New Chapman information - cont. from January 17, 2014 post

Among the many projects I am working on, I have continued to research John Chapman and his family. Please reread the post from January 17 of this year to refresh your memory.

I have concluded a couple of things:

1) I do think there is a valid argument for Ira - a last child, born about 1800-1801, to be the 11th child of John Chapman. Not only did each of the eight children (land records found so far) selling parcels of land that were bequeathed to them from "their honored father" John Chapman of New Marlborough state just that, but they all indicated they were selling their "11th share." That certainly gives the impression there were probably 11 children.

Ira, in the Berkshire County Probate office, is noted in December, 1814, as a minor and is bonded to Isaac Turner, as his guardian. John Chapman died in September 1814. Ira would have been only 14 at the time and in need of a guardian. His mother, Dorcas, died in 1814 also.

Ira appears in New Marlborough in the 1840 census with a possible two daughters and a wife. In the 1850 census, New Marlborough, he is called a widow and has one daughter, Ellen, living with him. I do not find him in the 1860 census. In the State of Massachusetts 1865 census, he is living with the Hastings Benson family in New Marlborough. More research on this family needs to be done - could the wife of Hastings, Lidelin (?), be his daughter? When Ira dies in 1868, the records list his father as John Chapman, but no mother is named.

With these above facts, I think a case can be made for Ira being a child of John Chapman.

As far as John Chapman being a son of Peletiah Chapman and from Sharon - that has finally been verified by a land record found in Sharon, Litchfield County, CT. John is selling the land he inherited from his father Peletiah, to his brother, William. It is all fitting together nicely.

Now, to get this all written and possibly published. I have started, but it is slow going. Trying to decide exactly how I am going to use this and what to include, how to organize it, etc., is causing me FITS!