Welcome Chapman (July 24, 1805 – December 9, 1893) was an early leader in
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
born in
Readsboro, Vermont. Chapman was the leader of the Latter-day Saint settlers in
Manti, Utah
Manti ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,276 at the 2010 United States Census.
Description
Manti was the first community in Utah to be settled outside the Wasatch Front and served as ...
, from 1854 to 1862, and helped broker peace between the settlers and
Chief Wakara's tribe.
[
]
Childhood
Chapman was born in 1805 in Readsboro, Vermont, four miles down the river from fellow leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
. He apprenticed as a stonemason in his early teens, but because his parents deemed him "sickly," they leveraged a relative's connections to secure him a position as cook on a fishing boat. He worked both in the North Atlantic and on Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec.
The New York portion of t ...
. The time at sea reportedly improved his health.[
]
Marriage and Conversion
In between fishing expeditions he met Susan Amelia Risley (1807–1888), daughter of a prominent Madison County, New York couple. They disapproved of the relationship because they believed his occupation was too unstable to support a family. In response, Chapman abandoned fishing and took steps toward returning to stone cutting. The Risleys relented, and Chapman married Amelia in about 1831.
The Chapmans made their home in a hamlet known as Hubbardsville in Madison County, where they had four children, all daughters. The first two were twins who died in infancy.[
While in Hubbardsville, they joined ]the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
. First Welcome joined, to which Amelia reacted harshly, declaring "You have went and joined those awful Mormons." However, she joined the church about six months later.
Because they joined an unpopular religion, their friends and neighbors shunned them and appeared to look down on them, the prominence of Amelia's parents notwithstanding.
The Risleys were broken-hearted over their daughter joining the Latter-day Saints, but they did not turn bitter. However, Welcome's parents disowned him.[ The Chapmans soon moved to a ]Latter Day Saint
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...
community, possibly Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,937 at the 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and is the site of the movement's first t ...
, but more likely Jackson County and then Far West, Missouri.[Smith, Arlene M. "Times and Places of Welcome Chapman," 1997. See online version at BYU Special Collections]
/ref>[
Armed Ochlocracy, mobs drove the Chapmans from their homes in Missouri and ]Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
.[ They built a home in Far West, Missouri, in 1838, only to be forced from the state by order of the governor that Fall. Amelia was six months' pregnant when a mob gave the Chapmans and their Latter-day Saint neighbors a few hours to clear out before their homes would be burned. They remained in the area long enough for Amelia to carry the baby, a son, to full term. He was born two weeks after the Haun's Mill Massacre.][ They soon fled to Illinois, where they built a home in Nauvoo along the banks of the ]Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
and Chapman cut stone for the Nauvoo Temple
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Jose ...
.[ While in Nauvoo, Amelia had three more children, all sons, one of whom died at three months.][
]
Chapman was part of the '' Maid of Iowa'' expedition sent in support of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
when an armed company of men from Missouri were sent to kidnap him.
Mobs drove them from Nauvoo in 1846, when they fled with most other Nauvoo residents across the river to Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
, and then on to what later became known as Winter Quarters, an unsettled area along the Missouri River in present-day eastern Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
. There, Amelia gave birth to another daughter in October 1846. Two months earlier, Brigham Young divided the Winter Quarters settlement into two "grand divisions" presided over by himself and Heber C. Kimball
Heber Chase Kimball (June 14, 1801 – June 22, 1868) was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Church of the Latter Day Saints, and as first counselor to Brigham Young ...
, respectively. Each division had two subdivisions presided over by a foreman. Chapman was foreman of the fourth subdivision, with Hosea Stout
In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the ...
serving as its clerk. In the summer of 1848, the Chapmans crossed the plains with their six surviving children to what later became Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...
.[
]
Settling Utah
The Chapmans had their final child, a son named Welcome Chapman, Jr., in the Salt Lake Valley in Fall 1849. About the same time, Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
asked Chapman to help colonize the Sanpitch (now Sanpete) Valley with Isaac Morley
Isaac Morley (March 11, 1786 – June 24, 1865) was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and a contemporary of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He was one of the first converts to Smith's Church of Christ. Morley was present at ma ...
.[ Findlay, Linnie T.M. "Welcome Chapman". '']Saga of the Sanpitch
The Saga of the Sanpitch was a collection of biographical short stories, published annually from 1969 to 1998, about early Scandinavian immigrants to the Sanpete Valley
Sanpete County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 U ...
.'' 1989. Vol. 21, pp. 111–118. They arrived in November 1849 and endured a harsh winter with little shelter. Chapman was part of the first militia of Manti and used his stone cutting skills to help construct the first fort.[''Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers''. Florence C. Youngberg, ed. Agreka Books. 1998, p. 510. .] He was also among the first group of selectmen.[ The young colony experienced great difficulties, but gradually began to prosper.
]
On April 30, 1851, Brigham Young called Chapman to be part of the first High Council of the Manti Area Branch in Manti, Utah
Manti ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,276 at the 2010 United States Census.
Description
Manti was the first community in Utah to be settled outside the Wasatch Front and served as ...
. On July 8, 1854, the High Council installed Chapman as the colony leader, replacing Isaac Morley
Isaac Morley (March 11, 1786 – June 24, 1865) was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and a contemporary of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He was one of the first converts to Smith's Church of Christ. Morley was present at ma ...
, who had been "called to Salt Lake." The next day, the settlers unanimously approved him as their leader. Later that month, on July 27, a stake was organized and Chapman was chosen as its president.[''Saga of the Sanpitch'', Vol 27, 1995, p. 35.] That same day Walkara
Chief Walkara (c. 1808 – 1855; also known as Wakara, Wahkara, Chief Walker or Colorow) was a Shoshone leader of the Utah Indians known as the Timpanogo and Sanpete Band. It is not completely clear what cultural group the Utah or Timp ...
joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
by baptism (or rebaptized)[Hoyt, Myrna. "Grandpa Welcome," ''Friend'', Dec. 1993, 10. Online version a]
/ref> in Manti's City Creek, along with 120 other members of his tribe (103 males, 17 females).[
Amelia was born into a family of seven girls and five boys on a flax farm in ]upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
. Her mother taught the girls reading and mathematics, as well as how to cord, spin and weave wool and linen.[Chapman, John Davis. ''Welcome and Susan Amelia (Risley) Chapman''. Provo, Utah.] When the Chapmans first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Amelia turned most of the housework over to her 12- and 14-year-old daughters while she focused on weaving linsey-woolsey
Linsey-woolsey (less often, woolsey-linsey or in Scots, ) is a coarse twill or plain-woven fabric woven with a linen warp and a woollen weft. Similar fabrics woven with a cotton warp and woollen weft in Colonial America were also called linsey ...
cloth, which the young community badly needed. Contemporary accounts consider Amelia an excellent cook and housekeeper and an authority on herbal medicine. She served as a practical doctor and nurse to "neighbors for many miles around" and as a midwife. She assisted in the births of some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.[ She was more educated than her husband, which helped him during his active public life. After the Chapmans relocated to Manti, Brigham Young and other authorities from Salt Lake made the Chapman home, which was better furnished than most neighbors, their headquarters when visiting Sanpete.][
]
After Wakara died in 1855, his brother, Arapeen, succeeded him as war chief. Although the brief Wakara War was over, tensions between the Latter-day Saints and the Ute Indians in Sanpete still existed. In early 1857 Arapeen reported having a vision in which Wakara came to him with a message of peace. In the vision Wakara specifically instructed him to pass this message on to Chapman and two others. B.H. Roberts believed it was the peace that ensued that enabled Arapeen to accompany Brigham Young on an expedition to present-day Idaho, where Young made peace with the Bannocks
The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Oreg ...
.[Roberts, B.H. ''Comprehensive History of the Church''. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1902. Vol. IV, Ch. XCIV]
In Manti, Chapman practiced plural marriage. He married Ann Mackey on October 5, 1855, and Catherine Stainer on March 5, 1856. He had a large family with each of these women, in addition to the family he had with Amelia. (He also possibly married two women who left him shortly thereafter.[) Chapman was a founding owner of the San Pete Coal Company, incorporated by act of the Territorial Legislature on January 8, 1856.]
After serving as the leader in Manti for eight years, Brigham Young called him to Salt Lake City to cut stone for the Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth templ ...
, where Chapman often worked with a son at his side. At one point he worked alongside seven of them. He helped build the temple, "from the bottom to the top," through at least 1880,[ including during times the church could not pay.][ He earned supplemental income in Salt Lake City by cutting and hauling wood to ]Fort Douglas
Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. I ...
, where he sold it to the soldiers.[
In either late November or early December 1893, at the age of 88, Chapman reportedly rode a horse bareback for three miles to build a chimney on the house of his third wife, Catherine.][ Chilled through after building the chimney and riding home again through the cold, he developed ]pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. He died soon after in Fountain Green, Utah
Fountain Green is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,071 at the 2010 census.
History
Fountain Green was originally called "Uintah Springs", and under the latter name settlement was made in 1859. A post office c ...
on December 9, 1893, and was buried in Manti.[
]
References
Other sources
*
*Stubbs, Glen R. ''History of construction of the Manti Temple'', 8
*Early Latter-day Saints project at http://earlylds.com/getperson.php?personID=I5644&tree=Earlylds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Welcome
1805 births
1893 deaths
Converts to Mormonism
Deaths from pneumonia in Utah
Mormon pioneers
People from Manti, Utah
People from Readsboro, Vermont
American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Latter Day Saints from New York (state)
Latter Day Saints from Missouri
Latter Day Saints from Illinois
Latter Day Saints from Utah