Chambers Family

The story of the Chambers family at Bloomfield begins with William Chambers of Bath, England, born about 1635. His descendants carried the names William and John across generations, through the wool trade in England, and into Pennsylvania. By the late eighteenth century, the family had settled in London Grove.

In 1790, William Chambers married Susanna Pusey. Together they moved to property along the east branch of Red Clay Creek, first at a place later known as Otherplace. They added an adjoining 26 acre parcel that would come to be called Bloomfield and it's small fulling mill. It was here that wool from neighboring farms was washed, beaten under tilt hammers, carded, and rolled into loose batts for spinning and weaving.

Their eldest son Cyrus Chambers Sr. inherited Otherplace, and the younger son, John Pusey Chambers, inherited the thirty-six acres and fulling mill.

In 1817, John married Hannah Thompson at New Garden Meeting House. They began their married life that same year at Bloomfield. The raised a family of thirteen around the hearth marked with the inscription Ignis Incensus Est 1817.

Children of John Pusey Chambers and Hannah Thompson Chambers

William Chambers
Born April 15, 1818; died June 1877, (Age: 59)
The eldest, William, began as a storekeeper in Kennett Square. He married Anne Anderson in 1850, and they had one son, William. By the 1860s he was living in Philadelphia, recorded as a merchant with a considerable income.

Documents
1850 Census Age 39 Store keeper in Kennett Square
1850 June Marriage to Anne J Anderson
1855 Birth of son William
1860 Wilmington meat manufacturer?
1863 Living with Maris (brother) at 247 4th street Philadelphia in 1863 - William's income $14,368.00, Maris $915.00
1863 Draft book 43 years old Merchant on Baltimore Pike, Philadelphia

1870 Reunion attendees from Bloomfield Memories and Records
William Chambers
Anne J. Chambers
William J. Chambers

Mary Chambers,
Born: December 19, 1819, Died: February 24, 1844 (age 24)

James Thompson Chambers,
Born: April 5, 1822, Died: August 1, 1874 (Age: 52)
Established himself as a dry goods merchant in Wilmington, Delaware. He directed the Wilmington Steam Brick Manufacturing Company, which used the Chambers machines (see more about Cyrus Chambers), and at his death in 1874 he was described as a man respected by the community and liked for his qualities as both merchant and citizen.

Pusey Chambers
Born: January 4, 1824, Died: October 30, 1844, (Age: 20)

Edwin Chambers
Born: December 23, 1825, Died: May 1875 (Age: 49)
Edwin pursued a career as a dentist, practicing his profession for several years in Kennett Square. While Edwin was practicing, his younger brother Cyrus, at the age of sixteen (around 1849), worked in Edwin's dental office in Kennett Square. During this time, Cyrus utilized his leisure to construct the "Golden Miniature Steam Engine."

Edwin married Martha Barnard (1829-1908) around 1851-1854. They had several children: Simon Bernard Chambers (b. 1855), Paul John Chambers (b. 1857), Elizabeth Chambers (b. 1859, d. 1886), Alice Chambers (b. 1864, d. 1865), and Sara Darlington Chambers (b. 1866, d. 1953).

Possessing "a strong inventive genius and a love of mechanism," Edwin eventually left dentistry to join his brother Cyrus, who was becoming distinguished as an inventor of labor-saving machinery. On January 1, 1857, Edwin officially partnered with Cyrus, disposing of his interests in the dental profession and all his real estate to invest it as capital in the machine-making business. It was understood that Edwin's capital investment would balance Cyrus's inventions. Without a formal written agreement, the two brothers formed the partnership of Chambers Brothers & Company, aiming to commercialize machinery for folding books and newspapers.

Their business expanded significantly, leading them to build extensive shops and dwellings. Their first practical newspaper folding machine was installed successfully at the Saturday Evening Post. They also continued to develop the book folding machine. By 1860, Edwin resided in Philadelphia Ward 10 East District, and by 1870, he was living in Philadelphia Ward 24 District 77, West Philadelphia, with his residence listed as 52 Lancaster Avenue. He was recognized as prosperous in business and respected.

Edwin Chambers died on May 8, 1875, at his residence on 53rd street, below Lancaster avenue, West Philadelphia, after a short illness. He was approximately fifty years old at the time of his death. His burial occurred on May 10, 1875. Upon his death, Cyrus became the sole owner of the works and all patents belonging to the firm.

Susanna Pusey Chambers
Born: March 1, 1828, Died: October 19, 1907 (Age: 79)
Taught painting and drawing at Swarthmore College and in private classes in Philadelphia. She was a lifelong Quaker, remembered as a reformer and as one who valued “the true and beautiful and good.” She died in 1907 at the age of seventy-nine, her funeral held at Bloomfield.

Maris Chambers
Born: March 9, 1830, Died: August 7, 1911 (Age: 81)
Lived a modest but steady life as a bookkeeper in Philadelphia. He never married and remained in clerical occupations, boarding into old age. His most notable public role was as plaintiff in the 1870 patent case Chambers v. Smith, where he successfully enforced rights in a brick-making machine patented by Cyrus Chambers Jr. This legal episode ties him to the Chambers Brothers’ industrial enterprise, marking him as a family member who contributed on the legal and financial side rather than in manufacture. He died at 78 and was returned to Kennett Square Friends’ burial ground.

Sarah Thompson Chambers
Born: January 5, 1832, Died: March 19, 184117 (Age: 9)

Cyrus Chambers Jr
Born: December 6, 1833, Died: July 9, 1911 (Age 77)
It is important to distinguish this Cyrus Chambers (Junior) from his uncle Cyrus Chambers.
Noted for mechanical ability from an early age. He built working models of mills and telegraphs while still a boy. At sixteen, he constructed a miniature steam engine of gold and silver that operated at high speed and was exhibited at fairs and expositions.
In 1857, Cyrus and Edwin established Chambers Brothers & Company in Philadelphia.
More about Cyrus Chambers Jr.

Dr. Hannah Thompson Chambers Croasdale
Born: March 30, 1835, Died: March 16, 1912, (Age: 76)
Followed a professional path of her own. After marrying Jeremiah Croasdale and raising three children, she enrolled in the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1867 and went on to hold posts in surgery, obstetrics, and gynecology. She lectured, published, and helped establish a women-run dispensary in Philadelphia. She also served as consulting gynecologist to the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital, which trained African-American doctors and nurses. She was described by colleagues as a woman of dignity and social grace. Her family extended that legacy. Her son, Dr. John P. Croasdale, practiced medicine in Chester County. And her granddaughter, Dr. Hannah T. Croasdale, born in 1905, became a pioneering biologist. She studied algae, published widely, and taught for decades at Dartmouth College, where she became the first woman to receive tenure. She died in 1999, remembered for both her scientific contributions and her persistence in an academic world that long excluded women.

Ruth Ann Chambers Huey
Born: December 14, 1837, Died : October 19, 1921 (Age 83)
Studied at the Millersville State Normal School and taught school in Wilmington before marrying J. Davis Huey in 1860. Widowed in the 1890s, she later lived at Bloomfield with her brother John. She spent her final years at the Friends’ Home in Kennett Square, where she died in 1921 at the age of eighty-four. Her obituary described her as “the last surviving member of her generation.” In fact, her younger brother John Thompson Chambers lived until 1932, so the phrase was not literally correct. Still, the description shows how she was seen as one of the last links to the older family circle at Bloomfield.
Her death came shortly after the Chambers family reunion of 1920, when the family history Bloomfield: Memories and Records was dedicated to her, to her brother John, and to his wife Alice. She must be distinguished from her aunt of the same name, remembered as Bayard Taylor’s early teacher.

Elizabeth Chambers
Born: January 6, 1840, Died: July 11, 1842, (Age: 2)

John Thompson Chambers
Born: March 11, 1842, Died: 19 October 1932, (Age 91)
Known throughout his life as Uncle Jack. Raised a Quaker, he nevertheless served in the Union Army. He fought at Antietam, where he saw heavy losses around him, and at Chancellorsville, where he was wounded. Within the family, Uncle Jack was remembered for his music, his storytelling, and his discipline. He published a pamphlet on Bloomfield in 1917, later incorporated into the 1920 family history. He lived out his years at Bloomfield, dying there in 1932.