Chapman's Mill

Nathaniel Chapman

High on the north wall of the Chapman/Beverley Mill is an inscribed stone tablet that gives the names of the Chapman family members from Jonathan,Nathaniel, Pearson, John, George to John who owned and/or operated the mill during the Chapman years. Each in their own way made a contribution to the legacy of this historic site. The original mill site was acquired by Jonathan Chapman in 1737 and a 757 acre nearby tract was purchased by his son Nathaniel in 1743. But, who were the Chapmans and where did they come from?

After some years of researching the Chapman family, I find the three families- Mason, Washington and Chapman have commonalties- political, social and economic. Each of the families came from England in the 17th century, settled in Northern Neck Virginia, were wealthy, had sizable land holdings and were members of the Church of England. They all owned slaves and interacted with one another. In addition, each family would own land in Virginia as well as in Charles County, Maryland. I will briefly focus on one of the more prominent members of the Chapman family--Nathaniel, and some of the contributions he has made.

By the early 18th century there was a growing demand in the colonies for iron products for plows and tools in the expanding tobacco industry and for household appliances. In 1724, Jonathan Chapman was working as a stone mason in the building of an iron furnace for the Principio Co.north of Baltimore. In 1729, Augustine Washington journeyed to England to negotiate with the owners of the Principio Co. for the operation of an iron furnace on his land on Accokeek Creek north of Fredericksburg, Virginia. By 1730 Nathaniel Chapman was listed as a supervisor at the Accokeek furnace. Chapman and Washington would be business associates in the iron business. The iron business is identified by many as the beginning of the American Industrial Revolution. For 25 years Nathaniel Chapman served as the general manager of one of the largest iron works in the colonies. It is the iron business that provides Augustine Washington with the income that would greatly influence the life of his son George.

In 1732 Nathaniel Chapman married Constantia Pearson, daughter of a wealthy and influential merchant in northern Virginia. In 1747 Nathaniel was one of the founders and the first treasurer of the Ohio Company of Virginia. The Ohio Company included 25 of the wealthiest and most prominent men of colonial Maryland and Virginia. Included in the membership were both Lawrence and Augustine Washington, Thomas Cresap, William and George Fairfax and Thomas Lee. In 1749, at the urging of Nathaniel Chapman, the company accepted into membership George Mason IV who succeeded Nathaniel as Treasurer of the company--a position Mason would hold until his death in 1792. The main purpose of the company was to seek major land grants from the Crown for lands west of the Alleghenies into the Ohio valley. The French and Indian War in 1754 and legal disputes over title to the land doomed the Ohio Company to economic failure. The Company was successful, however, in preventing the French from colonizing the west.

In 1750 Nathaniel Chapman purchased a 580 acre tract of land in Charles County, Maryland on the Potomac known as Grimes Ditch. The same year his friend, George Mason, married Ann Eilbeck of Charles County and began building his home across the Potomac from Grimes Ditch, which he called Gunston Hall. During this same period a few miles up river George, the eldest son of Augustine Washington by his second marriage, was rebuilding Mt. Vernon. Nathaniel built a two story house on the river at Grimes Ditch for himself, his wife and their six children. This would evolve into a working plantation with more than 30 slaves, the raising of sheep and hogs and the growing of wheat and Indian corn. An inventory taken of his Charles County plantation following his death revealed he lived a rather comfortable lifestyle. In addition to his being general manager for the Principio Iron Works in both Virginia and Maryland he managed the mill property at Thoroughfare Gap and numerous other properties in Virginia. In addition he owned residential property and a tobacco warehouse in Fredericksburg and was a partner in a gristmill operation in King George County. The Chapman dynasty would hold forth on the Grimes Ditch plantation site for the next 165 years. The Chapman as well as the Mason and Washington families would maintain successful shad and herring fisheries on the Potomac. These fisheries would be the one of their main sources of income. The Chapmans also operated a ferry between their plantation and Hallowing Point on Mason's Neck. During this period the Potomac continued to be the center of commerce and transportation for the early settlers. In March 1760 there is an interesting entry in George Washington's diary. He notes that he and John Carlisle were considering setting up an iron works near Harper's Ferry. Nathaniel Chapman was proposed as a partner and would be asked to go there to assess the potential for such a venture. This partnership would not materialize because later that year tragedy was to strike when Chapman died suddenly near the Principio works in Baltimore. Although his life was cut short at the age of only 51 Nathaniel Chapman had touched the lives of many, had contributed much to the development of our culture and had laid a solid foundation as a legacy for his children.

As we look at the Chapman Plantation site today we can still see the boundary ditches including survey markers dating back prior to 1750 that were there during Nathaniel's residency. The cemetery and other remains of 18th century activities are also still in evidence.

Some other interesting facts about Nathaniel Chapman: He was the executor of both Augustine and Lawrence Washington's estates. His wife's mother was the half sister of Mary Ball Washington--Augustine Washington's second wife. His daughter Lucy, married Samuel Washington the brother of George Washington. The will of his wife Constantia, included a diamond encased mourning ring for her close friend Ann Eilbeck Mason. Nathaniel had many prominent descendants including a grandson, Nathaniel, who became a distinguished Philadelphia surgeon, co-founder and first president of the American Medical Association.

A new Chapman house was built by Pearson Chapman, grandson of Nathaniel Chapman, on the Charles County property in 1840 on a high bluff overlooking the Potomac. This is the house we know today as Mount Aventine. The Chapman plantation in Charles County has been known through the years as Pomonkey, Chapmans Landing and Chapman's Fishing Shore in addition to Grimes Ditch and Mt. Aventine.

(Author's Note: In October 1998 the State of Maryland purchased a 2,250 acre tract in Charles County, called Chapman Forest which includes most of the original Chapman plantation. The author is a board member of the "Friends of Mount Aventine" and is currently serving on a history/cultural work group appointed by the State of Maryland to recommend potential uses and type of management for this historic and environmental treasure.

Elmer S. Biles