Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Pioneer Profile: Hannah Chapman, Part I


I had to start this post over because the first version was BORING and this is not a boring story.  I realized that even though Hannah is the ancestor to many who will read this post, it's still my blog and I need to put my take on it or this isn't going to work for me.  Apologies in advance.

I spent my Saturday in Ogden helping my parents and my Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie wade through my grandparent's storage unit.  There is a lot of stuff to go through - you can't just chuck a box into a garbage bin because that box might have a priceless picture or letter in it.  One of the priceless items I came across (in one of the many boxes I came home with) was a life history of a person named Hannah Chapman.  I'd come across Hannah in my own searches because she was married to Thomas Chester.  What I didn't know is that she had three husbands after him and no wonder I couldn't pick up her thread.  Hannah is a missing link for me.  My Grandma Carol Chester's parents were not terribly religious.  Her grandparents weren't members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I've often wondered where Grandma got her strength - she was a painfully shy and self-conscious person.  She worried about everything.  And yet, she was strong enough to go to church by herself every week (my Grandpa Lloyd wasn't interested so much).  Grandma's three children all got married in the temple, both of her sons served missions for the LDS Church.  On their 50th wedding anniversary, my grandparents went to the temple together for the first time.  She waited for my Grandpa to come around for 50 years.  There had to be something in her DNA that gave her that kind of determination and faith.  (Also, I totally think Grandma Carol Chester looks like Ashley in this photo of her as a teenager.  Ashley's parents didn't see it.)

So!  Who is Hannah Chapman?!  Hannah is the daughter of William Chapman and Mary Drury, born on March 2, 1813 in Ousefleet, Yorkshire, England.  She was the eighth of ten children.  When Hannah was 19 years old, she married Thomas Chester, son of John Post Chester and Frances Davis, from Crowle, Lincolnshire, England.  They were married on January 28, 1833.  Over the next nine years, Hannah gave birth to seven children - James, Mary, Emma, Ann, Thomas, Frances, and William.  The first of many tests of Hannah's faith was losing James, Mary, and Emma when they were still babies.  Even worse, just 16 months after William's birth, Hannah's husband, Thomas, died on September 11, 1844, at the age of 33 from complications from an abscessed knee.  (I read a few accounts that he was lost at sea.  Thomas was not a sailor - he was a coal merchant.  Hannah was at his side when he passed away.)

This is where Hannah could have gone into survival mode - just waited out this life.  Instead she found a good man, Joseph Goodworth - 13 years her junior - about a year after Thomas's death.  Hannah and Joseph were married October 29, 1845.  Together they had three sons - Richard Brooks, Joseph, and Frederick.  On May 11, 1853 at the tender age of 28, Joseph died of a kidney disease.

Widowed again at 40 years old, Hannah must have been stunned by this blow.  She had now endured the deaths of three children and two husbands.  It was around this time that missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were in England preaching the gospel.  They found Hannah.  She joined this new church and became a pioneer.  Hannah decided to take advantage of the LDS Church's Perpetual Emigration Fund.  She filled out all the applications and paperwork to have six of her children (her oldest son, Thomas, was married the same year Hannah went to America) join her on the ship Enoch Train to America.  This sounds like an amazing adventure and with hindsight I can see that it's a pivotal event in my family history.  Even though I know that Hannah is about to change everything for the better, I feel very much for the grandparents of her children.  They must have been devastated - not only was Hannah joining what must have seemed like a strange religion, she was taking her children and going to America where they would never see them again.

Even though Hannah registered six children with her on Enoch Train, only four ended up coming with her.  A few of the accounts I read indicated that John and Frances Chester, her first husband's parents, hid William and possibly Frances so that Hannah couldn't take them with her.  Can you imagine?!  She has gone through the very detailed process of the Perpetual Emigration Fund - she has already taken the money and made commitments to pay it back once she arrived in Utah.  She had four other children to worry about (although Ann, at 20 years old, was probably a big help rather than a trouble).  One story had Hannah noticing that William was missing once they were on the ship and a friend told her they had seen an "older gentleman" walking away with William.  No matter how it happened, Hannah left William behind in England to be raised by his Chester grandparents.  William is my ancestor.

11 comments:

Ashley said...

Amazing. It was cool to look up at my family tree framed and hung right above this computer and find Hannah in my lineage. Not just a name anymore, thanks! So if William was left behind in England, do you know how he ended up in the states? Because said family tree shows his son, Colin, being born in Soda Springs. I love these stories!

Nicole said...

I was going to put her story in one post, but it would have taken HOURS. Yes, William ends up in America. :) I probably won't be able to wait for a week to finish Hannah's story. (That was my plan - to do one a week.)

Jen said...

Tell her! Tell her! It's so interesting. I definitely see Ashley (less the jawline) but what I also see is where Gma Carol got her very pretty legs. Keep typing, lady!

Jen said...

Hold on- I'm now questioning the picture. Are you sure that photo is not actually Carol? The style of clothing and the fact of the photo itself seem to indicate a much later time period.

Nicole said...

Woops - I'll go back and edit that to make it more clear. The photo is Grandma Carol. Sorry!

Jill said...

Stories like this always stop me in my tracks. I'm so inspired by them. I always find myself hoping that when the time comes, I will have that kind of faith. I can't wait to hear the rest of the story!

allyn said...

this is great. i was just chastising myself the other day for not doing family history. here you are making all the quilts they made and searching for documents and pictures. all of these stories have so much emotion in them. thank you for bringing hannah to life. are you keeping all of these pictures for your own collection, or are you sharing?

kenzie said...

I'm so glad you're doing this! How neat to hear about their stories. I can't wait to read more about her. Isn't it amazing what some people are asked to go through in this life?

Katy said...

Where's part II?! I'm enthralled!

koryn said...

I so see Ashley in that picture! As if we needed further proof of her "Chester-ness"! I am sniffing a bit after the part about grandma. I have always thought those exact things and been thankful beyond words for her faith and gentle ways. Love that little lady. I too am enthralled and look forward to more. I am sure this is why those who choose to make time for family history often become engrossed by it. So many choices in one life that profoundly affect the lives of those who follow. Thanks for taking the time to share.
I so wanted to be up there during the dismantling of the storage unit. Lucky duck. (I bet you have the dusty clothes and cough to prove you earned those plates!)

Anonymous said...

Hi Nicole,
My name is Donna. I picked up you blog online and right away I recognized the names in your genealogy. Years ago my mother contacted Colin and Howard Chester concerning theirs genealogy and that started communication between my side of the family and yours.
My Great Grandmother was Ann Chester. I have some info for you. I would like to email you rather than put what I have on your blog. Would that be possible? My e-mail is dnt.got@gmail.com.