This name is of Saxon origin and one of the numerous class derived from an occupation, business or trade. The Saxon word Chapman means a chapman, marketman, merchant. The surname Chapman occurs among the earliest of English surnames, and the family in many of its branches was somewhat distinguished at an early period. The name occurs in several of the early settlements of New England, also in Maryland and Virginia. Fifteen of the name settled in these colonies at a date from about 1635 to 1645. Hence the difficulty genealogists experience with the name, as they now number many thousands from one ancestor, Robert, of Saybrook, Connecticut.
(I) Edward Chapman came to Windsor, Connecticut, it is supposed in 1660. According to the town records he married Elizabeth Fox in England. He died of wounds received in fighting the Indians, December 19, 1675. He resided in that part of Windsor called Simsbury. His widow married Samuel Cross, July 12, 1677. His children were: Henry, Mary, Mary (2), Elizabeth, Simon (see forward), Hanna, Margaret and Sara.
(II) Simon, son of Edward and Elizabeth (Fox) Chapman, was born April 30, 1669. His wife's name is unknown, but the marriage was performed in 1692-93. They were the parents of Samuel and Simon, the only two children of record.
(III) Captain Samuel, son of Simon Chapman, was born March 2, 1696. He removed to Tolland, Connecticut, where he was admitted an inhabitant in 1726. In 1736 he was captain of the train band. He was killed in the French and Indian war while in his country's service. His marriage to Hannah Strong, August 8, 1717, is recorded in the Windsor records. Their children were: Elijah, see forward; Samuel, Ruth, Simon and Margaret.
(IV) Deacon Elijah, eldest child of Captain Samuel and Hannah (Strong) Chapman, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, ————, and died February 22, 1812. He moved to Tolland, where he was a deacon in the church. He represented the town in the legislature of 1765-76-81-82. He married Ruth Steele, who died February 17, 1808. She bore him twelve children:
- Joanna, married Joshua Griggs;
- Reuben;
- Sarah;
- Elijah;
- Ashbel (see forward);
- Sarah;
- Ruth, married John Palmer;
- Esther, married Ammi Paulk;
- Roxanna, married Jabez West;
- Aaron;
- Dorcas, married Vine Robinson;
- Daniel.
Samuel, brother of Elijah Chapman, commanded a company in the French war, and was also an officer in the revolutionary war. He represented Tolland in the legislature, 1755-90, with the exception of three years when absent in the army.
(V) Ashbel, fifth child of Deacon Elijah and Ruth (Steele) Chapman, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, June 28, 1755, died October 26, 1822. He represented Tolland in the legislature, in 1808-11-12-26. He married November 17, 1789, Lydia Lord. Children:
- Ashbel, born 1790;
- Carlos, 1792;
- Caroline, 1793;
- Lydia, 1795;
- Mary B., 1796;
- John Buckley (see forward);
- Lucy, 1801.
(VI) John Buckley, sixth child of Ashbel and Lydia (Lord) Chapman, was born at Windsor Locks, Connecticut, May 12, 1799. He was a lumber dealer. He was at sea with a cargo of lumber when he was taken with yellow fever and died near the Cuban coast. He married (first) Lydia Holkins; children: Albert, Frederick Augustus (see forward); John E., Louise, Harvey. He married (second) Lydia Dwight; no issue. He married (third) Lydia Lord, no issue.
(VII) Frederick Augustus, eldest child of John Buckley and Lydia (Holkins) Chapman, was born May 25, 1832, died July 19, 1889. He began his business life as a clerk in the Albany, New York, stores. He then went to Chicago, where he engaged in a wholesale hardware business, the firm being Loomis, Abbott & Chapman. He sold his interest in that firm and engaged in the wholesale bag business with his brother in Chicago, and died while on a business trip to Minneapolis. His remains were brought to Lansingburg, where he is buried, in Oakwood cemetery. He was a member of Trinity Episcopal church in Chicago. He married, in 1855, in Lansingburg, New York, Sarah Louise, born 1833, only child of Gilbert Eddy Vandercook (see Vandercook IV). Children:
- Hattie, born in Lansingburg, July 25, 1858; married Abraham Reamer, born August 12, 1855, a coffee importer of New York City; children:
- Fred Chapman, born September 14, 1883, died August 1, 1884;
- Dexter Wright, born September 14, 1885;
- Louise, born July 11, 1887, died January 25, 1907;
- T. Murray, born November 25, 1890.
- Kathleen, born January 31, 1870, at Lansingburg, died at age of nineteen.
Mrs. Chapman survives her husband, and lives in Lansingburg, New York. She was educated at Lansingburg Academy and Troy Seminary.
(The Vandercook Line)
(I) Michael Vandercook, founder of the town of Cooksborough, New York, was of Holland descent, born in the province which today is the state of New Jersey, November 10, 1715. He came with his family to New York state and patented land, settling on what is known as "Cooks Patent," in May, 1762. Here he founded the town of Cooksborough (now Cooksburg), and died in 1786. His name on the tombstone in the Cooksborough cemetery is "d Cook." He married Cornelia Van Ness in 1742. She was born in 1721, and a direct descendant of the famous Anneke Jans. Children:
- Michael (2);
- Simon (see forward);
- Henry, born 1751;
- Hester, 1752;
- Cornelius, 1754;
- Isaac;
- Cornelia;
- Sarah.
(II) Simon, eldest child of Michael and Cornelia (Van Ness) Vandercook, was born in New Jersey, August 17, 1749, and died in Cooksburg, Albany county, New York; November 28, 1829. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war, holding the rank of ensign in Captain Henry Van Der Hoff's company, Albany county (New York) militia, Colonel Peter Yates. A Michael Vandercook was a private in the same regiment, but it is hardly likely that it was his father, as he was sixty-one years of age in 1776. Simon Vandercook married Levina Van Der Hoff, born May 5, 1754. Children: Michael S., see forward; Hetty, Peter, Henry, Simon, Gilbert, John, Cornelia, and Sarah.
(III) Major Michael Simon, eldest son of Simon and Levina (Van Der Hoff) Vandercook, was born in Pittstown, New York, April 5, 1774, and died there February 17, 1852. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, attaining the rank of major, commanding New York state troops. He was a general man of business and of high standing in the community. He was three times married. His first wife, whom he married August 27, 1792, was Mehitable Haskins. She died June 19, 1806. He married (second) December 14, 1806, Sally Eddy, born January 30, 1789, died April 4, 1823, a daughter of Major-General Gilbert Eddy. He married (third) September 25, 1825, Mrs. Betsey Roberts Pickett, born September 4, 1784, died October 28, 1865. Children of Major Michael S. Vandercook, by first wife, Mehitable Haskins:
- Simon, born January 10, 1794, died October 20, 1794.
- Michael M., born March 2, 1795, died August 24, 1873.
- Polly, born April 10, 1799.
- Sally, born July 24, 1803.
By second wife, Sally Eddy:
- Gilbert Eddy, see forward.
- Simon Henry, born June 24, 1812, died September 25, 1884.
- Russell A., born August 25, 1814, died August 24, 1839.
- Tisdale Eddy, born June 11, 1818, died November 15, 1869.
- Charles Raney, born May 20, 1819.
- Prudence, born April 20, 1821.
By third wife, Mrs. Betsey Roberts Pickett:
- Roberts, born September 5, 1826, died in San Francisco, California, March 29, 1871; he was a California pioneer of 1849; member of the California Pioneer Society, Sons of Revolution, and became a man of prominence on the Pacific coast.
- Frederick Augustus, born September 28, 1829, died May 29, 1871, in San Francisco, California; he was a banker of that city.
(IV) Gilbert Eddy, son of Major Michael Simon and his wife Sally (Eddy) Vandercook, was born in Pittstown, New York, July 25, 1808, died in Lansingburg, Rensselaer county, New York, June 13, 1886. He was educated at Pittstown. He was a man of good business ability, and operated along various lines. He conducted the United States Hotel at Saratoga Springs for some time, and owned and operated a farm in Brunswick, called "Hillcrest." He built a house in Lansingburg, where he died. He was an attendant of the Episcopal Church. He married, January 31, 1833, Sarah Fox, born November 13, 1813. Their only child, Sarah Louise, married Frederick Augustus Chapman (see Chapman).