Marty and Karla Grant

!NOTE:Dates from Revolutionary War Pension File;
!NOTE:Estate Record:
<http://files.usgwarchives.org/sc/pickens/wills/chapman.txt>
PICKENS COUNTY, SC - ESTATE RECORD - Joseph CHAPMAN
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Joseph Chapman Sr. Estate Record
Pickens County
Submitted By: Nancy Sloan at sloanc@mindspring.com in Apr-2004

The following is submitted to correct the DAR record which incorrectly
claims that Joseph Chapman who served in the American Revolution and filed for
his pension as Capt. Joseph Chapman was the Joseph Chapman who married Jemima
Caswell and lived in Tyrrell County, NC. Many Chapman researchers have been
confounded by the DAR record. They have used the descendant names in the DAR
files erroneously without question.

Joseph Chapman of Pickens County who filed for a Revolutionary War Pension
in 1833 at Pickens Courthouse is not the same Joseph Chapman who lived, married
and died in Tyrrell County, NC.

Joseph Chapman of Tyrrell County died in 1798. His great great
granddaughter was the celebrated author, Inglis Fletcher (1879-1969). Her
biographer (INGLIS FLETCHER OF BADEN PLANTATION by Richard Gaither Walser,
Chapel Hill, NC, University of NC Library, UNC Library Publication series 17, v.
2) detailed the family history that inspired Inglis Fletcher to write about
Colonial North Carolina. The marriage of Joseph Chapman and Jemima Caswell and
the settlement of Joseph Chapman's estate in 1798 in Tyrrell County has been
documented. No record of service in the Revolution has been found for this
Joseph Chapman.

They had a son, Richard Chapman, who is the great grandfather of author,
Inglis Fletcher. Richard Chapman married Celia Davenport in Tyrrell County, NC.
About 1818, the family moved to Illinois and settled first near Alton, IL.
Richard died at the age of 94. This was where the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers met, only about a dozen miles from the old French fort of St. Louis.
Their son, Joseph, had been a little boy when they left NC and he carried with
him memories of his old home. He revived his remembrances when he visited the
Albemarle area as a young man. He and his wife, Rachel, had twelve children --
one of whom was the novelist's mother, Flora Deane Chapman.

The Joseph Chapman who filed the Revolutionary War Pension Application in
1833 obviously cannot be the Joseph Chapman who died in Tyrrell County, NC in
1798 and who is the Joseph Chapman listed in the DAR file. The Pension
Application was filed in 1833 in Pickens Courthouse, Pickens, SC and was
witnessed by Bailey Barton and William Keith.

Joseph Chapman stated in his application that he was born in Halifax
County, VA on December 25, 1745. When he entered the service of his country he
resided in Guilford County, NC. He enlisted to go with General Rutherford to
punish the Cherokees for attacking settlements at the instigation of the British
in 1776. He stated that he moved to Turkey Creek, Ninety Six District shortly
before the Fall of Charleston in 1780. Shortly afterward, he served at the
siege of Star Fort at Ninety Six. Later, in the final expedition against the
Cherokees lead by Andrew Pickens, he was wounded and unable to serve anymore.

Joseph's more detailed record of his service is in his pension
application. He did not return to North Carolina after he moved his family to
Ninety Six District in 1780. He sold the bounty land on Troublesome Creek of Haw
River that he was awarded for his service in North Carolina. There are land
transactions as well as census records to place him in Ninety Six District and
Pendleton District, later Pickens County, until his death in 1836.

1791 Joseph Chapman, of Pendleton County, bought 305 acres on the Saluda River,
south fork, from George and Mary Shuler.

1796 Joseph bought 98 acres on the Saluda River from Robert Townes. He sold
this tract in 1803 to Blake Mauldin.

1798 Joseph bought 137 acres on 23 Mile Creek (which is southeast of present
day, Easley) from Benjamin Smith.

1799 Joseph sold 300 acres on the 12 Mile River to Joseph Smith.

1800 Joseph bought 275 acres on 12 Mile River from Bennet and Dolitha Combs.

1804 Joseph bought the first of three parcels of 234 acres each, from three
Griffin brothers, which were to become Joseph's estate. This parcel came from
Answell Griffin.

1805 Joseph sold 200 acres on Golden's Creek to John Byrd.

1808 Joseph bought the second parcel of 234 acres from Oswell Griffin.

1815 Joseph bought the third parcel of 234 acres from Sergent Griffin.

Upon Joseph's death in 1836, his son, John Chapman, brought a bill of
complaint in the Court of Equity on May 2, 1836 against Enoch Chapman and others
showing that Joseph Chapman, Senior, departed this life intestate and owned
considerable real estate. (Conveyances, Book D-1, page 467, Pickens County
Courthouse, Pickens, SC)

The court ordered the land to be sold at auction to the highest bidder
since it would be hard to divide the estate equitably amongst the heirs.
Reverend John Burdine bought 778 acres for $1,511. Said land lay on both sides
of the 12 Mile River whereon Joseph Chapman had lately lived and adjoined lands
belonging to Benjamin Hagood and Sergent Griffin.

The far-flung heirs were notified and they either came or sent
representatives from as far away as Indiana and Illinois. Joseph Chapman, Jr.,
had died about the same time as his father. We know this because the estate
papers list the heirs of Joseph Chapman, Jr.

William Chapman is listed among the legatees but may have either been
disabled or deceased because his wife, Dorcas, assented to the marriage of their
minor son, Jeremiah, in Vanderburgh County, IN in 1832. There is a record in
Vanderburgh County, IN in which William signs over all his worldly goods to his
sons, Joseph and James, in return for the promise of caring for him and his
wife, their mother, Dorcas in 1829. William does not appear to have sent a
representative or attorney to represent his interest in his father's estate. He
was born approximately between 1770 and 1775.

The following is part of the probate records of Joseph Chapman, Sr. on
file in the Pickens County Courthouse, Pickens, SC Box 6

The petition of the undersigned legatees of the Estate of Joseph Chapman,
deceased, pray that you would appoint Benjamin Hagood Administrator of said
Estate as it was the wish of our father that he should act as Administrator and
we wish the property to be sold as quick as the law will allow for the property
is very much exposed.

There is no will made concerning the said property

Yours with Respect

John Chapman
John Garner
Enoch Chapman

Legatees Schedule of Payment

Nancy Patterson $ 228.00
William Chapman $ 598.00
John Chapman $ 158.00
Jeremiah Chapman $ 148.00
Elizabeth Magee $ 219.00
John Garner $ 214.00
Joseph Chapman, Jr. (his heirs) $ 213.00
Solomon Magee $ 147.00
Enoch Chapman $ 395.25
William Lynch $ 227.00
George Chapman $1,028.00
William Ladd $ 1.05

The following legatees or their representatives signed their agreement to the schedule of payments.

((x) indicates he made his mark)

Nancy Patterson, by her attorney in fact, James (x) Cantrell

Elizabeth McGee (Boze) by William Lynch and Jeremiah Chapman, her attorneys in
fact.
(Elizabeth Chapman married George McGee, removed with him to Smith County,
Tennessee where he died in 1821. She then married William Boze. This record
was abstracted in Smith County, Tennessee Wills, 1803 - 1896. F.C. Key,
McDowell Publishing Co., Utica, KY 1985.)

John, Thomas and Elizabeth Chapman by their appointed attorney, William Lynch.

William Lynch (in right of his wife, Violet Chapman) (signature)

Solomon (x) McGee (in right of his deceased wife, unnamed)

Jeremiah (x) Chapman

Archibald (x) Chapman, who served as attorney for:
Joseph Chapman
James Chapman
Jeremiah Chapman
John Henson
Samuel Sullivan

John Garner (in right of his wife, Jane) (his signature)

Enoch Chapman (his signature)

John (x) Chapman

George Chapman (his signature)


The following abstracts are included in Joseph, Sr.'s Probate Records and
pertain to his grandchildren by Joseph, Jr.

Joseph Chapman, Jeremiah Chapman and James Chapman of Vanderburgh County,
Indiana and Samuel Sullivan of Gibson County, Indiana and John Hinson of Wayne
County, Illinois appoint our friend, Archibald Chapman of Vanderburgh County,
Indiana, our attorney to obtain whatever may be due us as heirs of Joseph
Chapman what ever may be due us as heirs of Joseph Chapman (Junior) and Polly,
his wife, of Pickens District, South Carolina. Samuel Sullivan, in right of his
wife, Violet, formerly Violet Chapman, and John Hinson in right of his wife,
Polly, formerly Polly Chapman.

**Just a note - I believe that the above entry has either a clerical error or
transcription error. James Chapman and Jeremiah Chapman of Vanderburgh County,
VA are identified in the Indiana Marriage records as children of William and
Dorcas Chapman. If Archibald Chapman represented the children of William
Chapman in lieu of Joseph Chapman, Jr. it would clear up a mystery as to why no
one appears to have signed for William's portion of the estate.

Signed at Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana on January 31, 1837."

Elizabeth Boze appoints Jeremiah Chapman and William Lynch her attorneys
for her inheritance from her father, Joseph Chapman, deceased.
Signed February 23, 1837 in Smith County, Tennessee."

John, Thomas and Betsy Chapman, sons and daughter of Joseph Chapman,
appoint William Lynch their attorney. All of the above were residents of
Simpson County, Kentucky at this time. William Lynch was instructed to "sue for
their proportioned parts of the said Joseph Chapman's, deceased, our
Grandfather's estate."

Signed February 18, 1837, Town of Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky.

Finally, the minor children of Joseph Chapman, Jr -

Received December 24, 1841 of Miles C. Norton, $42.81 in full of the
distributive share of Nancy Hightower, formerly Nancy Chapman, daughter of
Joseph Chapman, Jr. and her husband, Hemington Hightower, and Elbert Penbrook,
in behalf of his children, the heirs of Mary Penbrook, formerly Mary Chapman