The Olds Family of Bradford, Pennsylvania

The earliest record obtainable of the Olds family is of Thomas Olds, of New Hampshire, who spent the greater part of his life and died in Alstead in that state in 1792. He was a farmer and landowner, a Whig in politics and a man of influence. He married Mehitable Pike, who survived him.

Children

1. Ezekiel. Of whom further.
2. Ruth. Died in Vermont; married a Mr. Pomeroy and left issue.
3. Cynthia. Died in Alstead; married a Mr. Jenny and left issue, including a son Chauncey, now deceased.
4. Thomas. A farmer, died in Williams county, Ohio; married Margaret Kennedy; children: Samuel, Mary, Thomas, William, John, Harvey, Justice, Harriet. Harvey is the only one of this family known to be living; he resides in Ohio.
5. Mehitable. Died in Conneaut, Ohio; married Thomas McNear; no issue.

(II) Ezekiel Olds

Ezekiel, son of Thomas and Mehitable (Pike) Olds, was born in Alstead, New Hampshire, January 27, 1784. He received his education and lived in Alstead until nearly twenty-one years of age. His father died when he was about eight years of age and then he was indentured to an uncle, Benjamin Wood, to serve during his minority. Three months before coming of age, however, he left Alstead and made his way westward to Conneaut, then called Salem. He bought wild land, built a log cabin and cleared a farm on which he lived many years. Later he moved to Como, Illinois, where he died May 5, 1866. He was a Whig in politics, later a Republican, serving as school director and in other town offices. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

He married (first) Betsey Pitney, born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1789, died at Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, January 25, 1832, daughter of Lewis Pitney, a farmer who died in old age in 1848, at Conneaut, outliving by several years his wife Sarah Davis, who also died in Conneaut.

Their children

1. Davis.
2. Elijah.
3. Betsey. First wife of Ezekiel Olds.
4. Ebenezer. A ship carpenter, died in Iowa, married Mary Snow and had Owen, living in Iowa; Marcia, deceased, and Helen, living in the west.
5. Polly. Married Charles Beardsley; children: Emily, Charles, Lewis and Laura; parents and all four children are deceased.
6. Lucinda. Married William Adams, and had one child, Catherine; all deceased.
7. Melinda. Married a Mr. Taylor and had a daughter and son, Lucinda and Pitney; all deceased.
8. Jonathan. Deceased, married and left issue.

Ezekiel Olds married (second) Margaret Johnson, who died in Conneaut, in 1852; no issue.

Children by his first marriage

1. Cynthia. Born March 12, 1811, died young.
2. Lewis. November 9, 1813, died in Conneaut.
3. Phebe. Born February 28, 1815, died in Conneaut, March 10, 1904; married James Press, deceased, a teamster and farmer; children: Mary; John, now living in Gowanda, New York; Ezekiel; James, deceased; Henry, deceased; Jennie, living in Conneaut; Frank, living in Canton, Ohio.
4. Ezekiel. Born July 18, 1817, a farmer; married Roxanna Wilcox, both died in Como, Illinois; children: Roxanna, living in Como, Illinois; William C., deceased, was a soldier of the civil war, buried in Marietta, Ohio; Harriet, living in Iowa; Delos, living in Sterling, Illinois; Frank, deceased; Nettie and Charles, also living in Sterling.
5. Sarah Ann. Born October 9, 1819, died April 17, 1910, at Hickman’s Mills, Missouri; buried in Conneaut; married Isaac Judson, a harness-maker; children: Mary, now living at Hickman’s Mills; Frank, Fred, twin of Frank, and Sarah, all deceased.
6. Louisa. Born February 10, 1822, died in Kingsville; married Charles Demarandille, a farmer; children: Calvin, lives in Kingsville, Ohio; Betsey, lives at Conneautville, Pennsylvania; Ruth, deceased; Sarah, lives in Ashtabula, Ohio; Charles, deceased; Cynthia, lives in Conneaut, married William Walling, a farmer.
7. John. Born June 26, 1824, died in Conneaut, a farmer; married Harriet Laughlin; children: Nettie and Wilson, living in Conneaut; Alfred, living on the old homestead; two others died young.
8. Ruth. Born March 16, 1827, now living in Marshalltown, Iowa; married Sylvester Rhoads, deceased, a farmer of Conneaut; children: John, Ezekiel and Charles, all living in Missouri; two daughters, died young.
9. Cynthia. Of whom further.
10. Betsey E. Born January 6, 1832, died in Geneva, Ohio; married Byron Pettey, a captain on the Great Lakes, who died in Belvidere, Illinois; children: Frank, deceased; Lillian, lives in Belvidere, Illinois; Adelaide and Carrie, live in Elkhart, Indiana; Jennie, deceased; John and Glen, both living in Belvidere.

(III) Cynthia Olds

Cynthia, ninth child of Ezekiel Olds and his first wife, Betsey (Pitney) Olds, was born in Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, July 30, 1829. She was educated in the public schools of her native town, finishing at Conneaut Academy. She now resides in Bradford, Pennsylvania, a widow, greatly loved and admired by her many friends. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic; the Women’s Relief Corps; the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Union Veteran Legion, and Willard Union of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the latter a work in which she has long been interested. She has resided in Bradford since 1877 and after forty-eight years of married life was left a widow in 1895.

She married, October 14, 1847, William Brooke Chapman, born in Cleveland, Ohio, October 8, 1826, died in Bradford, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1895; son of Daniel Chapman, born 1796, a shoemaker, served in the war of 1812, receiving a wound at the battle of Lundy’s Lane, died in Bradford, May 22, 1882, a son of a revolutionary sire. Daniel Chapman married Margaret Burt, who died in Conneaut.

Children

1. Uriah. Born January 1, 1825, married Rebecca Forsythe; children: Asa, Hannah, B., William, Catherine, Uriah, Roxy, Daniel, Rebecca, Mary, Isaac and twins Jacob and Olive.
2. William Brooke. See forward.
3. Mary Ann. Born October 21, 1828.
4. John Reed. June 14, 1829.
5. Louisa. October 23, 1831.
6. Jane S. October 3, 1833, now living in Conneaut, Ohio, a widow; married James Guthrie.
7. Hannah. Born July 5, 1835.
8. Rebecca. October 12, 1841.
9. Thomas Corwin. Born November 12, 1844, married and with his wife resides in California.

Thomas C. and Jane S. are the only living children of this family. In 1888 eight of them met, the youngest then being fifty-six years old, and had a family picture taken.

William Brooke Chapman

William Brooke Chapman was of English and French descent. He grew to manhood and was educated in Ashtabula county, Ohio, graduating from the Conneaut Academy in 1846. He at once began the study of law in the office of General Brewster Randall, at Conneaut; was married in 1847, and in February, 1852, at Columbus, Ohio, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio, having previously been admitted to the Ashtabula county bar. He at once began the practice of his profession, and was becoming well established when the war between the states broke out. He did not hesitate when duty called, and in July, 1861, enlisted in the Second Ohio Light Artillery. He was chosen first lieutenant of his battery and won a promotion to captain. He was wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, which so incapacitated him for further duty that he resigned his commission, received honorable discharge and returned to Conneaut. He there resumed legal practice, continuing until 1873, when he moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, and in 1877 located in Bradford. Here his talents as an attorney and counsellor brought him quick recognition, and he built up a large, lucrative practice of the best class. He was learned in the law, skillful in its application and thoroughly honorable in all his dealings. He was originally a Whig, but later a Republican and an active worker in the party. He was an ardent advocate of the cause of temperance, but opposed to making it the basis of a third party movement. He belonged to the Masonic order, affiliating with both blue lodge and chapter.

Children of Captain William Brooke and Cynthia (Olds) Chapman, all born in Conneaut, Ohio

1. Sarah Margaret. Born June 8, 1849; married in Conneaut, September 28, 1870, Charles Haywood, whom she survives. He was a harness-maker, but during the last twenty years of his life was cashier of a Conneaut bank. Children: Clara, born June 28, 1877; Edna, March 16, 1880.
2. Phebe Ellen. Born August 13, 1851; married November 15, 1876, at Erie, Pennsylvania, Stephen A. Holbrook (see Holbrook).
3. Henry William. Born April 6, 1854; married in New York City, December 5, 1889, Louisa Dillon; no issue. They reside in New York City, Mr. Chapman having, for a number of years, traveled for the firm of Mills & Gibbs, corner of Broadway and Grand street, New York City.
4. John Burtt. Born June 29, 1856, now a practicing lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio, but resides in Northfield, Ohio; married in Cleveland, Ohio, October 20, 1880, Nellie Stanley, of Ohio; children: Hazel, May and Henry Stanley, a traveling salesman.
5. Will B. Born February 8, 1866, now a practicing lawyer with office in Pittsburgh; lives in Grafton, Pennsylvania. He married in Buffalo, New York, November 25, 1896, Margaret Kennedy; children: Margaret, born September 25, 1897; William Kennedy, January 20, 1911.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content