Monday, October 20, 2014

History of Welcome Chapman (brief summary, author unknown, found in Joseph Leland Hepworth’s family records)

Welcome Chapman was born 24 July 1805 in Reeds Brough, Bennington, Vermont.  He had three wives who bore large families.  (1) Katherine Ann Stainer, (2) Amelia Risley, (3) Ann Mackey.  To others, Ann Tuttel and Elizabeth Ann Bell, he married the same day but they left him.  When welcome Chapman heard of the gospel he went to hundred miles on horseback to New York to see the prophet Joseph Smith.  He stayed for two weeks and worked with him while the prophet taught him the gospel.  He was converted and returned home to his wife enjoying the Church.  Later he returned to his people and converted them but none of them left their homes to join the Saints.  Welcome rejoined the Saints and for a time he was bodyguard to the prophet.  After arriving in the Rockie Mountains he was called to Man type to be the second president of the Stake.  He was ordained a High Priest 30 April 1851 and set apart to be Stake Present 15 October 1854.  James Rickey was one of his counselors.
When the Salt Lake Temple was started he was called to cut stone for it.  He and his oldest son, Joseph, cut steadily.  Hyrum and Welcome, Jr. helped at times.  When the temple was up to the square he went back to man tie.  He remained in man tie for 10 years then returned to Salt Lake to help finish the inside of the temple.  He even helped hang the drapes.  He was a cooper (maker of barrels) by trade.  He and his family were in the first large company which Brigham Young went back to get and arrived in the valley in the Spring of 1848.
Susan Amelia Risley Chapman told of her people living on the frontier when the country was so new the bears stole their pigs from the pens.  When she crossed the plains she had one cow which she coaxed along with an ear of corn.  She would hold the ear of corn out the back of the wagon.  Her people were very staunch in their religious beliefs.  Some of them were burned at the stake because they would not deny their convictions.  One time she moved her goods out of her house and sat by them while the mob burned the house.
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Before we tell what we know about Fedilia Chapman and her Richard Babbitt, what follows is what is available on FSFT for other children of Welcome and Sibel, Welcome’s siblings. 

Some of Welcome and Susan’s children with at least photos on FSFT include:

Rosetta Anise Chapman Kempton
https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-301-40875-479-52/thumb200.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic   No story yet

Hyrum Chapman
https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-232-35980-1-83/thumb200.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic 

Hyrum Chapman Life Sketch
Contributed By Lynn Chapman · 2013-03-30
Hyrum Chapman Life Sketch
Hyrum Chapman was the third son and sixth child of Welcome Chapman and Susan Amelia Risley. Hyrum was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, October 3, 1841.
His father, Welcome Chapman, was born July 24, 1805 and was living in the State of Vermont when news went far and wide of advent of the Gospel and the new Prophet. Welcome on hearing this strange story went on horse back to hunt the Prophet and learn the facts about the story.
On finding the Prophet in western New York, he stayed with him two weeks, listening to his wonderful story of the New Gospel. He was converted and baptized into the Church and returned for his wife and family which consisted of two children. They immediately made plans to leave there own home and cast their lot with the members of the Church. With his wife and two children and household equipment they traveled by team to New York, where the Church headquarters were at that time.
He remained with the church during their trials and persecutions, being a member of the Prophet's Body Guard throughout his life.
Hyrum, at this time was a mere child, but he distinctly remembered having seen the Prophet Joseph Smith as he made his last ride at the head of the Nauvoo Legion, and frequently spoke of it.
Welcome Chapman came to Utah in the fall of 1848, in the company of Heber C Kimball. He became the second President of Sampete County, succeeding Isaac Morley, which position he occupied for seven or eight years, after which he returned to Salt Lake to work in the Temple which he followed continually until the building was up to the Square. He then returned to Manti for a few years, assisting with the inside work on the Temple until it was completed and dedicated.
He died and was buried in Manti, Utah, by the side of his wife, Susan A. Chapman.
Hyrum Chapman, third son of Welcome Chapman and Susan Immigrated to Salt Lake Valley with his parents. He married Fullmer in the 29th year of his life, and to this union was daughters and five sons. Four sons and two of the daughters living.
As a young man he learned the stone cutter's trade and worked on the Salt Lake Temple several years, and followed that trade most of his life. The table, caps, and sille in the St. Johns' Stake Academy building are a part of his work. He migrated from Salt Lake into St. Johns, Arizona in 1884, where he lived for eleven years, moving from there with his family in the fall of 1895, to Bluewater, New Mexico, being one of the first Latter Day Saints Families who settled in that Valley which was his home until the time of his death.
From his marriage were born 47 Grand-children, and at the time of his death there were 10 Great-Grand-Children.
He was a veteran of the Black Hawk and Walker Indian Wars and drew a pension from the Government for that service.
The last few years of his life he spent at the Old Soldier's Home in Los Angeles, California. Just the winter months were spent in California. And the summer months were spent in Utah with his children. He also spent some of his time working in the Salt Lake Temple.
At the time of his death he was visiting his children in New Mexico. Died from a Stroke. He died January 22, 1928 in Bluewater, New Mexico and was buried by the side of his wife Rhoda Ann Fullmer.
Welcome Chapman, Jr.
https://familysearch.org/patron/v2/TH-303-38014-325-85/thumb200.jpg?ctx=ArtCtxPublic  No story yet

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