SUSANNAH WILCOX DIVORCES MATHEW CHAPEL

Re: Breaking news re: Mathew!!

To: Chapel List

On 10/27/06, Barbara de Mare <barbarademare@yahoo.com> wrote:

I finally confirmed that Susannah Wilcox indeed divorced Mathew Smith Chapel by obtaining a copy of the divorce papers from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. They are a little hard to read, and I haven't had time to study them, but here is the jist: Mathew Smith Chapel and Susannah Wilcox were married in Hillsdale, Columbia County, by Edward Bagley, a Justice of the Peace, in February 1815. Abel Sage, the husband of his sister Ruth, witnessed the marriage. Abel Sage swore to these facts on 29 August 1827 on behalf of Susannah in her divorce proceeding from Mathew. At the time of the giving of his deposition Abel Sage was living in the Town of Stuyvesant, Columbia County. There is also a certification of Edward Bagley, Justice of the Peace, that he married Mathew Smith Chapel and Susannah Wilcocks on February 23, 1816. A certification of James Romeyn, Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Nassau, Rensselaer County, New York, dated the 30th day of August 1827, states that on 23 April 1826, he joined in the bonds of Holy Matrimony occording to the Liturgy of the Reformed Dutch Church, Mathew S. Chapel of Kinderhook & Mrs. Catherine Mosier'. Further on August 30, 1827, John Bray and Agnes Bray of Kinderhook swore that they witnessed the marriage of Mathew S. Chapel and Catherine Mosier, and that subsequent to the marriage the couple had a child which was then still living. They further swore that Catherine Mosier is the daughter of John Devo of Kinderhook. Susannah Chapel of Sandisfield appeared before the Supreme Judicial Court at Lenox in Berkshire County on the 15th day of May 1827 to petition for a divorce from Mathew S. Chapel, who had purported to Marry Catherine despite the fact that he was married to Susannah, and for other instances of adultery. Trial was set for the second Tuesday of September 1827. Soooo-- our Mathew was not only an adulterer but also a bigamist--double scarlet letter for him!! To be continued!