Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 916
JAMES CHAPMAN

James CHAPMAN, a farmer residing on section 1, of Union Township, came to Harrison County in the spring of 1864, in company with his parents. They leased a piece of land of Lindley Evans, in Cass Township, and remained there two years. Having given the date, and location of this family's settlement, the reader's attention is now turned to the birthplace of our subject, which was Wiltshire, England, where he was born in February, 1839. He is the son of John and Harriet (COLEMAN) CHAPMAN who were the parents of the following children, of whom our subject is the eldest. The order of this family is as follows: James, Elijah, Rebekah, Judah, John, Nephi, Harriet J., Eliza J., Heber W., Thomas and Benjamin. Of this family seven boys are still living.

James came to America in 1853, landing at New Orleans, where he lay confined to his room, for four long weeks, with the small pox, which he had been exposed to upon the boat. He was in a strange land in a great city, without friends to look after him, but thanks be to our public, charitable institutions, after one week he was taken to a hospital, where he was well cared for. In relating this to the writer, Mr. Chapman says he hopes to be able at some day, to bequeath a sum sufficient to repay the city for all that they in their kindness did for him, believing as he does that the hospital saved his life.

From the Crescent City he went to St. Louis, remained a week, and then embarked for Kansas City, near which place he worked on a farm for four weeks, and then went to Utah, where he worked at farm labor for three years. We next find him in the employ of the Overland Stage Company, with whom he remained for three years. The next three years he was at work with the mountaineers, and then came to Harrison County.

He was married February 11, 1866, to Mary Ann SMITH, daughter of Jackson and Mary SMITH, natives of North Carolina and New York, respectively. They were the parents of thirteen children as follows: Margaret, Hannah, John, Elizabeth, one deceased, Ruth, Isaac, Mary A., Eliza, Jackson, Julia, deceased, Rachel, Joseph, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. SMITH went to Utah where they both died.

Our subject and his wife are the parents of four children: Mary J., born August 13, 1867; Elizabeth A., July 9, 1869; Nettie A., November 20, 1876; James T., January 1, 1881. Mrs. CHAPMAN died November 22, 1891, and was buried in the cemetery on John CHAPMAN's farm.

Upon Mr. CHAPMAN's arrival in this county, having assisted on the farm a year or tow, he was employed in the steam mill of U.L. Dow for one year, at the end of which he paid $300 for forty acres of land; this was a wild tract in Union Township; he broke this out, and built him a dug-out 12x14 feet, in which he lived for about two years then sold the land to Mr. Allee, and bought eight acres of school land, for which he paid $4 per acres. Here he built another dug-out, (constructed of sod and poles.) He improved this land and lived upon it seven years, and then bought the place he now occupies, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, costing him $15 per acre. It is situated on section 1, and at the time he purchased it, had some improvements on it, including sixty acres of breaking and a shell of a house. His farm now consists of two hundred acres, three-quarters of which is under cultivation. He has a good farm-house 16x30 feet, with an addition 18x20 feet; also a good barn, and outbuildings. At the present time he is erecting a barn 24x30 feet. With his wind mill and tank and accompanying waterworks, water can be thrown to the top of his house, being conveyed through a pipe eight hundred feet in length. Besides his home farm he has also a quarter of section 12, which is well improved.

Politically, Mr. CHAPMAN is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in religious matters, like the mat at the Temple says, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

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