Welcome Chapman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Welcome Chapman
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | July 24, 1805 |
| Died | December 9, 1893 (aged 88) |
| Known for | Leader of Sanpete Mormon Colony 1854–1862 |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Parent(s) |
|
Welcome Chapman (born July 24, 1805 – died December 9, 1893) was an important early leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born in Readsboro, Vermont. Chapman led the Latter-day Saint settlers in Manti, Utah, from 1854 to 1862. He also helped create peace between the settlers and Chief Wakara's tribe.
Contents
Early Life and Learning a Trade
Welcome Chapman was born in 1805 in Readsboro, Vermont. This was only four miles from where another future leader, Brigham Young, was born. As a teenager, Welcome started learning to be a stonemason. This meant he learned to cut and shape stone for buildings.
However, his parents thought he was often sick. So, they used family connections to get him a job. He became a cook on a fishing boat. He worked in the cold North Atlantic Ocean and on Lake Champlain. The time spent at sea seemed to make him much healthier.
Marriage and Joining the Church
Between his fishing trips, Welcome met Susan Amelia Risley (1807–1888). Amelia's parents were well-known in Madison County, New York. They did not like Welcome's job because they thought it was too risky for him to support a family.
To show he was serious, Welcome stopped fishing. He decided to go back to working with stone. Amelia's parents then agreed to the marriage. Welcome and Amelia married around 1831.
The Chapmans made their home in a small town called Hubbardsville in Madison County. They had four daughters there. Sadly, their first two children were twins who died as babies.
While living in Hubbardsville, Welcome and Amelia learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Welcome joined first. Amelia was not happy at all, saying, "You have went and joined those awful Mormons." But about six months later, she also joined the church.
Because they joined a new and often misunderstood religion, their friends and neighbors started to avoid them. Even Amelia's prominent parents were heartbroken, but they remained kind. Welcome's parents, however, chose to no longer speak to him. The Chapmans soon moved to a Latter Day Saint community. They may have gone to Kirtland, Ohio, or more likely to Jackson County, Missouri and then Far West, Missouri.
Challenges and Moving West
The Chapmans faced many difficulties because of their faith. They were forced to leave their homes in Missouri and Illinois by groups of people who disagreed with their beliefs. In 1838, they built a home in Far West, Missouri. But that same fall, the governor ordered all Latter-day Saints to leave the state.
Amelia was six months pregnant when a group of people told the Chapmans and their neighbors they had only a few hours to leave before their homes would be burned. They stayed just long enough for Amelia to have her baby, a son. He was born two weeks after a sad event called the Haun's Mill massacre.
Soon after, they fled to Illinois. They built a new home in Nauvoo by the Mississippi River. Welcome used his skills to cut stone for the Nauvoo Temple. While in Nauvoo, Amelia had three more sons. Sadly, one of them died when he was only three months old.
Welcome Chapman also helped Joseph Smith. He was part of a group that went to help Joseph when men from Missouri tried to kidnap him.
In 1846, the Chapmans were forced to leave Nauvoo. They crossed the river to Iowa with many other people. Then they traveled to Winter Quarters, which was in what is now eastern Nebraska. There, Amelia had another daughter in October 1846.
Before that, Brigham Young had divided the Winter Quarters settlement into two main groups. Welcome Chapman was a foreman, or leader, of one of the smaller groups. In the summer of 1848, the Chapmans, with their six children who were still alive, traveled across the plains. They were Mormon pioneers heading to what would become Utah Territory.
Building a New Home in Utah
The Chapmans had their last child, a son named Welcome Chapman, Jr., in the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1849. Around this time, Brigham Young asked Welcome to help start a new settlement. This settlement was in the Sanpitch (now Sanpete) Valley with Isaac Morley. They arrived in November 1849 and had a very hard winter with little shelter.
Welcome Chapman was part of the first local defense group in Manti. He used his stone cutting skills to help build the first fort. He was also one of the first selectmen, who were local leaders. The new settlement faced many challenges, but slowly it began to grow and do well.
On April 30, 1851, Brigham Young asked Chapman to be part of the first High Council for the Manti area. On July 8, 1854, the High Council made Chapman the leader of the colony. He took over from Isaac Morley, who had been asked to move to Salt Lake. The next day, everyone in the settlement agreed that he should be their leader.
Later that month, on July 27, a larger church organization called a stake was formed. Chapman was chosen as its president. On that same day, Walkara joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by baptism in Manti's City Creek. About 120 other members of his tribe also joined.
Amelia Chapman was from a large family of seven girls and five boys. They lived on a flax farm in upstate New York. Her mother taught the girls to read and do math. They also learned how to prepare wool and linen to make cloth.
When the Chapmans first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Amelia focused on weaving a strong cloth called linsey-woolsey. The new community really needed this cloth. She let her 12- and 14-year-old daughters do most of the housework. People at the time said Amelia was an excellent cook and housekeeper. She also knew a lot about herbal medicine. She worked as a practical doctor and nurse for people living many miles away. She also helped deliver babies, including some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Amelia was more educated than Welcome, which helped him a lot in his public life. When Brigham Young and other church leaders visited Sanpete, they often stayed at the Chapman home. It was better furnished than most other homes.
After Chief Wakara died in 1855, his brother, Arapeen, became the new war chief. Even though a short conflict called the Wakara War was over, there was still tension between the Latter-day Saints and the Ute Indians in Sanpete. In early 1857, Arapeen said he had a vision. In this vision, Wakara came to him with a message of peace. Wakara specifically told him to share this message with Chapman and two other people. This message of peace helped Arapeen to travel with Brigham Young. Young then made peace with the Bannocks in what is now Idaho.
In Manti, Welcome Chapman had a large family with his wives. He married Ann Mackey on October 5, 1855, and Catherine Stainer on March 5, 1856. He had many children with each of these women, in addition to his family with Amelia. Chapman also helped start the San Pete Coal Company. This company was officially formed on January 8, 1856.
After leading the Manti settlement for eight years, Brigham Young asked Welcome to move to Salt Lake City. His new job was to cut stone for the Salt Lake Temple. Welcome often worked with one of his sons by his side. At one point, he worked with seven of his sons. He helped build the temple "from the bottom to the top" until at least 1880. He continued working even when the church could not pay him. To earn extra money in Salt Lake City, he cut and hauled wood to Fort Douglas, where he sold it to the soldiers.
In late 1893, when he was 88 years old, Welcome Chapman reportedly rode a horse three miles without a saddle. He went to build a chimney on his third wife Catherine's house. After building the chimney and riding home in the cold, he became very chilled. He then developed pneumonia. Welcome Chapman died soon after, on December 9, 1893, in Fountain Green, Utah. He was buried in Manti, Utah.
Images for kids
-
Scene near Far West, Missouri
