Nancy, I have a branch that settled in Sagamon Co., IL, right next door to
Greene Co., IL. Sangamon Co., IL was originally settled by James
Washington Chapman, son of Thomas Chapman of Frederick Co., VA. He married
Elizabeth Latham on 9 May 1810. She was the daughter of James Latham and
Mary Briggs. I do not have all of my information about James Washington
Chapman right at hand, but as I recall he and the Latham family moved to
central Illinois from Kentucky. James Washington Chapman ran a ferry and
perhaps a mill if I am remembering correctly. There is a biography of
leading citizens of Sangamon Co. where he is mentioned in the chapter on
the founding of the county which has some detail on this. As the counties
were divided up in Illinois he eventually ended up in Logan Co., IL where
in 1847 he submitted a pension application on behalf of his deceased uncle,
John Chapman, who died in the Battle of Beargrass Creek near modern-day
Louisville, KY. He apparently was trying to claim the pension for his
family on the grounds that the dead soldier had left no heirs to claim the
pension. In the application he recites all his known relatives. The
pension application notes that his uncle, William Chapman, also had heirs
on or near Wolf Creek in Sagamon Co., IL. The Chapman women married into
Thornberry, Bryant and Dowdell/Dowdall families in this area. The general
settlement pattern seems to be that the Chapman and related families moved
from Frederick Co., VA to Henderson/Union Co., KY (with some living across
the Ohio River in Shawneetown, Gallatin Co., IL), then some moved further
north into central Illinois as land opened up there in the early
1800s. After the Civil War, my direct line moved from Union Co., to
Mississippi Co., MO. Let me know if you need more information on any of
this.
Mike Chapman
At 11:20 PM 5/19/03 -0400, you wrote:
In your Chapman line do you have any that may have moved to Greene
County, IL
from Missouri on viceversa? Thanks, Nancy
____________________________
Michael L. Chapman
The Chapman Firm
One North Parkway Square, Suite 200
4200 Northside Parkway
Atlanta, Georgia 30327
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