CHAPIN, John L. - 1914

CHAPIN, WHITE, TYNER, CARVER, GUNDRY, FOXWORTHY, ANDERSON

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 7/6/2009 at 03:41:06

HISTORY OF
Cherokee County
IOWA
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914
by Thomas McCulla

JOHN L. CHAPIN.

John L. Chapin was a pioneer in Iowa and since 1869 has lived in Cherokee county. During the intervening period he has been closely connected with agricultural interests of this locality and in the management of his affairs proved so successful that he is now able to live retired. He was born in Madison county, Indiana, October 27, 1844, and is a son of Orrin and Martha (White) Chapin, natives of Kentucky. The father went to Indiana about the year 1837 and took up government land which he improved and operated until his death in 1850. He had survived his wife since 1846.

John L. Chapin was bound out at the age of seven and he worked until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company I, Fiftyfourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving until 1863. After the siege of Vicksburg his health failed and he left his regiment at New Orleans, where he remained in a hospital for three weeks. At the end of that time he returned home but spent the following winter under the doctors care. In 1868 he made his first settlement in Iowa, locating in Tama county, where he spent one year, during the greater part of which he was seriously ill. On the, 23d of March, 1869, he moved to Cherokee county, took up a government claim and purchased a breaking outfit with which he began breaking the soil upon his property. From that time on his health steadily improved and he operated his farm for many years thereafter. In 1886 he purchased forty acres on section 13, Sheridan township, adjoining the town of Meriden, and he continued to reside upon this property for a number of years, carrying forward the work of its cultivation along modern and practical lines. He also owned one hundred and sixty acres in OBrien county. In 1912, feeling that he had earned a period of rest and leisure, he sold his holdings and retired from active life, moving into Meriden, where he has since resided.

On the 15th of January, 1873, Mr. Chapin married Miss Zilliah Tyner, a daughter of Sidney and Eliza (Carver) Tyner, natives of Wabash county, Indiana. The parents moved to Tama county, Iowa, in 1866, and purchased land which the father improved and operated until 1885. In that yean he sold his holdings and moved to Kansas, where he resided until his death, which occurred in September, 1902. His wife survived him only a few months, dying in May, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin became the parents of ten children: Cor win C., who is engaged in the drug business in Montana; Mary E., the wife of William Gundry, a farmer in Cedar township; Orville G., whose death occurred in 1877; Ella, at home; Mamie I., who passed away in 1898; Arthur A., whose death occurred in 1903; Cora D., the wife of Orville Foxworthy, of Coon Rapids; Edith E., at home; Minerva E., who married Allan A. Anderson, of Remsen, Iowa; and Geraldine M., at home.

Fraternally Mr. Chapin is identified with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is a devout member of the Methodist church. He has served as trustee of Cherokee township and as a member of the town council, proving himself capable and trustworthy in both offices. Having been a resident of Cherokee county for fortyfour years he has become very well known in the locality and he holds the esteem and confidence of his neighbors and friends.