William Williams CHAPMAN, Congress, IA (1808-1892)

CHAPMAN William Williams , a Delegate from the Territory of Iowa; born in Clarksburg, Marion County, Va. (now West Virginia), August 11, 1808; attended the common schools; studied law while serving as clerk of the court; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Middleton; was one of the first settlers in Burlington, Iowa (then Michigan Territory), in 1835; prosecuting attorney of Michigan Territory in 1836; first district attorney when Wisconsin Territory was organized in July 1836; after the Territory of Iowa was granted representation he was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses and served from September 10, 1838, to October 27, 1840, when his term expired by law; moved to Agency City, an Indian village, in Wapello County, Iowa, in 1843; elected from that county as a delegate to the first constitutional convention in Iowa City in 1844; started across the plains to become a pioneer of Oregon in 1847; went to California in 1848; returned to Oregon; member of the Oregon house of representatives; was one of the founders of the Oregonian, the first newspaper established in the Territory; surveyor general in 1858; died in Portland, Oreg., on October 18, 1892; interment in the Lone Fir Cemetery.

Bibliography

Colton, Kenneth E. ``W.W. Chapman, Delegate to Congress from Iowa Territory.'' Annals of Iowa 3rd Series, 21 (April 1938): 283-95.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present