My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Edwin A. Chapman was born in St. Louis Mo., August 23, 1836, son of Daniel Hudson Chapman and Lucinda (Martin) Chapman, formerly of Troy, N. Y., and grandson of Josiah Chapman of Philadelphia, Penn. The Chapmans of this branch were descendants of the early Quaker settlers of this country. Daniel Hudson Chapman was a merchant in St. Louis, and died in 1842. His son, Edwin A., secured a fair English education, and at the age of fifteen went to California, where he remained for five years. In the year 1856 he returned to St. Louis, and finished his education in the higher branches including a course of law, was admitted to the bar, but, inheriting a farm, he followed agricultural pursuits in preference to his profession. He married Miss Catharine A. Parker, daughter of James and Catharine A. (Rawlings) Parker, of Philadelphia, and to them were born Edwin C., Emeline C., Ulysses Sidney, Massena Rawlings, Wesley Browning, Catharine H., Sallie C., Adella Iona and Charles Augustine Chapman. Mr. Chapman held several commissions in the army, on the Union side, during the late war. In 1809 he came to Newton County and assisted in organizing the New County Fair Association, and served as its secretary several years. In 1873 he was elected presiding judge of time Newton County Court, and held this position until elected to the Legislature, a member of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly. He is a Democrat in politics, and is a genial, cultivated and Christian gentleman.