Welcome to the "what's new" page.  The purpose of this page is to describe our current research and present any conclusions or theories that we have.  Feel free to comment on anything you read here.

Current Research

Currently we are searching for any live descendents of Samuel that we can find.  I have compiled a list of people who are likely to be descendents based on names, locations, and information that we have discovered.  We will likely be mailing out letters to the candidates in the next month or two.  I am also in the process of trying to get obituaries for all of Samuel's sons from old newspapers. 

Conclusions

Considering all of the information that we have collected, it is becoming increasingly likely that Samuel was the Illegitimate son of Abraham Chichester.  The fact that Edgar W. Chichester, his wife Mary, and their 1 year old son Lemuel S. are the only Chichester's living in Chichester at a time when Lemuel A. is running the factory seems odd (see Ulster 1870 Census, Chichester Township).  Also, why would Edgar name his son after Lemuel if they were not related.  Another piece of evidence comes from a letter sent to Elmer Anderson from Lemuel S. Chichester in 1946, in which he recollects that his grandfather Jacob "had a brother Samuel- a cabinet maker at Hunter N.Y, born about 1801 who married Susan Andrus."  Lemuel goes on to say "I can remember them as Uncle Sam and Aunt Susan, when they would come to visit my father, when I was a small boy."  Given the fact that Lemuel S. was born in 1869 and Samuel died in 1873, Lemuel must have had an incredible good memory for a 4 year old boy.   Regardless, Jacob Chichester was born abt. 1802 and very well could have been Sam's brother.

The real problem is that we know that Samuel's mother was Rebecca -- Munson Parker's will clearly states: "...Samuel Chichester, son of Rebecca Fowler, wife of Simeon Fowler...".  Which means that either Samuel's father was a Chichester, and Rebecca remarried after his death (or divorce), or that Rebecca was a Chichester and had Samuel out of wedlock.  We have Abraham Chichester's (father of Jacob) will, and he clearly mentions Jacob and his sisters (and his wife's unborn child), but no mention of Samuel.  Clearly Abraham would have at least mentioned Samuel if Sam was Abraham's son.  And we know who Jacob's mother (Abraham's wife) was... not Rebecca!

Another interesting bit of info is that we have found records of a Rebecca Chichester born abt.1765 in Coeymans, Albany Co., Ny.  This Rebecca was the daughter of a Samuel Chichester and Abigail Stanton from Connecticut.  This Rebecca could also have been the mother of Samuel -- she would have been in her 30's in 1801.  We have found no record of this Rebecca marrying Simeon Fowler. 

This line of thinking is not new by any means -- Lois Chichester Salmans, a prominent Chichester Family genealogist proposed this theory in 1988 (unpublished article titled Strictly Theory, but also a Possibility).  She goes even further, suggesting that Samuel may have been the illegitimate child of Munson Parker -- which would explain why Munson named Samuel in his will.

A few major pieces of information that we are still lacking are Samuel's will (and his 9 son's wills), and the connection between Simeon Fowler and Munson Parker.  Who was Munson Parker, and why did he leave Samuel $50?  Where the heck are Simeon Fowler and Rebecca buried?  Where is Simeon Fowler's will?  As you can see, we need more information before we can draw any reliable conclusions.