William Osborn Chapman, Jr.

William Osborn Chapman was born on 14 Jun 1874 in Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey. The youngest of William and Harriet's six children, as a child Will was always splitting his britches.  When this would happen he would come in and bend over a small stool so his mother could sew his pants.  Once he did it while his mother was entertaining guests.  Needless to say, the process was changed.  Will belonged to a baseball team in Jersey City which was described as "little potatoes and hard to beat", there was many a tough fight with the team from Hoboken.

As a young man his family and friends would put on musicals.  These were elaborate entertainments right down to the printed programs.  As he got older he used to play for dancing.

William Osborn Chapman and Sarah Eleanor Grant  were married on 29 Jun 1904 in Manhattan, New York. William and Sarah met while on a boat to Glen Island.  A romance soon developed, however, Sarah's aunt was jealous and put an end to the relationship.  Will took a tirp to Europe about this time.  On his return he acquired a former employers Insurance Brokerage business, the Hardenbergh office in New York.  During his free time he would go riding on his horse Don Pedro.  One afternoon he galloped home to Arlington and rushed onto his mother saying "I've seen her, I've seen her."  Sarah saw William as well and arranged to meet him at the Newark Publick Library.  They decided at that time that they would marry.  Sarah's aunt relented and gave her blessing.

Don Pedro was a beautiful, but fractious, animal.  One afternoon while riding with Harry DuBois he took fright and ran, throwing Will. He was laid up for sixteen weeks with compound fractures of his leg.  He recovered in time for his wedding which was performed by Rev. David M. Burrell.

On the day of his wedding Will’s St. Bernard, Prince, had to be shot.  He had run over some glass while chasing a chicken and developed lockjaw.  In their first few years of marriage Will and Sarah fixed up a large house in Rutherford NJ.  They opened Audobon House as a first class boarding house.  They soon had a number of residents and good help including chef Fred and his wife as chambermaid. Their first child Grant was born in this house. Unfortunately, the business went into bankruptcy.

For a short time they moved in with Will's sister Millicent, and then moved to Tucker House in Bellvue where daughter Millicent was born.  In 1922 they bought a little house in Peapack.  Will was working as a special agent for the Alliance Insurance Company North America and in that capacity travelled from one end of New Jersey to the other

Will died on 16 Jan 1938 at the age of 63 in Peapack, Somerset, New Jersey. Will loved the house in Peapack, but it didn't improve his health which had been delicate for some time.   For five years he was a very sick man and on the sixteenth of January 1938 he passed on . He was buried on 18 Jan 1938 at Sylvan Lawn Cemetery in Arlington, Hudson, New Jersey.  Will was buried in the plot that he and his brothers bought when their sister Fanny's husband died in 1901.

Besides Millie, Will and Sadie had one son.....

a. Grant Chapman was born on 14 Dec 1908 in Arlington NJ.

Will and Grant

Grant Chapman and Rose Seymour Anderson (3 May 1909 Bernardsville NJ – 16 Jan 2002 Morristown, NJ.) were married on 18 Jul 1933 in Bernardsville, New Jersey. 

“Mom married our dad, Grant Chapman in a small garden wedding.  Our parents had three kids; Lois, Bob & myself.  After each was born, mom would go right back to work.  Mom was born here on the Bernardsville Mountain on the Millicent Fenwick Estate.  As a child, mom came to St. Bernard’s Church by horse and buggy.  They were hard times; mom lost her dad at the age of nine and went to live with her uncle John on Long Island.  At the age of 13 mom's mother remarried and mom moved back home to help.  During the summers as a teenager, mom babysat for a neighbor's family earning $2.50 a week.  Dropping out of high school, mom went to work full time for NJ Bell." She died on 16 Jan 2002 at the age of 92 in Morristown, Middlesex, New Jersey.

Rose and Children

"Rose A. Chapman died Wednesday at Morristown Memorial Hospital after a short illness.  She was 92.  Born in Bernards, she lived in Bedminster and Florham Park before moving to Gladstone six weeks ago....Mrs. Chapman was a telephone operator for New Jersey Bell in Peapack and Morristown for more than 41 years, retiring in 1974....She was a member of St. Bernard’s Episcopal Church, Bernardsville, and a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America...."   (Obituary , Courier News & Daily Record Morristown NJ 18 Jan 2002)

Grant died on 14 Sep 1968 at the age of 59 in Florham Park, Morris, New Jersey. He is buried at Sylvan Lawn Cemetery in Arlington, Hudson, New Jersey.