The career of the subject of this notice illustrates in a forcible manner what may be accomplished by a young man beginning in life dependent upon his own resources but abounding in energy and determination. Mr. Chapman is an old resident of Hanover Township and has borne no unimportant part in its growth and development. The early settlers of a country determine in a large measure the extent of its advancement, morally, socially and financially, and Hanover Township was particularly fortunate in being settled up by a class of enterprising and intelligent men. Second to none of these was the gentleman with whose name we introduce this sketch.

Berkshire County, Mass., was the native place of our subject, and he was born Aug. 14. 1825. He is the son of Joseph and Mary (Kemp) Chapman, who were both of New England birth and parentage, and who trace their ancestry to Wales and Switzerland. Joseph Chapman, Sr., departed this life when his son, our subject, was a lad of five years, and the mother died when he was a youth of seventeen. In the meantime, at the age of fourteen, he had been apprentice to the trade of cabinet-maker and the general furniture business, at Fayetteville, Vt. He continued at this until nearly reaching his majority, and was then given the situation of foreman of the manufacturing department of a large furniture establishment in South Royalston. He was thus occupied two years; then, leaving the Green Mountain State, repaired to Worcester, Mass., where he secured a like position with added responsibilities, having charge of about forty workmen, one and one-half years.

Mr. Chapman, after this, repaired to Norwich, Conn., and entered the employ of a large railway car manufactory, and was occupied on fine veneering of passenger cars. At the expiration of a year the shops were destroyed by fire, and he was offered a position as foreman of the passenger-car works – and, indeed, foreman of the shops – at Tappan Bay, N. Y., which was carried on by the New York & Erie Railway Company; he remained with them a little over two years. His next removal was westward, to Chicago, Ill., in 1850, and during that summer was employed at the second Tremont hotel, leaving in the fall to come to this county.

Mr. Chapman now took up his residence in Galena, and was employed in general carpenter work about one year. He then resumed cabinet-making, but in January, 1852, went South to Louisville, Ky., and became foreman in the passenger-car department under the same firm by which he had been formerly employed at Tappan Bay. He now had charge of about 200 men, and remained there two years. In 1855 he returned to this county, and established himself at what was then Wapello, but is now Hanover, with the view of starting a furniture manufactory, and utilizing the excellent water-power afforded by Apple River. Circumstances, however, transpired which induced him to abandon the idea, and for a number of years thereafter during the summer season he employed himself as a carpenter and contractor. In the winter he devoted his attention to cabinet-work. He became more particularly interested in the furniture business in 1864, and finally added undertaking, prosecuting these two enterprises until the fall of 1886. He then sold out, and the business is still being operated by his successor.

Our subject was married on the 11th of September, 1849, to Miss Phebe A. Cutler, who was born in Norwich, Conn., Jan. 12, 1826. Mrs. Chapman is the daughter of Samuel H. and Lucretia (Wade) Cutler, who were natives of New England. Her paternal grandfather, Capt. Willard Cutler, was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and spent his last years in Connecticut. Her parents departed this life at Jewett City, Conn.

To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman were born three children, all of whom are deceased. Mrs. Chapman was reared in Jewett City, Conn., where she lived from a small child until her marriage. Both she and her husband are members in good standing of the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Chapman is a pillar and has been Elder a number of years. He has served as Justice of the Peace about twenty-six years, and as School Director in his district continuously for fourteen years. He is at present serving his third year as member of the Village Board of Trustees, and was President of the Board one year. He is likewise serving his second term as Clerk of Hanover Township, and has been Collector about three years. For twenty years he was a Steward and Class-Leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which he was connected during the earlier years of his life. Politically he is a sound Republican. He may properly be termed a self-made man. His early education was exceedingly limited, but he was, fortunately, fond of reading, and has thus kept himself posted upon current events and ordinary business matters. Financially, he has been uniformly successful, being endowed with sound common-sense and excellent judgment. During his sojourn in Vermont the firm by which he was employed was engaged in the manufacture of organs, and in 1872 he began the manufacture of the parlor organ in Hanover. He put out about sixty-five of these, but did not find it sufficiently remunerative to continue. He is a natural mechanic, and thoroughly skilled in his art, possessing considerable inventive genius, and being able to take the best advantage of tools and materials. Socially, and in business circles, he is regarded as one of the leading men in Hanover Township; a man whose opinions are generally respected.

Contributed by Carol Parrish - Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois (1889)