Martha (Patsy) Chapman was born 21 June 1781 in Bucks County Pennsylvania to Martha and James Chapman. Her mother's maiden name was Martha Kirkpatrick. Martha (Patsy) Chapman had seven brothers and one sister--Philip, Alexander, John, Samuel, James, Benjamin, William, and Mary. Her sister, Mary, was scalded to death as a child by falling into a barrel of hot water. Martha went by the nickname of Patsy, which is a common nickname for Martha at that time and because her mother was also a Martha.
Martha (Patsy) Chapman was brought up in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Her father James, emigrated to Virginia from Pennsylvania. His father was from England and formerly followed merchandising in London.
In 1797 Martha (Patsy) Chapman came to Sumner County,
Tennessee (which was still wilderness country) with her family. It was here that
she married John Brown about the year 1800. They were very poor and had almost
nothing to begin with. They were soon able through thrift and hard work to
purchase a small tract (100 acres) of land in Sumner County, Tennessee. They
lived here for twenty-four years. They had fourteen children, nine daughters and
five sons, all born in Sumner County, Tennessee. The area by this time had
become thickly settled and the family was so large that the one hundred acre
farm was too small for them to dwell on and to support them all (some of the
children were married by this time.)So her husband, John Brown, decided to move to a new country and he journeyed to Illinois and purchased land there.
In 1829 the family moved to the southern part of
Illinois, in Perry County to a 640 acre tract of land on the west edge of the
south end of what is called the Four Mile Prairie* to open a farm. The next years
were very hard and sad for Martha. They had not been in the new country long
before her daughter, Margaret, died on 1 September 1830. Margaret was the wife
of Daniel Malone and had no children. Martha's husband, John Brown Sr., died 18
April 1832. They were both buried on the family land at the west end of Four
Mile Prairie*. Her son, James, took on the oversight of the family until his
death, which occurred on 6 September 1834. Her daughter, Paulina died 29
December 1835 and the next day her son, Samuel died. Then just 12 days later she
lost her son, William who died 11 January 1836. In just two years after this all
of her living children were married and moved off to themselves except for
her youngest son, John Jr.She later helped with the care of her orphaned grandchildren including Isaac Alldredge II and his siblings. They were the children of her daughter, Mary, who died in 1845.
Martha (Patsy) Chapman Brown died sometime between 1853 and 1860 and was buried in the family cemetery at Four Mile Prairie, Perry County, Illinois.
Her grandson, Isaac Alldredge II, said in a letter, "Dear Cousin, My record is the same as yours of Grandmother's death. You are right about her death being after 1853..."
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