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BIOGRAPHY

For the family of Ruben Acie Chapman and Ora Bell Howell

 

 RUBEN ACIE CHAPMAN was born on 25 Jul 1895 in Newbern, Dyer County, Tennessee, son of John Calven Chapman and Arabella Clementine Harrison. He apparently lived in Newbern until the time of his marriage. On 09 Aug 1914 in Newbern, he married Ora Bell Howell, daughter of George Franklin Howell and Emma Clay West. She was from Newbern as well, so perhaps they were neighbors or went to the same church or school.

After their marriage, they went to live with his daddy, J.C. Chapman in Newbern. After that, they bought their own farm in Newbern. According to one of Ruben & Ora’s daughters, "We lived there as I was growing up. It was a white house with green trim and a front porch. This is really where Mae and me growed up." According to one of their sons, this was what they all referred to as "the home place", which is now on what is called Chapman Road. The first 3 children were born at "the home place". Then they moved to the Dan Featherstone farm where the fourth child was born. Then they moved back to "the home place" and stayed there until 13 Nov 1934. Then they moved to Obion County, about 4 miles from Rives, Tennessee. In 1936 they moved to Weakley County, in a community known as Mt. Pelia, which is close to Martin, Tennessee. In 1938 they moved to Mt. View, Missouri and lived there about 4 or 5 months. Then they moved back to Newbern, Tennessee and lived in several different houses. In 1941 they moved to Benton County, near Camden, Tennessee. On 06 Dec 1941 they moved to Chicago. (Up until this point, Ruben had always farmed). While at Chicago, Ruben worked in a paint factory. They stayed in Chicago until the spring of 1943 when they moved back to Newbern for a short time. Then they moved to Huntingdon, Tennessee. Some time later they moved to Gleason, Tennessee, on New Valley Road. Then moved to Union Grove Road in Gleason for a short time. From there they moved to a house on Christmasville Road in Carroll County, Tennessee. They then moved back to Martin for about a year to work on a dairy farm. After this they just moved from place to place. At some point they moved to McKenzie, in Carroll County, Tennessee, because on 27 January 1962, Ora died there of a heart attack. Her death record indicates she died at their farm on Route #4, outside the city limits of McKenzie, Tennessee.

Then sometime between 1962 and 1967, Ruben remarried. He married Vallie McDaniel. They appeared to have lived in McKenzie. Then on 25 Feb 1967, Ruben died of a heart attack while at his son’s service station in McKenzie. Ruben’s death record indicates that at the time of his death he lived on a farm on Route #1, outside the city limits of McKenzie, Tennessee.

 

(Note: detailed information on the children has been withheld to protect the privacy of those still living.)

Copyright 2003
Janet Hagan Monnin

jansgenealogy at gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

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This web site was last updated on December 30, 2008