My Wife's Chapman Family

My father-in-law, Benjamin F. VanVliet, Jr.died on Friday night 11/15/2013 at his home in Vermont.  My wife, Katrina, is going to a memorial service in a few days and was asked to read a poem written by her great grandfather Chapman.  The poem was entitled "Thy Little Song".  Ben's wife, Barbara, asked her if Tom (me) could find out anything about him so that she could say a few words about him.  This is where being married to me comes in handy.

I checked my genealogy app and found that I had absolutely nothing entered about Ben's mother, Edith Chapman. I was always told to write down what you know and go backwards in time to do someone's genealogy, so I know she was born about 1898 in Pueblo Colorado to Joseph W. Chapman and Julia Prichard Chapman.  She married Ben's father, Benjamin VanVliet and they lived in Shrewsbury, where they had two children:  Edith and Ben.  Edith Chapman died in Florida in November 1978.

Edith's father was Joseph Warren Chapman and was born in Marblehead Mass. 26 Nov 1855 to Joseph Warren Chapman and Louisa Morse.  He lived in Franklin Mass in 1880 and was an assistant school teacher at the School Department of Dean Academy,  where he shows up in the 1880 census.  He married Julia Prichard on 24 Nov1885, in Marblehead.  Julia was born in on June 14, 1858 in Bradford, VT, according to her passport application, which also says that Joseph passed away on January 14, 1909.  In the fall of 1889, they moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where they were counted in the 1900 census.  Joseph is a librarian and owns the house that they live in without a mortgage.  He and Julia have four children, but only three are alive in 1900:  Edward P, Edith M (Ben's mother) and Janet.  A daughter, Katherine, passed away in 1896.  Also living in the house are a servant and a nurse.  Julia applied for the passport in 1925 and was quite the traveler.  She went to France, England, Switzerland, and Italy on board the Franci on February 28, 1925.  There is also a record of her returning to New York from Hamilton, Bermuda on on March 3, 1934, on the SS "Queen of Bermuda", where she must have vacationed with her sister Anna, who is listed right above her.

I found a copy of Joseph's book, "Poems" edited and arranged by George Chinn 1913 on http://www.unz.org/Pub/ChapmanJoseph-1913, and the book contains this photo of Joseph Warren Chapman 1855 to 1909:

Joseph W Chapman 1855 - 1909

Not content with this info, I looked to Joseph's father and found this information:

Joseph Warren Chapman Sr was born in Marblehead, Mass on July 24, 1828 to Nathanial and Martha (Ogleby) Chapman.  Joseph marries Louisa Blackler on April 15, 1855. Remember that their son Joseph was born in November of that same year.  Now again, I am no mathematician, but I know that eleven minus four does not equal nine, but I would be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  It was close (I have to admit it is kind of nice to see these math problems pop up in other families as well as mine). I found these records in Massachusetts Town and Vital Records 1620 to 1988 record group on Ancestry.com.  The record is handwritten into a ledger book (in excellent, readable handwriting) and says that Joseph Sr and Louisa were both born in Marblehead, and it gives Joseph's occupation as "cordwainer".  Any guesses, because I didn't know until I googled it.  It is a shoemaker.  In the 1860 census, his occupation is shoemaker, but I guess Mass. likes the old English term better.  Joseph dies 5 Oct 1863 in Marblehead, of consumption.

All of the information that I got on the Chapman family, I found on line.  Most of it on Ancestry.com and the book on the website that I listed.  Massachusetts towns apparently kept excellent records and the ones for Marblehead are all in excellent, very readable handwriting.  I actually wrote most of this post right after my father-in-law passed away, but never got around to posting it.

I found all of this information in one night - probably about 4 hours of research.  I found my wife's great great grandfather's birth record and his father's name and mother's name and maiden name. I found so much information that the first time Katrina read it, it did not make sense.  I actually had to leave some stuff out so that it sounded right.  That is something that will probably never happen again.