52 Ancestors 2020 – 12 – Popular – Nathaniel Shipman

When I looked at the birthday calendar for this week to find someone who would fit the theme popular, I decided that this was not a popular week to be born, since there were only 5 names listed. The previous week had 11 individuals.

I chose Nathaniel Shipman because I did remember hearing about him when I was researching in the Shipman family. It appears that Nathaniel is rather popular with researchers who have posted family trees on Ancestry.com, since when I entered his name and birthdate in a search of public trees, I discovered he was listed in 331 trees.

The town records for Lyme, Connecticut, show that Nathaniel was born 21 Mar 1791 to Abner and Margery (Avery) Shipman. As 1 of 13 children, he had 10 brothers and 2 sisters. One of his brothers, Elisha, was my 4^th great-grandfather, so Nathaniel was my 4^th great-granduncle.

These records were published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

Since he was born after the 1790 census, 1800 is the first one where we can try to identify which one of the “tick marks” he is. The entry for his father Abner at Lyme, Connecticut, has 2 marked in the under 10 column, but there should be 4, so I am not certain if Nathaniel is one of these or not.

Before 1810, Abner and some of his children moved to German Township, Chenango County, New York. It is not clear if Nathaniel went there or not. But it does appear that Nathaniel married Prudence Bogue before 1814 and they and their 2 oldest sons are on the 1820 census in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut.

Then before 1830 Nathaniel and his family moved west to Ashtabula County, Ohio. The 1830 census there for “N Chipman” in Rome Township includes 8 people, matching the ages for Nathaniel's family; he and his wife, 5 sons and 1 daughter: (John, Elias, Amos, Frederick, Isaac and Lois). Then the 1840 census finds Nathaniel and Prudence and the 2 youngest sons, Frederick and Isaac, in nearby Colebrook township. John and Amos were in their own households enumerated on the same page.

Finally in 1850 the census names all the members of the household. But, by this time only one son, Frederick, is still living with his parents. Nathaniel's occupation was shown as a shoemaker and he had real estate valued at $500. I have not yet been able to locate Nathaniel and Prudence in the 1860 census.

According to her tombstone as pictured on the Find A Grave website, Prudence died July 21, 1867, and was buried in North Colebrook Cemetery, at New Lyme, Ashtabula County, Ohio. On the 1870 census Nathaniel, listed as age 78, was living with his son Elias in Richmond Township, still in Ashtabula County. Nathaniel's oldest son, John, had moved to Upshur County, Virginia, before 1860. In 1863 that part of Virginia was included in the new state of West Virginia. While on a visit there in 1873, Nathaniel died at Buckhannon on June 5^th and was buried in Union Cemetery, Kedron, Upshur County, West Virginia.