Marriage date: April 30, 1874
Marriage place: Christ Church, Burlington, Iowa
Wife: Ellen Ann CHISSELL
Birthdate: November 9, 1846
Birthplace: Wimborne, Dorset, Egland
Death date: February 4, 1930
Place of death: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Father: Thomas Chissell
Mother: Ann
CHILDREN
Child No. 1: Leslie Homer Lock
Sex: M
Birthdate: October 22, 1882
Birthplace: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Death date: October 4, 1977
Place of death: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Hamilton County, Nebraska
Spouse's name: Christina Emma Tunall
Child No. 2: Harold Lee Lock
Sex: M
Birthdate: November 27, 1884
Birthplace: Nebraska
Death date: July 1, 1963
Place of death: Nebraska
Marriage date: July 24, 1902
Marriage place: Aurora, Nebraska
Spouse's name: Alta Perrell
Child No. 3: Elmer Fred Lock
Sex: M
Birthdate: March 26, 1886
Birthplace: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Death date: January 28, 1958
Place of death:
Marriage date: April 24, 1907
Marriage place: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Spouse's name: Etta Perrell
Child No. 4: Roy Irving Lock
Sex: M
Birthdate: December 15, 1887
Birthplace: Cedar Valley, Hamilton County, Nebraska
Death date: December 11, 1956
Place of death: Boothroy Memorial Hospital, Goodland, Sherman County, Kansas
Marriage date: October 20, 1907
Marriage place: Goodland, Sherman County, Kansas Spouse's name: Rachel Rozella Gardner
Child No. 5: Harry Gilfred Lock
Sex:
Birthdate: September 7, 1889
Birthplace: Marquette, Hamilton County, Nebraska
Death date: December 15, 1965
Place of death: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Marriage date: August 17, 1910
Marriage place: Central City, Merrick County, Nebraska
Spouse's name: Marguerite Jorgenson
Documentation:
* Certificate No. 114. Source: Des Moines County, Iowa/Book of Marriages 1872-1875, #9, page 36
* Burlington Daily Gazette, 5/10/1874, page 4. John F. Lock
* Marriage Index: Iowa, 1851-1900 Lock, John Spouse : Chissell, Ellen Ann Marriage Date: Apr 30, 1874
County : Des Moines Gender : Male Source : microfilm reference numbers Reference Number : 0956350 through 096352
* 1900 Nebraska Census
Lock, John
Relationship: Head
Color: White
Sex: Male
Birthdate: May, 1848
Age: 52
Married: 27 years
Birthdate: England
Father Birthdate: England
Mother Birthdate: England
Lock, Ellen
Relationship: Wife
Color: White
Sex: Female
Birthdate: November, 1847
Age: 52
Married: 27 years
Birthdate: England
Father Birthdate: England
Mother Birthdate: England
Lock, Leslie
Relationship: Son
Color: White
Sex: Male
Birthdate: October, 1882
Age: 17
Single
Birthdate: Nebraska
Father Birthdate: England
MotherBirthdate: England
Lock, Harold
Relationship: Son
Color: White
Sex: Male
Birthdate: November, 1884
Birthdate: Nebraska
Father Birthdate: England
Mother Birthdate: England
Lock, Elmer
Relationship: Son
Color: White
Sex: Male
Birthdate: March, 1887
Birthdate: Nebraska
Father Birthdate: England
Mother Birthdate: England
Lock, Roy
Relationship: Son
Color: White
Sex: Male
Birthdate: December, 1888
Birthdate: Nebraska
Father Birthdate: England
Mother Birthdate: England
* Obituary:
MRS. JNO. LOCK SUMMONED FEB. 4
The community was grieved on Tuesday to learn of the death of Mrs. John Lock, who
passed away at her home south of Central City, early that morning. She was a lady of
marked ability, with a keen mind and was an interesting conversationalist. She was devoted
to her home and family, and lived an exemplary life, doing much good and rearing a family
who are devoted to her memory and credit her life to her teachings Ellen A. Chissell was
born at Wimborne, County of Dorset, England on the 9th day of November, 1846 and passed
away at Central City on February 4, 1930, aged 83 years, 2 months and 25 days. She was the
daughter of Thomas and Ann Chissell, residents of Wimborne, England. She came to the
United States a short time prior to her marriage to John Lock, which occured on April 30,
1874 at Burlington, Iowa. Charles and John Lock had come over from England a short time
before and she made the trip across the Atlantic on the same ship with T. J. Lock, now
deceased. She was the mother of five sons; Leslie, Harold, Elmer, Harry of Central City
and Wallace (Should have been Roy of Wallace County, Kansas.) of the state of Kansas.
These together with the husband and father and fifteen grandchildren, survive. Mr. and
Mrs. Lock lived for one year at Burlington, Iowa and came to Central City in the year
1875, settling at Cedar Valley, Hamilton County, where they purchased railroad land. Here
they made their home until the year 1907, at which time they journeyrd back to England for
a six months visit with relatives and friends. This was their second trip to their home
land following their marriage. Upon their return to America they settled south of Central
City, where they purchased property and for the past twenty-two years this has remained
their home. She was a devout member of the First Church of Christ Scientist of this city
and derived much comfort from the teachings and the practices of this splendid faith.
Funeral services were conducted from the home at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and were in charge of
Mrs. J. W. Hutchison. Burial was at Mt. Zion Cemetery.
* A Brief Account Of The Life Of Ellen Chissell. Ellen A. Chissell was born November
9,1846 in Wimborne, County Dorset, England. She was one of several children of Thomas and
Ann Chissell of Wimborne. The Chissell family owned and operated a butcher shop and other
businesses in Wimborne, in addition to their farming interests. In 1874, at the age of 28,
Ellen Chissell traveled to the United States to join her fiancée, John Lock, then
living at Burlington in the State of Iowa. John was a recent immigrant to the United
States from the town of Wool, also in Dorset.
According to family memory John and Ellen became engaged prior to John making his way
to Iowa and finding work as a butcher. Ellen made this same voyage one year later on board
the White Star Line ship Oceanic, accompanied by John Locks brother James Lock. She kept a
diary throughout her journey, documenting her experiences on board ship, stopping in New
York City, and traveling by train to Burlington Iowa. On April 30, 1874, she was joined in
marriage to John Lock. After
a year in Burlington they traveled to Nebraska, where they purchased farmland from the
Union Pacific railroad in 1875. They built a home and farm buildings there one mile south
of the Platte River. This home and other farm buildings are still lived and used by Lloyd
Lock, a great grandson of John and Ellen Lock.
John and Ellen had five sons, Leslie, Harold, Elmer, Harry and Roy. All five sons
became farmers, with Roy moving to Wallace Kansas, and the other four sons owning land and
farming in Hamilton County Nebraska near the original farm home of John and Ellen. After
over 25 years on the farm, John and Ellen purchased property and built a house in nearby
Central City, Nebraska. They lived there for the remainder of their lives. In 1907, Ellen
and John made a return trip to their ancestral homes in southern England to visit
relatives, returning to Nebraska several months later.
Both Ellen and John were charter members and active in the Christian Science Church.
Ellen died in Central City at age 83 on February 4th, 1930, mourned by family and many
friends, and remembered in her obituary as a faithful believer and worker in her church.
By keeping a diary of her trip to America, Ellen apparently intended to give English
relatives a report of the long journey, the differences between her home country and the
newly emerging United States, and her adventures as she traveled to join her fiancee. At
the time of her marriage to John, at the end of her journey, Ellen noted in her diary that
she gave the diary to her new groom to mail home to her Aunt and Uncle in England. As she
notes in her diary, the lovestruck John forgot to mail it. She forgave him after she later
found the diary in his topcoat. She then mailed it relatives in Dorset who kept the diary
there for over one hundred years.
In April of 1978, Kathryn McHargue of Central City Nebraska was contacted by a Mr.
William Topp of Dorset, as a result of a letter Mr. Topp had written to the editor of the
Central City Nebraska newspaper. Mr. Topp had been given the diary of Ellen Chissell by
his mother, who was a niece of Ellen Chissell. In a series of letters which have been kept
by the family, Mr. Topp suggested that he would send the original diary to Mrs. McHargue.
He indicated his desire that someone in the Lock family living in the United States should
have the diary of Ellen Chissell Lock. Kathryn McHargue was the granddaughter of Ellen
Chissell Lock, and the daughter of Leslie Lock, one of her sons. Mr. Topp mailed the diary
to Mrs. McHargue, who in turn later entrusted it to William Lock, the great grandson of
Ellen Chissell Lock. The original diary remains in the possession of Mr. Lock, of Lincoln,
Nebraska. Many copies have been made and distributed to Lock relatives throughout the
United States. Through the efforts of Judy Lock, of Kansas, a transcript of the diary have
been made available to The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild.
Interested family and historical researchers are invited to use the diary, with
permission of the Lock family, and are invited to correspond with Judy Lock, or Mr.
William Lock, if material in the diary is published or used for research. It may be useful
to those examining the history of immigrants, and most particularly women migrating to the
American West. No other writings of Ellen Chissell are known to exist, although family
members in the United States now prize several drawings by her hand.
Ellen Chissells diary contains frank and negative views of the Irish people, and other
views that may have been held by persons of her social class and background at that time.
Ellen Chissell would probably be surprised today at the diverse views and beliefs of her
great grandchildren, and their children., including some marriages made to people of Irish
descent who also emigrated to the United States. She would no doubt be pleased that they
continue to lead happy and productive lives in the area to which she emigrated, and in the
States of Kansas, Colorado, and in other locations on both coasts of the United States.
Several descendants of Ellen Chissell and John Lock have made pilgrimages to the
County of Dorset to visit the birthplace of Ellen and John, and others such as Judy Lock
have made extensive efforts to document the lives and genealogy of the Lock families.
Lock or Chissell family members are invited to correspond with Judy Lock or William D.
Lock at the following addresses:
Judy Lock
6356 SW Church Road, Augusta, Kansas 67010
JCLock0514@aol.com <mailto:JCLock0514@aol.com>
William Lock
1415 South 7th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68502
wardlock@neb.rr.com <mailto:wardlock@neb.rr.com>
Written by William D. Lock.