The first record for William Robert Chandler in Madison County, Alabama is a marriage record dated September 14, 1830. The bride was Eliza C. Moon, daughter of John Moon and Mary Lewis.

There were nine known children:
1. Almira Jane Chandler (abt 1831-aft 1870)
2. John M. Chandler (1834-bef 1880)
3. Jackson Chandler (1835-1850) -listed on 1850 U.S. Mortality Schedule
4. Hester Ann Chandler (1840-1910)
5. Nathaniel Green Chandler (1841-1918)
6. Harriet C. Chandler (1846-1874)
7. Eva Virginia Chandler (1847-1929)
8. Allen Clement Chandler (1851-1910)
9. Eliza America Chandler (1855-1939)

William Robert Chandler was described as being six feet tall, had a dark complexion, blue eyes, and grey hair on a claim filed against the United States on 22 Feb 1864 for property taken from him by the Union Army during the war. His claim was for 75 bushels of corn, 2600 pounds of fodder, 10 bushels of wheat, and 343 pounds of bacon, totaling $151.00. The claim was denied.

Not only was he a farmer who farmed in the Owens Cross Roads area, he raised a large family with eight children reaching adulthood. He also served as Justice of the Peace in Madison County for a time as indicated by a record from “Madison County Justice of the Peace Bonds 1840- 1853” page 339, located in the Madison County, Alabama Records Room of the Huntsville Public Library.

He was obviously active in the community, outspoken, and could read and write. One son, John M. Chandler, was a physician as were a grandson and a great-grandson. Other sons were farmers while daughters married into prominent families. One of his granddaughters, Hester Carpenter Vann, said, "We come from good stock."

On 15 Jan 1874, William Robert Chandler died and with him died family stories and history that has only begun being pieced together by ancestors. How we would have loved to have known you and heard all of your stories!

He was born in Halifax County, Virginia on 28 Jun 1798, and family history is that he traveled to Alabama with a slave trader named Jack "Burns" and two brothers. They liked the north Alabama area so much that they decided to settle.

Later research has shown that John Byrne, a first cousin of William R. Chandler, settled in the Moontown area in the late 1820s. And one county over from Madison County,there were two Chandler brothers - Luke Randolph Chandler and William Allen Chandler - who settled in Jackson County. John Byrne, Luke Randolph Chandler, and William Allen Chandler were all first cousins of William Robert Chandler.

Research and DNA testing have linked this Chandler line to the family of William Chandler Jr. and Judith Roberts of Halifax County, Virginia. The family line is definitely back to young John Chandler, born 1600 in London, England and died 1658 in Hampton City, Virginia. Young John Chandler arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1610.

Recent research has strongly indicated that the father of William Robert Chandler was Josiah Chandler. He moved from Halifax County, Virginia and settled in Caswell County, North Carolina with two sons, John and William Robert. On several documents, William Robert Chandler left his signature, and the similarity is strikingly similar to the known signature in Madison County, Alabama.

* With special thanks to Jan Chandler Traller, a Madison County, Alabama cousin, and Charles Boetsch, a Chandler researcher, for their time and efforts in helping to piece together the family history of William Robert Chandler. With their work in uncovering documents and collecting history, we know much more about this man and his family who left many descendants in Madison County, Alabama. The Chandler family home is part of the living history museum at Burritt on the Mountain on Monte Sano Mountain near Huntsville, Alabama.