JOSEPH ANDREW CHAPMAN

The following bio was taken from page 145 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The Chapman family came to America from Ireland about the middle of the 18^th century and probably settled first in Virginia. From here Enoch Chapman moved to Tennessee, where his son James was born in 1816. Eventually, they settled in Perry County, Alabama, where Enoch died. James and his wife, Mary Carter, moved on to Hamburg, Arkansas after their seven children were born and remained there for an indefinite time.

James Chapman and his family were living in the Chinquapin Springs Community in Rusk County before 1873. Chinquapin Springs was east of Laneville, approximately three miles. When the Smyrna Baptist Church was organized in 1873, James Chapman was the first deacon. Later, however, he withdrew when the church turned down the doctrines of strict Calvinism and was identified as a Missionary Baptist Church.

Joseph Andrew Chapman was the youngest son of James and Mary. He married Francis Irena Sanders, whose father, Harris Sanders, was also one of the first deacons of Smyrna Church. They were married November 18, 1880 and moved to Oak Flat, a new community south of Chinquapin Springs. Here Joe Chapman acquired a 180-acre farm, which he and his family farmed until recent years. This farm was located about two miles south of the Oak Flat schoolhouse on the road to Sulphur Springs Community.

Joe Chapman was also an able blacksmith, and one of the landmarks along the Oak Flat-Sulphur Springs Road was his place. The large double-halled house he built was just over a low knoll west of the road. His sons said he staked out the house at night, laying it off by the North Star so it would face due east. There were three large rooms and four small ones. On the north was the large kitchen and dining area, with side storage rooms for foodstuffs, etc. A large window in the kitchen opened right over the well so that a bucket of water could be drawn without one’s going outside. Across the first hall was the combined sitting room and bedroom with a large fireplace. There was also a shed room attached. The south room was also a bedroom with an attached shed room and was across the second hall from the sitting room. A long front porch ran the length of the house, and a back porch was built around the well.

The blacksmith shop stood right beside the road, in the shadow of a large oak tree which lived until 1981. Joe Chapman’s blacksmith work consisted of making plows, sharpening plows and implements, and repairing wagon wheels, plow handles, single trees, etc. The old forge remained until the old shop began to fall down in the 1960’s. In later years Bobby Chapman, Joe’s youngest son, operated from the same shop, a gristmill for grinding corn. The gristmill was powered by a Model-T Ford engine. This old mill still remains in the Bobby Chapman family.

The children of Joe and Irena Chapman were all born here and all except the last daughter, Nannie, died while still residents on this farm. Two of the children died when less than a year old. Of the five who grew to adulthood, Martha George Ann and Nancy "Leapy" (so called because she was born in leap year) both remained spinsters, and John William, who took over the smithy, never married. Both of the youngest sons married.

James Harris Chapman married Lela Belle Wood. Their children are: Eulon, Roy, Dempsey, Allen, Joel Chapman, and Frances Chapman Hall. Robert Ray (Bobby) Chapman married Bessie Lyles. They had two daughters, Lula Ray Barlow and Eula Mae Griffith. The only descendants of Joe Chapman still residing in Rusk County are Mrs. Mae Griffith and Mark Griffith of Henderson and Billy Barlow, Route 2, Cushing, Texas.

Submitted by J. W. Griffith