Deborah was born in Huron, Michigan, graduating from high school probably in 1877. In November, 1877, she married Enoch Adrian Chamberlin (called Adrian, to distinguish him from father and son), the son of Julia Ann Fay and Enoch A. Chamberlin. Together they had three children, beginning with Enoch Adrian in 1878, and ending with Volora in 1892 or 1893; there is some question about the exact date. Adrian died in November of 1893, leaving Deborah with a young family, the youngest an infant.
In 1897, she married again, a man named John Potter who had been born in New York, and had come to Michigan at some unknown time. His background is not known, although it is believed that he was the son of Godfrey and Louvinia Potter. The first child of Deborah and John was born in January of 1898, and named Laura Deborah.
In 1900, Deborah and John and the baby Laura were living in Vermontville, Eaton County. The children from Deborah's first marriage were still living in Huron Township with other relatives: Enoch, 21, and Volora, 7, with grandmother Julia Ann Fay Chamberlin, 69, and Permilia (Millie), 15, next door with her uncle John and his family. Also living with Julia is her daughter Lois, 38. Two years later, in 1902, Lois married Gilbert M. Pennock. We don't know when they moved to Oregon, taking Volora with them, but it is safe to assume that that move came after the death of Julia. In 1930, Volora, age 37, is still unmarried.
Enoch A. Chamberlin, the son of Adrian and Deborah, moved away from Michigan. He seems to have gone first to Illinois. There is an Enoch A. in Richmond, Henry Co., in 1910, of the right age and born in MI of parents born in MI. After that, he went to Ohio, where he married Mary Elmira Springer. He was her second husband, and after Mary and Enoch were divorced, Mary married a third time. Mary and Enoch had a daughter, Guila Valora or Guila Volora, undoubtedly named for Enoch's sister and his niece. In 1920, Mary and her third husband are boarding; as is Guila in a different town. She is 8 in 1920; and it is not clear what she is doing in that household. Enoch is elsewhere in the same area but not the same town. By 1930, Mary is gone; Enoch died in 1930; and Guila was working as a servant in a private family. She later married and raised a family of five.
And Permilia? She married about 1908, and lived with her husband, Barney Michael Ebaugh, in Detroit. Jennie Volora Ebaugh, named in part for Permilia's sister, was born at the end of October, 1910. There is a wonderful photograph of Jennie and her grandmother Deborah. The handwritten information on the back of that postcard, discussed elsewhere, made possible the identification of this branch of the family.
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