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Stephen Chapman, Son of Mary Evaline (Lindsay) and William Chapman
January 13, 1846 - June, 1914
Stephen Chapman, at present secretary of the State Board of Equalization,
Jefferson City, was born in Dubuque, Iowa, January 13, 1846, and is the son of
William and Mary E. (Lindsay) Chapman. The father was a native of the town of
Newmarket, Canada, and the mother a native of Huntsville, Ala. The paternal
grandfather, Stephen Chapman, was born in West Chester, Chester Co., Penn., and
emigrated to Canada before the War of 1812. He remained there until after the
so-called Canadian Rebellion in 1837. He then immigrated to Ogle County, Ill.,
where he regained his citizenship. He was a master-builder or contractor, and
was a practical mechanic. William Chapman was reared in Canada, and was about
twenty-one years of age when he came to the United States. He served in the
Canadian army, and after coming to this country settled at Mount Carroll, Ill.,
where he was married in 1843, and shortly afterward removed to Dubuque, Iowa.
From that place he removed to Rockville, in the same State, where he resided
until 1849, when he returned to Illinois, settling in Ogle County, residing
there until 1857, when he removed to St. Louis, Mo., and from thence to
Washington County, in the same State, where he remained until 1862, when he
returned to St. Louis, and from there removed in the same year to Clinton
County, Ill., where he remained until 1869, when he removed to Patoka, Ill.,
where he resided until his death, September 30, 1879. The mother died in Clinton
County, Ill., in 1868. They were the parents of six children, three now living:
Stephen, Julia A. (wife of W.A. Hall) and Douglass. The father was a mill wright
by trade, which occupation he followed in early life. He afterward studied
medicine, and began to practice in 1860, and continued to do so until his death,
in 1879. Stephen Chapman was about two years of age when he left Dubuque with
his parents. He attended both public and private schools at Potosi and
Caledonia, Mo., but the most of his education was picked up at leisure moments
while at home, and he may be called a self-educated man. In his youth he learned
the miller's trade, which occupation he followed for three years in his father's
mill, near Caledonia, Mo. He then started to learn the trade of car-builder in
the Ohio & Mississippi shops, but quit to enter the army. During the war he
served in the Twenty-sixth Missouri Infantry Volunteers, United States army, and
participated in all the principal battles in which his command was engaged,
including the famous campaign against Atlanta, the march to the sea and through
the Carolinas. He was mustered out in August, 1865, at Benton Barracks, St.
Louis. He then went to his father's, in Clinton County, Ill., where he remained,
and was engaged in farming until November 1866, when he went south, and was
engaged about a year in the States of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, putting
up telegraph lines. Returning home he remained at his father's house until
November, 1867, when he came to Stoddard County, Mo., where he has since
resided. He was variously employed in saw-milling, farming and school-teaching.
In 1870 he was elected a justice of the peace in Pike Township, and county
superintendent of public schools, which latter position he held for four years.
During this time he held, by appointment, the office of probate clerk, and
filled the unexpired term of R.M. Fraker (who was removed), as county collector.
He afterward engaged in the mercantile business for about three years at
Bloomfield, where he has resided since 1871. Retiring from business in 1876 he
was appointed deputy clerk of the county court, and in 1878 was elected to that
office and re-elected in 1882, holding the office for eight successive years. On
retiring from this office in 1887, he was a candidate before the Democratic
caucus for chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Missouri, but withdrew
on the second ballot. He was appointed by the chief clerk, foreman of the Smooth
Journal force, on his staff. This position he held during the regular session of
the Thirty-fourth General Assembly. An April 19, 1887, he was elected secretary
of the State Board of Equalization, and re-elected February 29, 1888, which
office he now fills. He has been town councilman nearly ever since he has lived
in Bloomfield, and secretary of the school board for several years. He has also
been town clerk. December 24, 1868, he married Miss Nancy J. Pirtle, of Stoddard
County, and to them were born five children, four now living: Clarence L., Olive
V., Donald R. and Nellie M. Mary Eva is deceased. Mr and Mrs. Chapman are
members of the Missionary Baptist church, and he is also member of the four
bodies of York Rite Masonry, Blue Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, Council of Royal
and Select Masters, and Commandery of Knights Templar. He is also a member of
the subordinate lodge of I.O.O.F. He has passed all the chairs of this order,
and has been representative of the Grand Lodge, of Washington Territory, near
the Grand Lodge of Missouri. He has served for many years as District Deputy
Grand Master in both orders, and has taken great interest in their work.
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