Daily AncestorChapman
A chapman was a dealer or trader, usually a traveling one who sold small goods such as books, cloth and notions.
The word is very old and comes from a root meaning trade or bargain. In early modern Britain a chapman was an itinerant dealer, and the small cheap booklets he carried were called chapbooks.
In colonial American deeds and court records chapman sometimes just means trader or merchant. It had faded from ordinary use well before the 1850 census, but it survives as a surname.
As seen in a recordColonial town records, deeds and probate inventories
Jno. Hart of Boston, chapman, to Wm. Gray
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Daily Ancestor. "Chapman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/chapman. Last checked 2026-10-01.