(Ed note: I ran across this article in May 2008. It's from The American Genealogist Magazine dated January 1991)

According to a fifth-generation descendant, family tradition says that Robert1 Chapman, one of the founders of Saybrook, Conn., in 1635, (1) was the son of a soap-boiler in Hull, Yorkshire, England, and (2) had a brother who "perished in the wars in Flanders." It also says that (3) his mother was a Puritan who wished to emigrate but his father would not leave Hull, and that (4) she induced Robert, aged 18, and his three sisters to go to the New World (Rev. F.W. Chapman, The Chapman Family [Hartford 1854], hereafter Chapman Fam., pp. 26, 29; Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines [n.p. 1931-43], hereafter Dawes-Gates, 2:165-67, 185). One of Robert Chapman's sisters, generally called Rebecca, is said in "an ancient document held by the Bushnell family but not now obtainable" to have married William Bushnell (Francis^} of Saybrook (Dawes-Gates 2:165; see also Chapman Fam. pp. 29-30; J. Gardner Bartlett, The Ancestry of Daniel Bushnell [Boston 1918] p. 5; TAG 16:48; Herbert F. Seversmith, Colonial Families of Long Island, New York and Connecticut [Washington 1939-53] 2:518; George E. Bushnell, Bushnell Family Genealogy [Nashville 1945] pp. 34-35).

Some years ago, I spent a month in England searching in Yorkshire and London for records of Robert Chapman and his family to see if this tradition could be confirmed. I discovered the baptismal record in Kingston upon Hull for a Robert Chapman who appeared to be our man; it gave the name of his father but not that of his mother. Later, through the local Family History Center, I was able to order Bishop's Transcripts of the necessary Yorkshire parish records to identify his mother also. The results of this search were written up and duly submitted to TAG. The following summarizes the family believed at that time to be that of Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook:

ROBERT CHAPMAN, merchant of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, died, according to his probate records, before 11 Jan. 1620 ("Index of York Wills, 1620-27," Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 32[1902]:121). He married first in Holy Trinity Church, Kingston upon Hull, in Jan. 1589/90 ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON, who was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Aug. 1610. He married second, in Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1615 ALICE ROBINSON (IGI; I was unable to obtain permission to examine the original Beverley Register); she died before 22 Oct. 1633, according to her husband's probate.

Robert Chapman died intestate; administration was granted on 11 Jan. 1620 to his widow, Alice (Index of York Wills, 1620-27, 32:121). On 22 Oct. 1633, administration was granted to John Robinson of Beverley, since Chapman's widow Alice was then deceased.

Known children (CHAPMAN) of Robert by his first wife, Elizabeth (Williamson), all except the first bp. St. Mary's, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire:

i ELIZABETH bp. Holy Trinity, Kingston upon Hull 22 Oct. 1591.
ii ANN bp. 4 May 1594; Robert1 Chapman of Saybrook, Conn., had daus. named Anna (b. 1648, d. 1649) and Hannah (b. 1650) (Elizabeth Bull Plimpton, Vital Records of Saybrook Colony, 1635-1860 [Old Saybrook, Conn., 1985] p. 18).
iii JUDITH bp. 6 June 1596.
iv MARY [or MARIE] bp. 5 Feb. 1599/1600.

Known child (CHAPMAN) of Robert by his second wife, Alice (Robinson), bp. Holy Trinity, Kingston upon Hull:

v ROBERT bp. 1 Jan. 1616/7; he was of an appropriate age to be the immigrant to Connecticut.

I found no daughter named Rebecca, but contemporary evidence for the first name of William2 Bushnell's wife has not been found, and the list of children of Robert Chapman of Kingston upon Hull may well be incomplete. The Chapman family in Hull fits the Chapman tradition except that both parents died before Robert1 Chapman immigrated to Connecticut. Given the fact that even genuine traditions are almost never completely correct, I felt that I had made a good case for the probable English origin of Robert Chapman of Saybrook.

However, two months after I had submitted the article to TAG, an unnerving event occurred. I purchased a copy of the Heritage Books reprint of Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut, 1639-1663 (originally published Hartford 1928) and discovered the following under the court held 14 May 1651 (pp. 99, 100):

Robert Chapman pi Contra Henry Browne defend in an Action of the Case about detaining of two seruants to the damage of 20 :....
Robert Chapman for his not appearing in Courte vppon his Call, to psecute his Action against Henry Brown is fined 2s vi .
Henry Browne testified vppon oath in Courte that Elizabeth Turner and Jeames Jupp were dd [delivered] to him in London by a man from the mother of Robert Chapman who tould him that the said mother of Robert Chappman did desire the said Browne to dd [deliver] the said Turner and Jupp to her Said Sonne Robert Chapman in new England, and that hee had heard the said Turner and Jupp seuerall times say that they were to goe to Robert Chapman:

It is possible that Henry Browne was testifying falsely but, if he had done so, it is far more likely in the society of the period, that he would have invented indirect contact with Chapman's father rather than with his mother. Hence, we must accept that Robert1 Chapman's mother was alive much later than was Alice (Robinson) Chapman, who died before 20 Oct. 1633.

As attractive as the theory is, Robert Chapman of Saybrook, Conn., was not the son of Robert and Alice (Robinson) Chapman who was baptized in Kingston upon Hull in January 1616/7.

The Particular Court record provides support for the tradition that Robert Chapman's mother was influential in his life, and it does not disprove the tradition of a Yorkshire origin. It suggests, however, that future research should be undertaken in the London area and nearby counties, and that Robert Chapman, Elizabeth Turner, and James Jupp probably came from the same region.

Charles E. Banks, ed., Able Men of Suffolk, 1638 (Boston 1931) contains the names of all able men in the towns of Suffolk from 16 to three score years of age. There are many Chapmans. On 10 Jan. 1638, the survey included two Robert Chapmans, both in the Hundred of Blythinge: p. 181 in South Cove and p. 187 in Sotherton. This might be an area to examine for the parentage of Robert1 of Saybrook, Conn.

I wish to thank Mrs. Sherman and Dr. Greene for their considerable help with this article.

Dr. Sounders is a retired research biologist. She lives at 2150 Indian Creek Blvd. E. B224, Vero Beach FL 32966.