Asa Owen Chapman ⁴¹

  General Notes:

[work 28.FTW]

[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 45, Ed. 1, Tree #0493, Date of Import: Jun 5, 2002]

Possibly born February 2 or February 21 in 1827 or 1828.

He was a farmer & dairyman. Also, he owned and drove a team of oxen in the freight business. He was a blacksmith too.

Mr. George W. Newman noted in his history of New Cumberland, W.Va. that Asa Owen Chapman was a member of the first brass band which was organized in the spring of 1850, with Prof. I.H. Ruhl as teacher. Mr. Newman also noted that Asa went West with his brother James in 1855.

The following nine paragraphs were compiled by Mr. Earl Martin Bayless with the assistance of his mother (Asa Owen Chapman’s daughter, Helen) in 1940. Helen was 80 years of age at this time and according to her own statement was uncertain about dates, etc….

Clarissa Justice Chapman was born near Logansport, Ind. She had brothers, James Monroe Justice, a lawyer; and William, a farmer. Both brothers lived around Logansport. She had sisters, Annie, Caroline, and Elizabeth. Annie was married to a German farmer by the name of Isaac Henry Meyer who owned a grove of maple trees. Elizabeth was the oldest sister and lived in West Virginia. Clarissa while on a visit to see Elizabeth met Asa Owen Chapman, a native of W.Va. and a widower with one child, Ermina. They were married in 1856.
It was in the Spring of 1865 that the family started West to St. Joseph, Mo. For the trip across the plains by covered wagon. At this time besides Ermina, there were Laura, Helen, Tom, and Alfred. A man by the name of Dr. Fonda was the leader in charge of the wagon train. Asa had heard that the West was in need of freighting service so he supplied himself with an extra pair of oxen which he afterwards loaned to another family to help them across, after they had lost their own animals. He also had $500 which he loaned to Dr. Fonda.
After six months the party arrived in Truckee Meadows, Nev., a few miles east of Sparks, Nev. At this point some were inclined to locate while others decided to continue on to California. Dr. Fonda’s desire was to continue the journey so Asa demanded his $500 back. Dr. Fonda refused and in the argument others joined and took sides, guns were brought forth and it was only due to the interference of the women that shooting was avoided. Asa kissed his $500 and the oxen goodbye forever.
The family located on a small ranch near Truckee Meadows, Nev. Where they stayed until the following summer. In the meantime, Carrie was born. In the of summer of 1866, they moved on to Virginia City where Asa secured a job in a blacksmith shop. Their home as a little brick building on B Street on the north side of town just above the old Geiger home. I took mother back to see it and found it still standing in Aug 1938.
The family spent from the summer of 1866 to the early fall of 1869 at Virginia City, Nev. And then started for the Russian River country on the advice of Frank Mawk. They got as far as the Riley place in Long Valley where they stopped to rest until the stork caught up with them. In November 1869, the twins Grace and Justice were born. By the time Clarissa was able to move along again Ermina had met Frank Dickinson. He was farming over in Winnemucca Valley near Pyramid lake and ran a Stable and Hotel for the accommodation of the freight teamsters on their first night stop out of Reno on the route north to Fort Bidwell. After the twins were born the family moved over to Russian River Valley and located on the Hepperly Place in the spring of 1870.
While living in Russian River Valley Asa met Charley McCormack who was running a dairy in Surprise Valley. At this time there were eight children. The years that followed added to these: Lew, Roy, Bertha, and Frank, who were all born in Surprise Valley. The partnership with McCormack only lasted two years and then Asa went into the dairy business by himself. The butter was packed in ferkins and once a year just before the winter season set in, it was freighted to Virginia City to market which was a two week trip. Johnny Hollman was also dairying in the valley so that Asa and Hollman generally teamed up together on these freighting trips.
Laura and Helen went on one of these trips as far as Reno to visit until the teams returned. The rains started the very first day so the teams only made about fifteen miles to the south end of the valley by nightfall so the girls spent the first night on their covered wagon almost within sight of their nice warm beds at home. The second day the teams were doubled up to eight horses and the wagons were pulled up a steep muddy grade one at a time to make another eight miles for the second day. The going was easier after that.
On this trip which was Asa’s first, the butter buyer paid for the load in silver. Several hundred dollars in silver is quite a load so Asa attempted to exchange it at the bank but found out that he would have to discount. Rather that lose on the exchange he decided to pack the silver back to Surprise Valley where there was a shortage of small money. He carried this money in a homemade sack and the fact that he had it was well known around Virginia City; consequently, he was in the footlights for a holdup and felt it. When he got out of the wagon at Reno, he noticed that two men were following him and that they were the same two men he had suspicioned were following him on the street in Virginia City. He back tracked to the wagon and picked up his six gun from under the seat and in full view of the pair fondled it carefully and placed it in his pocket. An impression was made and the suspicious pair no longer followed.
After some years the Chapman family moved to Wilton Calif. And from there to Lake House on Lower Stockton Road about 10 mile south of Sacramento. About 1894, they moved into Sacramento.

Asa married Rebecca Jane Stewart in 1847 ^42,41.^,43 (Rebecca Jane Stewart was born on 24 May 1835 ^42,41,43,44 and died on 10 Aug 1854 ^42,41,43,44.)

Asa next married Clarissa Justice, daughter of James Justice and Malinda Porter, on 28 Feb 1856 in Wayne County, Iowa.⁴¹ (Clarissa Justice was born on 1 Nov 1839 in Logansport, Indiana,⁴¹ died on 10 May 1916 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California ⁴¹ and was buried in East Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, California ^42,41,43,44.)