Checking Chapmans

by Ann Tracy Marr

Henry A. Baker published A History of Montville Connecticut at the end of the nineteenth century. Since that time, no one has updated his assessment of the family of one of Montville’s Joseph Chapman, a great-grandson of the progenitor, William Chapman, who was in New London by 1650. Most of Joseph Chapman’s grandchildren left Montville. Proud of their heritage, his descendants frequently gifted their children with Chapman family names, but their connection to Montville was forgotten. Ann Tracy Marr researched the family, proving much of Baker’s data, and correcting some of his errors. She followed the different branches of the family as they left Connecticut, moved into Massachusetts and New York, and ultimately as far as California. New lines are firmly fixed to the Chapman family tree, extending William Chapman’s descendants through Joseph up to eight generations. Analysis of unproven connections allows researchers to pick up where Marr was stymied, hopefully to prove or disprove those families as descendants of one of Connecticut’s oldest families. Includes Register-style report and every name index.

241 pages, Paperback

Published January 8, 2019

About the author

I am Ann Tracy Marr. There isn't much to tell: Fifty-ish, married, on the eastside of Detroit where the lake runs into the river. As I get older, I get funnier. Guess I'm not afraid of what people say.

Dull, right? I'm just the person next door. Nothing exciting. Except the alternate reality I write about isn’t dull. England's Regency period (think Pride and Prejudice) has gotten mixed up with a bit of magic left over from King Arthur's Camelot. Not heavy on the fantasy, mind. Magic isn't something everyone does, and when they do it, it's secret.

As one reviewer said, it works surprisingly well.