I have started submitting real estate record abstracts for various counties for
Chapmans.
They are found on the CFA site:
http://www.chapmanfamilies.org/land.html
So far I have submitted information on Columbiana and Washington Cos in Ohio;
Berkeley and Frederick Cos VA (Berkeley now in WVa); Washington Co in Pa.
New info recently submitted but not on the website yet are for Beaver Co Pa and
Bedford Co Pa.
Others have submitted info from Alabama, Arkansas, and Illinois.
I have found real estate records to be an underutilized tool. In many cases
using real estate records (deeds or tax records) you can find people that don't
show up in the census (often because they were there in years between censuses).
I would guess that about 20% of deeds pre-1850 are between relatives and
sometimes you get direct or indirect evidence of relationships.
When the Chapman is a grantor (i.e., seller, etc), almost always the wife signs
and so you can sometimes learn a wife's first name. And then you may be able to
track a Chapman from one county to another.
For example, we have tracked a Joseph Chapman (1755-1814) backwards in time from
Stark Co Ohio to Columbiana Co Ohio to Beaver Co PA to Huntingdon Co PA. While
Joseph Chapman is a fairly common name, when you combine it with a wife's name
(in this case Isabella), you are more certain that you are following the same
family.
If anyone would like to help gather this information (and it is not that
difficult), drop me a line. You can do it in the county where you live or in a
distant county by ordering real estate records through a local LDS family history
library.
Bryce Jones