Sunday's Obituaries: Chapin

Cyrus F Chapin

Died at 3 o'clock this morning at the home of his sister, Mrs. Essie Lebolt Finn of 1421 Second Street, following an illness of six weeks. He suffered from a complication of diseases. He was born in Bradford County, Dec. 2, 1853, and resided with a sister in Denver, Colo., until March 15, last year when the sister died, Mr. Chapin then removing to this city. He is survived by three brothers, George Chapin of Atlanta, Ga., Fred Chapin of Little Rock, Ark., and Willard Chapin of California, and the sister in this city. Surviving also is a niece, Mrs. J A Boorman of Altoona, and a nephew, E C Shephard of Pontiac, Mich. He was a member of the International Bible Students' association. The funeral will be held from the Laferty and Tobias funeral parlors on Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Interment will be made in Rose Hill cemetery.

Source: Altoona Mirror, Wednesday, March 3, 1926

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Mrs. Essie Lebolt Finn

Died at her home, 1421 Second Street, last night at 8:10 o'clock. Surviving are her husband, Daniel J Finn; one son, Ward D of Philadelphia; one daughter, Mrs. Broshia L Boorman. Another son, Elbert, died in Pontiac, Mich., two years ago. Mrs. Finn attended the Fourth Lutheran church. Friends will be received at the Axe funeral home after 7 o'clock this evening.

FINN: Funeral services for Mrs. Essie Lebolt Finn will be conducted Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Axe funeral home in charge of Rev. Ralph W Lind. Interment in Rose Hill cemetery. Friends will be received at Axe funeral home after 7 o'clock this evening.

Source: Altoona Mirror, Tuesday, December 14, 1948

Setting the record straight...Chapin

Over the last week or so, I've made a point to study on the branch of the Chapins who are my direct ancestors.

There was a little dust-up in the comments of several of my Chapin entries by a couple of descendants who swore and bedamned that I had the facts wrong.

So I decided to dig a little deeper.

Here are some new findings...

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Courtesy of the Old Fort Genealogical Society, I have located some graves in Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Scott, KS.

Nathaniel Foster Chapin and Elizabeth Harris are buried there, in Section 1A, Row 8. Dates of birth and death are as noted in previous entries.

Also buried in Section 1A, Plot 10 in unmarked graves are Immogene Chapin (1869-1886), daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth, and Ruth Chapin, daughter of my great great grandparents, Fred Chapin and Eada Belle Parrish. (I had known for a long time, courtesy of another Parrish researcher, that Ruth was born and died before 1900 in Fort Scott.)

Immogene's date of interment was 24 Apr 1886. Ruth's was 27 Oct 1892.

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I now know dates of death for three of Essie Chapin's husbands, and burial places for two.

George Franklin Shephard is buried right where I thought he would be, based on consistent census information from the State of Iowa and the federal government. He died in August 1934, and was interred in Winfield and Scott Cemetery, Winfield, Henry Co., IA on 7 Aug 1934.

Joseph Young Lebolt died on 16 Jan 1938, in Chicago, Cook Co., IL, where his family was (and descendants still are). I suspect, but have not been able to confirm, that he is buried in Jewish Graceland, aka the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery, since his father, Lazarus, was instrumental in its founding. But the jury is still out on that one until I have time to make proper inquiries...

Daniel J Finn (the one I thought was hatched) was the son of John Finn and Margaret Naughton. He died on 18 May 1953, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Altoona, Blair County, PA, as was Essie.

Still looking for the elusive Elbert W Carr, who does not seem to exist, either in census records, marriage records, city directories, or other historic documents...

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Essie's son, E C Shephard, did not die in 1946 as was reported in his mother's obituary.

He died in Oakland Co., MI on 25 Oct 1943, as was reported to me by his grandson and confirmed by the vital records website for Oakland County. I have just ordered his death certificate from that county.

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Other children of Nathaniel Foster Chapin and Elizabeth Harris are:
Cyrus Foster Chapin, 2 Dec 1853-3 Mar 1926, buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Altoona, Blair Co., PA;

Edwin Manly Chapin, 12 May 1855-22 Mar 1916, buried Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne Co., MI;

Frederick Chapin (Fred), 8 Oct 1858-29 Dec 1938, buried Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Pulaski Co., AR;

Adaline (Addie) Chapin, Dec 1860-15 Mar 1925, died in Denver, Denver Co., CO, per her brother Cyrus' obituary. I have not been able to locate her grave, and will probably do a post on her wanderings and marriages soon;

George Chapin, Sep 1862-9 Feb 1933, died in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA (thank you GA for a good death index). Have not located his grave either;

Willard Chapin, 4 May 1865-? At the time of Cyrus' death, the obit said Willard was living in California. I've chased him as far as Packard, Pershing Co., Nevada in the 1920 census, where he was still working as a carpenter with two business partners. The census said he was married. He does not show up in the California death index on Ancestry (which begins with 1940), so he either died before then, or died somewhere else;

Albert Edward Chapin, 16 Apr 1867-? He died sometime before Nathaniel moved everyone to Bourbon County, KS, and it was probably in Olean, Cattaraugus Co., NY;

Immogene "Emma" Chapin, discussed above;

Essie, much cussed and discussed, and whose descendants are in for MOAR discussion in the future; and

Ward Chapin, 1872-18 Sep 1894. And now I know where Ward is buried - in the Alexandria National Cemetery, Pineville, Rapides Parish, LA, where all the remains of the soldiers buried at Fort Brown, TX were relocated in 1911.

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As my daddy would say...

I'm on a roll.