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Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
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Message Board Post:
Hi Eleanor,
Thanks for your reply. I believe you are correct about Samuel Cook Chapin and Lucy
Bradley Chapin being buried in New York. One of their daughters, Lucy Chapin, went with
George Isaac Shearman and his wife to Michigan sometime after Lucy Bradley Chapin died.
According to my grandparents, they believed that Samuel Cook Chapin and Lucy Bradley
Chapin died of smallpox. The Shearmans found Lucy Chapin in a "foundling home"
and took her to Michigan. (Of course, I realize this is not true, after researching the
genealogy on Samuel Cook Chapin and how he was married twice after Lucy Bradley).
Lucy Chapin worked for the Shearmans in Michigan as a maid and had an affair with George
Isaac Shearman, who fathered three children by her. The middle child, Capitola was given
the last name Briggs, who was a friend of the Shearmans who was going off to war, to make
it appear more legitimate. Capitola is my great-grandmother and lived from 1862 - 1957.
She appears in the Chapin reunion picture that I have... somewhere near Homer, MI (I
think).
Currently, I live in San Antonio, TX, but grew up in Michigan, where my 95 year old mother
still lives. She's still has a wealth of information on her ancestors and was a great
resource when I started getting into genealogy for her side of the family. When I was in
Michigan about a year ago, I found a picture of Montrose Chapin, but she knew nothing
about who he was or how he might be related. Through Internet research, I realized he was
half brother to her grandmother, Capitola. I'd like to send you a the picture of him
in what appears to be a Civil War uniform. I also have a picture of the Chapin reunion,
taken around 1908 - 1910. My mother was able to identify the majority of people in the
picture a number of years ago.
Do you know any more about Samuel Cook Chapin or Lucy Bradley Chapin? I believe Lucy died
in childbirth with her last child. Do you have any idea if there was any American Indian
blood in the Chapin lineage previous to Samuel Cook Chapin? My mother was told that there
was, but I have no evidence of it. Any additional help you could provide would be much
appreciated. I do realize that the Chapin ancestry goes back to 1508 and that there is
a statue of an older generation Samuel Chapin in Springfield Mass. I also found out that
we have a relation to Harry Chapin, the singer. I thought that was interesting.
John