Name: CHATFIELD, Frank S.
Born 1889.02.04
State: Wisconsin
Died: 1957.12.25
County: Maricopa (Arizona)
Father: Dewitt Chatfield
Born: Wisconsin
Mother: Makie Elizabeth Rhodes
Born: Wisconsin
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Find A Grave Memorial# 9261035
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Frank Chatfield Played With Waukesha Symphony
Cooney Chief engineer Has Become Skillful Violin Maker, repair Man
Oconomowoc—As violins go, the first one Frank Chatfield made 53 years ago wasn't much. It played, however, and that served the purpose for the 12 year old boy who "liked to make things."
Chatfield made that first, crude violin on the sly. He appropriated his mother's fire shovel for the neck, back and top. For strings he used thread from her sewing box. He made the bridge out of a chip from the wood pile.
At a loss as to what to use for the bow, he sought out his father. "Just a stalk of wood and some hair from a horse's tail would do," came the reply from a father who didn't really suspect his son was making a violin. His son had warned his father before, however, that some day he would make a violin
Chatfield followed his father's suggestion exactly — again on the sly. He cut off a branch from a family cherry tree. His uncle's white horse supplied, though unwillingly, the hair.
"I guess I got too close with the shears and the horse just ripped my uncle's buggy all to pieces," Chatfield recalled recently. "I sneaked back into the cellar the same way I came."
The instrument made music — after a fashion. He played it in the basement only when his mother lay down for a nap.
One day Mrs. Chatfield told her husband that she thought their Troy Center house was haunted, that she heard eerie sounds, especially when she lay down.
The elder Chatfield heard the sound himself one day, but he tracked down the "ghost" for his relieved wife — their son playing his violin in the cellar.
Chatfield's skill as a violin maker increased considerably with the years. He now makes about two a year in his shop at the rear of his home, 213 E. Oak st. Several years ago he sold one to a person in New England, N.D. for $650 — the highest price one of his products ever commanded. He sold another 18 months ago to a person in Los Angeles, Calif., for $600.
CHATFIELD, an employee of the Oconomowoc Water and Light department for 35 years and its chief engineer for 30, also repairs string instruments in his shop. In addition to his violins, he also has made two cellos and the tops and backs for basses.
He has been playing the violin since he was 7, when his father purchased him one and a neighbor gave him lessons.
"I could play three or four pieces before I went to bed the first night I got the violin," Chatfield said. "Now I'm 65 and I can't play any better than I could at 7."
Chatfield has played with the Waukesha Symphony orchestra for about five seasons.
Without interruptions, Chatfield feels that he could make a violin in about two weeks. But when one works eight hours a day on his regular job and has repair work to complete on instruments, there are bound to be interruptions.
Once the violin is made, too, Chatfield allows another three months for varnishing so that it cures properly. A secret formula which Chatfield said only he and his son knows, is used for varnishing.
Most vital element in the violin is the soft curley (flamed) maple, of which the backs, necks and ribs are constructed. Shortly after coming to Oconomowoc in 119, Chatfield found an ample supply of curley maple. He now has enough corded for 200 backs.
"The backs could just as well be made out of plain wood," Chatfield explained, "but plain wood would not be as beautiful as curley maple when varnished. Selling one make of wood other than curley maple would be very difficult."
Glued together in Chatfield's violins are 219 separate pieces of wood/ Spruce is used for the tops, willow for the corner and end blocks and lining (reinforcing) strips and ebony for the trimmings.
Chatfield never uses his curley maple until it has been cured at least 14 years. About three months before the wood is used, it is placed in the sun and turned over periodically.
The wood must pass a rigorous tone test before Chatfield uses it. Here is how he does it:
From the freshly cut tree, he takes an inch square piece of wood from the second cut from the bottom and bakes it until all the moisture is out. Then he saws the wood until it is one half inch square and seven and a half inches long. This piece of wood is tied to a string, which he holds while tapping the wood with an old felt (piano) hammer.
"If a certain tone is produced — I can't tell you just what tone, of course — it can be used for a violin," Chatfield said. "If the tone is above this certain tone, the violin tone would be harsh; if it is below, the violin would be sluggish."
"When the tops and backs are finished," Chatfield continued, "they must be tuned together. The tops must be one tone lower than the backs."
Chatfield made his second "fiddle" the same year he made his first — this one out of a cigar box. The more violins he made the better became his workmanship. Most of the early violins were given away to friends.
He began making and selling violins regularly following his marriage in 1911. Chatfield's first violin transaction was completed in 1912, when he traded one in the Western part of the state for 25 gallons of honey.
Chatfield has four children — one son and three daughters. Three are musically inclined. One daughter is an artist.
A bolt of lightning, the small bespectacled Chatfield believes, helped him resume violin making in his younger days. He had not make any for two years following an attack of diphtheria which left him "practically paralyzed" from the hips down. He used a cane.
One day, while helping his mother with the washing, a storm developed.
"A lightening bolt struck a tree and the concussion knocked both mother and me down. I got up and ran into the house, forgetting about my cane. Soon after that my limbs began to loosen up."
Chatfield did not say whether it was a curley maple tree.
Waukesha Daily Freeman - Waukesha, Wisconsin - 14 Sep 1954
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USA Census, 1920
Name Frank Chatfield
Event Place Oconomowoc Ward 1, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Gender Male
Age 30
Marital Status Married
Race White
Relationship to Head of Household Head
Birth Year (Estimated) 1890
Birthplace Wisconsin
Father's Birthplace Wisconsin
Mother's Birthplace Illinois
Sheet Letter A
Sheet Number 6
Frank Chatfield Head M 30 Wisconsin
Theresa Chatfield Wife F 29 Wisconsin
Clinton Chatfield Son M 6 Wisconsin
Dorothy Chatfield Dau F 4 Wisconsin
Gladys Chatfield Dau F 2 North Dakota
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USA Census, 1930
Name: Frank S Chatfield
Event Place: Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Birth Year (Estimated): 1889
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Father's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Mother's Birthplace: Indiana
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Frank S Chatfield Head M 41 Wisconsin
Theresa Chatfield Wife F 39 Wisconsin
Clinton Chatfield Son M 16 Wisconsin
Dorothy Chatfield Dau F 14 Wisconsin
Gladys Chatfield Dau F 12 North Dakota
Buelah Chatfield Dau F 8 Wisconsin
District: 0029 , Sheet Number and Letter: 8B , Household ID: 212 , Line Number: 69 , GS Film number: 2342350 , Digital Folder Number: 004547584 , Image Number: 00928
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USA Census, 1940
Name: Frank Chatfield
Event Place: Ward 3, Oconomowoc, Oconomowoc City, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Gender: Male
Age: 51
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Birth Year (Estimated): 1889
Last Place of Residence: Same House
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Frank Chatfield Head M 51 Wisconsin
Theresa Chatfield Wife F 49 Wisconsin
Dorothy Chatfield Dau F 24 Wisconsin
Gladys Chatfield Dau F 22 North Dakota
Beulah Chatfield Dau F 18 Wisconsin
District: 67-32 , Family Number: 223 , Sheet Number and Letter: 9B , Line Number: 56 , Affiliate Publication Number: T627 , Affiliate Film Number: 4533 , Digital Folder Number: 005461242 , Image Number: 00833
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USA World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
Name: Frank Silas Chatfield
Event Date: 1942
Event Place: Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 04 Feb 1889
Affiliate ARC Identifier: 623273
Affiliate Publication Title: World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) for the State of Wisconsin , Affiliate Publication Number: M2126 , GS Film Number: 1572586 , Digital Folder Number: 004249948 , Image Number: 02666
