East Haddam Revolutionary Heroes

John Chapman born 1644, was one of the first settlers of East Haddam.  At the session of the Connecticut General Court which convened May 10th, 1694, the following act was passed; “This Court grants liberty to Capt. John Chapman to set up a ferry over the Great River in Haddam for the future."  Chapman’s Ferry at Lower Landing was in continuous service from that date until the completion of the swing bridge in 1913. John's father Robert Chapman was one of the first settlers of Say-Brook. According to family tradition, Robert Chapman, born in 1617, came from Hull in England to Boston, in 1635.  From there he sailed with Lyon Gardiner, for Say-Brook as one of the twenty men who were sent over by Sir Richard Saltonstall to take possession of a large tract of land, and make settlements, near the mouth of the Connecticut River.  He was a friend of Col. George Fenwick and participated in the Pequot War of 1637.