L. S. Chamberlin, one of the pioneers of Scott County, Iowa, was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1820, son of Josiah B. Chamberlin , born in April, 1797, and Malinda Smith, born July, 1900. They were married in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania , June 27, 1819. In the spring of 1825 he moved to Tioga County, New York, where he embarked in the lumber business. In the spring of 1832 he went to Jo Daviess County, Iliinois, being at the time of the Black Hawk War. The following fall he returned to Tioga County, and the following spring (1833) moved his family to Rock Island County, Illinois, and located at Hampden. In the fall he made a claim in Pleasant Valley Township, and in the spring of 1834 moved on it. They first moved into a cabin owned by John and Roswell Spencer, near the ferry at Valley City, until his father built a cabin on his claim. That spring he succeeded in breaking twenty acres of wild prairie land, raising plenty of vegetables and corn to take them through the next winter. During the spring of 1835 he put up an addition to their cabin twenty by twenty feet, one and one- half stories high, making a comfortable home, where the first school, singing-school and Sabbath-schools in the Township were held. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin were members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Chamberlin died September 7, 1836. Mrs. Chamberlin died December 31, 1836. The same month Mariah and Daniel W. died, making three deaths in the family in December, 1836. There was a family of six children left, the oldest sixteen and the youngest being a mere babe. The children were distributed among strangers, but they can say with pride that they have all risen to be honorable and industrious business men. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm and received a limited education. Being thrown on his own resources, he had to work by the month, and afterward engaged in the river trade. In 1814-15 he built the ways at Le Claire. In the spring of 1860 he took a trip to Colorado, and spent the summer at Pike's Peak, where he followed mining, returning in the fall of the same year.
In the spring of 1843 he married Harriet Parkhurst, daughter of Sterling Parkhurst, by whom there were born two children, viz: Malinda and Lewis, who died in May, 1847. Mrs. Chamberlin died October 9, 1856. In the spring of 1861 he again married, Lucy A. Marlette, a native of Montgomery County, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin are the parents of two children, one of whom is living - William M., a prominent attorney with offices at 9 and 10 Ditto Building, Davenport, born August 24 , 1862. In the fall of 1860 Mr. Chamberlin moved to Princeton, where he embarked in the mercantile business for some time, but finally sold out, and, in company with Isaac Hess, engaged in the lumber trade, which he followed for six years. Mr. Chamberlin has held several local offices of trust in the gift of the people. In 1872 he was the nominee to the State Senate on the Democratic ticket.
BIOGRAPHIES