Ernest Alfred Chrysler (1861 - 1931)

Born 5 Jan 1861 in Pittsburg, Kansas Territory, USA [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah Jane (Strachan) Chrysler — married 5 Sep 1888 in Brantford, Ontario

Descendants

Died 26 Dec 1931 at age 70 in Whitewood Grove, Hilliard Twp, Temiskaming, Ont

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jan Briggs-McGowan [send private message]

Biography

Son of Mary Ann Shackleton. Death record says Pittsburg Pennsylvania, (father William Chrysler). 1901 census identifies USA, but 1861 and 1871 Chatham censuses identifies Ontario birthplace. No birth registration has been found. Most likely the son of John Matthew Chrysler, and may also have been born in or near Wyandotte, Kansas Territory (possibly Pittsburgh Kansas).

Research note

We can’t prove which Chrysler was the father of Ernest Alfred Chrysler, because there is no birth record for E.A. Chrysler, however DNA confirms that link. There is the very remote possibility that Mary Ann was pregnant by one of his brothers or another very close relative, and John Matthew and Isabella took her in, once she found out she was pregnant. I know John Matthew lived in Chatham in Jan 1858 (when he witnessed the marriage of his sister Theresa to Robert Blythe,) and that his daughter (also named Isabella) was born Nov 1859 in Wyandotte. If Mary Ann left with them, John Matthew almost certainly was the father of E.A. But I have found no document to indicate when she originally left Chatham. In order for that “other” scenario to be true, Mary Ann would have to be far enough along to know for sure she was pregnant, at least 4 months, and then somehow contact was made with John to arrange that they would take her and then she travelled to Kansas for July of 1860 when the census was taken. At that time Kansas was wild land, a territory not even a State yet, so communication and travel would be very difficult. If she was 4 or more months pregnant by the time she got there, then EA would have been born at the latest by November 1860, but he wasn’t born until January 1861. The 1861 Chatham Census doesn’t help much, naming him John Shackleton, born Ontario, and less than one year old. Family story also doesn’t help much, that he was born Pittsburg (we all assumed Pittsburg PA) and she returned with him as a 3-yr-old when the father died after a fall from a horse. There is a Pittsburgh Kansas, so that part of the story could have at least some grain of truth. I had a professional genealogist from Pittsburg PA search the Church and government records in and around that area for any trace of Chrysler or Shackleton, marriage or birth or death in the 3 years on either side of EA’s birth. And she found nothing, but recommended concentrating in Kansas. I did quite a bit of searching with various governments and Archives down there and no one has found anything which helped.

Sources

• Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of deaths1931: MS935; Reel: 427, certificate 033081