Chapman of Surrey, England and Newport, RI
Ralph Chapman [a] b 9 Dec 1615, Southwark, Surrey, England, d 4 Jun 1672, Marshfield, Plymouth, MA. He married Lydia Wells 23 Nov 1642, Duxbury, Plymouth, MA, daughter of Isaac Wells and Margaret Luce. She was b 1618, d bef 28 Nov 1671, Marshfield, Plymouth, MA.
Children of Ralph Chapman and Lydia Wells were:
  • Mary Chapman b 31 Oct 1643, Marshfield, Plymouth, MA, d Jun 1732, Bristol, RI; md William Throope May 1666.
  • Sarah Chapman b 15 May 1645, Marshfield; md William Norcutt.
  • Isaac Chapman b 4 Aug 1647, Marshfield.
  • Lydia Chapman b 26 Nov 1649, d 26 Nov 1649, Marshfield.
  • John Chapman b abt 1651, Marshfield.
  • Ralph Chapman b 20 Jun 1653, d Jul 1653, Marshfield.
  • Ralph Chapman b 1654.
Ralph Chapman [b] b 1654, Marshfield, Plymouth, MA, d abt 1704, Newport, Newport, RI. He md [1] Mary abt 1677, ?[2] unknown?, and [2 or 3] Mary Clarke. Mary was b abt 1658, d 22 May 1688, Newport, Newport, RI.
Known Children of Ralph Chapman and Mary were:
  • Ralph Chapman b 7 Jan 1679.
  • William Chapman b abt Mar 1686, d 31 May 1688 (14 mos).

Ralph Chapman [c] b 7 Jan 1679/80, Newport, Newport, RI, d 17 Feb 1728, Newport, Newport, RI. He md Ann Holmes abt 1716, Newport, Newport, RI, daughter of John Holmes and Mary Sayles.
Children of Ralph Chapman and Ann Holmes were:

  • Peleg Chapman b 1718.
  • Mary Chapman b abt 1719, Newport, Newport, RI
  • Ann Chapman b 1721, d 31 Jan 1722/23, Newport, Newport, RI
  • William Chapman b 1726, d 8 Aug 1727, Newport, Newport, RI
Peleg Chapman [d] b 1718, Newport, Newport, RI, d 5 Sep 1768, prob Newport. He md Mary (widow Young) 1 Dec 1741. She was b abt 1720, of Boston, Suffolk, MA, d abt 1786.
Children of Peleg Chapman and Mary were:
  • Mary Chapman b abt 1748, Newport, Newport, RI.
  • Ralph Chapman bapt. 23 Nov 1751, Newport, Newport, RI.
  • Peleg Chapman b abt 1755, Newport, Newport, RI.
  • Brenton Chapman b abt 1758.
Brenton Chapman b abt 1758, Newport, Newport, RI, d 1813, Newport. He md Rebecca
Kaighn [e] abt 1785. She was b 1766, d 16 Jan 1818.
Children of Brenton Chapman and Rebecca Kaighn were:
  • Elizabeth R. Chapman b 1786, Newport, Newport, RI, d 1 May 1856; md Thomas E. Gardner.
  • Peleg Chapman b 25 Dec 1788.
  • Rebecca Chapman b 1795, Newport, Newport, RI, d 4 May 1832; md Edward Easton Taylor.
  • Mary Chapman b 1798, Newport, Newport, RI, d 11 Jul 1825.
Peleg Chapman b 25 Dec 1788, Newport, Newport, RI, d 18 Jun 1832, Newport. He md Mary Potter 22 Nov 1813, RI, daughter of Restcome Potter and Deborah Doubleday. She was b 9 Sep 1793, d 3 Sep 1847.
Children of Peleg Chapman and Mary Potter were:
  • Harriet Brenton Chapman b 14 May 1817, Newport, Newport, RI, 9 Aug 1867, Newport, Newport, RI; md ____Chaffee.
  • William B. Chapman b 17 Jun 1819, Newport, Newport, RI.
  • Cynthia Anna Chapman b 16 Jul 1820, Newport, Newport, RI, d 11 Jul 1885; md George E. Cooley.
  • Rebecca Kaighn Chapman b 21 Apr 1821, Newport, Newport, RI, d 18 Jan 1876.
  • Mary Jane Chapman b 14 May 1825, Newport, Newport, RI, d 24 May 1876.
  • Lydia Ann Chapman b 2 Oct 1827.
  • Elizabeth Potter Chapman b 9 Sep 1830, Newport, Newport, RI, d 12 Oct 1902, Newport, RI; md Benjamin Caswell.
  • Mary Adelia Chapman b 25 Jan 1832, Newport, Newport, RI.

Lydia Ann Chapman b 2 Oct 1827, Newport, Newport, RI, d 7 Dec 1865 (burned to death), Newport, Newport, RI. She md Capt. Henry Dwight Scott abt 1846, Newport, Newport RI, son of Consider Scott and Lois C. Keith.

NOTES:
a. A ship's carpenter, of Southwark in Surrey near London, Ralph, aged 20 years, arrived aboard the Elizabeth in Apr 1635. He first settled in Duxbury, where he is recorded as purchasing land in 1639, and received a grant of four acres at Stoney brook in 1640. He later removed to Marshfield, where he was a proprietor in 1644, and bought a ferry privilege at New Harbor marshes of Robert Barker 11 Jan 1641. His wife is also recorded as Lydia WILLS, as is noted in the earliest marriage recorded for the town of Marshfield: "Ralph Chapman and Lydia Wills were maried 23 November, 1642."

The Will of Ralph Chapman (abstracted):
To da. Sarah and her husband Wm Norcut; to younger son Ralph; to children Isaach, John and Mary. 28 Nov 1671. Witnessed by Peregrine White and Eph Little. Wm Ford Sen, aged 67; Thomas Tilden aged 50, Anna Little, aged 60 yrs; and Eph Little aged 22 yrs, testify that at the making of his will, R. Chapman's hands were so swelled, that he could not sign it.


b. He removed at some point to Newport, RI, where he was connected with several others who built a wharf where the Jamestown Ferry was later situated, no doubt in connection with continuing his father's business. According to research done by a Newport relative, who referred to the book "The Chapman Family", by John Harvey Chapman, Ralph evidently married three times, but there is considerable confusion as to the identity of his first two wives (or possibly there was only one previous wife). One Deliverance Slocum of Portsmouth, RI, married "Ralph Jr." 10 Feb 1684; this seems to fit well as a second wife (although still not the mother of his son, Ralph), but she is stated in Newport records to have died in 1711, and Ralph definitely married Mary Clarke as his third wife, well before the date of death for Deliverance Slocum. The thought that this Deliverance may have been rather the wife of the next Ralph (b 1679) seemed plausible as that Ralph did not have his first child by Mary Holmes until around 1718 (when he would have been about age 38), but the marriage date to Deliverance would have occurred when he was 8 years of age. Exactly who this "Ralph, Jr" is is a complete mystery. A Rhode Island Friends record for Newport, shows Ralph Chapman, b 7 Jan 1679/80 as son of Ralph and Mary, so the assumption is that Ralph Chapman (b 1654) was first married to Mary, surname unknown, again from a Rhode Island Friends record, "CHAPMAN, Mary, wife of Ralph, Newport, d May 22, 1688", and (?secondly or thirdly?) to Mary Clarke, who died 1711, age 51 years, at her father's, Walter Clarke's house. Also somewhat perplexing is that another death record of (second or third) wife Mary Clarke, states "Chapman, Mary, wife of Ralph, ABSENT, aged 50 years, 1711, etc. when the date shown above, while not exact, indicates he was deceased.

c. As had his father, he pursued his trade on Chapman's Wharf (later Commercial Wharf), which was in recent times located in the same area as the Newport-Bristol Ferry. He married Ann Holmes, great-granddaughter of Roger Williams, by whom he had two sons and two daughters.

d. A cooper by trade, he was made a freeman of Newport in 1742. He was also a mate on the privateer "Lady Washington", under the command of Capt. James Godfrey. He married Mary, widow Young, of Boston, whose surname has not been identified. It has been conjectured that Mary may have been Mary Brenton, or whose mother may have been a Brenton, as their son was given this rather unusual first name.

e. Other than her name and dates of birth and death, nothing else is yet known. There are a small number of Kaighns who begin appearing in Newport records in the late 1700s, perhaps descending from a brother of Rebecca. The only other individuals of an earlier period yet found with this surname are in New Jersey, and the name Kaighn appears to have been the shortened form of Kaighin, probably a name of Irish origin, both spellings appearing interchangeably in New Jersey.
SOURCES:
SG: A Scott Genealogy, by E. Jean Scott; GL: Roger Williams of Providence, RI, by Bertha E. W. Anthony, 1949; Massachusetts Local and Family Histories, History of the Town of Duxbury, Genealogical Registers, pp 244-245; Rhode Island Vital Records, New Series, Volume 12, Newport County, R.I. Births 1751-1860 from Death & Marriage Records, pp 129, 144-145; Rhode Island Genealogical Register, Volume 9, No. 2, Abstracts Post-Revolutionary Newport Wills, p 129; NEGHS: NEHGR Vol 78:236, Abstracts of the Earliest Wills, Jul 1853; Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, by James N. Arnold.
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