Gene's reply:
I was born on the dirt floor of a log cabin in the middle of Denton Osteopathic Hospital in Denton, Texas, August 24, 1966. It was on University Drive. "It rained three days," my mom says (I always figured rain was a good thing in August in Texas).
My daddy was Rayburn Lester Chapman of Ft. Worth. Born with his legs across his chest, it took the Shriner's hospital something like seven or nine surgeries to get him straightened up enough to walk with a limp the rest of his life, one leg several inches longer than the other. His mother passed when he was seven. That side of the family came from the Ryan's who were substantial land owners near Springtown, Texas. There is a buzz that we are distant relatives of the Chapman Ranch, but I don't know enough to say a word more on the topic.
My mother, Bonnie, was a single mother of two boys, I being the youngest. My mom and dad divorced when I was six months old. My mom is like Mother Teresa, a real live church lady. I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard an unkind word come out of her mouth. Her side comes from the Bechands', the Bounds' and the Robbins' ( I may be spelling them wrong), three of thirteen of the original families that I'm told settled with Moses Austin on the Brazos River.
Lt. Thomas Robbins and his brother, John Robbins, were in the Calvary Division under Deaf Smith at the Battle of San Jacinto, under the command of General Sam Houston. I am their Great Great Great Nephew, and my Great Great Great Grandfather Robbins was nine years old at the time, I'm informed, so he didn't go to the battle, staying behind in Goliad at the family home. General Santa Anna was captured by the Calvary Division the day after the battle, so I'm sure that helped in the promotion for Capt. Thomas Robbins to become the first head of the Texas Rangers later that same year.
My Grandfather's baby brother on my mother's side is "Red" Boyd. His claim to fame is that he was a newspaper boy selling papers one day and sold one to Clyde, as Clyde shot cans with a Tommy Gun off a fence post behind a country market in Lake Dallas, Texas, as the famous Bonnie sat in the car. Yep, he sold a paper to The Bonnie and Clyde in real life. He passed away as a 32nd degree Mason about two years ago at the age of ninety-one. There were three Mason's in my close family, but I never paid much attention to it.
That's enough for now.
Gene Chapman,
Tolstoyan-Gandhian Libertarian Candiate for Texas Governor
(Endorsed by Dr. Noam Chomsky, Intellectual of the Age)
ChapmanForTexasGovernor2014.com
gkchapman2012@hotmail.com
