James was born at
Kentucky on 7 April 1833. He was the son of
James Evan Chesnut and
Nancy Burton. He married
Lydia Ann Douglas at
Sullivan Co., Indiana, on 17 December 1857. James served in the military on 9 August 1862. James Chesnut enlisted 9 August 1862 during the Civil War with enlistees from Sullivan and Shelbourn Counties. He was with the 71st Indiana Infantry, and returned home three years less 40 days later, 1 July 1865, after 15 or more major battles. He was with General Sherman on Sherman's March to the Sea.. He migrated in 1879. James died on 17 January 1918 at
Bartlesville, Washington Co., Oklahoma, at age 84. From the Bartlesville Examiner, January 18, 1918
Chesnut - James E. Chesnut, age 84 years, died yesterday morning at 10 o'clock at the home of his daughter, Mrs. G.R. McKinley, 1001 Jennings Avenue. Mr. Chesnut's death was due to cancer. The body will be taken to Fredonia, Kans., for burial. The funeral party will leave here this morning. Mr. Chesnut, is survived by five children, two sons, W.E. (William Eli) Chesnut, of Fredonia, and S.E. (Samuel Edward) Chesnut, of Lafontaine, and three daughters, Mrs. J.S. (Mary Alice) Bollinger, of Shelburn, Ind; Mrs. J.C. (Emma Rosella) Barbour, of Chanute, Kans, adn Mrs. G.R. (Nancy A.) McKinley, of Bartlesville. He had been a Mason for more than forty years, and the local lodges sent beautiful floral offerings to the home.
From the Fredonia Weekly Herald, 25 January 1918
J.E. Chesnut Dead
James E. Chesnut died at the home of his daughter at Bartlesville yesterday morning. The body arrived in Fredonia this afternoon over the Santa Fe and was taken to the Wilson Undertaking parlors. The funeral will be from the Wilson chapel Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, conducted by Rev. G.W. Burch. Burial will be in the Bachelder cemetery, beside his wife, who died March 7, 1912.. His body was interred in January 1918 at
Fredonia, Wilson Co., Kansas, at Bachelder Cemetery.