My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography from the book, History of Kentucky, Edition 8a by J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin and G. C. Kniffin and published by F. A. Battey Publishing Company in 1888.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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W. CARROLL CHAPMAN, physician, was born in Hartford, Ky., June 17, 1863, and is a son of W. C. and Martha Ann (Collins) Chapman, native Kentuckians. His grandfather, David Chapman, was the first male child born in Kentucky, south of the Green River, and was born near the present town of Bowling Green. The house in which he was born, was of the pioneer type, and had port-holes to aid the inmates in defending themselves against the Indians, who attacked the house several times. On one occasion the Indians kept the cows out in the forest until one of the men, Jeff Chapman, went after them, when he was fired on, the bullet striking his powder horn, thus saving his life. David Chapman died in 1884, at the age of ninety-five years. The Courier-Journal published an interesting sketch of him, headed “One of Nature’s Nobleman.” The subject of this sketch was well educated. He studied medicine and graduated at the age of twenty years from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Md., and was appointed resident physician of Maternity Hospital, in Baltimore, for a term of one year. He then came back to Kentucky and located at Cecilia, Hardin County, where he remained for about a year and a half, when he came to Louisville, and opened an office here, and has been in active practice ever since. Dr. Chapman is a zealous member of the Baptist Church, and has been for twelve years. He has a brother, Byron Chapman, a merchant of La Fayette, Ind., and a sister, wife of Mr. Wood English, of Cecilia, Ky.

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This family biography is one of 195 biographies included in the Jefferson County, Kentucky section of the book, The History of Kentucky, Edition 8a published in 1888 by F. A. Battey Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: History of Kentucky, Edition 8a

View additional Jefferson County, Kentucky family biographies here: Jefferson County, Kentucky Biographies

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