HON. HORACE RAY CHAPMAN, M. D.
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H. R. Chapman and Pearl M. Chapman
Unto few men throughout this entire country has there come success and honor so early in life as has to the Hon. Horace Ray Chapman, a physician of Bennett and Cedar county; state senator; ex-mayor of two towns; organizer of the Independent Telephone Company and one of the heaviest of stockholders as well as being its president and general manager. But thirty-seven years of age, he has become an important factor in the development alike of county and state; has held positions of honor and trust; is identified with every progressive movement that has for its accomplishment the advancement of the conditions of his fellow citizens, and has accomplished all this while attending to his professional duties as a surgeon and physician with a large town and country practice.
Beginning life in his own behalf at the age of seven years—a time when the average child is thinking only of play and school—Dr. Chapman has worked and striven as few men ever have. His birth occurred June 30, 1873, in Monticello, Jones county, Iowa, his parents being William H. and Mary (Bishop) Chapman, who were among the early settlers of Jones county. His father was born in New York state and came to Monticello in 1870. A miller by trade, he operated the Monticello Flouring Mills, later becoming interested in the Dubuque City Steam Flouring Mills. He owned a farm in Jones county, just outside the town of Monticello, and was one of the active men of the county. With his wife he was a life-long member of the Presbyterian church and both took an active part in church work. His political belief found expression in the policies of the republican party and he served as township trustee and was also a member of the Monticello school board, of which he was for some time treasurer. He was connected with both the Odd Fellows and the Masons, and his life was an exemplification of the teachings of these orders. He passed away in Monticello, November 13, 1888, at the age of fifty-two years. His widow, born in Germany, is yet living, making her home with some of her children at Waterloo, Iowa.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. William H. Chapman were born five children, namely: Horace R., of this review; Adeline, now deceased; Frank De Witt, a conductor on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad; Janette, the wife of P. H. Murphy, harbor surveyor in the employ of the government at Portland, Oregon; and Lewis Dwight, engineer on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, residing at Council Bluffs, Iowa.
As previously stated, Dr. Chapman began work at the age of seven years. He worked right along as he attended school, maintained himself in clothes, and at the age of fifteen years had saved enough money out of his earnings, besides clothing himself, to enable him to purchase two town lots in Monticello. He also bought a pony and two cows, which he turned over to his father, although having the use of them when required. He had attained the age of seventeen years when his father passed away and from that time on until they were in a position to care for themselves he helped provide for his mother and his younger brothers and sisters. His labors in their behalf were strenuous in the extreme, as may be shown by the statement that at one time he had to walk seven miles, night and morning, to get to his work, being one of a crew of wood-choppers.
In school he excelled all his mates as student and logician. In the senior year of his high-school course he entered into an oratorical contest with a class of twenty-two and secured the first prize which enabled him to enter the state oratorical contest. On April 23, 1893, at Grinnell, Iowa, he contested for the gold medal first prize, winning it without a dissenting voice. His subject was “Mob and Law” and was founded upon the questions of the justice of either of the contesting forces in the great Homestead strike. The preparation of this discourse involved a vast amount of study and laborious effort upon his part, and the announcement of his having won the contest was the signal for a public demonstration upon the parts of his townsmen at Monticello that will linger long in the recipient’s memory. The town and county turned out en masse to welcome the high school boy who had brought signal honor to their district, and the reception accorded him proved the greatest out-pouring of citizens that was ever witnessed in the county, either before or since that time.
Dr. Chapman graduated second in the high school class of 1893 with an average of ninety-eight per cent, which was one-half of one per cent below his victor. Following his graduation he entered Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa, possessing, aside from his clothing, cash to the extent of twenty-five dollars. He paid his way through college, as he had done in school, working at anything which would give him the needed money. During his vacation periods he worked for the Diamond Creamery Company, of Monticello, and became competent as an operator and demonstrator of separators of any type. The first season of his employment in the creamery he held the position of demonstrator and weigh-master, as was the case the second year. He also became proficient in the making of butter and frequently had the making of from eight to ten thousand pounds per day. He aided in the manufacture of a portion of butter which was sent to the Word’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, where it took first prize in 1893. It was while attending high school that Dr. Chapman worked for this creamery and on many occasions he arose at one o’clock to ride into the country and demonstrate a separator’s action, then rush back to town in time to attend his classes in school.
Upon the completion of his high-school course he decided upon the medical profession as the one he would follow, so studied and read under Dr. McKenzie, at Elwood, Iowa. He entered the State University of Iowa and was graduated from the medical department in 1901. During his first year in college he secured the agency for D. Appleton & Company and sold books, which business he continued the second year, adding the company of W. B. Saunders to his original firm. Following his graduation from the university he did post-graduate work there, also taking a course at Chicago Post Graduate School, Chicago, and then entered upon the practice of medicine at Bennett, Iowa. For five years he successfully practiced there and then removed to Durant, Iowa, where he conducted a drug store in connection with his practice. Two years after going to Durant he decided to return to Bennett, where he has since lived, practicing in a field with which he is entirely familiar, and he is one of the most successful and extensive practitioners of the county.
Not alone in a professional way has Dr. Chapman been successful but in business enterprises as well. The record of his successful ventures proves him a man of affairs, as well as a student and scientist, and places him well to the fore as the leading professional man of the community. In 1902 he aided in the organization of the Davenport & Tipton Independent Telephone Company, his own persistent efforts and indefatigable energy contributing in a great measure to its successful launching in the business world. Today the company is capitalized at sixty thousand dollars, of which stock Dr. Chapman owns three-fourths. He is now serving as president and general manager of the concern and is virtually in complete control.
In politics Dr. Chapman has played no inconspicuous part. Elected state senator from the twenty-fourth senatorial district in 1904, he worked for the best interests of his constituents during his incumbency of the office, and made a record for efficiency which has characterized his every movement either in private or public affairs. He has twice been honored by the citizens of Bennett, who conferred upon him the highest honor within their gift by electing him mayor, and he also similarly served the citizens of Durant for a term of two years. At present he is a member of the village council and of the school board and is ever to be found working for the best interests of the community. In his fraternal relations the Doctor is connected with the Masonic Order, being a thirty-second degree Mason, holding membership in the Tipton blue lodge and in the Mystic Shrine at Davenport. He has held all the chairs in the Knights of Pythias lodge of Bennett and is also venerable consul in the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America, having held that office for six years.
Dr. Chapman was united in marriage to Miss Pearl M. Hiner September 15, 1897. She is the daughter of Eugene and Emma (Smith) Hiner, natives of Virginia, who were among the early settlers of Clinton county, Iowa, where Mrs. Chapman was born. Mrs. Hiner passed away six years ago, while Mr. Hiner is yet living, making his home in Clinton county. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Chapman two children have been born, namely: Eugene Ray and Vilera Emogene.
