William P. Chapman, Patriarch of a Norwich Church, 1914

The Oldest Member

William P. Chapman, Patriarch of a Norwich Church & Respected Citizen

Utica Saturday Globe, June 1914

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  The recent centennial celebration of the First Congregational Church has brought to the surface some interesting facts regarding the men and women who have made the church and incidentally have been instrumental in molding the community. 

 

The senior resident members and presumably the oldest living member of the church is William Porter Chapman.  His membership dates from March 1857.  He ahs served as trustee and deacon for a long period of years, in the latter office for 38 years. He is now chairman of the Board of Trustees and has been a teacher in the Bible school for a long time.

 

His coming to Norwich antedates his church record by two years.  He is the son of a Presbyterian minister and was born in 1836 in Walton [Delaware Co., NY].  His boyhood was passed in some of the small villages in Delaware county.  He acquired his education in the district schools and for a while was a student at the Delaware Literary Institute in Franklin.  In 1856 he came to Norwich and entered the dry goods store of his cousin, William H. Chapman, with whom he afterward formed a partnership and later succeeded as sole proprietor of the store, which has since been merged into the business of the present Chapman & Turner Company.  he remained in active business until 1909, when he retired on account of impaired health, which a well earned respite has largely restored.

 

During his earlier days Mr. Chapman served as a volunteer fireman in the Deluge Fire Engine Company.  he was for many years a member of the Board of Education and has always been actively interested in politics as a Republican of the old school.  he has always been fearless in his advocacy of anything that tended to the real betterment of  Norwich and has never hesitated to lend a hand to any worthy effort in that direction.

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Obituary

Oneonta Daily Star, January 9, 1922

 

Norwich:  William Porter Chapman, a resident of Norwich since 1856, died at an early hour this morning.  He celebrated his 85th birthday on December 23 last.  For many years, Mr. Chapman was a prominent dry goods merchant and a leader in the church and civic affairs of the community.  He had been a trustee of the First Congregational church since 1874 and was elected a deacon for life in 1876.  In 1866 he married Mary Evelyn Curtiss, a daughter of Roswell Curtiss, a prominent Norwich citizen of that period.  They celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary last September.  He is survived by his wife and two sons, William P. Chapman of New York city and R. Curtiss Chapman of Norwich.  He also leaves a bother, Charles D. Chapman of this city and two sisters, Sarah D. Chapman of Norwich, and Mrs. Elizabeth Douglass of Springfield, Mass.