Shakin' the Family Tree

The Rose Man of Sing Sing

2012-12-15T14:43:49Z

Getting that contact from my Chapin cousin rekindled my fascination with one of our bad boys, Charles E Chapin, whom James McGrath Morris dubbed The Rose Man of Sing Sing, in his biography of the same name.

The book was published in 2003, and in 2004, it was selected by the Washington Post as one of the best non-fiction books of 2004.

Since I have a holiday season staycation coming up soon, I checked it out of my library to read.

Only I'm peeking.

A lot.

Because it's good.

comments

Lucius Milo Chapin, 1842-1928

2012-12-11T03:51:00Z

.

.
.
My newly found, who-knows-how-many-times-removed Chapin cousin is hunting for information about her great great grandfather.

She has quite a bit of information already. She wants to find his grave, which she suspects is unmarked. She recently has been to Evergreen Cemetery twice on that quest.

And she shared a photo.

Lucius Milo Chapin and wife, Viola M Bayle

Information about interments at Evergreen Cemetery in Union City, Erie Co., PA show the graves of Lucius, Viola and Paul (one of their sons) in Section 6, Lot 53. A caretaker told my cousin that the graves are in Lot 38 instead.

I hope she finds markers buried in sod.

I wonder if Lucius would have a Union Army marker. If he doesn't have one, she can get one from the VA for him.

For free.

According to existing documents, Lucius Milo Chapin enlisted at Venango Township, Erie County, PA on 21 Aug 1861 as a Private in Company K of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers.

He was wounded at the second Battle of Bull Run on 30 Aug 1862, and discharged 28 Jan 1863, for wounds received.

His thumb and forefinger were shot off in the battle. Look at the photo above.

According to my cousin, when Lucius posed for photos afterward, he kept something in his left hand to hide the amputations.

And it must have been incredibly hard for him to return to farming afterward.

He applied for a Civil War pension as an invalid on 27 Oct 1863.

I hope he got it.

Lucius married Viola Bayle on 1 Oct 1866. She was the daughter of Samuel K and Theresa L Bayle.

They had five children. The 1870 census in Erie Co., PA shows their first child, a 3 year-old son named Otis.

And that's the last time I saw Otis in the census. The 1900 census says Viola was the mother of 5 children, 4 of whom were living at the time of the census.

I can't find a record of little Otis in cemetery records on Find a Grave for Erie County.

Other children born to Lucius and Viola were Adda, Nora, Paul and Samuel.

Lucius Milo Chapin died on 13 Jun 1928.

And eureka!

As I have been typing this post, my cousin has filled me in on more of the descendants down to her.

We are 10th cousins.

comments

Woo-hoo! Another Chapin cousin came to call...

2012-12-09T15:57:27Z

And sent me a private message through the blog.

Her g-g-grandfather was Lucius Milo Chapin.

Whom I did not have in the GEDCOM until I did some digging around this morning. I found out he was my 5th cousin, five times removed. So I have no idea what kinship she and I are, because I let the software tell me.

If any of you can figure that one, let me know.

But while I was digging, I found a whole bunch of her ancestors buried in Lowville Cemetery in Wattsburg, Erie Co., PA.

So naturally, I had to stop and figure out who was whom, and add them also. You know about my genealogy ADD. (Yesterday, I was all over some Kellys in Lancashire ENG.)

Chapins now number 745 in the GEDCOM.

They were quite prolific. I wonder if it would shock the boots off of our common progenitor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, to know how much his descendants enjoyed and engaged in sex? Since they were raised not to cuss, drink alcohol and raise hell, I guess there was only one thing left to fill the time when they were not in church.

His likeness was used to craft the monument called The Puritan, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Springfield, MA in 1887.

What can I say? I was born curious...

comments

Started chasing some more Chapins...

2012-10-22T01:15:03Z

And got sidetracked on the Chappuis family.

I cannot pronounce that, and I'm having a heck of a time finding them.

Maybe that's a sign...

comments

Sympathy Saturday: Eada B Parrish and Fred Chapin

2011-12-31T14:45:20Z

These are the obituaries for my great-great grandparents, Eada Belle Parrish (1859-1944) and Fred Chapin (1858-1938).

Fred Chapin

Fred Chapin, 80, of 913 North Valmar street, died at a Little Rock hospital at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, Mrs. V C Balding of Little Rock; a sister, Mrs. Essie Finn of Altoona, Pa.; seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at the P H Ruebel & Co. chapel at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the charge of the Rev. Hay Watson Smith. Burial will be in Oakland cemetery. Pallbearers will be Joe D Williams, E V Balding, R Ellington Balding, and Marvin Balding.
Published on Friday, 30 Dec 1938, in the Arkansas Gazette

Mrs. Eada B Chapin
Octogenarian Dies.
Mrs. Eada B Chapin, aged 85, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. V C Balding of 217 Denison street, at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. She had been a resident of Little Rock for 50 years. Also surviving are seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at the Ruebel Funeral Home at 10 a.m. Monday by the Rev. Marion A Boggs. Burial will be in Oakland cemetery. Pallbearers will be W L Terry, L C Gring, J S Holtzman, W M Brandon, J D Williams and Lt. Eugene Balding.
Published on Sunday, 3 Dec 1944, in the Arkansas Gazette

comments

Sympathy Saturday: Chapin

2011-09-10T15:37:48Z

DIED, last night about 12 o'clock, MISS LOUISA CHAPIN, daughter of Nathan Chapin, aged 23 years, of consumption.
Source: [Pennsylvania]National Gazette, 29 May 1823, retrieved from Genealogybank.com on 10 Sep 2011

Louisa was the daughter of Nathan Chapin and Elizabeth Castner.

Fatal Accident - Mr. Seth Chapin, of Chickopee Parish, Springfield (Mass.) was burnt to death on the evening of the 13th inst. He was endeavoring to extinguish a fire that had communicated to a brush fence, and it is supposed he got entangled with the brush, and was unable to extricate himself; his body was found about 9 o'clock very badly burned - and it is supposed he perished almost instantly. His age was about 73.
Source: [Pennsylvania]National Gazette, 26 Apr 1832, retrieved from Genealogybank.com on 10 Sep 2011

Seth Chapin was the son of Seth Chapin and Hannah Sikes, and was married to Sibyl Lombard on 1 Jan 1800 in Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.

comments

Roselawn Cemetery, Little Rock, Pulaski Co., AR

2011-08-27T21:37:11Z

So I went by Roselawn today as I was in town taking cemetery photos.

And I drove by this grave.

Chapin.

Now how could they not be related? But I didn't recognize the name.

I took the shot anyway.

Chester C and Mary Ruth Chapin

And came home and dug around.

Yep. Cousins.

I wonder if Chester and his eighth cousin, Hattie Belle, ever knew each other. They lived in Little Rock at the same time - for years.

And if they did, I wonder if they were ever able to puzzle through exactly how they were related?

comments

"No Larry, we're not putting Grampa out with the trash"

2011-08-06T00:59:30Z

Twenty years ago (or maybe a tad more), before I started tracking my ancestors in any serious way, I got a phone call from my second cousin.

He was one of my Balding cousins, the only son of one of my grandmother's brothers.

His father died in 1980, and his mom couldn't live by herself any more. Larry was packing up her house to move her to Tulsa where he lived and could keep an eye on her.

The call was to let me know he had finished the packing and there were some leftovers in the house - bits of furniture and memorabilia, and he wondered if my sisters and I might want some of it.

I said sure, and we made a date for the next afternoon. I called my sisters to let them know.

I can't even remember now if my sisters accompanied me.

But I will never forget what I saw when I pulled into my aunt's driveway.

This portrait, leaning against the garbage cans on the curb.

Fred Chapin, 1858-1938

I grabbed it up as I went in the carport door. I gave it to Larry when I went in.

He looked at me. I told him I found it out by the trash. That's Grampa Chapin.

What he said just floored me.

Dee, that frame isn't worth anything. That's why it's out with the trash.

I may not know much about the monetary value of old portrait frames, but there's one thing I did know.

At that time, that portrait was 100 years old.

So...no Larry, we're not putting Grampa out with the trash.

Grampa Fred Chapin's portrait has hung in whatever humble abode I have occupied ever since then.

I had a very interesting text conversation with my nephew today.

It's his 24th birthday and I texted him to wish him a happy one. We kidded back and forth about where his envelope full of cash was, and I told him I'd remember him in my will.

What he said just floored me.

When I die, he wants this portrait of his great-grandmother, Doris Geneva Balding, Fred Chapin's granddaughter.

Doris Geneva Balding Williams, 1907-1998

I think Grampa may have a new home...

This is a Sepia Saturday post.

comments

The places they called home...

2011-07-30T19:35:44Z

I finally took my camera and went in search of four homes where my Baldings, Chapins, and Williamses lived in Little Rock.

The first one - the address listed on the World War I draft registration card of my great grandfather, Victor Claude Balding - was at 223 Rice Street. He signed his draft registration card on 12 Sep 1918.

The house is still there - although I'm sure it looks a bit different today than it did 93 years ago.

Next, I went in search of the houses at 213 and 217 Dennison.

They are next door to each other.

My maternal grandparents, Joe Duffie Williams and Doris Geneva Balding, lived at 213. I found them at that address in city directories from 1940 to 1949.

A whole bunch of people lived at 217 for many years - including my grandother's parents and siblings, as well as her maternal grandmother, Eada Belle (Parrish) Chapin after the death of Fred Chapin right after Christmas in 1938.

According to Polk's Little Rock/North Little Rock City Directories, Fred and Eada lived at 913 North Valmar, and Eada was listed at that address in the 1939 City Directory. (I'll have to make another photo journaling trip to see if that one is still standing.)

But by 1940, Eada made her home with her daughter, Hattie Belle and son-in-law, Victor, at 217 Dennison.

In 1940, the house at 217 Dennison must have been full to overflowing, with Victor and Hattie Balding, Hattie's mother, Eada Chapin, and adult children, Ellington (Linky), daughter Marion (Murney), Marvin and Vera. All the children were employed except Linky, who was the youngest.

Across town, my grandfather's parents, Jo Desha Williams and Maxie Leah Meek, lived at 2310 South Ringo Street.

That was the home to which my grandfather, Joe Duffie Williams, took his bride Doris after they married on Halloween in 1926. They were still there when the census was taken in 1930.

comments

My nomadic Chapins...

2011-07-26T01:40:46Z

My direct line of Chapins was a curious bunch.

Of the 10 children born to my 3rd great grandparents, Nathaniel Foster Chapin and Elizabeth Harris, very few seemed to be content to get to one place and stay there.

Willard N Chapin, sixth in the line-up, was no exception to the bunch of his siblings with wanderlust.

The last time I can find him in a census where I know it's really him was the 1885 Kansas State census, and he was living with his mom and dad in Fort Scott, KS. He was 20 years old.

He followed in his father's footsteps and made his living with wood, as a carpenter.

I can document him living in Fort Scott through the printing of the 1889/1890 Hoyes City Directory for the city. Willard was living at 401 Coates Street, and was employed as a carpenter.

Then, I lose him for 20 long years, until he turned up in the list of registered voters for San Luis Obispo Co., CA in 1910.

San Luis Obispo County, 1910

From where ever he lived in southern California, it was on to Sacramento County, where he was registered as a Socialist among voters on the list from 1912-1914.

Sacramento County, 1912-1914

The next list was from Butte County for the years 1916-1930, which is quite a spread and doesn't help me figure when he was really there. I see he changed his party affiliation to Democrat.

The most problematic of the lists is the one from Nevada County, because it covers the years from 1900-1928.

I don't have a date of death for him, although he does not appear in Ancestry's California Death Index from 1940-1997. He either did not die in California, or he didn't make it to 1940. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter were true, because carpentry is a hard way to make a living as you get on in years.

Of course, it doesn't help that Willard was literally all over the map.

I guess, at least for now, Willard is just another brick in the wall...

comments

Wednesday's Child: Ruth Chapin, buried 27 Oct 1892

2011-06-22T18:45:56Z

Somewhere along the way, I met a Parrish cousin online - I forget now how exactly it happened.

She shared some Parrish family photos, including one of my great-great grandmother Eada Belle Parrish, mother of my great grandmother Hattie Belle Chapin.

She also gave me a bit of information I was unaware of - Eada had another daughter, Ruth, who died as a child.

It was when I started nosing around in records for Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Scott, Bourbon County, KS, that I found little Ruth's grave documented. She was buried in the same plot as her paternal grandparents, Elizabeth Harris and Nathaniel F Chapin, on 27 Oct 1892. There was no date of birth for her in the records, but her parents married on 24 Dec 1885, so she was probably the younger sister of my great-grandma, who was born on 26 May 1887.

Some time, I'll have to go to Fort Scott.

comments