Who is Elizabeth Sponable Chapman?

My current summer project is to clean up and deal with all the documents I have stored in my “Working” Genealogy subfolder. This folder is where I gather documents as I am trying to verify who may fit somewhere into my family tree.

Anyway, I came to an Obituary Clipping from an Unknown newspaper as follows:

I must admit, I am unsure where I found it which doesn’t surprise me since I saved the file on Dec 23, 2013. What I am sure of, it was not found on Newspapers.com because I have looked and I cannot find it there.

Therefore: Who is Elizabeth Sponable Chapman, sister of Abram and Nathan Sponable and Mrs. Frank Williams and aunt of Mrs. George Weaver?

Doing a quick search in my files, I do find only one Nathan Sponable and no Abram Sponable and no Frank Williams. However my Nathan has only one sibling listed and that is Catherine.

I do an Ancestry search for Nathan with a brother Abram and find that they may be the children of Harman Sponable and his wife Elizabeth. The 1860 Census in Oppenheim, Fulton County, New York also listed my Catherine, along with a Lydia and Mary. The Nathan from my files is the son of Harman and Elizabeth and thus I feel like I am successful in placing Nathan and Abram in the correct family.

The above obituary states that Elizabeth has a sister Mrs. Frank Williams of Gloversville. After digging around in other people’s trees on Ancestry, I find a 1929 obituary attached to Deila Sponable as Mrs. Frank V Williams. Deila's obituary states that her brother Nathan survives her. 

I find several trees with Nathan’s obituary attached that states that he is the last of a family of nine children being the son of Elizabeth Kring and Harmon Sponable. It states that one of his daughters is Jeannie D Weaver and since Elizabeth’s obituary also states that her niece is Mrs. George Weaver, I feel confident I have found the correct family for Elizabeth Sponable Chapman. However, I am not finding an Elizabeth in the family and to be honest, I am not finding nine children either.

Going forward to the 1870 Census for Harmon Sponable, I find he has seven children, Catherine, Nathan, Abram, Lydia, Mary, Delia and Walter. Based on the ages, there are gaps for other children between Lydia and Mary and Delia and Walter. So perhaps the other two children died between census years. The New York State Census of 1855, 1865 and 1875 do no list any additional children and thus no additional clues were found.

Back to my question, who is Elizabeth Sponable Chapman. This leads me to start looking at the daughters of Harmon and Elizabeth, perhaps the process of elimination will work.

I already had Catherine Sponable married to Henry Bettinger in my file. I find Mary's 1899 obituary where she is listed as May Sponable and is married to Alfred C Bame. May’s obituary states she is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Henry Bettinger, Mrs. Friend Chapman and Mrs. Frank Williams. As previously mentioned above, Deila Sponable’s obituary has her married to Frank V Williams and I already had Catherine married to Henry Bettinger. This leaves Lydia. 

One tree I explored even added Elizabeth as an extra child to her tree in this family and had a copy of the obituary attached. Perhaps this is where I found the obituary, and since I knew there wasn't an Elizabeth listed as a child of Harmon and Elizabeth Sponable, I saved the file for future research. It states her death as 1913. If the death date is correct, it makes her birth year about 1858 because the obituary states she was 55 years old.

I find a 1905 New York State Census for Friend Chapman and Elizabeth Chapman, which list her estimated birth year as 1856. However, neither name brings up any more Ancestry Suggestions. 

I do a little more digging and find tons of City directories, and finally find a 1900 Census in Gloversville, Fulton County, New York that list Lizzie Chapman’s birth date as Nov 1854 in New York. This date is the closest to Lydia Sponable whose estimated birth year is 1853 based on various censuses. It states that her and her husband have been married for 19 years and they never had any children. That puts her marriage date to about 1881 and the 1880 US Census is the last I find Lydia. Could Lydia and Elizabeth be the same person?

Is Elizabeth the middle name for Lydia? By 1910, Elizabeth is a widow still living in Gloversville. I don’t find her after 1910 and thus the death date of 1913 could possibly be correct.

In Conclusion, Harmon and Elizabeth Sponable had seven children that lived to adult hood. Of their four daughters, only Lydia is unaccounted for as an adult and this is when Elizabeth starts to appear as a married woman. Harmon and Elizabeth’s child May also known as Mary, obituary listed a sister as Mrs. Friend Chapman of Gloversville. The 1900 US Census from Gloversville, has Friend Chapman and his wife, Lizzie as being married for 19 years with no children and Lizzie’s birth is listed as Nov 1854 which is in line with various early census records for Lydia Sponable. In 1881, there is a City directory from Gloversville that list Della Sponable and Lydia Sponable as glove makers at the same address. The 1910 US Census from Gloversville Ward 1, Fulton, New York gives Lizzie Chapman’s occupation as Glove handwork. Therefore, Elizabeth Sponable Chapman, wife of Friend Chapman and Lydia Sponable daughter of Harmon and Elizabeth Kring Sponable most likely are the same person.