Descendants of Captain Benjamin Chapman

These are my research notes on preparing a list of the 7 generations of descendants

of Captain Benjamin Chapman upto the time of the 1880 US Census.

Background
Benjamin Chapman was a captain in the armies of Cromwell that fought in the English Civil War. He was awared with the estate of Killua Castle in Ireland. One line of his family were barons of Killua Castle. One very prominent descendant here was T.E. Lawrence, AKA Lawrence of Arabia.

But his second son, Thomas, immigrated to New England and started a great posterity there. Several of these descendants fought against the British in the American Revolutionary War.

Legends and Myths
It had been rumored that Johnny Appleseed (Chapman) was of this American family line, but that is not true. He is a descendant of early New England immigrant Edward Chapman.

Killua Castle - Westmeath County, Ireland
Killua Castle is the ancestral home of the Chapman Family who were granted the lands around Killua in 1667 as payment for services during the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland. The Chapman Family can count many distinguished members of both the Irish and British Parliaments among its members and has important historical connections with Sir Walter Raleigh and Lawrence of Arabia, who was the illegitimate son of William Chapman of South Hill (near Delvin). The original castle/house at Killua was probably demolished when the present edifice was constructed c.1780 by Sir Benjamin Chapman. It is believed that the renowned architect Thomas Cooley (1740-1784) may have been responsible for the design of the new classical residence at Killua, c.1780.

Killua Castle was originally the property of the Knights Hospitalliers of St. John before its confiscation of Sir Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil Wars.

200 Meters from the castle is the Raleigh Obelisk - The obelisk marks the position where Sir Walter Raleigh planted some of the first potatoes that he imported to Ireland in the early 1600s. Antoine Parmentier who promoted the cultivation of potatoes for human consumption and the Spanish conquistadores who first imported them from South America. The obelisk erected by Sir Thomas Chapman in 1810, marks the Raleigh contribution to Ireland in providing stable nourishment to the farming/working class land tenants and is the supposed spot where the first potatoes were planted.


 * http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WM&regno=15306023
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killua_Castle
 * http://reocities.com/Athens/delphi/7661/FOOT15.html
 * http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2009/1031/1224257721312.html - 2009-Oct-31 : Irish Times reports update on Killua Castle, which has quite the local reputation as a haunted house.
 * http://www.telstudies.org.uk/telstudies_org_uk/legacy2/npg_catalogue/part1/002.htm - TE Lawrence Studies Website - Much family history here.

Chapman Family Research Task List

 * (1) Build Chart from top to bottom
 * (2) Clean up NFS from bottom to top
 * (X) Research or NFS Complete.
 * NFS Goal - add child, spouse and children and spouse's family thru 7th gen
 * 7th Gen Goal - identify children only (do not push for family detail beyond the US Census.)
 * JAN2010 - a) Research In-laws - Arthur Vinsittart Family (1775)
 * JAN2010 - b) Research In-Laws - many links to Featherstone Family from Chapman Baronets
 * JAN2010 - c) Update Family Tree Chart

Early Chapman Family History
This family appears to have been of ancient extraction and to have long resided in and near the town of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. The first Chapmans to remove to Ireland (in the days of the Irish Rebellion), were two brothers, John and William Chapman. They were supported by Sir Walter Raleigh (who was their cousin maternal-german and early resident of Killua Castle) in procuring a sizeable tract of land in the County of Kerry. After the fall of their patron, the Chapmans were olbiged to sell the property for a noteworthy sum of 26,400 pounds to the first Earl of Cork. John died 8 years after that alienation and William died twelve years after that. William was survived by the one son, Captain Benjamin Chapman.


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Raleigh
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Boyle,_1st_Earl_of_Cork

Generations 1-3
CODE: YELLOW - Place Holder / MAGENTA - Research Stalled / GREEN - Completed Listing for Individual / Spouse & Inlaws

Notable Descendants
See Wikipedia Links:
 * |T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") - illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet
 * | Welcome Chapman - LDS Church Leader in Manti Utah.