Eileen
Chapman Brown seeks information on a mid-19th century
Chapman couple from
Tompkins County. I gather their son James married a
Haines.
I regret I do not have any useful information, but the Brown-Haines-Tompkins county association drew my interest.
The
Haines name, spelled with an "i", tends to be associated with Quaker families in the
Philadelphia area of
Pennsylvania and South
New Jersey, not with
New York state. I have a south Jersey ancestor, John Kelly Brown, born in
Tompkins County, who named his son Howard
Haines Brown. John's parents (Benjamin
Webb Brown and Elizabeth
VanZant), lived in
Tompkins County until Elizabeth died in 1838.
There are three
Tompkins Country-New Jersey links here. Elizabeth
VanZant does not seem to have been descended from the Albany
VanZant people, as one would expect, but the Northern New Jersen VanZant/VanSant people.
Second, it is interesting to find a marriage of a
Haines, which is typically a South Jersey name, in
Tompkins County.
Third, Benjamin
Webb Brown apparently worked on a
Cayuga Lake steamboat, and in 1838 transferred his skills to become an engineer on the Camden-Philadelphia ferry.
I'm anxious to learn more of these connections. Why does the
Haines name show up in
Tompkins County? What specific connection does this Elizabeth
VanZant have with the
New Jersey VanSants? Was there any connection between the
Delaware River and the
Cayuga Lake steamboats?
Sorry for not being able to address your own needs.