Chapline Family Forebearers

On this day, 5 June 1718, William Chapline II passed away. He was my 9th great-grandfather.

Born in 1659 in Calvert County, Maryland, William Chapline was the son of Mary Hooper and William Chapline.

His father, William was born in 1625 in Charles City County, Virginia and was the son of Isaac Chapline and Mary Calvert, who was either the sister or the cousin of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (sources vary).

The elder William’s father, Isaac Chapline, was a captain with the English Royal Navy. In 1610, Isaac Chapline arrived in Virginia on the ship Starr with Lord Delaware’s party, being one of those sent under the company charters from 1609 to 1615. Isaac Chapline was one of the first settlers in the Virginia Colony. His home, Chapline’s Choice, was part of a fortification built against the Native Americans and was the only fort in the corporation of Charles City.

In 1619, Issac Chapline became a member of the first House of Burgesses. In 1622, his wife Mary, their son John, and five servants came to Virginia on the ship James. In 1624, he was referred to a written document as Ensign Chapline. By 1626, he was holder of two patents in the corporation of Charles City, one being for 50 acres and the other for 200 acres planted. In addition, Isaac Chapline had large land grants on the south side of the James River.

In 1648, the elder William Chapline went to school in England, before coming home to Virginia. In 1650, he married Mary Hooper of Dorchester County, Virginia.  Mary was from the Hooper family who owned much of Hooper’s Island, a chain of three islands in the Chesapeake Bay. From that marriage, William I received a grant of 300 acres on Hooper’s Island, where he cultivated tobacco.  On this land, he built a small home for his family, as well as houses for his servants and workers.

This William owned a large sloop which he used to travel back and forth across the bay to manage his two plantations, haul his tobacco, and visit his wife’s family on Hooper’s Island. A year later, he and his family, along with seven servants, moved from Chapline’s Choice, Charles City County, Virginia to a large property in Maryland granted to him by Lord Baltimore. The first grant, dated 27 July 1651, was located on Saint Leonard’s Creek and was called Chapline. Other land grants were named Cedar Branch, East Chapline’s, and Chapline’s Holme.

Eight years later, young William was born on the Maryland property to William and Mary Chapline.

In 1669, William’s father, William Chapline, died; his will was recorded at Annapolis, Maryland.

Young William  was only ten years old when his father passed away. Upon his father’s death, he inherited his father’s sloop and plantation on the Patuxent River in Calvert County, Maryland.

As an adult, William Chapline (the son) lived on his father’s plantation and continued in the occupation of planter; tobacco was their primary crop. At some point, he purchased more land for himself, which he dubbed Ashcomb’s Outlet and Ashcomb’s Enclosure, thereby establishing residences in both Dorchester and Calvert Counties, Maryland.

In 1685, William Chapline (Junior) married Elizabeth Travers. Together, the couple would have at least six children, including another William (my 8th great-grandfather).

William Chapline (Junior) also was active in local politics, serving on juries at Patuxent Town. In November 1689, he was one of the signatories to a letter to the King of England on behalf of the Protestants of Calvert County.

Then, on 5 June 1718, William Chapline died in Dorchester County, Maryland. He was 59 years old.

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