Hulda Lord

Life Story - Chapman & Tully Family Histories

"ROBERT CHAPMAN. The Chapman family traces its line in America from Robert Chapman, who was born in 1616, and came from England to Boston in 1635. In November of that year he came to Saybrook, where in 1642 he married Ann Bliss, who died in 1685. He died two years later. The first house was built by him in 1666. From this ancestor Robert Chapman, of Saybrook, who was born December 8, 1831, is descended in the sixth generation, his line being through Nathaniel, Caleb, Elisha and George H. Nathaniel Chapman, son of Robert, born in 1653, was married first to Mary Collins, of Guilford, in 1681, and to Hannah Bates, his second wife, in 1698. For many years he was a deacon in the Congregational Church, and represented the town in the General Court at twenty-four sessions, beginning with 1697 and ending with 1723. He was a large landowner. His death occurred in 1726, his widow's in 1750. Caleb Chapman, son of Nathaniel, was born in 1706, and in 1729 married Thankful Lord, who died in 1747. For many years Mr. Chapman was a deacon in the Saybrook Church. He built the second homestead in 1710. Elisha Chapman, son of Caleb, born in 1740, was married in 1762 to Huldah Lord, and they were the parents of a family of thirteen children. Mr. Chapman was a man of wide information, and occupied a prominent position in civil and religious affairs. He was a private in the French war, being at the taking of Montreal, and was a captain in the Revolutionary forces during that struggle participating in the campaigns around New York. The old homestead of Robert Chapman, on Oyster river, was his home also. He died in June, 1825, and his wife in 1817. George H. Chapman, son of Elisha, born in 1789, died November 13, 1877. On November 3, 1814, he was married to Miss Lucia Tully, who was descended in the sixth generation from John Tully, who died in England in 1644. John Tully, his son, was the first of the family in Saybrook. Mr. Chapman began his career as a teacher, and from the small savings of his first term in Killingworth was able to embark in trade. As his means increased he fitted himself out for traveling, and presently became a successful merchant on the road. He traveled from Portland on the north, to Washington, D. C., on the south, and through the great Southern and Western States, and being a skillful trader, presently became rich enough to start a wholesale store in fancy goods in Boston, and was sole agent there for ivory combs, hooks and eyes, and augers. After some twenty years of successful business in that city he established two of his older sons in the business there, and retired to the old family homestead in Saybrook, which he had greatly enlarged by increased lands, and improved by a handsome edifice. He enriched the land by scientific cultivation until the farm became widely known as one of the best in the town. Mr. Chapman was called upon to fill several important offices, and was sent to the General Assembly to represent his town. He was a wide reader, and had a valuable fund of general information. To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman were born the following children: ( 1) George Henry, born May 15, 1817, died April 20, 1887. He was a merchant of Boston, and had his home in Winchester, Mass. Roxana Maria Brooks, his wife, bore him three children. Frances H.. Ellen L. and George H. (2) Harriet, born April 15, 1819. died June 14. 1897. She had a considerable reputation as a student of local genealogy. She married Rev. Amos Sheffield Chesebrough, a Congregational clergyman, and was the mother of Sarah, Harriet and Sheffield, of St. Louis. (3) Edward, born December 2, 1820, died August 21, 1889. He married Mary Ann Field, and they had children— Mary Florence, George Edward, Edith Maria, Fanny Field, Nellie Wallace and Gertrude Louise. (4) Clarissa, born January 12, 1824, died December 16, 1871, at Deep River. She married Richard F. Spencer. (5) Robert is the subject proper of this article. Robert Chapman and Maria Green Shepard were...