It seems that the true birthdate of Robert Chapman has gone with him to his grave. I have found many references of birth years and areas of origin, but knowing that records have been transcribed, it is possible that there are errors. I'm choosing to leave it as 1616 as that seems to be the birthyear that I have seen in most notations. Note on the plaque on his memorial, his birthyear is 161?. When was this Robert Chapman really born?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following information is courtesy of:
Gene Zubrinsky (47226970).
The oft-repeated family traditions that Robert Chapman was born in 1616 and that he had come from Hull, Yorkshire, were first presented in F. W. Chapman, The Chapman Family (1854). These assertions have since been weakened by the determination that the Robert Chapman baptized in Kingston upon Hull on 1 January 1616 was not the eventual Saybrook man (see Dorothy Chapman Saunders, “The Origin of Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook, Connecticut: A Theory Nipped in the Bud,” American Genealogist 66[1991]:30–32).
The rediscovered end-of-life letter of Robert Chapman to his children contains passages that further undermine the conventional wisdom as to Chapman’s place of origin and birth year (“Capt. Robert Chapmans Legacie to his Children Left to them in writing before his decease who departed this Life the 13th day of October 1687”; see the original letter and transcription at
http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15869coll16/id/1270); a less satisfactory presentation of the letter may be found at http://oliveandeliza.com/boyd/bliss/letter_RobertChapman.pdf).
Chapman wrote that at about age 15, he was “put out to Learn a trade [and that] great care was taken [by his Puritan parents] to Place me in Some Godly famaly [sic] and because there was not of that trade then known near my fathers house I was bound out to a man that Lived about 30 miles off.” After “Some years Service” he returned to his father’s house and in 1635 (he did not say how many years later this was) “tooke ship” for New England shortly after visiting friends in Kent and Sussex—at the other end of England from Yorkshire. One might surmise that he lived in one of these southern counties and apprenticed in the other. Despite the 1854 Chapman genealogy’s acceptance of the family tradition that Robert Chapman was born in Hull, Yorkshire, it nevertheless acknowledges (p. 29) that “[o]thers suppose . . . he was a native of Kent.”
Chapman also stated that he spent “almost a 3rd part” of his life in England. If born in 1616, however, he would have been about 19 years old (18 according to family tradition) when he emigrated, in 1635, and about 71 when he died; a third of 71 is almost 24, from which 18 or 19 is a far cry. If instead of 1616 we postulate a birth year of about 1612, his age at death would have been about 75, and his age at emigration would have been about 23—nearly a third of his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following information is courtesy of:
Gene Zubrinsky (47226970).
The oft-repeated family traditions that Robert Chapman was born in 1616 and that he had come from Hull, Yorkshire, were first presented in F. W. Chapman, The Chapman Family (1854). These assertions have since been weakened by the determination that the Robert Chapman baptized in Kingston upon Hull on 1 January 1616 was not the eventual Saybrook man (see Dorothy Chapman Saunders, “The Origin of Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook, Connecticut: A Theory Nipped in the Bud,” American Genealogist 66[1991]:30–32).
The rediscovered end-of-life letter of Robert Chapman to his children contains passages that further undermine the conventional wisdom as to Chapman’s place of origin and birth year (“Capt. Robert Chapmans Legacie to his Children Left to them in writing before his decease who departed this Life the 13th day of October 1687”; see the original letter and transcription at
http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15869coll16/id/1270); a less satisfactory presentation of the letter may be found at http://oliveandeliza.com/boyd/bliss/letter_RobertChapman.pdf).
Chapman wrote that at about age 15, he was “put out to Learn a trade [and that] great care was taken [by his Puritan parents] to Place me in Some Godly famaly [sic] and because there was not of that trade then known near my fathers house I was bound out to a man that Lived about 30 miles off.” After “Some years Service” he returned to his father’s house and in 1635 (he did not say how many years later this was) “tooke ship” for New England shortly after visiting friends in Kent and Sussex—at the other end of England from Yorkshire. One might surmise that he lived in one of these southern counties and apprenticed in the other. Despite the 1854 Chapman genealogy’s acceptance of the family tradition that Robert Chapman was born in Hull, Yorkshire, it nevertheless acknowledges (p. 29) that “[o]thers suppose . . . he was a native of Kent.”
Chapman also stated that he spent “almost a 3rd part” of his life in England. If born in 1616, however, he would have been about 19 years old (18 according to family tradition) when he emigrated, in 1635, and about 71 when he died; a third of 71 is almost 24, from which 18 or 19 is a far cry. If instead of 1616 we postulate a birth year of about 1612, his age at death would have been about 75, and his age at emigration would have been about 23—nearly a third of his life.
It seems that the true birthdate of Robert Chapman has gone with him to his grave. I have found many references of birth years and areas of origin, but knowing that records have been transcribed, it is possible that there are errors. I'm choosing to leave it as 1616 as that seems to be the birthyear that I have seen in most notations. Note on the plaque on his memorial, his birthyear is 161?. When was this Robert Chapman really born?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following information is courtesy of:
Gene Zubrinsky (47226970).
The oft-repeated family traditions that Robert Chapman was born in 1616 and that he had come from Hull, Yorkshire, were first presented in F. W. Chapman, The Chapman Family (1854). These assertions have since been weakened by the determination that the Robert Chapman baptized in Kingston upon Hull on 1 January 1616 was not the eventual Saybrook man (see Dorothy Chapman Saunders, “The Origin of Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook, Connecticut: A Theory Nipped in the Bud,” American Genealogist 66[1991]:30–32).
The rediscovered end-of-life letter of Robert Chapman to his children contains passages that further undermine the conventional wisdom as to Chapman’s place of origin and birth year (“Capt. Robert Chapmans Legacie to his Children Left to them in writing before his decease who departed this Life the 13th day of October 1687”; see the original letter and transcription at
http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15869coll16/id/1270); a less satisfactory presentation of the letter may be found at http://oliveandeliza.com/boyd/bliss/letter_RobertChapman.pdf).
Chapman wrote that at about age 15, he was “put out to Learn a trade [and that] great care was taken [by his Puritan parents] to Place me in Some Godly famaly [sic] and because there was not of that trade then known near my fathers house I was bound out to a man that Lived about 30 miles off.” After “Some years Service” he returned to his father’s house and in 1635 (he did not say how many years later this was) “tooke ship” for New England shortly after visiting friends in Kent and Sussex—at the other end of England from Yorkshire. One might surmise that he lived in one of these southern counties and apprenticed in the other. Despite the 1854 Chapman genealogy’s acceptance of the family tradition that Robert Chapman was born in Hull, Yorkshire, it nevertheless acknowledges (p. 29) that “[o]thers suppose . . . he was a native of Kent.”
Chapman also stated that he spent “almost a 3rd part” of his life in England. If born in 1616, however, he would have been about 19 years old (18 according to family tradition) when he emigrated, in 1635, and about 71 when he died; a third of 71 is almost 24, from which 18 or 19 is a far cry. If instead of 1616 we postulate a birth year of about 1612, his age at death would have been about 75, and his age at emigration would have been about 23—nearly a third of his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following information is courtesy of:
Gene Zubrinsky (47226970).
The oft-repeated family traditions that Robert Chapman was born in 1616 and that he had come from Hull, Yorkshire, were first presented in F. W. Chapman, The Chapman Family (1854). These assertions have since been weakened by the determination that the Robert Chapman baptized in Kingston upon Hull on 1 January 1616 was not the eventual Saybrook man (see Dorothy Chapman Saunders, “The Origin of Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook, Connecticut: A Theory Nipped in the Bud,” American Genealogist 66[1991]:30–32).
The rediscovered end-of-life letter of Robert Chapman to his children contains passages that further undermine the conventional wisdom as to Chapman’s place of origin and birth year (“Capt. Robert Chapmans Legacie to his Children Left to them in writing before his decease who departed this Life the 13th day of October 1687”; see the original letter and transcription at
http://digitalcollections.americanancestors.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15869coll16/id/1270); a less satisfactory presentation of the letter may be found at http://oliveandeliza.com/boyd/bliss/letter_RobertChapman.pdf).
Chapman wrote that at about age 15, he was “put out to Learn a trade [and that] great care was taken [by his Puritan parents] to Place me in Some Godly famaly [sic] and because there was not of that trade then known near my fathers house I was bound out to a man that Lived about 30 miles off.” After “Some years Service” he returned to his father’s house and in 1635 (he did not say how many years later this was) “tooke ship” for New England shortly after visiting friends in Kent and Sussex—at the other end of England from Yorkshire. One might surmise that he lived in one of these southern counties and apprenticed in the other. Despite the 1854 Chapman genealogy’s acceptance of the family tradition that Robert Chapman was born in Hull, Yorkshire, it nevertheless acknowledges (p. 29) that “[o]thers suppose . . . he was a native of Kent.”
Chapman also stated that he spent “almost a 3rd part” of his life in England. If born in 1616, however, he would have been about 19 years old (18 according to family tradition) when he emigrated, in 1635, and about 71 when he died; a third of 71 is almost 24, from which 18 or 19 is a far cry. If instead of 1616 we postulate a birth year of about 1612, his age at death would have been about 75, and his age at emigration would have been about 23—nearly a third of his life.
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