Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather of Keith M. Chandler
Compiled by a Granddaughter Jessie Chapman Mickelson
Welcome Chapman was born July 24, 1805 in Reedsboroa, Bennington Co., Vermont. He was a son of Benjamin and Sybil Amidon Chapman. His father had helped settle the city of Reedsboro, and it was here Welcome spent his boyhood days.He was the oldest son and second child in a family of nine children. As a child he had very poor health, and as a result of this he was unable to attend school regularly. But his limited schooling did not stop him from learning the fundamental principles of school such as; reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic. It was said that he was a good reader and could spell as well as any of his class mates.
As a young man he wasn’t able to do any hard labor, so when he was offered work as a cook on a fishing boat, he took the job. He would spend six months at a time on the ocean cooking for these men and during this time he regained his health becoming well and strong. After this he had very little sickness.
While still a young man Welcome heard rumors and stories of a young man who lived in western New York, who claimed to have visions, revelations, and a golden book, which had been given to him by the angel Moroni, with instructions to translate it into the English language. This young man also claimed that he had seen God and His son Jesus Christ, and that through visions, revelations and inspiration he had been instructed to organize this new church which he, Joseph Smith had set up with prophets and apostles, as well as many other things concerning the organization of a new religion. This new church was called The Church of Jesus Christ of latter‑day Saints.
Welcome became very interested, and though he was ridiculed by his brothers and his friends, he continued to investigate and learn what he could about this new religion. Many times he discussed his interest with his parents and other members of the family, they always tried to discourage him as to the truthfulness of the reports and rumors that were being circulated. After much consideration of the matter he decided that he would go and find out for himself whether these things were true. So against the counsel of his parents and other members of his family he saddled up his horse and rode 200 miles to New York.
Welcome was successful in locating the Prophet Joseph Smith, he found the prophet to be about his own age having been born the same year. Welcome now received a complete account of the prophets visitations, and how he had obtained the records, and the translation of them, as well as a thorough account of the many other manifestations that the prophet had received. He was very much impressed with the prophet and his wonderful experiences. He stayed two weeks at the home of the prophet learning all he could of the gospel, at the end of the two weeks he was convinced that this was the true religion, and so he was baptized a member before leaving for his home in Vermont.
Upon his return home he taught the Gospel to his family, and as a result of this they too were converted to Mormonism. Not long after this he left Vermont and went back to New York to join the Saints there.
At the age of 26 years he married Susan Amelia Risley of Madison County, New Yorkb. She joined the Church and was baptized a member in 1831. As far as we know none of her people joined the Church.
Welcome and Amelia became the parents of ten children. It was after the birth of their second child that they moved to Palmyra, New York to be with the saints there. They traveled with a team and wagon so they could take only the things that were most necessary; a few implements, some furniture, household goods and a meager supply of bedding.
As a result of Welcome’s activities in the church and the esteem the prophet had for him, he was made a member of the body guard who kept a constant watch of the prophet. He held this guard position until the death of the prophet, which took place on the 27th of June, 1844 in the Carthage Jail in Nauvoo, Illinois.
On July 2, 1843 a company of men of which Welcome was a member was asked to meet a boat on which the prophet was traveling. They were told that regardless of all hazards they were to rescue the Prophet Joseph Smith and bring him safely back to Nauvoo.
One time when Welcome was away on guard duty, a mob came to their house and told his wife Amelia, that if there was anything in the house that she wanted to get it out because they were going to burn the house down. With a sad heart she got everything out while the mob looked on, the cupboard was so heavy she could not move it alone, so one of the men helped her get it out. Then while she and the children watched those men burned the house to the ground.
Welcome and Amelia passed through many of the trials, persecutions and hardships that fell upon the church, and its members at that time, and when the Saints went to Kirtland, Ohio, the Chapman family went with them. While in Kirtland he cut stone for the Kirtland Temple, later on when the saints were building the Nauvoo temple he cut stone for that temple also.
The four corner stones of the Nauvoo temple were laid April 6, 1841, just eleven years after the church was organized, and five years later on the first day of May 1846 the temple was officially dedicated by Orson Hyde and Wilford Woodruff. During the month of December 1845 and the early months of 1846 many of the Saints received their blessings and endowments in this temple. Welcome was one of them, he received his endowments on the 30th of December, 1845.
The saints were driven out of Nauvoo in the early spring of 1846, and they began their long trek westward. When they left Nauvoo the Chapman wagon was overloaded so rather than leave her feather bed behind, Amelia carried it across the Mississippi river. In those days a feather bed was considered a luxury, but she felt she must take it with her.
This family spent the first [next] winter at Winter Quarters which was the next gathering place of the saints. During the winter months Welcome built a wagon so they would be ready to continue their journey across the plains.
Brigham Young and several of the other church leaders came back to Winter Quarters in the spring, and organized the people for the journey. Welcome and his family were ready to leave with this group. So with three oxen and a milk cow they were again on their way westward. These people were organized into several companies with a captain over each company. Welcome was appointed captain over the fourth company. It was in the late summer of 1848 that these people arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
After their arrival in Salt Lake, Welcome made a living for his family by cutting stone. He also hauled wood from the mountains and took it to Fort Douglas where he would sell it.
Those first few years were hard years for the pioneers and there were times when they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. To keep from starving, the people dug Sego and Thistle roots and cooked them, they also made glue soup, which was made by boiling raw hide, these were means of sustaining life until crops could be planted and raised, and more food was made available. These pioneers often went to bed hungry.
The following incidents is found in the book, “From Kirtland to Salt Lake City.” and was written by Lorenzo D. Young.
“One morning I met Brother Welcome Chapman with a basket of Cowslips. As I had been accustomed to these for early spring greens in my youth, to me at that time they seemed a great luxury. That they grew in this mountain regine [Sp? Region] surprised me. Only those who have longed for something palatable and refreshing can appreciate the feelings that caused me to exclaim with considerable enthusiasm, “Brother Chapman, where on earth did you get them?” He replied, “I have found a little spot up the canyon where they grow, and I go and get a basket of them each morning and it is enough to last us during the day.” “I ask him if the supply was sufficient to let me have some.” He thought so, and he gave me what he had with him. When cooked we enjoyed them very much. They were a change, a variety. Brother Chapman continued to furnish us a few greens, from which we realized much benefit. In these times faith was an important factor in our lives. Our prayers that the Lord would bless our food that it might strengthen us was not made up of idle words. It came from the heart, and in return the blessing was often realized. With meager fare we were able to accomplish much labor. Elder Young’s experience, with some variation was that of hundreds of the early colonizers of Salt Lake Valley. Strangers who now visit this country cannot properly sense its primitive bareness, and the privations endured from being a thousand miles from outside resources. The youth born in this valley today can never realize, without a similar experience, the toil and privation with which was laid the foundation for the comfort and luxury they enjoy.
It was on June 14, 1849 that Walker, the Utah Indian Chief from Sanpitch Valley, with 12 of his tribe, met in council at Salt Lake City with President Brigham Young and some of the other leading church officials. These Indians had come to request the Mormon leader to send colonists down to their land to make settlements, and to teach them to live as the white men lived, he said, “I do not care about the land, but I want the Mormons to go and settle it. Two months later Explorers were sent to the valley, and after visiting various localities they recommended the present site of Manti for the proposed Colony.
Having acted upon the report of these men President Young began to make the necessary arrangements for selecting the Colonists.
In October 1849 a company of men under the leadership of Issac Morley left Salt Lake to settle the Sanpete Valley, or the Sanpitch Valley as it was then called. We have no record of whether Welcome was with the first group of settlers, but he did move to Manti in 1849, where he and his family spent the next fifteen years.
On April 30, 1851 President Brigham Young and Brother Kimble came to Manti and organized the High Council there. On that day Welcome was ordained a High Priest, and was put in as one of the Twelve High Councilmen. In the year 1854 Issac Morley was called back to Salt Lake City, and on the 27th of July 1854 Welcome was made President of the Manti Stake. He held this position for eight years. During this time his counselors were: Warren Snow, Walter Cox, James Warcham and James Richey.
On the afternoon of July 27, 1854 as they were baptizing some white people who had been converted to Mormonism, a large crowd gathered, among them was Chief Walker and many of his people. President Chapman asked Chief Walker if any of his tribe would like to be baptized. Walker replied that he did not know but that he would ask them. Many of them did wish to be baptized so Elders John D. Chase, Nelson Higgins, Joseph Allen and James Richey baptized them. There were 103 males and 17 female Indians baptized that day, and later they were all confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints.
During the time that the Church leaders were advocating polygamy Welcome married two more women, his second wife was Ann Mackey, they were married October 5, 1855. Eleven children were born to them. His third wife was Catherine Stainer he married her March 5, 1856. She became the mother of ten children. Two other women were sealed to him but they had no children.
After he was through cutting stone for that temple [Salt Lake??] he and his family moved back to Manti to make their home.
When he was eighty years old he rode a horse bareback several miles to build a chimney on the house that belonged to his third wife Catherine. It was late in the Fall of the year and the weather was very cold. While working on the chimney he got chilled through, but he finished the job and rode his horse back home. He became ill with a cold, pneumonia set in and within a week he was dead. This was on December 9, 1893. He was buried in the Manti Cemetery.
His life had been one of service, he and his wives had raised a large family. He had endured many hardships as a pioneer, he had cut stone for three temples and he had served as a church leader, always glad and willing to do his part and to give anything he had to help those who needed help. He had, had close association with the leaders of the church. He was an honest and truthful man, he was often heard to say that he owed no man any money.
At one time one of his sons was in Pinctop [Pinetop?c] Arizona, Joseph F. Smith was there shaking hands with the people, when Welcome’s son told Brother Smith who, he was. Brother Smith said, “Your father was a good man, yes a very good man there are few like him.”
The Following article appeared in the Deseret News Feb. 17, 1858. The inhabitants of Sanpete County, assembled in the Council House at Manti and drew up resolutions approving of the present administration of Utah territory. The committee that framed the memorial consisted of: Welcome Chapman, James Richey, R. Wilson Glenn, P.E. Kofford, Tore Thurston, James T.S. Allred, John Edmeston, and Parlan MCFarlin, John Eagar was Secretary. Welcome Chapman was ordained a seventy in the L.D.S. church, Jan.5, 1839 by Joseph Young, Zerah Pulsipher, Heary Harriman and David Hancock.
The above history was compiled by a granddaughter Jessie Chapman Mickelson
Grandpa Welcome (The Friend 1993)
as published in the LDS magazine “The Friend”, December 1993Welcome Chapman
by Myrna Hoyt based on a history written by the author’s Grandmother
Mother couldn’t help noticing the serious, thoughtful look on Eric’s face as they drove home from church, “How was Primary today, Eric?”
“Fine.”
“What did you learn today?” Mother asked.
“We talked about choosing the right in our class, and Sharing Time was about temples.
“I can’t think of anything more special to talk about than temples.” Mother cheerfully replied. But she noticed that the faraway look was still in Eric’s eyes as they pulled into the driveway. “After you change your clothes, would you please help me set the table for dinner?” she asked.
As they were setting the table, Eric asked, “You and Dad were married in the temple, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So that means I’m sealed to you for eternity? “
“Right again,” Mother replied.
“I won’t get to go inside the temple until I’m grown up, will I?”
Mother reminded Eric that his brother Nathan, who was twelve and a deacon, had gone to the temple the month before and had been baptized for the dead, and how he, Eric, could do that, too, when he was twelve and held the Aaronic Priesthood. She also told him that when he was nineteen and ordained an elder, he could go through the temple for his own endowments before leaving on his mission.
Eric smiled at Mother, “I’m really looking forward to doing both of those things, but it’s not the same as what Joey did. When Sister Jones asked today in Sharing Time if anyone had a special experience to tell about the temple, Joey told about the missionaries teaching his family and about their baptism. He said that a year after they were baptized, they went to the temple as a family and were sealed together. He told about how beautiful the temple is inside and about how special it was to be dressed all in white and kneel down by the altar with his mom and bad and brothers and sisters”.
“Mom, that sounds so exciting! I wish I had a story about the temple that I could share.
Mother’s eyes sparkled. “You do, Eric, I’ll tell you all about it after dinner.
Mother always fixed someone’s favorite dinner on Sunday, and of course the best part was dessert. Today though, Eric was anxious for a different kind of after dinner treat. It made his day
when his older sister, Angie, and Dad volunteered to clean up the dishes so that Mother could tell him the special temple story right away.
They went to the family room, and Mother pulled her book of remembrance from a shelf and turned to a picture of a man with white hair and a white beard. She told Eric, “Welcome Chapman was my grandmother’s grandfather. While still a young man, Welcome heard rumors of a Joseph Smith, who was living in western New York, and who claimed to have a golden book that was given to him by an angel, and to have herd visions and revelations. He also claimed that he had seen Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. He said that They had instructed him to organize a new church.
“After thinking a lot about it, Welcome decided to find out for himself whether what he’d heard was true. Against the wishes of his parents, he saddled his horse and rode two hundred miles to New York. “When he found the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Mother continued, “he discovered that they were about the same age. Welcome heard a complete account of all that had happened to Joseph, including how he obtained and translated the records on the golden plates, and was very much impressed with the Prophet and his wonderful experiences. “He stayed two weeks at the home of the Prophet, learning all he could of the gospel. Convinced that this was the true religion, Welcome was baptized. Because of his activities in the Church and the esteem Joseph Smith had for him, he was made one of the Prophet’s body guards.
“Wow!” Eric exclaimed, “He had an Important job, didn’t he?”
“Yes.” Mother said, “but sometimes it was dangerous, not only for him but for his family. One time while he was away on guard duty, a mob went to their home and told his wife that if there was anything in the house that she wanted, to get it out before they burned the house down. Sick at heart, she got everything out while the mob looked on. The cupboard was so heavy that she couldn’t move it alone, so one of the men helped her get it out. Then while she and the children watched, the mobbers burned the house to the ground.”
“Welcome and his family passed through many of the trials, persecutions, and other hardships that fell upon the Church and its members at that time.”
Eric had heard stories about the pioneers before, but he had never imagined that his very own grandparents had been some of them. It was exciting to picture Grandpa Welcome with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He also felt bad for their losing their home and having been treated so cruelly, But he wondered what Mother told him had to do with the temple.
“You see,” she continued, “Welcome was a stonecutter, so when he was living in Kirtland, he was called to cut stone for the Kirtland Temple, Later, when the Saints were building the Nauvoo Temple, he cut stone for it. And it was in the Nauvoo Temple that many Saints, including Welcome, received their endowments.”
“The Saints were driven out of Nauvoo in the early spring of 1846, and they began their long trek westward. Welcome and his family spent the first winter at Winter Quarters. That next spring, Welcome was appointed captain over the fourth company, which arrived at the Salt Lake Valley in the late summer of 1847.”
“In 1849, Chief Walker, the Ute Indian chief, met In council with President Brigham Young. He requested the Mormon leader to send colonists to settle on their land. Welcome and his family went to help settle the town of Manti in the Sanpete Valley.”
“On July 27, 1854, Welcome was sustained as the Manti Stake president. That afternoon, as they were baptizing some settlers who had been converted, a large crowd gathered. Among them was Chief Walker and many of his people. Welcome asked the chief if any of his people would like to be baptized. The chief replied that he did “not know but would ask them.” That day many Indians were baptized there. “After serving as Manti Stake president for eight years, Welcome was called by President Young on a mission to cut stone for the Salt Lake Temple, which he did until he was seventy-five years old.”
Eric looked up at the picture on the wall of the Salt Lake Temple with a new feeling of reverence. He felt proud that one of his ancestors had cut stone for the beautiful temple. He also felt proud as he thought of the good and faithful life Welcome had lived.
Eric gave Mother a big hug and kiss and thanked her for telling him about Grandpa Welcome. You know, Mom, not only do I have a temple story to share, but I also have a neat Grandpa that I didn’t know about before. I want to live my life like Grandpa Welcome did and do what Jesus wants me to do so I can go to the temple someday too.
a: Located in the southwest corner of Vermont, Very near to where Brigham Young was born.
b: in Madison, Madison, New York; the marriage was in 1831
c: No location could be found called Pinctop, however the location of Pinetop is found, perhaps an “e” was incorrectly transcribed as a ‘c”