(1835-1882)
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Mary Snead Chapman was the younger of two daughters of Dr. Samuel Edward Chapman, both of whom attended the Burwell School. Mary Snead Chapman was born in 1835 according to The Book of Burwell Students by Mary Claire Engstrom. According to Find A Grave she died on January 27, 1882. She is listed in the Burwell School Catalogue of 1848-1851. According to The Book of Burwell School Students, Mary Claire Engstrom estimates that Mary Snead Chapman and her sister Catharine (Kate) Chapman attended the school in the late 1840s.
Her parents were Physician Samuel Edward Chapman (1807-1862) and Elizabeth "Eliza" Snead (1811-1868) both from New Bern, Craven County, NC.
Mary married Cicero Stephens Primrose (ca. 1831-ca. 1864) on February 11, 1857. According to The Book of Burwell Students by Engstrom, they were the parents of two children--Caroline born in March 1858 and who died in childhood and Mary Ellis (Min) (1859-1949). However, in the Ancestry.com Jensen-2015-Way out in the Weeds public member tree three children are listed—Caroline (b. 1858), Mary Ellis Primrose (1863-1949) and Minnie Primrose (1862-1949). However, since in Engstrom's book Mary Ellis Primrose was the real name and "Min" was her nickname, the researcher wonders if Mary Ellis Primrose and Minnie Primrose are one and the same person. In Find A Grave, Minnie Primrose Winston, married Thomas Wiley Winston, (1861-1934), and her birth and death dates are (b. 11 Oct. 1863-d. 7 Jul. 1949). The researcher speculates that based on the similarity of the names that Mary Ellis Primrose and Minnie Primrose are the same person and that the couple were the parents of two children [1].
Mary Snead Chapman was the daughter of Elizabeth “Eliza” Snead and physician Samuel Edward Chapman. She and her parents were from New Bern, Craven County, NC. Mary had one sibling, Catharine “Kate” Chapman; both attended the Burwell School in the late 1840s. With the exception of attending the Burwell School, Mary lived in Craven County her entire life.
Mary married Cicero Stephens Primrose (ca.1831-ca.1864) on 11 February 1857. They were the parents of two children—Caroline (b. March 1858) and Mary (Min or Minnie) Ellis Primrose (1863-1949). Caroline died in childhood.
Cicero’s occupation is listed as bookkeeping in the 1860 US Federal Census in New Bern and a railroad agent in ancestry.com. He enlisted in the American Civil War on the Confederate side on 16 May 1861. He was commissioned an officer in Company F, North Carolina Company A 1st Light Artillery Battery with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He was promoted to full 1st Lieutenant on 12 November 1862. Sources differ as to the date of his death. In the Book of Burwell students, Mary Claire Engstrom indicates he died in 1867. However, in ancestry.com, it is indicated he died about 1864 in the Civil War. The 1st North Carolina Artillery that he was with did suffer casualties at the Battle of Plymouth on April 17, 1864, but the researcher could not determine if Cicero was one of them.
In the Engstrom book, it is noted that Mary Snead Chapman Primrose died when Mary (Min or Minnie) Ellis Primrose was still a teenager and that she was raised by her aunt, Mary Anne (or Ann) Primrose Noble (1826-1916) who married Albert Morris Noble (1823-1903).
Mary Snead Chapman Primrose is listed in the 1880 US Federal Census as living in New Bern, Craven County, NC and her occupation is listed as "keeping house.” According to Find A Grave, she died on 27 January 1882 and is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern, Craven County, NC.
SOURCES USED IN COMPLETING THIS RESEARCH BY THE BSHS RESEARCHER
1. 1860 AND 1880 US Federal Census, New Bern, Craven County, NC
2. Engstrom, Mary Claire. The Book of Burwell Students. pages 66-68.
3. ancestry.com.
4. Quarterly Newsletter, New Bern Historical Society, Fall 2013.
5. Bishir, Catherine W. Crafting Lives; African American Artisans in New Bern, NC, 1770-1900. pages 73-74.
6. Find A Grave.
7. Online source: Cicero S. Primrose - 1st North Carolina Artillery.
8. NC Cemetery Census
Cicero's family was also connected with the Burwell School as his sister Mary Ann Primrose attended and his older brother, Robert Stuart Primrose, Jr, married a Burwell student, Sarah Sitgreaves Attmore . Mary had two children with Cicero. Her first daughter, however, died in childhood. Mary herself died when her second daughter Mary Ellis Primrose, or Min as she was called, was seventeen [1].
Mary Snead Chapman was born in 1835, in New Bern, NC. She died on January 27, 1882, and was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Craven County, NC, USA.
. (sister-in-law, 1826-1916) [1], Robert Stuart Primrose Jr (brother-in-law, 1828-1870), Sarah Sitgreaves Attmore (sister-in-law, 1833-1882) and John Backhouse (great-grandfather, d. 1785).