Obituaries of the Children of Abner Chapman and Martha Frances Meadows

   ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Today's sibling obituary study concerns the children of Abner Chapman and his wife, Martha Frances Meadows who lived in the Damascus community near Mt. Pleasant in Titus County, Texas. Obituaries for Vince Chapman and his brother Ike Chapman only appeared recently in Portal to Texas. 

Abner and Martha (Meadows) Chapman moved from Georgia to Titus County, Texas just prior to the Civil War.

Their children in birth order:

1. John Thomas Chapman, called "Tom Chapman" by my grandfather, born October 1853 in Georgia

2. Vincent A. Chapman, born 20 November 1854 in Georgia

3. James Martin Chapman, born 15 May 1857 in Georgia

4. Georgia Ann Chapman, born 10 February 1859 in Titus County, Texas. She married Henry Edward Duffee. Alternate spellings: Duffey and Duffy.

5. Susan A. Chapman, born c. 1860 in Texas.

6. Abner A. Chapman, born April 1862 in Texas.

7. William Sargent Chapman, born 23 February 1868 in Texas.

8. Mattie Chapman, 20 February 1869 in Texas. 

9. Margaret Lee Chapman, called "Maggie," born 1 May 1873 in Texas. She married Gifford Marion Smith.

10. Isaac Roger Chapman, called "Ike," was born 20 February 1874, in Texas. 

Their obituaries in death order:

1. Susan A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She only appeared on the 1860 census and it is thought that she died before 1870.

2. Martha L. "Mattie" Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She died 30 June 1881 and is buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. My grandfather told me that she got too near the fireplace and her skirt caught on fire, and she died from her burns. A death notice for her might still materialize.

3. Abner A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. He died sometime between the conception of his last child in 1888 and the 1900 census. Searching the Titus County tax list would possibly give me a better idea of when he died.

4. William Sargent Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He was killed in a hunting accident on 18 September 1893 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. He had gone raccoon hunting with his uncle Simeon Meadows, among others. Uncle Sim had climbed up in a tree and was trying to shake the raccoon out of tree, causing a tree limb to break, falling on William Sargent Chapman and killing him. 

5. John Thomas Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He supposedly died in 1907, probably in Texas or Oklahoma.

6. James Martin Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. However, there was an obituary for his wife. This obituary verifies the names of James M. Chapman's children who were surviving in 1930: Henry Chapman, Will Chapman, Luther Chapman, Jim Chapman, Mrs. Will Scarbrough, and Mrs. Ben Hensley. Like the other Chapmans, she was buried in the Damascus Cemetery.

7. Georgia Ann Chapman, died on 11 May 1939 and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery in Bogata, Red River County, Texas. There must have been a death notice or obituary in the newspaper at the time of her death. However, there was a reference to it ten years later in one of those columns about what had happened 10 years before.

A similar record appeared for Georgia's husband Henry Edward Duffey in a "ten years ago column," but, again, the original death notice or obituary has not been found yet. 

8. Vince A Chapman died 2 October 1942 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary reveals that he came to Texas at age two, which would be around 1856 or 1857, and that he had lived on his farm for 85 of his 87 years. That indicates that he lived on his parents' farm all his life. Therefore, deed records involving Vince A. Chapman would be very revealing.

This obituary reveals that his surviving children in 1942 were J.R. Chapman, Abner Chapman, and Mrs. Lee Sinclair.

Also of importance, is that his obituary links him to his two surviving siblings: Ike Chapman of Texarkana and Mrs. Maggie Smith of Johntown [Red River County, Texas]. 

9. Margaret Lee "Maggie" Chapman died on 21 May 1947 in Johntown, Red River County, Texas, and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery, Bogata, Red River County, Texas. 

Her obituary reveals that she was born in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. She had nine children who survived her: Mrs. Nettie Thomas, Mrs. Eva Cooper, Mrs. Letha Dowell, Mrs. Joe Herring, Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. Vera Watts, Mrs. Nell Franzen, Mrs. Georgia Smith, and Oscar Smith. It also mentions that she was survived by a brother living in Texarkana, but does not name him. 

10. Isaac Roger "Ike" Chapman died 9 February 1958 in Texarkana and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary revealed that he was survived by three daughters: Mrs. Lennie Regain, Mrs. Ollie Moore, and Mrs. Mildred Traylor.