[2][3] He lived near a print shop in Randolph, as well as the local telegraph office, which enabled him to acquire training in both trades while he was still a teenager.

[5][6] He developed ciphers for transmitting secret communications, and worked with Thomas Eckert and Charles A. Tinker as confidential telegraphers for President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

[4] From 1895 to 1898 he served as aide-de-camp on the military staffs of Governors of Vermont Urban A. Woodbury and Josiah Grout with the rank of colonel.

In 1907 he paid to construct Randolph's Chandler Music Hall, a theater which has been recognized nationwide for superior acoustics that make it an ideal location for live performances.

[4] Their children included daughter Florence, who died in childhood, and sons Albert Eckert and Willis Derwin.

[4] His wife died in September, 1907, and in 1910 Chandler married Mildred Vivian of New York City, who had once been a stenographer at the Postal Telegraph Company.