Elijah Chapman (abt. 1726 - 1808)

Born about 1726 in Windsor, Hartford Co, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Steele) Chapman — married 28 May 1747 in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut Colony

Descendants

Died 17 Feb 1808 at about age 82 in Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Homer Hopper [send private message]

Biography

Deacon Elijah Chapman performed Patriotic Service in Connecticut in the American Revolution.

Elijah Chapman is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A020872.

Hon. Elijah CHAPMAN^[1]

Birth

Hon. Elijah CHAPMAN was born Abt 1726 at Windsor, Hartford, CT. He was a farmer in Tolland: deacon in the church and a member of the General Assembly (in 1765, 1776, 1781 and 1782). ^{[2] [3][4]}.

Parents

• Father: Samuel Chapman
• Mother: Hannah Strong (1692 - 1776)

Marriage

Elijah [Chapman] married Sarah Steele (-1812), daughter of Rev. Stephen Steel, on the same day, May 28, 1747,^[5] that his sister Hannah CHAPMAN married Stephen Steel. The marriage took place at Tolland , CT.

Elijah Chapman and Sarah Steele had the following 12 known children^[4]:

• i. Joanna Chapman (b. 16 May 1748, at Tolland, CT., d. 25 Mar 1814 at Tolland, CT; she was aged 65. Buried in Tolland, CT. at South Cemetery. Joanna m. Dea. Joshua Griggs

• ii. Reuben (1749-1776)

• iii. Sarah (1752-1752)

• iv. Elijah (1753-1832)

• v. Ashbel/Asahel (1755-1822)

• vi. Sarah (1757-)

• vii. Ruth (1759-)

• viii. Esther (1761-)

• ix. Roxana (1763-)

• x. Aaron (1765-1842)

• xi. Dorcas (1767-)

• xii. Daniel (1769-)

Life Events

• On 28 May 1747 when Elijah/Elizah was 21, he married Sarah Steele, daughter of Rev. Stephen Steele & Ruth Porter, in Tolland, CT.^[4]

• Sarah Steele died in Tolland, CT, on 22 Feb 1812; she was 82^[4]

.

• Deacon of church in Tolland. Represented town in the colonial legislature in 1775, 1776, 1781, and 1782. ^[6]

• From Judd: “During the Revolution captured English officers were quartered in Dea. Chapman’s house. Waldo notes that the English officers ‘were there while Yorktown was besieged, and a son of Dea. Chapman [Elijah Chapman] was a captain of Lafayette’s Light Infantry employed in that siege. These officers were always represented by those who remembered them, as making a splendid appearance, and as being very courteous and gentlemanly in their limited intercourse with the inhabitants of the neighborhood’ ^[7][4]

.

Military Service

Revolutionary War service of Elijah Chapman^[4]:

According to his pension application, Elijah served throughout the Revolution, beginning as a second lieutenant and appointed a captain from 1780. He was among the remnant of the Connecticut troops who stayed with Washington on the retreat through New Jersey in the fall of 1776, and he ‘took Hessians’ at Trenton in December, the action that revived the rebellion. After the humiliation of having to withdraw from Philadelphia, Washington’s forces fought the British in Germantown on 4 October 1777, in which, according to his account, Elijah participated. He was at the confused Battle of Monmouth, N.J. on 9 June 1778, the longest battle of the war and the last major action in the north. The temperature was in the high 90s and sunstroke claimed a number of victims. He would have been with the Americans who crossed the Hudson at King’s Ferry to Stony Point on 20-21 August 1781, en route to Virginia. The route took them by land to Chesapeake Bay north of Baltimore where they embarked on ships to Yorktown, the expeditionary force that included the French troops under Rochambeau. Elijah says he was in smaller actions at Jamestown and along the James River.

Elijah took part in the Siege of Yorktown and was engaged in the seizing of the Redoubt. This was Redoubt #9 which was attacked by Americans under Alexander Hamilton who hacked their way through the brush and obstacles of the surrounding trench to seize it.

Elijah notes that in several of the actions as Captain he was without an officer immediately senior to him. He and his unit were likely joined with other state units in these actions. [For accounts of these battles and the campaigns associated with them see Mark M. Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1994)]

Elijah's pension application follows.

Elijah Chapman, 2nd Connecticut Regiment, Captain, Connecticut Line of the Army of the United States during the Revolutionary War. Inscribed on the Roll of Connecticut at the rate of 20 dollars per month to be commenced the 9th of July 1818. Certificate of Pension issued this 7th of November and cert Sylvester Gilbert, Hebron, Connecticut.

Stricken off under Act of 1 May 1820—Notification sent to Elisha Stearns, Esq, Tolland, on 13th of July 1820.

Elijah Chapman, Esq. of Tolland in the County of Tolland in the State of Connecticut, now residing sd Tolland, and a citizen of the United States, Testifies & declares upon oath, that at the commencement of the revolutionary war in the year 1775 he entered into the service of his Country as a soldier, and on the 10th day of June 1776 having been regularly appointed second Lieutenant in the army of the United Colonies in the company commanded by Captain Prior in Col Andrew Wards Regiment on the Continental establishment, he received a Commission of 2d Lieut as aforesd, signed by John Hancock President attested Charles Thompson Secretary, bearing date the first day of January A.D. 1777, when he received a Commission, signed & attested as the first, appointing him first Lieutenant in a Company commanded by Josiah Childs, Captain, in a Regiment commanded by Col' Philip D. Bradley in the army of the United States, which Commission bears date of the day & year last aforesaid, and under the last mentioned Commission has served in sd Regiment until the 20th day of July A.D. 1780 when he was appointed a Captain in the 2d Connecticut Regiment on the Continental establishment, and from that time served & performed the Duty of a Captain in sd Regiment until the close of the revolutionary War, but received his Commission appointing him to be Captain as aforesaid afterwards, bearing date the 10th day of September A.D. 1781 giving him rank from said 20th day of July 1780 & signed by Thomas McKean president, and he says that he began with the war of the revolution and continued therein until the end & close thereof, when he was regularly & honorably discharged at the highlands near West Point in the State of New York—He also says that he served the whole time faithfully against the Common Enemy & the three last years as a Captain on the Continental Establishment and bath he's said there several Commissions. . . He was in the Battle of Trenton & assisted in taking Hessians. He was also in the Battle of Germantown, and in the Battle of Monmouth, and was at the Siege of Yorktown, & before that, at the battle in James Town in Virginia and in each & every one of those battles commanded a Company the next superior officer always being absent in those engagements—He also says that he assisted in storming a Redoubt at Yorktown & lost nearly one third of the Company killed & wounded, & was in several other hand skirmishes unnecessary to mention—He further says that he is aged 65 years, and has infirmities of body, besides the decays of Constitution. That he is in reduced circumstances, involved by misfortune in debt, unable to perform but little manual labour, and has one daughter in a state of mental derangement entirely dependent on him for support, & that he stands in need of the assistance of his Country for support. Hebron May 9th A.D. 1818 Elijah Chapman [Chapman, Elijah, Pens. Appl., M505 Roll 167 File S378481BLWT375-300. Accessed Heritage Quest, 24 June 2008]”^[8]

Death

Elijah Chapman died on Feb. 17, 1808 at Tolland, CT., aged 82 years^[4]. Elijah was buried at the North Cemetery, Tolland, Tolland County, CT USA^[9]. Grave (North Cemetery, Tolland)

In memory of Deacn

Elijah Chapman, who

died Feby 17th 1808

aged 82 years

My body lies beneath

stone.

And shows whereto

all flesh must come.

No state or worth

nor power can save

There’s no distinction

in the grave.

Elijah's wife Sarah's Grave is also in the North Cemetery, Tolland, CT^[10]

Mrs. Sarah

relict of Dea. Elijah

Chapman died Feb.

22, 1812 AE 81

Sources

• Website: FindAGrave - Elijah Chapman Find A Grave Memorial# 22642652 , Created by: Jan Franco, Record added: Nov 03, 2007.

• Website: FindAGrave - Sarah Steele Chapman [http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Chapman-4701&action=edit Find A Grave Memorial# 22642749, Created by: Jan Franco, Record added: Nov 03, 2007}

• Book: The early history of Tolland, By Loren Pinckney Waldo; Published 1861 by Press of Case, Lockwood & company in Hartford Pages 148; Library of Congress F104.T6 W2. The early history of Tolland, By Loren Pinckney Waldo

• Website: webstergriggsfamilies Genealogy - webstergriggsfamilies

• Book: Dwight's The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of ..., Volume 2, By Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight; J. Munsell, 1871 - Massachusetts - 1586 pages

• Website: Return STRONG (1641 - 1726)

1. ↑ Entered by Homer Hopper.
2. ↑ [S136] Dwight's History of the Strong Family, Benjamin W. Dwight, (1871; reprint, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc., 2000.)
3. ↑ The early history of Tolland, By Loren Pinckney Waldo; Pages 62-66
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6} webstergriggsfamilies Genealogy
5. ↑ Chapmans and the Early History of Tolland, Connecticut -Ministers [1]
6. ↑ Peter Judd, citing F.W. Chapman, “The Chapman Family...” (Hartford: Printed by Case, Tiffany and Co., 1854)
7. ↑ The early history of Tolland, By Loren P. Waldo; Published 1861; Page 51
8. ↑ Peter Haring Judd, Four American Ancestries, 2008
9. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 22642652
10. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial# 22642749

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Homer Hopper for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Homer and others.