bud) 5 years old.
Erma Lee (Rodgers), my youngest granddaughter, has been staying with us. She is now in a hospital in Tulsa. She has a baby boy (Jack Rodgers Jr) born January 6th. She expects to come back January 16th. Her husband Jack Rodgers is a Radio man in the air force on the Western front. The last we heard from him he was in France. But they shift around quite a bit.
Norma Kelso, my oldest grand daughter, has two nice boys one 9 (Hugh) the other 5 (Allen) years old. She expects another baby (Jalia) in a few months.
My grandson Ben Allen was in the service. He went in as M.P. but was soon changed to training recruits to use their rifles. Ben is an expert with a rifle.
His brothers John and Chester Kenneth (Allen) are still in the service. John in the infantry and C.K. in the navy.
Ben had a bad foot. It looked like he might have fallen arches. They offered him a discharge but he asked for hospital service instead he did not like to leave his buddies. They sent him to the hospital but later decided that they could not make him fit for service so he was discharged. He is now working in a bakery in San Francisco. He makes a little better than $10.00 a day. He and his wife expect a baby most any time if it has not already arrived.
Hope you are getting on fine.
Love and best wishes.
Your brother W.C. Allen
Cleveland, Okla Box 365
In 1949, Norma and children (probably my father in-law Allen and Jalia), Chester and granddaughter (possibly Elva’s daughter Carolyn?) visited relatives in Nebraska. This is the only sign I have of Chester returning to Nebraska after his disappearance in 1925.
The detail about having five children, including a daughter named Carolyn in Hawaii has always confused me. I have found no photos, letters or information about her anywhere but his obituary. He also had a granddaughter named Carolyn. I will ask my father in-law about it.
There’s something about it naming all of his nieces and nephews, too. If there was a role in which Chester was beloved, it was Uncle.
I have so many pictures from Chester’s boxes that have no identifying information. He also inherited the scraps, postcards and photos of his Aunt Minerva, who deserves her own blog post. From Nerva to Chester to Norma to me and now I’m trying to piece it all together.
I will definitely update this post when I learn more. Somehow after all of these years, I’m still learning more about Uncle Chester!
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