Civil War Veterans - Part 3 of Interesting Things in Hainesport

     Civil War veteran Edward B. Chapman was born in 1832 or 1834 in Northampton Township (now known as Mount Holly), Burlington County, New Jersey.  He is first listed on public records in the New Jersey State Census of 1840.  His surname is recorded as "Chatman."  His ethnicity is recorded as "mulatto" or mixed race on this census report.  The first time he appears on a federal census (still using "Chatman") is the year 1860.  By then he had married Martha, a 21 year old woman from Delaware.  In 1870 the spelling of the last name changes, and Edward Chapman appears.  Now his ethnicity is reported as "black."  He is 36 and Martha is 31.  They have three children - Joseph Chapman, age 9, Charles H. Chapman, age 4, and Sarah V. Chapman, age 3. They shared their home with William Hill, age 90, a retired laborer, and Anthony Davis, age 70, a wood scavenger.  By the time the 1880 census was taken, another child had come along, Anna May Chapman, born in October 1877.  The family lived on Washington Street.  Edward worked as a waiter in a hotel, and Martha worked as a servant.
     Edward Chapman died on August 2, 1882 at the age of 48.  Martha buried him in the remote part of the Mt. Moriah cemetery under a free, government headstone.  In 1887 Martha began receiving a war pension based on being a widow.
     It's impossible to see a snapshot of the family in 1890 because the federal census from that year was destroyed.  There was a fire in the National Archives in 1921 which destroyed the 1890 census records.  What wasn't lost in the fire was ruined by the water used to extinguish the blaze.
     By 1900, Martha lived on Chestnut Street with her daughter Anna May.  Anna May married a man named Gibbs in 1895, but he was not listed in the home in 1900.  There were three grandchildren, Helen M. Gibbs, born December 10, 1895, Charles Gibbs, born August 1897, and Herbert Gibbs, born in 1899.  Anna May's brother, Joseph Chapman, also lived on Chestnut Street with his two sons, Norman Chapman, born in 1888, and Sherman Chapman, born in 1890.  Joseph married Emma B. Sharp in 1884, but she was not listed in the home in 1900.  Other family members, Charles Chapman, Sarah V. Chapman, and Walter W. Chapman, disappear from the U.S. census reports after 1880.  Joseph's son Norman isn't named on census records after 1900.
     All mention of the Chapman family disappears until the census of 1930.  Edward's grandson, Sherman Chapman, is a 30 year old single man, living as a lodger in the Filbert Street home of Mary Harris.  By 1940, he moved to Carlton Street, lodging with the Powell family.  He worked as a laborer.  Sherman Chapman died in 1955 from an intestinal hemorrhage.  He is buried in the Mt. Moriah cemetery with no headstone.
     I was hoping to build a family tree for the Chapman family and to be able to bring it down to the present generation.  All leads ended with Sherman Chapman.  Women marry and change their names.  People with limited economic means rent instead of own, so there are no property records to track.  During this era, people might have worked at odd jobs being paid in cash, so they weren't part of the Social Security system established in 1935.  Poor people often don't leave estates, so there are no records of wills.
     Edward Chapman didn't have to serve, but he volunteered at the age of 31.  Maybe he had (what would have been called at the time) lofty ideas about freedom and racial equality.  Maybe he got swept up in the volunteer spirit that swept through Mount Holly's black population.  Maybe his family really needed the $13 per month that he was paid.  Out of all the unknowns comes one truth - he is an American hero who should be honored this Memorial Day.

Edward Chapman's Service Record

  

Edward Chapman's Pension Record

Record of Federal Headstone

       
 

Edward Chapman 1834 - 1882