CHAPMAN, John W.

CHAPMAN

Posted By: Debbie Clough Gerischer
Date: 11/10/2008 at 12:35:52

JOHN W. CHAPMAN was born at Blairsville, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1835. In 1843 his father removed with his family to Iowa Territory, making his home near Burlington, where John W. was reared on a farm. In 1860 he removed to Nebraska and was soon after elected a member of the Territorial Council where he won distinction as a fluent speaker and acquired wide influence in that body. In 1867 Mr. Chapman returned to Iowa, locating at Council Bluffs where he was one of the owners and editor of the daily Nonpareil. He was four years treasurer of Pottawattamie County, eight years United States Marshal of Iowa, and mayor of Council Bluffs. He died in that city in 1886. Spencer Smith says of Mr. Chapman: He was a man of superior judgment, broad views and great strength of character, qualities that gave him prominence at all times and places. His genial nature gave him social popularity in the community in which he moved. His acquaintance was not confined alone to Iowa; he was fairly well known as a man of ability by many of the leading statesmen of the country. He was a strong, terse, vigorous writer, with positive convictions upon public questions and had much originality of expression. He sought to make the Nonpareil a molder of public opinion, rather than a reflector of it.