Chapman, Sidney Smith bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 425-426, Astoria Township
S. S. Chapman. Sidney Smith Chapman was born near the mouth of Black river on Lake Erie, in the vicinity of Amherst, Ohio, Nov. 12, 1827, and is the son of Jacob Kimble and Julia (Griffith) Chapman. The great-grandfather of Jacob K. was Benjamin Chapman, who lived in England. He had 3 sons: Benjamin, jr., James and John. They left their father and went to different countries in Europe. The first named went to France, James went to Ireland and John to Scotland. At an advanced age Benjamin, sr., died, leaving a large fortune to his sons. Benjamin, jr., was informed of this fact, and before he returned from France the entire estate had been confiscated by the English Government. Benjamin then came to the U. S. and landed in South Carolina. After this James returned from Ireland, and John came some years later to the U. S. and stopped near Salem, Mass., and was there during the period of the witchcraft and persecution. John had 13 children, of whom Isaac and Adam, the youngest, are the only ones now remembered. Adam 3 years ago lived in Ohio at the age of 95, Isaac, the grandfather of Sidney S. had 5 sons and 3 daughters, Uriah, Elenius, Daniel, Isaac and Jacob, twins, Roxy, Olive and Rebecca. Daniel now lives in Pawnee Co., Kansas, at the age of 84 years. Jacob K., the last mentioned, was the father of our subject, and was born in New York in 1803. Isaac, sr., moved from Mass. to Cataraugus Co., N. Y., where Uriah and Daniel married; the former had one son named Elenius, and died: his widow now lives in N. Y. Elenius, sr., died in N. Y., and Daniel, Isaac and Jacob K. moved to Ohio, where the latter married in 1825 or '26, and went to farming. In the spring of 1832 or '33 he took his carpet-sack upon his back and started on foot and alone through the thick forests of Ohio and Ind., and came to Ft. Dearborn, now Chicago. He rested there 2 days and proceeded to Jackson Co., Mo. He remained there 6 weeks, when he started back the same road he went and reached his home in the fall, after traveling 1,400 miles. In the spring of 1838 he started with his family to Illinois, but stopped in Ind., until 1839, when he again started and finally landed in Hancock Co., Ill., in 1840 or '41. In 1845 his wife died, and in 1846 he moved to Wisconsin, nd in '47 to Ohio, and in 1854 to Macomb, Ill., where he lived one year, when he again returned to Wis., and in '68 to Ohio, where, Jan. 15, 1870, in Claridon, he died. His children were Sidney, Franklin, Albert B., Corydon C., Willard D., Orson, Barbara and Sarah: all are living save Willard, who was killed in the Rebellion. Our subject's grandparents on his mother's side were Germans.
S. S. remained in Ohio until he was 10 years old, when he came to Illinois with his parents. When they went to Wisconsin he was sick with the "chills" and did not go. In Aug., 1845, he went to Macomb, where with the exception of a season upon a farm a few miles east of that city and one year at Bardolph in the same county, he lived till 1868. On Nov. 3 of that year he moved to Vermont, this county, and in 1872 to Chicago, and returned to this county, locating in Astoria, in 1876. His father was a mechanic, and labored at ship-carpentering. He also adopted the life of a mechanic, and has been engaged at almost all the trades at different times, and as a mechanic possesses an ingenious mind. During the years he lived at Chicago and for several years previously, he was engaged in contracting and building, at which business he is now employed. He enjoyed but limited advantages to obtain an education, the early years of his life being passed upon the frontier at hard labor.
He was united in marriage with Rebecca Jane Clarke, March 30, 1848. She was the daughter of David and Eliza Swink (Russell) Clarke, and was born in Kentucky Nov. 20, 1829. Her parents were pioneers of this State. The former was born Sept. 28, 1799, and the latter July 3, 1805, both in Ky., and she died Sept. 18, 1875. There were born to S. S. and Rebecca J. Chapman 10 children: Frank M., born Jan. 1, '49; Emma E., Oct. 24, '50; Chas. C., July 2, '53; Eliza H., Feb. 21, '55, died Sept. 13, '60; David E., Feb. 6, '57; Christopher C., Aug. 23, '58; Wm. D., Feb. 4, '61, deceased Dec. 30, '61; Samuel J., Oct. 22, '62; Dollie E., Aug. 14, '64, and Luella, May 22, '70. All of them were born at Macomb save Columbus and Luella, the former of whom was born at Bardolph and the latter at Vermont. Mrs. Rebecca Chapman died suddenly on the evening of Jan. 2, 1874, in Chicago, and was laid at rest in the cemetery at Macomb. Sidney S. was again married Dec. 30, 1875, to Ann Eliza Clarke, a sister of his former wife. Two children, Ira and an infant, have been born to them. Emma E. married L. W. B. Johnson Dec. 18, 1873, and now resides in Kansas.