JOINTEE CHURCH & CEMETERY And NATHANIEL CHAPMAN

Nathaniel Chapman was a Revolutionary War soldier, and a member of the Jointee Church of Bedford County. He is buried in the Jointee Cemetery, in Goodview, Virginia, Bedford County.

To find the site of the the Jointee Church and its adjoining cemetery, turn from Virginia Route 24 onto County Road 653, near Chamblissburg, Virginia. If you begin on Route 24 from Roanoke, Virginia, the distance is approximately 15 miles, or 13 miles if your trip originates in Vinton, Virginia. From Route 24, proceed 1.5 miles on Route 653 to the top of a ridge where Parrish Road adjoins Route 653. The area west of Route 653 and south of Parrish Road is thought to be the site of the church. It is the site of the cemetery which can be found by following the driveway of the first house on Parrish Road. This property belongs to the Bond family. At the end of the driveway is the private Bond Cemetery, enclosed with a chain link fence.

Directly behind the Bond Cemetery, approximately 30 yards, is the land of the old Jointee Cemetery. In April 2003, the Jointee Cemetery was severely overgrown with small trees, vines, and briars. The vines and briars and overgrowth was cleared in 2003, and the Bond Family has continued to maintain the land well.

The Jointee Church was established by a small group of Baptist settlers of Chamblissburg, Virginia (Bedford County) five years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A deed dated December 24, 1771, describes a church of the Society of the Baptist Church, and establishes it as the first Baptist church in Bedford County. The deed reads as follows:

Between James Davis of Bedford County of the one part and Matthew Talbot and Stephen White and the rest of the Society of the Baptist Church of the said County, on the other part --- for the consideration of 10 lbs. current money of Virginia --- I bargain, sell and confirm to the said Baptist Society – one acres of land, forever, to include the said meeting house and adjoining spring ----

The church was in existence from 1771 until 1849, a period of 78 years. The church split according to the early minutes of Chamblissburg's Beaverdam Baptist Church. At least two denominations worshipped at Jointee at the time – Baptist and Methodist. The Baptist united with Beaverdam Baptist Church, and the Methodist, according to the deed dated October 8, 1856, erected a church on land belonging to James W. Garner. The Jointee Church building is no longer standing, and many of the original graves were moved to the "new" Methodist church grounds nearby.

The Jointee Cemetery adjoined the Jointee Church. When the church congregation split, with some members going to the Beaverdam Baptist Church, and others to the new Methodist Church, some of those buried in the Jointee Cemetery were moved to the Methodist Church cemetery. There are no known records that indicate any of those buried at Jointee were moved to the Beaverdam Baptist Church cemetery. There are two marked graves in the Jointee Cemetery. The first marked grave is that of Nathaniel Chapman. It is a 3 foot wide and 5 foot long marble "ledger" for the entire grave. While the marble ledger, 6 inches thick, is intact, the brick work beneath the stone has deteriorated, and no longer supports the stone. The stone bears the following inscription:

Sacred to the Memory of
Nathaniel Chapman
A Soldier of the Continental Army and a pious member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for upwards of 10 years
Born May 17 1761
Died July 29, 1829

The second upright marker is inscribed as follows:

William Garver
Private
2 Va. Militia
War of 1812-1815

There are other graves no longer marked, or with broken and illegible markers. One reference indicates that one of the stones is for an "Allen".

Nathaniel Chapman was born May 3 or May 5, 1761, near Watering Branch near Lynchburg, Virginia, and died in Bedford County, Virginia, January 29, 1829.

He was living in Cumberland County, Virginia where he enlisted in 1778 with his brother-in-law Elisha Bowles and friend Jeremiah Basham in the Continental Army under a company commanded by Captain Beverley Stubblefield, of Colonel Richard Parker's Regiment of the Virginia Line. He later served under General Gates at the Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina. Following the Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, he was taken prisoner, and put aboard the prison ship, Belvedere. There, he and his entire detachment endured at least nine months of bad food, illness and threats until they were exchanged in 1781 at Jamestown right before the Battle of Yorktown. Nathan was on the way to Yorktown when he heard of the British surrender.

Nathan returned to Cumberland County, Virginia where, as found in Cumberland County court records, he was subjected to unfair additional taxation for not paying his taxes on his tobacco while at war. Nathan's father, Jonathan Chapman, is also found in the Cumberland County, Virginia court records until 1784 when he sold all of his possessions to his "son and friend" Nathaniel Chapman and promptly disappeared from Cumberland County, Virginia. Family researchers are attempting to determine if this Jonathan Chapman is the same man who lived on the Appomattox River in Amelia County, Virginia, and was a gunsmith by trade.

According to Jeremiah Basham and Elisha Bowles, Nathan and Jeremiah and Elisha Bowles, with his wife Elizabeth Chapman Bowles, moved to the Bedford and later Franklin County, Virginia area. Nathan probably began working for James Coleman at this time as James has a couple of extra males with ages in the 20's in his household, as found in the 1790 Census.

He married Elizabeth (Betsey) Coleman, who was born 1770 at "the Old Toll Gate" near Lynchburg, Virginia (according to DAR records). Their marriage bond was dated 12 February 1791, in Franklin County, Virginia. The marriage bond was signed by James Coleman, relationship unknown. Present at the wedding was a woman, who in 1839 was named Mrs. Cloe Coleman.

Elisha Bowles and Nathan Chapman also bought land in Bedford County, Virginia and set up households near one another. Nathaniel bought 385 acres of land on Beaver Dam Creek from Lemaster Cooksey around 1791.

Nathan lived in Bedford County, VA the rest of his days. He and Elizabeth had the following children:

1. Henry Harrison Chapman born about 1793 married Nancy A. Wright
2. Nathaniel Chapman Jr. married in 1831 Minerva B. Coleman
3. Mary Ann Jones Chapman m. Anthony Evans Jr.
4. Elizabeth Chapman m. John Deyerle
5. John Chapman m. Elizabeth Deyerle
6. James Chapman
7. Chloe Chapman
8. (might be missing another child)

Nathan Chapman applied for a pension in 1826 and was granted 100 acres. Nathan's brother, Thomas Chapman, of Henry County, VA, had died in 1826 and Nathan was to get Thomas' 100 acres also. Nathan and Thomas' bounty land was in Ohio. Nathan's son-in-law, Anthony Evans, got the land from Nathan and sold it.

Nathaniel Chapman died in 1828. His widow Elizabeth Chapman, with the aid of her son, Henry Harrison Chapman, worked for years to get the bounty land due her husband. She did finally receive another 100 acres in Iowa in the mid 1850's. She sold the land to Samuel Chapman Taylor (possible great nephew) who apparently went to Iowa and lived.

Nathaniel Chapman was a decent, hard working man. He could write -- he signed his marriage bond -- and probably read. He was a devout and god fearing man
who left land behind for his church -- Methodist Episcopal -- to build a building for worship. He provided opportunity for his children to receive an education -- his son, Henry Harrison, named one of his sons Josephus, presumably after the great historian -- and the possibility to move up socially. Nathan was a farmer, but his sons became plantation owners, members of the local Masons, etc. He fought the British to free our country without thought to the reward. On this point, Henry Harrison tells a story about his father. When Henry asked his father, why won't you apply for a pension? Nathan responded that, he fought, not for money, but for freedom. When the government did pay them, the money "died on their hands". Nathan did finally apply for money, but only after having severe arthritis, being unable to plow his fields and having to rely on his 12 year old son, James, to do it.

Elizabeth (Betsey) Coleman Chapman was allowed a pension on her application executed November 22, 1839, at which time she was age 69 and a resident of Bedford County, Virginia. This was the second pension application, with the first being filed May 1825. Pension W 6654. Most recent pension records were Certificate No. 4799, issued May 14, 1849, rate of $80 per annum, commenced March 4, 1848. In 1844, she was living in Roanoke County, Virginia, with her son, Henry Harrison Chapman. On March 6, 1855, Elizabeth Chapman applied for bounty land. She was allowed 160 acres of bounty land, in compensation for the services of Nathaniel Chapman during the Revolutionary War, on Bounty Land Warrant No. 1589, under the Act of 1855. Elizabeth Coleman Chapman died in Roanoke Co., Virginia on May 13, 1859 at the home of her son Henry Harrison Chapman.