This week's theme is Heirlooms, and the heirloom I am sharing is a copy of The Chapin Genealogy compiled by Orange Chapin and published in 1862. Exploring this book about 35 years ago, I was fascinated by the fact that through my father's mother, we could trace our ancestry back to one of the founders of Springfield, Massachusetts!
It is this book that started my interest in genealogy.
The 1862 book is not under copyright and can be found online in many places including the Internet Archive, FamilySearch Books, and Ancestry.com, among others.
However, the one that I have is an heirloom because there were slips of paper bookmarking the pages of one line from Orramel
Chapin (1791-1866) back to Samuel Chapin with handwritten notes on
those pages. This book has likely been handed down in my family for 125-150 years!
Deacon Samuel Chapin is noted G. G. G. G. G. Grandfather (no. 1), but the line that has been tracked in the book, he should have been noted as the note-taker's 4th great-grandfather. (Depending on which line is traced, he is also a 5th great-grandfather.)
Henry Chapin is noted G. G. G. G. Grandfather (no. 2). (I also descend from his older brother Japhet.)
The next page continues information about Henry, including listing his children.
Benjamin Chapin is correctly labeled as G. G. Grandfather (no. 3). His son, Ephraim, is G. Grandfather.
Ephraim Chapin is labeled as Great Grandfather (no. 4). His son, Bezaleel, is G. Father (no. 5).
Bezaleel Chapin is G. father and the reference number for his wife, Thankful Chapin, was corrected from 504 to 514. Their oldest child, Orramel, was noted as Father.
My favorite page: Father (no. 6). The penned corrections to dates were made by someone else. The notes in pencil were made by me (before I realized that I shouldn't have made any marks).
The fact that Orramel Chapin is listed as "Father" suggests that one of his children marked their paternal Chapin ancestry in this book. Because this book ended up with my dad and then me, I theorize that the early notes were made by my second great-grandmother, Susan Arville Chapin (born June 9, 1820). She died May 6, 1906, outliving all her siblings. Perhaps her son, Charles Chapin Adsit, added the May 6, 1906, death date of his mother, and for his aunt: "Jane - died 1902" which is not accurate. (Jane died September 26, 1901, in Salt Lake City, Utah.)
A family embroidered sampler is another source for the dates of Orramel's marriage and his children's births (and some deaths).
It should be noted that this book is known to have many errors.
I wish that the death date for her parents had been added. I was able to find that Orramel Chapin died in October 9, 1866, in Chicago (via Graceland Cemetery records), but I have not been able to find a death date or location for his wife, Susan (Rood) Chapin, who died presumably between 1870 and 1880.
The end of the book includes a Family Record section where
relatives had written down some births, marriages, and deaths. I am including one of the Family Record pages below:
I believe the earliest handwriting (in brown) is that of Susan Arville Chapin. I'm not sure who recorded the marriages of Ezra Wheeler and Belle Adsit and Charles C. Adsit and Mary B. Ashby, but it could be Susan (though her capital "A" is different).
A possibility for the next handwriting is possibly her son, Charles Chapin Adsit, writing the births of his children, Charles Chapin Adsit, Jr. and Elizabeth Adsit.
Because I know my grandmother's handwriting, I know that the births of Florence Wheeler (her cousin) and Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr. (her son) were written by Elizabeth Adsit, as well as the record for her (first) marriage to Charles McAlpin Pyle, in Chicago, March 1, 1919.
(The page for Deaths does not include death dates for either Orramel or Susan (Rood) Chapin.)
My line as marked in this Chapin genealogy from Deacon Samuel Chapin is as follows:
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