John William Cheever (1912 - 1982)

Born 27 May 1912 in Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Watson (Winternitz) Cheever — married 22 Mar 1941 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Died 18 Jun 1982 at age 70 in Ossining, Westchester County, New York, United States

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Biography

John Cheever is Notable.

John Cheever was born on May 27, 1912 in Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.^[1] He was the son of Frederick Cheever and Mary Liley.

John William Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Westchester suburbs, old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born

John William Cheever was the second child of Frederick Lincoln Cheever and Mary Liley Cheever. His father was a prosperous shoe salesman and Cheever spent much of his childhood in a large Victorian house, at 123 Winthrop Avenue, in the then-genteel suburb of Wollaston, Massachusetts. In the mid-1920s, however, as the New England shoe and textile industries began their long decline, Frederick Cheever lost most of his money and began to drink heavily. To pay the bills, Mary Cheever opened a gift shop in downtown Quincy—an "abysmal humiliation" for the family, as John saw it. In 1926, Cheever began attending Thayer Academy, a private day school, but he found the atmosphere stifling and performed poorly, finally transferring to Quincy High in 1928.

He married Mary Watson Winternitz on March 22, 1941 in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.^[2]

In March 1977, Cheever appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine with the caption, "A Great American Novel: John Cheever's Falconer." The novel was Number One on the New York Times Best Seller list for three weeks. The Stories of John Cheever appeared in October, 1978, and became one of the most successful collections ever, selling 125,000 copies in hardback and winning universal acclaim.

He died on June 18, 1982. The flags in Ossining were lowered to half staff for 10 days after Cheever's death.

Two of Cheever's three children, Susan and Benjamin, became writers.

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXV8-6HR : 11 March 2018), John Cheever, 27 May 1912, Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts; citing reference ID #p 83, Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,409,730.
2. ↑ Connecticut Marriage Records

Census

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX1Y-X35 : accessed 15 June 2020), John W Cheever in household of Frederick L Cheever, Quincy Ward 5, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing ED 249, sheet 3B, line 69, family 65, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 723; FHL microfilm 1,820,723.

"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ5C-121 : accessed 15 June 2020), John Cheever in household of Frederick L Cheever, Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 110, sheet 10B, line 88, family 280, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 936; FHL microfilm 2,340,671.

"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQT6-29P : 18 November 2019), John W Chever, Assembly District 10, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-895, sheet 61B, line 80, family 189, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2645.

Death and Burial

Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 15 June 2020), memorial page for John Cheever (27 May 1912–18 Jun 1982), Find A Grave: Memorial #2479, citing First Parish Cemetery, Norwell, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .

"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VS6Z-MMX : 20 May 2014), John Cheever, Jun 1982; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).

Other

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=haruspex&id=I030584

Wikipedia Article