Chapman, Joseph (1784–1849)

Joseph Chapman was born in Maine in 1784, though he is at times mentioned as a New Englander or as being from Boston. Pressed by the French privateer Captain Hippolyte Bouchard in Hawaii, Chapman was captured by Spanish soldiers during subsequent raids by Bouchard's ships in Santa Rosa, California, in 1818. Chapman's claim that Bouchard forced him into piracy conflicts with reports that he served as second in command to the privateer, an unusual position for an impressed sailor. Spanish authorities soon released him from prison after his refusal to rejoin Bouchard in an arranged prisoner parole.

A carpenter, blacksmith, and jack-of-all-trades, Chapman was one of the first Americans to settle in California. Stephen C. Foster described Chapman in his book First American in Los Angeles, but Hubert Howe Bancroft lists Chapman as the third American pioneer in Spanish California. In 1820, the Santa Ines mission employed him, and in 1821 he built a fulling [Page 129]mill, which cleansed, shrank, and thickened wool cloth by heat, moisture, and pressure. This mill, along with a gristmill previously erected, still exists to this day and a plaque at the historic mission credits Chapman with building one of the first industrial sites in California.

The following year, 1822, was an eventful year for Chapman. He received an amnesty given by the Spanish king to Anglo-American prisoners and was subsequently ordered by Governor Pablo Vicente Sola to the Mission at San Gabriel to construct another mill. During this same year, he received his baptism as a Catholic and wedded Guadalupe Ortega in Santa Ines. Ortega was one of four daughters of an established family whose ranch had graciously hosted him upon his release from capture. This marriage cemented his social recognition among the leading families of the area. The Chapmans eventually had five children, whose descendants still inhabited the region more than 60 years later.

Chapman's exploits and popularity grew as the years passed. Sometime between 1824 and 1826, he purchased a house and some land. He planted thousands of grape vines and is credited by the Sanford Winery in Santa Ynez Valley with being the first American to plant a vineyard in California. He eventually, in 1831, became a naturalized Mexican citizen based partly on his own reputation and his connections to the Ortega family. He continued his business activities in California as a shipbuilder and a surgeon. He framed the 60-ton schooner Guadalupe in San Gabriel and carted it to San Pedro, where it was launched upon completion. During the revolution of 1831, he tended to the badly wounded Governor Manuel Victoria. Finally, in 1838, the Mexican government bestowed a grant for the San Pedro rancho upon him, which his wife claimed upon his death in 1849.

Bancroft characterized Chapman as a popular, useful, and most interesting character. It is a considerable understatement to consider this former New Englander-turned-Californio, pirate, blacksmith, carpenter, vineyard-planter, father, shipbuilder, amateur surgeon, and early American pioneer as merely popular, useful, and interesting.