and Catharine Chapman . (d. 1807)
« return to database listSamuel Chapman, Sr., erected the handsome house on Lot 102, 511 Broad Street (c. 1790), in New Bern. Now known as the Attmore-Oliver House, it is the home of the New Bern Historical Society [1].
Samuel Chapman was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He was a Captain in the 4th NC Regiment and served from 1779 until 1782. In 1779 his regiment was involved in skirmishes at Stono Ferry (SC) and the Siege of Savannah (GA).
Later he was a Clerk of the Craven County Superior Court. In September 1790, he purchased lot 102, at 511 Broad Street in New Bern, Craven County, NC where he built a story and a half frame house.
In 1834, Isaac Taylor, purchased the property and renovated the house sub-stantially for his daughter Mary and her husband George Sitgreaves Attmore . The new building incorporated the original structure and also introduced ele-ments of the Greek Revival style. The Attmore-Oliver House as it became known is one of the earliest examples of the Greek Revival style in New Bern. It currently serves as the home of the New Bern Historical Society.
Chapman first married Christiana Williams of Bertie County, NC. They were the parents of two children Nancy and Henry Lee. After her death he married Catharine (Kitty) Backhouse on 4 November 1804. They were the parents of two children Caroline Chapman and Samuel Edward Chapman, father of Burwell School students Mary Snead Chapman and Catharine Chapman .
According to the book Crafting Lives; African American Artisans in New Bern, North Carolina, 1770-1900 by Catherine W. Bishir, thirty slaves were named in Samuel Chapman's estate. One of them was a mulatto named Nathan, who was Chapman's son by "my negro woman Juliet." Chapman specified in his will that Nathan was to be emancipated and bound out to learn a trade. He also designated that a share in a local bank was to go to Nathan when he reached the age of twenty-one. Nathan was the only one of his slaves freed while Juliet and Chapman's other slaves were willed to family members. "After Samuel's death in 1807, his white family duly carried out his wishes: his son Henry as executor ...initiated steps to free Nathan, and after Henry's premature death, Samuel's widow Catharine (Kitty) and two new executors completed the manumission of mulatto boy Nathan, son of Juliet in 1810...In 1811 one of Chapman's executors bound out the thirteen-year old Nathan to learn the carpentry trade from William B. Green...Aided by his father's gift of money, at adulthood Nathan promptly established his own shop and began taking his own apprentices." [2] [3] [4]
Samuel [Sr.] died on March 13, 1807.
(granddaughter, 1834-1890) and Mary Snead Chapman (granddaughter, 1835-1882).