Edward Chapman 1748

Edward is our earliest Chapman ancestor reliably located to date, though we have a tentative George Chapman 1714 as his possible father.   Edward's wife Catherine Ransley can be traced further back.  There's uncertainty about Edwards date and place of birth.  I've located  internet references to an 1748 date of birth at Warehorne in Kent but lack supporting information.  

Edward and Catherine married in Biddenden in 1775 and they finally settled in Ulcombe, Kent.  Between those dates they Christened their children in Biddenden, Warehorne, High Halden, and Ulcombe.  There were eleven children though not all survived to adulthood.

Edward died in 1813.  If the 1748 birth date is correct he would have been about 65 years of age.   Edward was buried on August 21st 1813 having made his will on the 16th of the same month, so I guess is may have been a death bed will.  The executors were William Children of Headcorn and Henry Burden of Frittenden, both of them farmers.  The will, a fascinating document, describes Edward as a farmer.  There were at least two farms, one known locally as Clapson Farm, the other being Brunger Farm (the farmhouse is now a listed building).    There is also mention of farm stock, buildings, woodland, an income from land rents and of dividends and interest.

As best I can make out Edward left everything to be held in trust for the benefit of his “dear wife Catherine” who should enjoy the “rents ....  and profits of for the rest of her natural life”.  He required that she should keep his properties in “good and reasonable repair” and should be “felling no timber except that necessary for the repair of the premises”.  Edward asks that his executors and their descendants should manage his personal estate and effects in trust and “pay and apply  the interest, dividend and clear annual proceeds  thereof  unto said Dear Wife” for “….as much as my said wife Catherine may choose to carry on and continue the business of the said several farm lands and premises”.  There is then mention of Catherine inheriting household furniture, live and dead stock, farm wagons, and farm implements with Edward stating that it is his wish that Catherine should make her own Will for those items.  In short it looks like, income and working capital to be used to support the wife, with a requirement that she maintains the properties pending disposal on her death for the benefit of their children.  Edward further asks that, on Catherine’s death, his assets be auctioned or be sold by his executors or their descendants and then invested for the benefit of the children until they reach the age of majority. 

Catherine, aged 75, died in June 1832 and below is a newspaper clipping detailing the sale the family farms in July 1832.

Birth: 1748, Warehorne, Kent ?

Father: POSSIBLY George Chapman 1714

Death: Aug 1813, Ulcombe, Kent, England

Partnership with: Catherine RANSLEY. Marriage 7 Jun 1775, Biddenden, Kent, England

Child: Catherine CHAPMAN Birth: 1776, Biddenden, Kent, England

Child: Richard CHAPMAN Birth: 1778, Warehorne, Kent, England

Child: Mary CHAPMAN Birth: 1780, Warehorne, Kent, England

Child: Edward CHAPMAN Birth: 1781, Warehorne, Kent, England

Child: Charles CHAPMAN Birth: 1782, Warehorne, Kent, England

Child: Mary Ann CHAPMAN Birth: 1784, High Halden, Kent, England

Child: Sarah CHAPMAN Birth: 1786, High Halden, Kent, England

Child: Richard CHAPMAN Birth: 1790, Ulcombe, Kent, England

Child: Jane CHAPMAN Birth: 1792, Ulcombe, Kent, England

Child: Cordelia CHAPMAN Birth: 1794, Ulcombe, Kent, England

Child: Sophia CHAPMAN Birth: 1796, Ulcombe, Kent, England