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Below is a family biography included in The History of Lawrence County, Missouri published by Goodspeed 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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Chas. H. Chapman, a leading farmer of Lawrence County, Mo., is of Irish-German descent. His paternal ancestors were among the early settlers of Ohio, his father, Abraham Chapman, being born in Brown County, of that State, in 1830. His father died when he was a small lad, and he was reared by his cousin George W. Barkley, of Bracken County, Ky. He followed the occupation of farming, and in 1846 was married to Mary Porter, who bore him six children three living: Charles H., William F. and John L. She died in June, 1861, and in 1862 Mr. Chapman married his second wife, Sally A. Ramley, and moved to Missouri in 1869. He located first in Cass County, but since 1882 has resided in Barton County, where he owns an excellent farm of 250 acres. His son, Charles H. Chapman, was born in Kentucky October 5, 1848, and in 1869 came to Missouri. He farmed during the summer, and the following winter assisted his father in breaking up and fencing his farm. In 1870 he went to Texas, where he did general teaming until the spring of 1871, when he returned to Cass County, Mo., and engaged in farming. He began doing for himself the following year, and November, 1873, was united in matrimony to Wille Ann Underwood, daughter of William J. Underwood, a farmer of Cass County. Andrew D., John F. and Charles A. are the children born to her union with Mr. Chapman. When Mr. Chapman began doing for himself he had only $5 in money, and went in debt for his horses and farming implements. In 1875 he purchased a farm of forty acres, paying for it with 5,000 bushels of corn, and was out of debt in two years. In 1878 he traded his forty acres in Cass County for 106 acres of wild land in Vernon County, and in the spring of 1881 sold this and bought 160 acres in Barton County. Here he made his home until 1884, when he came to Lawrence County and located on his present fine farm of eighty acres, which he has earned by industry and good management. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church.

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This family biography is one of 272 biographies included in The History of Lawrence County, Missouri published in 1888.  For the complete description, click here: Lawrence County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Lawrence County, Missouri family biographies, click here

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