3nd Great Grandfather of Shelley Susanne Burns Burnham
John Thomas Chewning was born 16 February 1836 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia to John V and Permilia Henderson Chewning, and was the 11th and last child. Their home was Mt View. John Thomas helped his father with farming next to the Jones farm growing up.
On 25 Sep 1859, John Thomas married Margaret Frances Tinder. They made their home on Ely’s Ford Road There, they raised 9 children. The hard-working family farmed all their lives.
On Friday evening, 28 October 1910, he fed and bedded down his horses, and headed back to the house. Just outside the door, he was stricken with paralysis from a stroke and fell to the ground. He died later that evening. He was buried Sunday, on his Chewning Plantation.
His widow moved to Madison to live with a daughter. On Friday evening, 12 December 1913, she suffered a stroke and paralysis and passed away the same night. Her body was brought back to the Chewning Plantation and buried beside her husband.
Some ironies apply to their story. John was three years older that his wife and died three years before she did. They died at the same age. Both died on Friday, and both were buried on Sunday, from the same cause of death.