Caroline Chute Killmer

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

1.  Photograph

Left to Right: Robert Killmer (child), Ellen Adams Killmer, Caroline Shute Killmer Patchin, Mary Ellen Killmer (child), and Jonas Edward Killmer. Provenance:  Harrison F. Hamer
 

2.  Marriage Record

Provenance:  Harrison F. Hamer
 

3.  Family Birth Record

Provenance:  Harrison F. Hamer
 

4.  Obituary

KILLMER – At the residence of her son, Ed. Killmer, in this county, February 21, 1890, of paralysis, Mrs.Caroline Killmer-Patching, a native of Otisfield, Maine, aged 75 years and 10 days.

The deceased was one of the oldest settlers of Nueces county, having first moved to Corpus Christi in 1849.  She was a member of the Presbyterian church and attended the house of worship upon every opportunity.

The remains were interred near her late home last Saturday, but will be brought to Corpus Christi in a year or two for final burial.

Another landmark has gone. Peace to her ashes.

Source: Unknown newspaper account
Submitted by:  Harrison F. Hamer

5.  Biographical information and family history

Caroline Chute Killmer was a descendent of an old English family.  Her ancestral lineage is first recorded in 1261 upon the death of Alexander Chute, Lord of Tuaton Manor of Somershire.  Another ancestor, Phillip Chute of Appledore, was standard bearer for Henry VIII.  The First of the Chutes to emigrate to the American English Colonies was Lional Chute in the later part of the 17th century.  He settled in the part of  Massachusetts which later became a part of the State of Maine.  Caroline was born February 11, 1815 in Naples, Maine, daughter of William Carr Chute.  Jonas Killmer, Jonas Edward’s father, was born in Cumberland County, New York July 4, 1819.  The predecessors of Jonas emigrated from Holland.  Jonas Killmer’s father was a baker.

Caroline Chute married Robert King in 1835 who was a Mormon and went with them to Michigan in 1840.  King died shortly thereafter.  Caroline Chute King moved to Peterboro, New Hampshire and then to Iowa City, Iowa where she married Jonas Killmer December 4, 1844.  They moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa a staging area for westward migration.  A schism developed among the Mormons and the group of which Caroline and Jonas were a part moved south led by Lyman Wright and settled near Austin, Texas in 1847.  A daughter, Rosannah, was born there February 20, 1847.  She died July 6, 1847 and is buried on the Colorado River where Lake Austin is now located.  This group of Mormons were skilled craftsmen and while located near Austin, they built the first permanent jail in Austin and nearly grist mills.  Then they moved to the Pedernales River near Fredericksburg and Johnson City and constructed grist mills and other structures.

In 1850 Jonas Killmer and Caroline moved to San Antonio where he was employed in the military commissary.  In 1851 they moved to Nueces County and he was actively involved in buying and selling cattle and horses.  Jonas Killmer died January 1, 1858 and is buried in the Bayview Cemetery in Corpus Christi.

Caroline Chute Killmer married a man named Patchin in 1861.  He died in 1869 and is buried in San Antonio.  No children were born to this union.

Caroline Patchin and Jonas Edward Killmer were granted “safe passage†through the Union lines in 1864 and returned to her native state of Maine.  After the Civil War they returned to Corpus Christi.  As a consequence of his return to Maine, he was called a “Blue Bellied Yankee.â€

Jonas Edward apprenticed as a cabinet maker and carpenter.  He helped build a two story house where the second location of the Lichtenstein store (presently Frost Brothers store) is presently located.  A shipment of square nails did not arrive as planned, so the house was constructed with pegs.

Caroline Killmer Patchin died February 21, 1890 and is buried in the Bayview Cemetery.

Source:  Papers of Bobbie Ann Hamer Hubbard

CHUTE FAMILY HISTORY

(Dates in left margin refer to Chutes)

b. 1580 in Dedham Essex, England               Lional married Rose Barber or Baker

b.  (Unknown) Baptized 1643                      James married Elizabeth Epps

     Dedham, Mass.

b.  1649 Epswich, Mass                             (?) James married Mary Wood (James, Jr. ?)

b.  1690                                                Thomas married Mary Curtice

  (married by Cotton Mather)

b.  1728  d. 1767                                    Curtis (Curtice?) married Miriam Carr

b.  1762  d.  1816                                   Thomas married Marry Mayberry

b.  1788  d.  1864                                   William Carr Chute married Rosannah

b.  1815  d.  1890                                   Caroline married Robert King, Jonas Killmer, Patchin

b.  1850  d.  07/16/1929                          Edward Jonas Killmer married Ellen Adams   

 d.  04/14/1893

Note:  The family history recorded above is from Marylee Killmer Norris.

Additional genealogical information about the Chute Family.

1.  Chute, William E., A Genealogy and History of the Chute Family in America with Some Account of the Family in Great Britain and Ireland, with an Account of 40 Allied Families Gathered from the Most Authentic Sources, Swanpscott, MA, 1994

2.  Chute, George M., The Chute Family in America, 1967

3.  Doll, Samuel Thomas, Windham in the Past, Windham (Maine) Historical Society, 1974.

Transcription by:  Rosa G. Gonzales