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Josiah Clark Chadwick
Family History
Josiah Clark Chadwick (known to family and friends as "Joe", but known to me as "Grandaddy")
was a quiet man who didn't talk much about his life. Most of the facts gathered in this writing
are from documents | inherited and stories by family members told long after he was gone.
Josiah was born on March 28, 1898 on Shackleford Banks, North Carolina. His birth was
recorded in Straits, NC on the mainland. He was one of the last babies born on Shackleford
Banks, since the devastation of the 1899 hurricane caused all residents to move to the
mainland by 1902.
Josiah was born to Josiah Willis Chadwick and Missouri Moore Chadwick, both of long time
North Carolina fishing families whose history can be traced back to the whaling days. Josiah
Willis was with the Bogue Inlet Life Saving Station, and his service jacket from that duty is on
display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, North Carolina.
The Chadwick family established residence in Beaufort shortly after moving from Shackleford
Banks and the family home is still occupied by Chadwick descendants to this day.
Joe had two siblings: Samuel Thomas Chadwick and Pauline Ruth Chadwick.
Joe married Stella Sophia Morris from Staten Island, New York, in 1926, and had three sons:
Francis Clark Chadwick, John (Jack) Willis Chadwick (my father), and Warren J Chadwick.
Joe's career was on the water from nearly his first working days, although he didn't carry on the
family fishing tradition. He started as a radio operator with Western Union in 1917, then
moved quickly to the shipping industry, working in various positions on freighters running from
North Carolina to New York, before finding a position with the Army Corps of Engineers in
North Carolina (then a part of the War Department) in 1927.
He worked 32 years for the Corps, and his work carried him into practically all of the 1500 miles
of federal waterway projects in Eastern North Carolina. His primary tasks were with diesel
engines for the majority of his career and then in 1949 shifted to inspection work aboard
dredges. His service includes duty on the Manteo, Albemarle, Neuse, Kitty Hawk, Dredge
Josenhans and numerous others.
Grandaddy passed away March 31, 1980, just days after turning 82 years old. He lived a
productive work and home life, enjoying a 53-year marriage to Stella, who died in 1979, and
raising three successful sons.
Pictures attached are:
Josiah with his sons at a young age (from left, Jack, Warren, Josiah and Francis)
Josiah and Stella with their sons as teenagers (from left, Josiah, Jack, Stella, Warren and
Francis)
Josiah and family on the occasion of Stella's funeral (from left, sister Pauline, Jack, sister-
in-law Alice, Josiah, Warren, and Francis)
Josiah at his desk
Josiah (second from right) with the crew of the tug Kitty Hawk
Submitted June 2022 by:
Darlene Chadwick Thibodeau, daughter of John (Jack) Willis Chadwick, granddaughter of Josiah
Clark Chadwick
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