My dear grandfather Richard Fuller Chapman (lovingly known to all his grandchildren as "Parpy Chapman") wasn't born in Folkestone but his father, grandfather and the rest of his paternal line right back to his 11th great grandfather Thomas Chapman were all Folkestone born and bred. Parpy emigrated to New Zealand c 1911 and never returned to his English homeland again but he left me, his eldest granddaughter, a wonderful legacy.
In a leather bound album he put labelled photographs of his grandparents, parents and his sisters.
Parpy also drew up two family trees - one for the children and their spouses of his grandparents Fuller Chapman and Frances Ann nee Tams and another for the children and spouses of his parents William Fuller Chapman and Sarah nee Mansell. Some of the photos have been published in The Kentish Connection and I wish Parpy were still alive to see his family "go home" again.
Parpy's family trees showed only names with no dates or places so I have had the pleasure of putting the flesh on the bones so to speak of my grandfather's legacy .I should add that all my research has been done from Australia. This is the story of how I researched the first part of Parpy's family tree-Fuller and Frances Chapman and their children I also hope that this "how I did it" story may help others researching their English families from abroad.
From Grandfather's Family Trees:
Fuller Chapman. Baker of Radnor Street, Folkestone, Kent. Married Frances Ann Tams of Dover, Kent.(my great great grandparents.)
Family:
1. Elizabeth m Jas. Waters.
2. Susannah Tams
3. Frances m Frank Simpson.
4. William Fuller m Sarah Mansell.
5. Harriet m John Hall.
6. William Fuller Chapman m Sarah Mansell.
(My great grandparents.)
So now I began my quest.
Finding Fuller and Frances Ann Chapman and their children on the 1881 census was easy because it's indexed and available on CD Rom. The 1851 was also easy because it has been indexed by The Folkestone FHS and is available to purchase from the society on microfiche. This was a great help not only with the Chapmans but also my other collateral Folkestone families. I wish I could say that the 1861 and 1871 were also easy. I ordered the appropriate films from the LDS library and it was a matter of going through them frame by frame by frame....
The family were there - living in Radnor Street Folkestone on each census - so this was a worthwhile search though a bit hard on the eyes and on the hand winding the films! However there was no sign of Fuller and his family on the 1841 or 1891 census records for Folkestone. I knew from the IGI that Fuller Chapman was born in Folkestone in 1811 so where was he in 1841?
I also knew from the other census records that Fuller's wife Frances Ann nee Tams was born in Dover.
Perhaps Dover was where they met and fell in love? Sorry I'm a born romantic.
So I ordered and searched the very faded 1841 census film for Dover and there was Fuller.(Right on the last page of course.!)
" Fuller Chapman. Age 30. Baker. Strand Street, Dover, Kent, England."
Now I had to figure out when Fuller married Frances.
The later census records showed that their eldest child Elizabeth Chapman was born c 1847 so if Fuller was single in 1841 the marriage had to be somewhere between 1841 and 1847. Back to the BDM's for a search between these years and there was the marriage in 1845. Another email to the Australian agent for a copy of this marriage certificate which when it arrived also gave me the name of France's father and his occupation and also the witnesses who appear to be France's brother in law Samuel Prescott and his ten year old daughter Louisa? Hmmm - well anyway this was looking quite good so far.
I should also add that so far everything I had fitted in with dear Parpy's tree. Now I had to find out when and where Fuller died.
The Folkestone Directories indicated that Fuller appeared to have left the Radnor Street bakery around 1891 and he had disappeared from the Folkestone 1891 census. In 1891 he would have been aged 80 so I started to search the BDM indexes for his death. Not too hard at all. Chapman is common but Fuller is unusual. The death index showed that he died in 1892. Registration district of Elham which includes Folkestone.
I sent off for the death certificate, which duly arrived. I expected to see the place of death as Folkestone but no to my surprise it was Lyminge. "Wonder what he was doing there?" I thought. I should also add that living in Australia I am geographically challenged when it comes to Kent so had to consult the excellent online map sources to find out where Lyminge was situated. Well I had already discovered that Fuller wasn't on the 1891 Folkestone census so I consulted the 1891 census fiche for Lyminge.
This isn't indexed either but it's a bit easier to search on fiche than on film so I soon found Fuller living at the delightfully named Each End Hill, Lyminge with wife Frances (so I know when to start looking for her death), his daughter Susannah (who was still single aged 43) and joy oh joy also living there was my grandfather Parpy aged 7 and two of his sisters. All neatly fitting into place. A bit of detective work and I was feeling very proud of myself. But wait a minute. Who is this other grandchild living with Fuller and Frances in 1891 at Lyminge? Evelyn Hilda Chapman? Aged one year? Born Folkestone? Who is she? I have absolutely no idea? If her surname is Chapman she must be Parpy's sister because his father William was the only male child of Fuller and Frances. The other children were females who married men with the surnames Simpson, Hall and Waters as Parpy noted. (I have checked all these folk out using the same research methods by the way.) But wait another minute - she doesn't appear on Parpy's list of his sisters!! Oh dear. Never mind back to the BDMS.
I was sure that I would find Evelyn's birth recorded a few years either side of 1890. But no luck. Was Susannah who apparently never married Evelyn's mother? Maybe that's why the family left Folkestone and ended up in Lyminge? Was their some scandal here? Why didn't Parpy record Evelyn in his notes? I may never know but every family has its secrets doesn't it?
If anyone reading this has an Evelyn Hilda Chapman born c 1890 Folkestone in their family tree or any of these other folk
I would love to hear from you.
Sources.
I made use of the online IGI and the census records and English Birth Death and Marriage Indexes at my local Latter Day Saints Family History Centre to discover more about my Chapman family.
I also joined the online mailing list for Kent.
Levina Jones and Jennie Killick of The Folkestone FHS have also been most kind and helpful.
I must also mention Ann Swain from Queensland Australia who kindly shared her Chapman pedigree with me.
