Chapman Family Cemetery, Unity, Clark Co., WI

Chapman Family Cemetery

Section 10, Unity Township, Clark County, Wisconsin

Contributed by Carol Mitte & Lani Bartelt.

Section 10 of Unity township contains a cemetery that has been ignored and forgotten. It is my understanding the land was owned by the Chapman family in 1880, and later farmed by George Miller. A couple of years ago we went to the farm asking to look for the stone that had been reported to be there and given an okay to search for it. Although we were told it was a waste of time as he thought the graves were all of "Indian people". Since I do not look Indian, he assumed that there was no connection.

We later found out we were not given very good directions to that stone by that farmer al though he did say it is still there, and that it's a flat stone with a bunch of names on it. After I came back to the yard without finding the stone, he said again, "it's out there." When I asked if he could tell me what names were on the stone, he suggested I talk to George Miller and directed us to section 3 of Unity township, to find George Miller's place. His daughter now lives there, and she well remembers the stones and how her father meticulously farmed around the plot which was surrounded by wild roses that marked the edge of the burial grounds from the field encompassing it. Today, the roses are gone, removed by an effort to plow as close to the marker as possible. That is not the way it was suppose to be.

She sent us to town to meet her father, George Miller. He was a delightful man with memories of the family who had lived there and recalled the stone was a flat one laid tightly to the ground. He remembered Chapman had a large family, and indicated that perhaps as many as 18 people buried in their family plot. He also mentioned the Indians would sometimes camp there. He said, "If you stand at the lone pine tree in the field and then walk towards the barn you'll find the stone. It isn't up next to the pine tree as many people have thought." The location of this forgotten cemetery is Church Road East to Division where you make a left turn onto Division, on the left side (East) in the field, you will see the lone pine tree.

This most certainly is the resting place of the Chapman family and related individuals who are buried there. I've found no official record of this cemetery, but believe it should be noted in the history of Clark County. Carol Mitte

Family Members

Dorothy and Joseph Chapman were my Great-Grandparents and Violet Rogers Shelley's paternal great-Aunt and Uncle. The Chapmans raised her after her mother, Sydney Coleman Rogers, died of Tubercolosis when Violet was only seven or eight months old.

The Chapmans homesteaded the property by Joseph & Dorothy Chapman and I have a copy of the original 1940s land deed of sale by their son, James Chapman to George Miller. The was papers clearly state that the area around the cemetery was never to be farmed.

In the 1980's James Chapman's son, George Chapman had a bronze plaque laid in the ground listing Joseph, Dorothy and a son, Will Chapman as buried there. Lani Bartelt.

Sc.	Name	Birth	Death	Notes & Military	Spouse	Married	PARENTS
f	Chapman, Dorothy	?	1873		Joseph Chapman
f	Chapman, 2 grandchildren	?	?
f	Chapman, Joseph	?	1921		Dorothy		Fred & Mina Falk
f	Chapman, William	?	?				Joseph & Dorothy Chapman

Source Information (Col. A) *

f= Family Tree

Census Information

provided by Crystal Wendt.

1870 U. S. Federal Census, Wis., Clark County, Loyal

Chapman, Joseph – age 47 yrs, male, white, occupation farmer, value of real estate $400, Value of personal estate $100, birth place England

Chapman, Dorithy [Dorothy] A. - age 41 yrs, female, white, occupation keeping house, birth place New York

Chapman, Olive P. - age 17 years, female, white, occupation domestic servant

Chapman, William T. age 13 years, male, white occupation at home, birth place Wisconsin

Chapman, James - age 6 years, male, white, occupation at home, birth place Wisconsin

Chapman, Maude A. - age 4 yrs, female, white, occupation at home, birth place Wisconsin

Chapman, Harry – age 1 yr, male, white occupation at home, birth place Wisconsin

Page No. 6, Line # 15-21, Date 14 & 15 June 1870

1900 U. S. Federal Census, Wis., Clark County, Unity

Chapman, Dorothea (head) white, female, born Sept. 1832, age 67, widow, 15 kids born, 5 living, birth place New York, father & mother birth place New York

Chapman, William (son) white, male, born Oct. 1857, age 42, single, birth place Wisconsin, father birth place England, mother birth place New York, occupation farmer

Chapman, Dortha P. (granddaughter) white, female, born Dec. 1889, age 10, single, birth place South Dakota, father birth place Wisconsin, mother birth place Wisconsin

Lines 57-59

1920 U. S. Federal Census, Wis., Clark County, Unity

Chapman, James (head) , male, white, age 55 yrs, married, birth place Wisconsin, father birth place England, mother birth place New York, occupation farmer

Chapman, Alla (wife) female, white, age 47 yrs, married, birth place Wisconsin, father & mother birth place Germany, occupation housewife

Chapman, George F. (son) male, white, age 8 yrs, single, birth place Wisconsin, father & mother birth place Wisconsin

Chapman, Dorothy (mother) female, white, age 93 years, widow, birth place New York, father & mother birth place New York

ED 34, Sheet 2-B, Lines 66 – 69, Date 6 Jan. 1920