The following series of letters were all written by Willis Perronet Chamberlin to his friend William James Griffing, son of James and Augusta Griffing. Apparently sometime in 1876, Will Chamberlin’s parents moved the family from Manhattan, Kansas to the Sierra Nevada Mountains of western California.
The first letter was written from Alameda, California. It is followed by several letters written from Truckee, then Grass Valley, and finally Oakland, California.
By 1880, Will Chamberlin had moved down the coast to San Luis Obispo County where he took employment teaching school. By 1890, he resided in Alameda and was employed as a clerk.
Not much is known about Par and Mary Parker Chamberlin and their three children Vincent, Willis, and Nathan. As Nathan is not mentioned in any of these letters, it suggests that he may have died prior to this western relocation. In a couple of the letters, Will’s mother Mary has added “a few lines” to her friend Augusta Griffing. For information on the Chamberlin family, see the notes below.
Alameda [California]
May 6, 1876Dear Friend Will [Griffing],
We arrived here all right one week ago today. We have had enough of [railroad] car riding to last us for several days, for three days and two nights we were without a seat. During the days, Vint and I rode on the platform and at night we slept on the floor and on the coal box. Mother got a seat with another woman.
The scenery was very nice. There was but one thing I was sorry for [and that was] that I could not look on both sides of the car at once. We saw lots of antelope and prairie dogs; also lots of Shoshonee, or Piute, Indians and plenty of Chinese. At one of the stations we saw a lot of Chinaman cooking their “licey” (rice). They had their chop-sticks lying around and we saw their queer hats and their pigtails but we have got used to such things now. The passengers gathered around talking to them but they would not eat while we were there. There was “too muchey fooley.”
Thursday night (the 27th) we went to sleep in a snowbank. Friday morning we woke in bed of roses, but we have found that roses have thorns and that a snowbank may be soft.
I would like to see you. I could tell you lots of interesting things that it is too tiresome to write.
Yesterday I was over to the city (San Francisco) all day. I went through a small corner of China Town and I tell you they are thick. I went down to North Beach and saw the ships. They had one big one in the dry dock cleaning her sheathing and mending her. Two men were rolling up oakum into ropes to saturate with tar and drive into the cracks and crevices. There was a small steamship in another dry dock. They were mending her also.
In the afternoon, I went down to the Atlantic Garden that is down on North Beach also. I saw a monstrous Cinnamon bear, two good-sized black bears, a small grizzly, and another that I do not know the name of, but he was brown. I saw also a wildcat, lots of monkeys, birds of all kinds (parrots by the bushel) guinea pigs, and squirrels.
We are all very well at present. It is a lovely climate but as I said before, roses have thorns.
Write soon and I will answer. Address to W. P. Chamberlin, Alameda, California
Truckee, California
Martis Creek
September 9, 1876Friend Will [Griffing],
I have delayed answering your letter so long that I am almost ashamed to do so now. I have been out on a hay ranch to work for some time and have not had a chance to write. We are within about eight miles of Lake Tahoe and four from Truckee. We are in Placer County.
It is very cold here nights and very warm in the middle of the day. It freezes almost every night. There are deer and bears not but a few miles from us; a deer was seen a few weeks ago only about three miles from here.
There is an old grizzly lives a few miles from here on the mountain sides. He is called “Old Clubfoot.” He had a foot taken off in a trap. He has killed two or three men and ate one entirely up or dragged him off so that nothing was ever found of the man but his rifle and revolver.
We are all well at present. There is nothing more to write at present.
Yours, — Will Chamberlin
Truckee, California before 1882 Fire
Truckee, Nevada County, California
Sunday, October 8, 1876Friend Will [Griffing],
I expect you are having your Indian summer out there now. It is getting cool here now and we are expecting a snowstorm soon.
Last Sunday we went up on top of a mountain near here. We could see Truckee, Lake Tahoe, and Lake Donner. It made us short-winded to climb so high.
I suppose you are going to college now. When you write, tell me what you study and how you are getting along. I suppose you go hunting very little while. I haven’t had much time to hunt or anything else but work since I came to Truckee.
Has Julian [Meeker] come back to school? I haven’t heard from him for a long while. I send you a page from a China book. I hope it will prove as interesting to you as it is to me. We are all well at present.
Yours, — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee [California]
December 17, 1876Friend Will [Griffing],
I owe you a letter and although I haven’t much to write, I must answer it. I am not doing much of anything just now so I am rather dull. We are having beautiful weather – the nicest I ever saw this time of year – but it is unhealthy. There has been no snow of any consequence yet, but we expect it soon. I suppose you are going to school all the time. I wish I was.
There are no walnuts or anything else of that kind out here. In fact, there are but few trees besides pine, fir, and tamarack. We don’t even have any popcorn this winter.
I should think you could make your fortune gathering grasshopper eggs. If you could gather a bushel a day, you could make better wages than they pay in California. They are having quite a time hunting hogs here now. About thirty got away from the Chinamen and about a dozen Chinese, four or five White men, and a few Indians are after them as fast as found. I expect it is fine sport although I think it entirely too much labor thrown away. They give three dollars apiece for the hogs, but as the chances for killing one are slim, I do not care to go.
You say your mother saw some Chinese at the Centennial [Celebration]. Perhaps when she has seen as many as we have, their appearance will cease to interest her. I would like to know how many I ever saw. It seems to me as though I had seen a million. There are more Chinamen than white men in Truckee.
Did you ever hear from Julian Meeker? I haven’t heard from him in a long time. I suppose you are in the second year at the College now. What do you study? Nothing more.
Yours, — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee, [California]
January 19, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
It has been snowing a hurricane for the last three days so we have at present between 4 and 5 feet of snow and still it comes. I never saw it snow so fast in my life. It is about all any body can do to get around. We received the walnuts all right and enjoyed them they tasted like old times.
Mother sent you a pair of Chinese chopsticks and some Chinese tapers. They burn a taper every night and morning in place of saying their prayers. I have not been feeling very well for a few days.
The emigrants are snowed in here at present. They will probably get out in a few hours. This is all at present.
Yours, — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee, California
February 18, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
I received your letter the other day all right. Nothing much to write. Rather dull out here just now.
The Chinese have been having a big time – Chinese New Year’s. – and firecrackers by the thousands. They had their shops fixed up nice I tell you, and every Chinaman that came in (and some white men too) was treated to candy, cigars, tea, &c. Their shops were fixed up pretty nice, tapers burning and so forth. I also saw some of them at their worship. They have a kind of a band up there, a big thing like a keg which they drum on and a brass thing like a frying pan that they also pound and a pair of cymbals. They hammer away as hard as they can without any time or anything else. The one that makes the loudest and most horrible noise is the best player. They have made night and day hideous ever since a week ago today.
You ask how the Chinaman eats with his chopsticks. It is hard to tell you. He holds them in forefinger and thumb slightly separating them with his second finger. They hold the bowl of “licey” (rice) in the other hand as close to the mouth as possible and shovel it down, never stopping to chew their victuals. Their food is mostly of a soupy character. They eat what they can with the chopsticks and drink the rest. I have seen them eat a number of times. I think they are rather hoggish about it. The chopsticks which you have have been used often and are “seasoned” so don’t put them in your mouth. The Chinese put the round ends in their mouths.
Those tapers are not made to blaze but only smolder. They will sometimes be almost half an hour burning. There is not much more to write. The snow is going fast. The five feet is reduced to about one now. It is splendid weather here.
Does J. Todd go to College now? Write soon.
Yours truly, — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee, California
March 15, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
I received your letter today all right and will proceed to answer it. The Chamberlin family are all well at present except myself. I am not very well.
Ed. J. Waring was up here Tuesday night and did not go back until Wednesday noon. We had a real nice time. He came up to have a tooth pulled. We are having splendid weather now. Snow still lingers on the north side of the hills. I think you would soon have your fill of snow if you spent one winter in the mountains. We do not have to go very far to find plenty of pine and fir trees although there are none in our immediate vicinity – that is, none close to the house. Those cones are young ones. We got them from a good-sized tree, which had blown down. I am not troubled with company.
It was too bad Mrs. Meeker’s breaking her arm. I am sorry for her but think they were very careless in going out with that spirited team without a man to drive.
I have got Gaskell’s Compendium and practice everyday. Can’t write much better but ever so much easier and faster. I had it since December. Awful dull around here – nothing to interest you. I should think [your brother] John had become a big one. He will be in the faculty yet. I never care to go to the College again.
Am very much obliged for the card. Wish I could return the compliment but can’t at present. It is very handsome. Lewellyn Bowen passed through here one week ago today (Thursday) and we met him on the train and he came over and stayed from 8 p.m. until 3 a.m. We had a good time and he told us all the Manhattan news. This is all today. Write soon.
Yours &c., — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee, California
April 29, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
Received your letter in due time. We are all well at present. Hope this will find you the same. Father has been feeling unwell for some time but now is as well, or nearly so, as usual.
We went up to Donner Lake last Friday and had a nice time rambling around in the woods and gathering moss, cones and flowers. Donner Lake is a very pretty place and there is some very pretty scenery there.
Ed Waring is staying with us for a short time. He is out of a place and don’t know what to do. Father received a letter from Lewellyn Bowen today. He is out of a job and don’t know what to do. He says he has not made enough to pay his board in Suisun. It is terrible dull all over the state.
From 75 to 300 emigrants pass Truckee every night; 55 stopped here in one night not long ago. Some stop here most every night.
We expect T. B. Lewis, one of our old Norwich [New York] friends, out here shortly. He intends to settle in California. Poor fellow. I don’t know what he will do. We told him better than to come but he wouldn’t hear to us any more than we would hear to others when we were back there.
You asked me if I had hunted any since I came here. I have not even fired the gun off. [My brother] Vint went hunting 3 or 4 days last Christmas and bro’t home lots of rabbits. There are grizzly bears not far from here.
Mother is over to a neighbors who has a very sick child. She thinks it will die. Ed and Father have both gone to church. I wrote a letter to Irving Todd the other day. I have not heard from Julian Meeker in a long time. This is all at present.
Yours truly, — W. P. Chamberlin
Truckee, [California]
September 21, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
I received a letter from you a long time ago and have delayed answering because I have not felt able. I have been sick now for nearly two months and it has become slightly monotonous.
I suppose you go to College as usual. My folks are usually well. We are having fine weather now, with the exception that it is as cold as Greenland every night. It has been blowing like Kansas today, all day.
I have not been hunting for a long time now. There are lots of deer being killed around here now and once in awhile a bear. A cinnamon bear was seen the other day about three miles from Truckee, just where father and I cut wood last summer. Quails are also very thick.
Are you getting to have many walnuts this year? We don’t have any nuts in this part of the country. This is all at present, I think. Yours &c., — W[illis]. P. Chamberlin
Dear Mrs. Griffing,
Willis has written some to [your son] Will so I will pen a few lines in haste. I am happy to say Willis seems some better. He has had the dysentery since the first of August and now we have made out to stop it. You can never tell what I have passed through in that time. Every night as he would get up it would go through me like a shock. My heart has been full. [My husband] Par is gone and [son] Vint [too]. So it seems at times as if my life was a lonely one. I try to look on the best side of life. Don’t know just where Vint is – only in Nevada State. Par is now at Grass Valley. Will send a paper to you. We shall make a move this fall. Willis has not set up all day in two month. He is very pale in flesh. How I long to see some dear face that I can tell all my heart’s sorrow to. My mind is so divided on Vint and Par and Willis. I am poor in flesh and grown old this summer. I hear what good times you all are having. Enjoy it when you can. I am with you in mind if not body. Tell all those that enquire after me I will write some, but I have had no heart to write since Willis was so sick. He has to be kept on bread and meat for a time. It comes hard for him. He is very patient in all things. Such a comfort to me in my lonely hours. Remember me to your family with love to yourself.
Our minister made Ed Waring a local preacher so he can enter school at Santa Clais this fall on the ______ list. We don’t take the Manhattan paper… I just would walk 100 miles to see your dear face and tell you all I wish to but I fear that time will never come. Goodbye for Willis is waiting for supper.
From Mate Chamberlin
Grass Valley, California
October 28, 1877Friend Will [Griffing],
As you can see by the date of my letter, we have taken another move and have reached California once more. Everything is green and lovely down here – plenty of fruit, flowers, and other such rubbish. We have had all the apples, pears and grapes we could eat. I suppose you have had plenty of grapes, peaches, and apples this year.
Do you do any shooting now? I have not for some time. There is no game of any consequence down here. It is too thickly settled. Grass Valley is a place of about 4000 inhabitants and is 18 miles from Colfax by rail and 21 from Nevada City on the Nevada City Narrow Gauge Railroad, which road is he prettiest you ever saw. I would like to have one like it to play with.
It is rather cool even here now. We have a frost every night almost. Grapes here are only 8 and a half cents per pound and we are feasting on them. We are in what is called the foothills, which are not quite as steep as the Kansas bluffs. This is all at present. Yours &c., — W. P. Chamberlin
Dear Sister Griffing,
We received your kind and welcome letter this week and as Willis is writing to you, I must add a few lines. I am glad for once you had plenty of fruit. It must seem good. How much rather I would of gone east than down here. Still I shall never be homesick after living in Truckee one year. It seems so good to see green things and have flowers and fruit. I did dislike to leave 6 dear friends in Truckee. That was the minister and wife. She was just a jewel of a woman and he so good. She gave me a nice necktie… and Mrs. Riches and husband were so good. She gave me a nice pair of woolen stockings. And Mrs. Reed was from Kansas. She is just so good. She gave me a nice pair of gauntlet gloves and did hate for me to come away. My near neighbors were such ignorant set from Missouri. I was glad to get rid of them and still I pitied them so much. I feel thankful that I had a good hanging up and can tell what is good manners. Well here I am and I am now bound not to like a person in this place unless I make it our home, but can’t tell one thing sure. I am not going to keep house till [my husband] Par is ready to settle down. I am staying with a nice family by the name of Scott – good Christian people and keep the Sabbath. They have been here 20 years. She is a neat woman. Willis and I remain here till spring…
Willis says this town is 4000 [inhabitants] but it is 8000, has 8 schoolhouses, 14 teachers, and 5 churches. The M. E. Church is the largest. The town has a good many Cornish people if you know what that class is. Mr. Griffing can tell you they are good, but not like us in everything. I attended church today. It seemed so good to go in a good house much nicer than in Manhattan. Mr. Gober, the minister, is a good man. [but] rather loud spoke, never looks at a note. [There is] good singing and a very devoted people. I am sure I could spend my days here.
We could buy a ranch or farm for just what we paid for our land in Kansas. Good orchard of all kinds of fruit, five acres of choice grapes and enough land to have a good herd of cattle. I wish he could get it – good house and only one mile from town on the main road. The man that owns it has a mine he is to work in. This town is a mining town. In sight of my window is what is called Gold Hill where so much gold has been taken out.
Oh how I miss [my son] Vinton. He is in Nevada State on a ranch now. [He] expects to be working for a mine. Poor boy – he misses us as we do him. I hope we shall be settled where we can live together by spring…
If you see Mrs. [Joseph] Dennison give her my love and tell her I shall write to her this fall… When you see Mrs. Wake, tell her that I am as bad as a M. E. Minister’s wife – move once a year. And do you believe that this time I never got angry in packing up. Generally I have to get on my high heel shoes and dust. I told our minister in Truckee and he said I must be growing in grace. I don’t get mad as I used to in Kansas driving cattle. The wind does not blow much here. I must say goodbye. I have others to write. Goodbye.
Love to all. A kiss to Mr. Griffing. – Mate Chamberlin
Grass Valley, California
February 24, 1878Friend Will [Griffing],
I received your letter the other day and was glad to hear from you. We are all well. I was never so well in California as I am now. I am getting acquainted with everybody…
I am still going to school. I have finished four books and Robinson’s Geometry and most through Algebra again. I went through it once in Kansas. I am also studying Robinson’s Higher Arithmetic and am just entering the subject of Percentage.
I got a letter from Irving Todd yesterday. Do you see him very often? I suppose [your brother] John is a regular old Pedagogue by this time. How does he like school teaching?
Where is Will Whitney now? And what is Jake Campbell doing? I suppose things are pretty dull there now. Everything is here so I will close.
Yours &c., Willis P. Chamberlin
Oakland, California
April 21, 1878Friend Will [Griffing],
I received your letter sometime ago. Was glad to hear from you. I am not very glad to get back in Oakland again; not that I like Oakland the less but that I like Grass Valley more. I don’t think I could content myself in Kansas now. People have different ways of thinking here in California and I am becoming a regular “old Californian.”
I am pretty busy now at my studies for I have about concluded to make school teaching my profession. I am about lazy enough and just about mean enough for a pedagogue. Still I don’t think I could stand thirty dollars per month and you say that is all [your brother] John gets? The least paid here is sixty dollars [per month].
I hear from Irving Todd once in awhile. He says he is studying Latin and Greek. Well so note it. But as for me, give me a good solid knowledge of English and I’ll never complain.
I am not acquainted at all in Oakland and it makes me feel rather lonesome. You will never know until you try it how a fellow feels in a town where he does not know a soul outside of old people.
How does everything progress at the old College? Is there any probability of a new administration?
Enclosed you will find some Finland (Suomi) stamps and Hawaii.
Give my respects to Will Whitney or any other of the “old boys” you may see.
Write soon and I will be yours truly, — W. P. Chamberlin, Box 971
Oakland, California
November 19, 1878Friend Will [Griffing],
I received you welcome letter last week and was pleased to find you had not forgotten me. We are all well at present. Father is still at work for Estey & Fleming and I am doing a little book keeping for them. I am not putting in full time for I am studying for the examination, which takes place next week.
I suppose you will have good times out there hunting and skating this winter. The most that I hunt for now is bread and butter. [My brother] Vint took the gun when he went into the mountains. I don’t know whether he has it now or not.
The weather is quite mild here yet. No need of a fire most of the time. Grapes are in their prime but somehow they don’t taste as good as they did. They can be had for 3 cents per pound.
I have not been to the city since we came to Oakland. Have not been anywhere except to work and back. Don’t know anybody here and don’t care too much. I shall get out of this as soon as possible.
What would you think of paying $13 per cord for oak wood? That’s what they do in California. A good many buy a little barley sack of wood for which they pay 20 cents and get kindling wood 20 cents and 10 cents worth at a time. I’m sick of it. Potatoes are 1 and a half cents per pound – the cheapest they have been for a long time. We paid 4 cents this summer. Lots of men are willing to work for $1.25 per day. I should be very glad to get a job for $40 per month. Come to California if you want to get rich!
How are all the boys? Most of them are boys no longer, I suppose. I can scarcely realize that it is two years and a half – yes, almost three years since we bade goodbye to Kansas.
My drill in book keeping under Professor [M. L.] Ward is just coming into play. Give my regards to all who inquire. Write soon.
Yours &c., — Willis P. Chamberlin, 1409 Franklin Street
Oakland, California
December 22, 1878Friend Will [Griffing],
Everything is quiet and still as usual with us. We are all well and at work as usual. We will have a festival and magic lantern exhibition Christmas Eve. Do you remember that magic lantern show down to the little white schoolhouse? I hardly thought then that the next one I saw would be in California.
We are having rather cool weather just now and the ground is white with frost every morning. The oldest inhabitants say this is the coldest winter California ever saw, but whoever saw a winter or summer that wasn’t the coldest or warmest ever known within the memory of the “oldest” inhabitants?
You seem rather surprised at the idea of paying $13 per cord for wood but that isn’t quite so steep as paying 3 & 4 cents per pound for potatoes as we have to sometimes. However, coal is the fuel most in use and that can be had for $9 to $17 per ton so you see we can manage to get along with good wages.
What old boys you and I are getting to be – you 18 and I 19 and pretty well along toward 20. I remember when I started in to College. I was 14 and [your brother] John was 16. When I went to the little white school first, I was about 11 and you were a little bit of a tad about 2 feet long.
Where are the Platt boys now? Do you ever see Irving Todd? He owes me a letter.
I don’t think I shall ever come back to Manhattan to stay. I may to visit though sometime when I get my pockets full of dust. What will Will Whitney do for a living when he gets married and who is the girl? Success to him.
I wouldn’t mind it if I was back there long enough to have a good time skating. None of that in California. Give my regards to your folks. Write soon.
Yours truly, — W. P. Chamberlin, 1409 Franklin Street
Ascension School District
Josephine, San Luis County, California
Wednesday, July 2, 1879Friend Will [Griffing],
I am under the impression that I owe you a letter. Is it so? Anyhow I will write you one.
I am having a short vacation now of two weeks in my school. I have recently returned from visiting the County Institute and examination. My certificate was good for Alameda County, but not for San Luis Obispo County so I had to get another one, which I did. I had a very pleasant time while attending the Institute.
I try to kill a rabbit once in a while but I have been so long out of practice that I don’t believe I could hit the broad side of a barn. Are you attending College yet?
Where is [your brother] John teaching now? Write and tell me all the news and excuse my long delay for my eyes have been so sore that I could not write more or read scarcely at all.
Yours truly, — W. P. Chamberlin
Cambria, California
November 3, 1880Friend Will [Griffing],
Your letter came to hand some time ago. I have been so busy (doing nothing!) however, that I can’t put off answering it any longer. Do you understand that? I don’t.
School closed October 22nd and since then I have been running all over the county and have been at home very little. I pick up a little job now and then and make a few dollars in that way, but do not expect to pay my expenses this winter. My mother has been quite sick for some time but I hope to hear that she is better soon.
Probably you would like to be our here now. There is any amount of game quail and rabbits, and a few miles over the mountains deer are plenty. Several parties from the neighborhood have been out lately and brought in from three to a dozen.
We are having beautiful weather here now. Not too warm, not too cool, but just right.
What ever became of Byron Pound? The last I heard of him he was in Colorado. Is he there yet? Where is Jube Campbell? You must have had a good time on your trip. My trips are all short ones but I go rather frequently. I saw Mrs. Davis’s folks last week. They are doing very well, I think, this year. Well, I think I must close. Yours &c., — Willis P. Chamberlin
NOTES ON CHAMBERLIN FAMILY
Information on the Perronet (“Par”) Chamberlin [or Chamberlain] family is limited. Here is what we know:
Perronet Chamberlin was born about 1831. His parents have not been identified. He married Mary Parker, born about 1833, of Norwich, Chenango County, New York. She was one of at least seven children born to Nathan Parker (1795-1853) and Tammy King (1799-1838), both of Norwich. Tammy King was the daughter of George H. King (1762-1848) and Edey Haxton (1769-1824).
Perronet Chamberlin (born 1831, died <1906) and Mary Parker (born 1833, died May 18, 1907) were married in New York, presumably in Chenango County and probably around 1852. They had at least three children — all sons: Vincent G. (born @ 1853, died 17 March 1935), Nathan Parker (born @ 1856-57, died before 1860), and Willis Parker (born 1859, died 1 Aug 1924 in Butte County, CA).
1850 Census: Norwich, Chenango, New York
Perronett Chamberlain, age 19, Student at School, living in household of Reuben Lyon, age 48.
Mary Parker, age 17, living with parents. Appears she may have twin sister named Maria Parker.
1860 Census: (taken 27 July 1860), Norwich, Chenango, New York
P. V. Chamberlin, age 29, Day ??? Artists
Mary ” ” , age 28, Housekeeper
Vincent ” ” , age 6
Willis ” ” , age 7/12ths
Harriet Newell, age 21, housework
Also living in Norwich, Elijah Chamberlin, age 76, & wife Jemima Chamberlin, age 76. Not sure if related.
1870 Census: (taken 3 June 1870), Manhattan, Riley, Kansas
Parnell Chamberlin, age 39, Farmer
Mary P. ” ” , age 37, Keeping House
Vincent ” ” , age 16, At home
Willie P. ” ” , age 11, ” “
Mary Sor, age 30, Domestic Servant, Sweden
In 1870, the Chamberlin family moved to Manhattan, Kansas. Will Chamberlin started college at KSAC in 1873.
Spring 1876, family moved to California, first to Oakland in Alameda County, then up into the Sierra Mountains.
1878: Living at 1409 Franklin Street, Oakland, Alameda County, California
1880 Census: Oakland, Alameda, California (District 14)
Perronet Chamberlain, age 49, Laborer
Mary Chamberlain, age 47, Keeps House
Levitt Hobb, age 40, Rooms, Plasterer
Address: 1407 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA
Willis Chamberlin, age 20, appears in San Simeon, San Luis Obispo, California with occupation as teacher.
San Francisco, California Directories, 1889-91:
Will Chamberlin has residence in Oakland and is a clerk at the “ticket auditor’s office S. P. Co.” (Estey & Fleming Company?) in San Francisco, CA.
1910 Census:
Willis Chamberlin, age 49, listed with birthplace in Illinois (?), living in 7th Ward, Oakland, Alameda, CA, Series T624, Roll 71, Part 2, Page 15B. This is probably not the son of Par and Mary Chamberlin. Parents are given as being born in PA & NY. Wife Fannie E. and married for 25 years (since 1885).
Vincent Chamberlin, age 56, listed with birthplace in New York, living in 3rd Ward, Oakland, Alameda, CA, Series T624, Roll 70, Part 2, Page 151A.
1920 Census:
At time of his death in 1924 at age 65, Willis P. Chamberlin was survived by his wife, whose first name began with an “L.”
1930 Census:
At time of his death in 1935 at age 81, Vincent G. Chamberlin was survived by his wife, whose first name began with a “Y” or “V.”
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