CHAPMAN-ALLEN 1

05 August 2000

PREPARED BY: Anita Clendinen Enquist, P. 0. Box 246, Warm Springs, GA 31830

PREPARED FOR: Glenn Vaughn Jr., 1801 Elmwood Drive, Columbus, GA 31906

OBJECTIVES: To discover as much information possible of forebears of grandmother, MARTHA JANE (MATTIE) CHAPMAN, researching the lines of her father, JOHN FIELDS CHAPMAN and her mother, MARTHA JANE ALLEN and related families.

PROCEDURES: On July 24, 2000 at the Georgia Department of Archives and History,  Atlanta, I began this assignment with the usual search into census records in order to place the families in their respective counties, and to see who were their neighbors. Starting with the earliest known, William M. Chapman, I proceeded to search all the census records during his lifetime, which of course, also showed the record of other direct members of the family, as his son, John Fields Chapman. To date, the census records 1840-1870 have been recorded for William M. Chapman and wife, Sarah C. (Lewis) Chapman. I located their marriage record and have enclosed a reader-printer copy for your files. I assumed you were lacking her maiden name as it didn't appear on the family chart you gave me. (As you see, they married in Greene County, Georgia 14 December 1837. Greene County, Georgia Marriage Register, 1829-1849, page 214. Microfilm 186-27.)

As it was not unusual for a newly-married girl to want to live near her mother, I believe the census record for 1840 enclosed is your William Chapman, age 20-30, wife same age. The 10-15 year old male living with them is probably a younger brother of one of them. In the neighborhood lives a Thomas Lewis, 20-30, as well as Henry Lewis, age 50-60, very possibly Sarah's father. I will pursue the Lewis family as well. (Federal Census 1840, Greene County, Georgia, page 32. Microfilm 331-18.)

By 1850, William and Sarah have moved over into Hancock County where William is employed as an overseer. They are the parents of five children and apparently they stopped. With that number, evidenced by later census records. (Of course, there could have been children who were born and died between census years.)

It's reasonable to assume that William worked for someone who lived fairly close by and who had enough "people" to warrant hiring an overseer. By comparing the 1850 census with the slave schedule of that same year and in 1860, I found four planters who could have been William's employer:

-Seaborn Lawrence, 90-100 slaves, included in personal property valued at $63,700.

-Carlisle P. Beaman, 90+ slaves, personal property valued at $60.000. Beaman was a member of the family and possibly son of the New Englander who came South about 1813 and became the minister of the well-know Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church near Sparta. His name was N.N. S. Beman, as it appears in the old records, which are on microfilm at the Archives. I wonder if your family attended church there since it was near to where they lived? Do you have any idea what denomination they were?

-Thomas C. Gaines, l00+ slaves. Did not appear in the 1860 census.

 -Sylvanus Walker, 21 slaves. Did not appear in the 1860 census.

It would be interesting to know at which plantation William was employed. Unfortunately, the slave schedules don't name the overseers. And, I also wonder just how many slaves a planter had before he needed to hire an overseer. (Federal Census 1850, Hancock County, Georgia, page 10, Microfilm 331-43. /Georgia Slave Schedule, 1850, Hancock County. MF 331-62.)

By 1860 and through the 1870 census, William and his family are over in Putnam County , in District 308, near Eatonton. (Federal Census 1860, Putnam County, Georgia, page 427, MF 332-21 and Federal Census 1870, Putnam County, Georgia, page 56. MF 333-9.) In 1870, Sarah is missing from the family and has no doubt died. William, 58, is living with his two unmarried daughters, Nancy and Mary, to keep house; next door is son, Miles R., young wife, Mary, and year-old child. We don't know how old William was when he died so I plan to continue the census records and other county records searching for information on him.

As you are descended from John Fields Chapman, son of William and Sarah, I focused on him but I think it is important to record the census records for all the children, if possible.

John Fields Chapman, as you see, is included in the census records of his father unti11870, where he and wife Martha J. appear in Newton County, in or near Covington, in Subdivision 96. (Federal Census 1870, Newton County, Georgia, page 38. MF333-6.) The census taker came around on July 19 and your grandmother, Mattie, was born on November 1 st. Interestingly, right next door appears the family of James R. Allen, 61, and his family... an uncle of Martha J. perhaps? Also living near is the Early Allen family. The Allens will be pursued later. (Note: I did record the family of one John Allen, 35, in the 1850 census of Putnam County, 70th District, who might be Martha Jane's father. It all depends on her month of birth, if she came along after September 24th, the day the census taker came around. The youngest child, Charles, is 4 years old so it would fit for her to be born in that year. I don't think the John Allen, 21, in Newton County, living in the home of William and E. A. Montgomery, could be Martha Jane's father since she was born in 1850; and as he didn't appear to be married at that time, it would have been hard for him to get married and also have a child by the end of that year.)

I searched Frances Ingmire's typescripts for a marriage record for John Fields Chapman and wife, Martha Jane Allen; counties, Newton, Putnam, Hancock, Jasper, Walton, Baldwin and Morgan. I use them for clues to the originals. I'll check the original books on film. They must have married about 1868-69.

John Fields Chapman's 1905 obituary gave me a good clue to finding Confederate records on him. I pulled the Newton County, Georgia Confederate Roster, 1861-1865. MF 11-55, which included the Confederate Pension Roll, 1890-1912. Also, The Confederate Pension Applications, Newton County, Georgia. MF 275-37, which is always a goldmine of information on veterans. I made reader-printer copies of those pages for you. Did you have information on his service in the War?

He enlisted in Company I, 8th Georgia Regiment on August 25, 1861, in Greene County. Was taken prisoner at Richmond, March 1865 and was in prison in Washington, DC. Sometime during the War, his right arm was amputated at the elbow joint. (At least, he didn't have to be in prison for long as the war ended approximately a month later or less.) I can order his complete service record for you, including his medical record, from Washington, which would give more detail and no doubt tell where his surgery took place. It usually takes several months to get it.

In December 1903, when he applied for the pension, he stated his wife was 46 years old and that he had 3 minor children, ages 3, 6 and 13. A man by the name of J. W. Allen served as a witness for the application. The Ordinary attested to the fact that Allen was of  "good character and worthy of credit and belief." This must have been someone in his first wife's family. I'll try to identify him.

It is interesting to see that he gave his date of birth as November 27, 1837. Yet all the census records consistently estimate his birth as taking place in 1842-43. His parents didn't marry until December, 1837, so I think he was just not thinking at the time. I still have to look at the 1900 census, which is the last one in which he'll appear.