Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Chamberlin, Charles Gray 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:36 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

CHARLES GRAY CHAMBERLIN, the leading undertaker of Lockport, is a desendant of 
a colonial family of New England that originated in Great Britain.  His 
paternal grandfather, Luther C. Chamberlin, a native of Monroe County, N. Y., 
born in 1789, held a captain's commission during the war of 1812 and at its 
close married Miss Thankful Talmadge, of Litchfield, Conn.  Some years he 
spent as a farmer in Monroe County, N. Y., after which for fifteen years he 
was proprietor of the Henrietta house and also for a long time served as 
postmaster of Henrietta. In the fall of 1832 he came west to seek a suitable 
location and found a desirable site in what is now Will County.  Returning 
home for his family, in January, 1833, he again traversed the long distance to 
the west. He settled one and a-half miles east of Lockport on a government 
claim.  The land was a barren prairie.  Pottawatomie Indians still roamed over 
the trackless plains, unmolested by white men. He spent four years in 
improving his claim, but in 1837 removed to Peoria, Ill., and seven years 
later went to Milton, Wayne County, Ind., where he engaged in the grain and 
warehouse business.  During the existence of the Whig party he adhered to its 
tenets, and after its disintegration became a Republican.  He died in Milton 
in 1878, having survived his wife for twenty-six years.  They had three 
children, Lewis L., Sempronius S., and Ellen M., Mrs. Norton Davis.

Sempronius Samuel Chamberlin was born in Henrietta, N. Y., August 19, 1817.  
He came with his parents to Illinois, riding an Indian pony the entire 
distance.  He graduated from Jubilee College in Peoria.  When his parents 
moved to Indiana in 1844 he returned to Will County and began taking contracts 
for the building of warehouses and other structures.  One of his contracts was 
for the erection of the large warehouse of Norton & Co., of Lockport.  In 1848 
he built a store and opened an undertaking establishment.  During the cholera 
epidemic of 1854 he and his workmen were kept busy every hour of the twenty-
four, as the demands for their services were imperative and needed prompt 
attention.  The coffins were made, by hand, of walnut or whitewood, with 
walnut tops, and trimmed inside with book-muslin headings. 

Mr. Chamberlin went personally to the homes of the dead to superintend the 
arrangements for the burial, and sometimes made as many as eight such calls in 
one day. In 1873 he opened an undertaking establishment in Joliet.  He 
continued in business as a funeral director until his death, which occurred 
December 4, 1897.  His success financially was due to strict attention to 
details and fidelity to his business.  He was a man of good habits and 
exemplary life and, although not a church member, was in sympathy with and a 
contributor to religious work.  He refused official positions many times and, 
aside from voting the Republican ticket, took no part in local affairs.

January  19, 1842, Mr. Chamberlin married Miss Elizabeth S. Gray, who was born 
in New York and accompanied her parents to this county in girlhood.  Her death 
occurred in Lockport April 9, 1889, when she was seventy-five years of age.  
In religion she was a member of the Congregational Church.  She left two sons, 
George N. and Charles G., both of whom are engaged in the undertaking 
business, the former having succeeded his father in the Joliet business.  The 
younger son, our subject, was born in Lockport, January 30, 1859.  When only a 
small boy he was able to help his father in many ways, and frequently held the 
light for him nights when he was working at the bench.  From the age of 
eighteen he was in partnership with his father until the latter's death, when 
he bought the Lockport branch of the business.

The marriage of our subject united him with Miss Mary Emma Taylor, who was 
born at West Creek, Ind., and from eleven years of age made her home with her 
grandparents in Lockport.  They have three daughters, Eva L., Mary Emma and 
Josephine E.  The family are connected with the Congregational Church of 
Lockport and Mr. Chamberlin is a contributor to the same.  He has been an 
active Republican and in 1899 was elected collector of the township.  
Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Order of 
Red Men, the United Order of Foresters, North American Union, Eastern Star 
Lodge and Lockport Lodge No. 538, A. F. & A. M., in which latter he has held 
various offices.


Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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