On May 4, 1890, J. W. Chism married Miss Fanny Campbell, daughter of G.M. Campbell of Joshua, Texas. To this union were born six children, three girls and three boys (Four of whom are still living, three girls and one boy, on boy having died when nine, and the oldest, Matt Hugh being killed on the battlefields of France, Nov. 1, 1918. J.W. Chism began preaching the fourth Sunday in April, 1891, at the urgent demand of the elders at Joshua, of whom G.M. Campbell was one. Fanny proved to be a companion indeed, and a helper in his work as a minister. She was always willing to make the necessary sacrifices that he might devote his whole time to preaching. During the first year of his ministry, he preached twenty-seven times, and in the beginning of his second year he conducted his first religious debate. This was followed by a second in November of the same year, and a third in February of the next year. June, the third Sunday, 1892, he began his first protracted meeting. He preached eleven sermons, all he could then preach, and baptized ten, all of whom were grown people. From that time his work as a preacher began to call him for other work, and by 1893 he was kept busy all the time. For years following, he could fill scarcely a tenth part of the calls he has for meetings. Fanny died in 1906, leaving him with six children, the oldest, a girl not quite fifteen, and a baby boy of three. This was the hardest blow of his life. —J.H. Childress, Firm Foundation, Vol. 51, No. 46; Tuesday, November 13, 1934 page 2.

While he was selling life insurance in Oklahoma his beloved wife, Fannie, took consumption and the doctors advised a move. They returned to Texas and located at Gorman where they stayed for a little over a year. At the insistence of his wife he quit the insurance business to devote his full time to the work of his Master. Fannie's health failed and finally, at 6:00 A.M. on August 21st of 1908 his beloved "brown eyes" passed from the trials of this world into that sweet rest that remains for the people of God. Fannie was buried in the peaceful cemetery at De Leon, Texas. This was a hard blow.... While J. W. was preaching in a meeting in Anson, Texas, Jack passed away on April 11, 1907, and he was buried beside his mother in the cemetery in De Leon, Texas. —Gospel Preachers Of Yesteryear, Loyd L. Smith, pages 100-107, This Article Originally Appeared In The Christian Worker, written by Flavil Yeakley, May 1978.