Transcribers log #015 THE CHAPMAN COUSINS of Butlerville, Ohio
Welcome to... My Darling Emma 1857
If you are NEW HERE be sure to read the beginning of the journey I am on transcribing my family's 19th century letter collection!
“I feel best in my everyday duds but one has to do different from that when there is young gents around”
-Susan Virginia Chapman (age 24) circa 1872
Now let’s jump right into the next group of letter writers shall we…
My Chapman ancestors are on great great grandma Emma's maternal side of the family tree. Her mother's sister, Rachael Ann Pidgeon, married one George Washington Chapman. I have correspondences from both Rachael Ann & George W. and also their oldest child Susan Virginia in the letter collection. They are who I will focus on in this post. So here we go...
George W. (1817-1862) worked in the Grain Mill industry. He married Rachel Ann (1821-1889) on October 11, 1847, in Frederick, Virginia when he was 29 and she 26. A few years later, the couple and a few kids later, moved to Ohio where they would have a couple more kids.
Sadly like the majority of the folks in this letter collection, they don't have a fairytale story for me to tell. Rachael Ann was left widowed when George W. died November 5th, 1862 after years of suffering and "bleeding of the lungs" which lead to his untimely death at the tender age of 45. Rachael Ann was 41 AND had just given birth to their youngest son David at the time. Rachael Ann, with brand new baby in tow, was left to raise some five children on her own. Eldest daughter Susan Virginia "Jennie" was about 14 at this time and would have already been a mother hen to her younger siblings. She continued to help her mother manage the family moving forward for many years to come. More about Susan Virginia below.
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| Tombstone photos uploaded to findagrave.com by: GoneButNotForgotten on 11 Aug 2019. Both are in Crosson Cemetery in Butlerville, Ohio USA 🍎🍎🍎 |
The children of George Washington & Rachel Ann Chapman:
Susan Virginia Chapman 1848-1938
Isaac Newton Chapman 1849-1934
Charles E Chapman 1851–1890
John Alben Chapman 1853–1854
George W Chapman 1856
Benjamin F. Chapman 1858–1943
Ezra Truman Chapman 1860–1877
David A. Chapman @1863–1923
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💬 Quotes from a letter George W. wrote in 1860 to his father-in-law Isaac E Pidgeon.
" I have been in very bad health for the last three years. I had a very bad spell of sickness in April. I was down for four weeks that I was not able to be out and about. About the first of March there commenced coming sores on my right hand - right on the knuckle joint and has disabled me so that I have'nt done anything of any account this summer. My hand is so that I have begun to do some little work now but it is far from being well. The rest of the family are all and to be good health at this time but Virginia she tred on a nail and she is not able to walk at this time. George is getting along very well after his sickness – his finger nails and toe nails all torn off and his hair came out. The nails have all growed out but his hair is very thin. Ben is as fat as mud and as sassy as a pig. The boys have went to school nearly all the time since we came back to Ohio. Isaac outgrows Charlie all to pieces. I reckon you would like to know how we live as I cant work much - I have an interest in a steam mill since I have been [?] ..That I cant work I have tended to the engine and fire by the help of Isaac. He is a good boy to work. Rachael Ann is not very stout at this time. She has got another boy - he was born the 11th day of June and we have'nt given him no name further than Peter Hornwhipple. I came to this place last September - my year will be out the first of this September. "
-George Washington Chapman Rossburg, Ohio July 29, 1860
" The people are all Germans in our little town but ourselves. We have no post office in our place -it is 4 miles from here to Morrow town. I have all my paper and letters sent to Morrow. We have a good pike road from here to Morrow. The man that owns the mill is as Dutch as about we dont have no Sunday here with the Dutch they work all the time and drink beer. I want you to send me word where Gabe is at the Factory or not for I want some sense for my boys this winter for I cant get nothing that will stand them in the price per yard. "
-George Washington Chapman Rossburg, Ohio July 29, 1860
*In 1860, George and Rachel's son Isaac would've been about 11 years old working in the steam mill since his father was disabled with a debilitating illness. It was quite common for children to have employment in these times, working really long hard days often right alongside their parents. Child labor laws wouldn't come for almost another 80 years.
**I also should note that the letter was written from Rossburg (Warren County, Ohio) which is now known as Butlerville.
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| Letter written in 1860 by George Washington Chapman to his father-in-law Isaac E Pidgeon. |
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💬 Quotes from letters written by Rachel Ann Pidegon Chapman:
" Oh Susan I have bin trying all summer to get to you and to get to town to get my picture taken to send and I got to go yesterday to have mine taken but I could not take Jennie for I went in a buggy with some of my neighbors that was going to town. Her Pap says he will have her and Nute’s taken together and send to you as soon as he can. We had to move away from the mill that we lived at last winter. We moved first of March for he got so sick that he could not work. The children is all going to school this summer but little George and he cries every day to go with the rest of them. "
-Rachel Ann Chapman Butler County Ohio July 28, 1857 (writing to her sister Susan Pidgeon Childs)
" We have plenty of ripe apples now and we will have plenty of late apples. I have put up 28 cans of cherries. I want to put up blackberries this week. Tell Miss Ann that Benny gave me one of the best cooking stoves she ever saw. Since I came home and a lady friend of mine gave me five nice hens - I have a nice start of chickens now. I wish you could come out here this summer. The boys all have good places to work. Charlie and his uncle Will put in their corn crop and Otis, Will and Mary has a good garden and they have got them a good cow now and plenty of chickens too - got them a house and a large lot and firewood free besides half of the crop and yet they complain of hard times. He has two good horses and a young colt and dont you tell to Isaac that I think. "
-Rachel Ann Chapman Butlerville, Ohio July 15, 1876 (writing to her father Issac E Pidgeon)
" Mr. Chapman has had a very sore hand this summer. It is some better now than it was – it was been since he wrote to father there has been two bones come out of his hand. It is his right hand that is sore. Some time he could not work with his hand a bit but he has a interest in a steam mill and he gets half of it. We two can be as well as we can be. We have a splendid garden this summer which has helped us along very much. The two little boys has worked out a little this summer. The children goes to school. We have a school here where we live in a little town and they are all Dutch living in this place. They are all very kind to us indeed. When I was sick this Sunday they all thought I would die. They all came day and night and waited on me. All I can say or do is wait on them all if they should get sick. We wrote to father some time ago and we havnt heard from them yet. I tell Mr. Chapman that I think brother Will is coming out to see us this winter as them dont write to our family. Pees tell grand pap and grand mother that she was invited and went to a dedication and a wagon where there was 38 girls and five boys in all but was a splendid wagon. It went from this little town to it - was up near the neighborhood. The girls was all dressed in white and wore shaker bonnets. "
-Rachel Ann Chapman Warren County, Ohio September 23, 1860 (writing to her sister Susan Pidgeon Childs)
" I was glad to hear that you are all well and a live for I know you all have a hard time there. I would like to go and see you all one time but as to live there I think I would not like to for I have been here so long. The boys says they will save money so I can go. With times as such I can get through with out any danger but I cant tell when that will be but I hope it will be soon before I can hardly wait. I can get a old maid here to stay with the children that comes from Martinsburg and she will be a nanny to the children. I wount be a fraid to stay a while with you. All are going a long as well as we could expected considering the times is hard and things is high. I make from one to 2 to 3 dollars a week at work from home. "
-Rachel Ann Chapman Butlerville, Ohio June 11, 1865 (writing to her sister Susan Pidgeon Childs)
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| A letter written to Emma in 1872 from cousin Susan Virginia Chapman that included a now dried flower and fabric square. I would love to know why the pieces of fabric weren't used!! |
Susan Virginia's letters start when she was 18 (in 1866) and writing to her aunt Susan (Emma's mother.) Her many correspondences span over a decade, with her then writing to her cousin Emma until 1879 which is about when she married and had quite a busy life, but again more on that below. Susan Virginia wrote dozens of letters and she spared no space on her paper. Like a lot of letters in the collection, her letters were jumbled full of words. This gal had a lot to say! She penned about her siblings, her sewing, her outings going to town, folks at church and everything in between. A lot of her letters still have fabric sample pieces in them too!! I wrote a blog post about the fabric samples that you can read here.
💬 Quotes from letters written by Susan Virginia Chapman:
" I want to see grand pa and grand ma so bad. They wont know these grand daughters. I expect for when they see me they will see a great little girl. I am larger than most. We have no fruit this summer of no kind. The crops is very good except corn. That wont be very good if we dont have corn. It is very dry at the present. We are all away except the two boys. I have not been home to stay any time for nine months and when I am at home the people keep me busy sewing but I am coming home in four weeks to stay. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio July 30, 1871 (writing to her cousin Emma)
"I will have to tell you the joke - my gentleman friend came to see me and when he found me sick he hardly knew what to say. He turned pale and I had to laugh at him for all I was so sick I thought he were more feared than hurt - he had just returned home from Indiana. I had not seen him for almost a year so he just walked in and took me a surprise. Well I have went far enough with my nonsense for I dont expect you girls think about beaus - if you dont know perhaps, you will sometime. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio July 8, 1872 (writing to her cousin Emma)
" Ma is getting ready for bed. I expect she will think and perhaps tell me not to stay up too long for fear I will be sick again. I hope I wont for I have got so much sewing to do before the Camp Meeting and the Fair. They will both be next month. I want to go to Waynesville this fall to Quaker Yearly Meeting. My older brother is working there. I had a letter from him a few days since and he said that the ladie where he lived told him to tell me to come up there and stay a week. They are all Quaker up there. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio July 8, 1872 (writing to her cousin Emma)
"I think your new dress is very nice. I will send you a piece of my new dresses that I made last week. The bust is made with an over skirt and trimmed with the black stripe and the purple one is made with basque and over skirt all cut together and trimmed with a bias piece. I never wear anything but calico and white when summer comes. I have got two white dresses and I dress in white every Sunday. I wish it was so you could be here next Sunday. We all would have a nice time. I think I will go to Quarter Yearly Meeting this fall. It is to be at Waynesville and my brother wants me to come up and stay all week with him. I think I will have a good time. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio July 29, 1872 (writing to her cousin Emma)
" Lots of work to do when there is pies and bread to bake. There is forty other things to do and that is all my work. Baking, and washing and growing and baking - that is all above I have to sew - I have got about $10 worth of sewing to do now for a friend of mine that lives in the city, besides what I have to do for our own family. I always do the sewing for them. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio October 7, 1872 (writing to her cousin Emma)
" I was at German church last Sunday and Sunday evening. I had quite a nice time. I dont suppose you ever have German meetings in your country[state]. They have here every four weeks and so many of the young people goes. You stated in your letter that one of your friends had gone west. I know how to feel for you. I have seen so many of mine go away and you said I must hold tight to my brothers and not let them go. I will try to but I am afraid I will lose one of them before long. He is at notion of doing for himself. I hope he wont go very far away from home. If I could see that girl of his I would tell her I think they had better stay at home. I dont say where he is going to jump the brown sticks but I think so - she wont tell us for fear we will plague him. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio 1870s (writing to her cousin Emma)
" I think your new dress is very nice. That kind of calico was all the go here last summer and the pokey dot is all the rage this summer. If I get me one I will send you a piece of it so you can see the style we have here. You said you thought you get yourself a black alpaca in the fall. I have one and I think I will get a slate colored alpaca in the fall. I have had two black ones and you wanted to know what kind of a machine I had - I have got the Howe machine. I wouldnt have any other kind if you ever get one I advise you to get the Howe - not because I have that kind but I think it is the best thats out. I have had mine five years and it is as good as when I got it. I wish you could see some of my work that I have done on my machine. I have the name of doing the best work on the Howe of anyone in the neighborhood. I think that is quite a compliment on one. "
-Susan Virginia Chapman Butlerville, Ohio June 8, 1873 (writing to her cousin Emma)
Now back to Susan Virginia Chapman... who stayed living with her widowed mother and younger siblings until she was 32 years old! This is when she married widower Wesley Spurling in 1880. Marrying Wesley made Susan Virginia a step-mama to Wesley's three young sons George, Oliver and Frank -all whom were under the age of 8! Some six years later Susan Virginia and Wesley would have their own child together. A daughter, whom they would name Ione Spurling...
Now lets fast-forward to the year 1900, when Ione Spurling was 13 years old. One can hope she was enjoying life living with her parents as the only child since her 3 older half brothers left the family homestead. Brother George was married with one child living on his own farm. Brother Oliver was boarding over at the Yost farm in Hamilton and working as a conductor for the railroad. And brother Frank was newly married, living on a farm ready to start his own Spurling family.
As for Ione, she got married at 19 to Dowdie Stewart, a building contractor. The couple had 4 children. I'll leave you with a newspaper article from 1931 about Ione to read her life's ending for yourself.
Family collection donated to the Blanchester Area Historical Society.
Published in Blanchester Star Republican, Thursday,April 9, 1931. Page 1
"The Spurling & Walker photos came from a donation that was given to the Historical Society by a man who was reinnervating an old residence located at 136 W. Fancy St. in Blanchester. It was owned at one time by Floyd & Florence Virginia Walker. Floyd was a onetime pharmacist in Blanchester, & after Florence died in 1988 the house was seemingly used as a storage facility. Both Floyd & Florence are buried in the Blan cemetery. The photos were found amongst several boxes containing a multitude of items & records. Florence's half-sister, Nancy Stewart McCollum, who is in a nursing home, is the one who identified the photos for one of our BAHS members. I have placed all the ones we (BAHS) have on their memorials."
*Florence Virginia Walker was Ione Spurling's daughter. Although I find it sad when there are no heirs left to treasure such items, I think its pretty awesome that someone took the time to drop them off to the local historical society instead of throwing them away!
It gave me (and everyone reading this) a face to a name and I'm truly grateful for that. Thank you for thinking of the future so we can remember the past.
Til the next one folks!
Sincerly,
CT
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177009497/george-w.-chapman
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177009508/rachel_a-chapman
https://blanchesterhistoricalsociety.org
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