He married (1) in Casselton, ND, July 15, 1911, Jesse Lillian Maud ("Dolly") Beesley, daughter of Hedley and Jessie (Richards) Beesley of Los Angeles, CA. She was born in Belfast, Ireland, November 25, 1891; this marriage terminated in divorce March 2, 1928. He married (2) in Moorhead, MN, May 2, 1931, Laura Antoinette Miller, daughter of George Harry and Hedwig (Langness) Miller of Fargo, ND. She was born in Fargo, August 30, 1908; died at San Haven Sanitarium at Dunseith, ND, May 10, 1941. This marriage also ended in a divorce on June 17, 1937. He married (3) in Duluth, MN, July 29, 1943, Ellen Jane Schenck, daughter of Rev. Josh Wesley and Olga Christiana (Thompson) Schenck of Deer River, MN. She was born in Duluth, MN, September 30, 1922.

Eben Chaffee attended public and private schools at Amenia, and Oberlin Academy (Ohio) from 1903 until graduating from that school in 1905. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1906 to 1908, the University of Vermont 1908-1909. The next year he secured employment as a reporter on the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press where he continued until 1913.

During the first part of this period he was employed with the Amenia and Sharon Land Company, and while with them he supervised the construction of a telephone system connecting the main office of the company with their various tenant-operated farms as well as with the Bell system through their Casselton exchange. With the dissolution of the Land Company in 1922, he acquired this telephone system which he organized and operated as an independent company. He also supervised the operation of the three or four farms he acquired in this dissolution and was active in the management of the local seed and grain elevators.

During this period, Eben and Dolly had been divorced and he had married Laura Miller. She was raised in Fargo, attended the public schools and graduated from Central High School there. After her divorce from Eben and following a course in laboratory training at the Fargo Clinic and North Dakota Agricultural College, Laura was employed as a laboratory technician at NDAC until illness compelled her to give up her work there.

Eben Chaffee moved to Duluth, MN, in 1934 where he established an office as a landscape architect, and there he met and was married to Jane Schenck. She had received her early schooling in the public schools in Deer River, MN, graduating from the high school there in 1939. She attended Wright Junior College in Chicago, 1939-1940, and Duluth State Teacher's College, now the University of Minnesota Duluth Branch, 1940-1941. She taught at Kettle River and Aitken, MN up to the time of her marriage to Eben Chaffee. In 1944 he and his family spent the winter at Port Lavaca, TX, returning to Duluth in the spring, and thereafter spent their summers in Duluth and winters in Texas.

Children of Eben Whitney and Lillian "Dolly" (Beesley) Chaffee:

i. Carolyn Chaffee, born April 20, 1912 in St. Paul, MN; died April 24, 1962 in Portland, OR; married (1) in Los Angeles, CA, August 16, 1933, Richard Dorn Glick, son of Harry and Mattie Gluek of that place. He was born in Los Angeles, January 31, 1911. This marriage terminated in divorce in Las Vegas in 1943. There were no children. She married (2) in Los Angeles on August 8, 1944, Albert Frank Zornado, son of Frank and Antonia (Chervaz) Zornado of Portland, OR. He was born in Portland, August 26, 1921.

Children of Eben Whitney and Laura (Miller) Chaffee:

ii. Forrest Ellsworth Chaffee, born April 23, 1932 in Amenia, ND; married October 2, 1955 in Bowdle, SD, Gladys Joanne Miller, daughter of Edward John and Pauline (Naasz) Miller of that place. She was born May 29, 1934, in Bowdle, SD.

iii. Sharon Laura Chaffee, born April 10, 1933, in Amenia, ND; married February 14, 1954 at Seattle, WA, Terry Thomas Whitford, son of Homer Harry and Agnes (Ryen) Whitford of Poulsbo, WA. He was born December 16, 1932 at Seattle, WA.

Children of Eben Whitney and Jane (Schenck) Chaffee:

iv. John Van Schenck Chaffee, born October 6, 1944 in Duluth, MN;

v. Doris Elain Chaffee, born December 26, 1945 in Victoria, TX;

vi. Judith Vivian Chaffee, born September 4, 1947 in Duluth, MN;

vii. Barbara Jane Chaffee, born July 7, 1949 in Duluth, MN;

To see more pictures of Eben, click here for the Photo Gallery

SOURCES:

• Descendants of Eben Whitney Chaffee, compiled by H.L.Chaffee, 1969; and Carter G. Chaffee, 1998

• Family photographs archived at IRS-NDSU