JOHN CHEVALLIER

The following bio was taken from page 147 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

When John Chevallier, Sr. heard about the East Texas oil discoveries in December 1930, he was thirty-seven years old and had been firing boilers on a drilling rig near Delhi, Louisiana. He and his wife, Emma had five boys and two girls, some household goods and a flatbed truck. They were soon loaded up and headed to where the action was.

John rented a house at Pistol Hill in North Rusk County. The house was large, so he "fixed up" two rooms across the hall, filled them with cots, and rented them to pipe liners who had been sleeping in their cars. Emma started cooking for some of the men, then later hired a cook and started one of the first boarding houses in the new oil field. John went to work firing boilers (with wood) in the rig that drilled the second well in the Kilgore field.

At that time, the oldest boy, Hubron, was fifteen; Levell, thirteen; Janie, eleven; J. C., nine; John Jr., seven; May, five; and Vernon, two. The five older children started to school at Red Level; but as the oil field moved, John moved the family from Pistol Hill to Pirtle, to Leverett’s Chapel, and then to Gladewater.

When John was at home, he would talk about the oil field and his work. He would describe in detail the different operations of the rig and how to fire the boilers. Soon the five boys learned to like and to want to be a part of the "oil patch."

Most of the children finished their schooling in Gladewater, and two of the boys and both girls married there. Then came World War II. Three of the boys and two sons-in-law joined the armed services. Levell was an army lieutenant in North Africa and in Italy; J. C. was in the Seabees in the Pacific; John, Jr. was in the armored division in Ft. Knox, Kentucky; Janie’s husband, Bill Elder, was in the Navy in San Diego; and May’s husband, Ray Huarte, flew P-38’s in the European theatre.

After the war, all the brothers took up careers in different areas of the oil business, and each started raising his family.

John, Sr. died in 1956 and Emma moved back to Rusk County. Soon three of her children and their families were located here. The others are scattered in the western states. Hubron has an oil well location building company in the Texas panhandle. Levell owns a consulting firm and a fishing tools company in Idaho and Wyoming. J. C. has retired after working in several phases of the oil business and he lives near Tatum. John Jr. lives at Joinerville and owns a tank and treater business, and Vernon is in the drilling field in Washington. Janie and Bill live in Henderson and he is a retired bookkeeper. Mae and Ray are in Pittsburgh, California, where he works in a steel mill.

Emma is eight-seven years old and lives here in Rusk County. Though her sight is poor, she still has a sharp mind and is independent. She likes to reminisce and is very proud that although (or perhaps because) she raised her seven children through trying uncertain times, they all turned out to be honest, industrious and productive citizens.

Submitted by Mrs. John Chevallier, Jr.