JUDGE PROCLAIMS MRS. CHAPMAN DAYS, Coke County, TX

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Submitted by Jo Collier - jomar@wcc.net
28 March 2001
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The Robert Lee Observer, 5 December 1968, Robert Lee, TX

By Elton Mims, Memeber Coke County Historical Commission

	How does it feel to be 100 years old?  Most of us in all
probability will never know but after Dec. 12, 1968, just ask
Mrs. A. S.(Mary) Chapman and she can tell you.
	Believed to be Coke County's oldest citizen she will observe
her 100th birthday on this date after a long career as housewife,
pioneer, mother and ranchwoman.
	Her surviving five children, Altice, Nanny, Bill, Susie and
Cooper will gather at the home of a daughter, Mrs. Susie Shelton,
who lives in Burleson, on Sunday, Dec. 8, to celebrate this
memorable occasion along with as many in-laws, grand children,
great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren as can be
present.  Although saddened by the recent death of a son, Sam, 
she looks forward to the intervening days with the same faith
and courage she exhibited in pioneering in West Coke County before
"the turn of the century."
	Born Dec. 12, 1868, in Tupelo, Miss., Mary Booth, a brother,
two sisters and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Booth, came by train
to Texas in 1883 to the home of an aunt near Cleburne.  Renting
land they began farming operations and the building of a home.  In
addition to farming her father served as a Baptist minister at 
Joshua and Bethesda in the early days following their arrival.
	At about age 20 in Mollie Booth's life a young man brought
a friend along to take her and a sister to a church meeting.  A
little over a year later she and the "friend", Anderson S. (Dick)
Chapman were married in Egan and built a home in that community.
The date of that marriage was January 8, 1890.  After living in
the Egan community for a short time the lure of the west overcame
them and about 1891 they came to Coke County via covered wagon
and settled in the Divide community some 20 miles west of Robert
Lee.  They homesteaded land and ultimately acquired 1,760 acres of
land which Mrs. Chapman still owns and claims as her resident
homestead.  The purchase price of the original land was $1 an 
acre.  Her husband died in 1924 and for a time she operated the
ranch but later leased it to one of her sons.  Another son operates
the ranch today.
	Mr. and Mrs. Chapman reared six boys and five girls and saw
them leave home one by one to establish homes of their own.  They
were Alice, Mrs. Leonard Lobb; Rachel, Mrs. Buford O'Neal; Nanny,
Mrs. L. J. O'Neal; Ollie, Mrs. Carl Plock; Susie, Mrs. Susie Shelton;
and the boys, Sam, Bill, Joe, Anderson (Buster), Coke and Cooper.
Of these, three daughters' Alice, Nanny and Susie, and two sons, Bill
and Cooper are still living.
	Kept at home in the early days by the necessity of providing 
for and caring for a large family she made up for the lack of travel
by traveling far and wide in her later years when she had leased out
the ranch.  Most of the winters were spent with her son, Joe, and 
his wife, Elizabeth, until his death several years ago, but come
spring she would catch a bus and start a round of visits that carried
her to Arizona, California, Kansas, South Dakota, and to Palo Pinto,
Cleburne, Burleson and Quemado in Texas to visit her widely scattered
family.  She traveled mostly by bus because she enjoyed seeing the
countryside at a slower speed, and being a sociable person, met many
interesting people.  So many were her travels that one neighbor on
seeing her with a suitcase, would ask, "Coming or going?"
	Although physical activity for her has slowed down she still
enjoys watching television, visiting with friends and hearing from
others by letter.  To her friends she has been and will continue to be
an inspiration to and past the end of her days.
	We salute her as Coke County's No. 1 citizen!
	 

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