Bettie Jean Chapman

Brief Life History of Bettie Jean

When Bettie Jean Chapman was born on 10 April 1927, in Santa Ana, Orange, California, United States, her father, Fred Simeon Chapman, was 41 and her mother, Mabel Hortense Heninger, was 35. She married Theron Charles Claridge Ellsworth on 27 May 1949, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. She lived in Orange Judicial Township, Orange, California, United States in 1940 and Orange, Orange, California, United States in 1950. She died on 26 June 1988, in San Francisco, California, United States, at the age of 61.

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Family Time Line

Theron Charles Claridge Ellsworth
1921–2014
Bettie Jean Chapman
1927–1988
Marriage: 27 May 1949

Sources (16)

  • Billie Jean Hutter, "United States 1950 Census"
  • Billie Jean Chapman, "California Birth Index, 1905-1995"
  • Betty J Ellsworth, "California Death Index, 1940-1997"

Spouse and Children

World Events (8)

1929

13 million people become unemployed after the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 triggers what becomes known as the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover rejects direct federal relief.

1934 · Alcatraz Island Becomes Federal Penitentiary

Alcatraz Island officially became Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on August 11, 1934. The island is situated in the middle of frigid water and strong currents of the San Francisco Bay, which deemed it virtually inescapable. Alcatraz became known as the toughest prison in America and was seen as a “last resort prison.” Therefore, Alcatraz housed some of America’s most notorious prisoners such as Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud. Due to the exorbitant cost of running the prison, and the deterioration of the buildings due to salt spray, Alcatraz Island closed as a penitentiary on March 21, 1963. 

1944 · The G.I Bill

The G.I. Bill was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans that were on active duty during the war and weren't dishonorably discharged. The goal was to provide rewards for all World War II veterans. The act avoided life insurance policy payouts because of political distress caused after the end of World War I. But the Benefits that were included were: Dedicated payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college or vocational/technical school, low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, as well as one year of unemployment compensation. By the mid-1950s, around 7.8 million veterans used the G.I. Bill education benefits.

Name Meaning

English: occupational name for a merchant or trader, Middle English chap(pe)man, chepman, Old English cēapmann, cēpemann, a compound of cēap ‘barter, bargain, price, property’ + mann ‘man’.

Jewish: adopted probably for a like-sounding or like-meaning name in some other European language; see for example Kaufman .

History: This name was brought independently to North America from England by numerous different bearers from the 17th century onward. John Chapmen (sic) was one of the free planters who assented to the ‘Fundamental Agreement’ of the New Haven Colony on June 4, 1639.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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