Julia A. Blackstone (maiden name: Lamson) was born on October 17, 1820, in Knox, Maine, to James and Mary Lamson. Her father served as a church deacon. She grew up in Knox, and she married Varney Blackstone on February 26, 1843. They had at least three children: William, born around 1843; Hollis, born around 1849; and Euphame, born around 1852. They lived in Freedom, Maine, and her husband died on August 27, 1854.

 

She married John C. Chapman in the early 1860s, and their son John was born on October 1, 1864. Her husband died in 1865. She remained in Freedom with her children. According to an early biographer, she was “confronted with support of herself and four children. Nursing and teaching for a time and later taking Academy school boarders and roomers were her principal activities.” By 1870, she owned $800 of real estate and $500 of personal property.

 

She attempted to commit suicide in March 1887, but she ultimately survived. By 1900, she was living in her son John’s household in Concord, Massachusetts. She died in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, on October 8, 1917.

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