The subject of this brief review, who is one of the enterprising and progressive farmers and representative citizens of Mesa county, and whose attractive home, located five miles northwest of Grand Junction, is wholly a product of Colorado. He was born and reared on her soil, he was educated in her schools, he began the battle of life in her productive activities, and he has conducted his business operations wholly amid her people. He is therefore fully in sympathy with her aspirations, identified with her interests and filled with the spirit of her citizenship. Mr. Chapman’s life began at Canon City, Colorado, on September 7, 1872, and he is the son of Benjamin F. and Mary E. (Cooley) Chapman, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of Indiana. In 1868 the family settled in this state, making their home at Canon City. For a number of years the father was engaged in freighting between that place and Fairplay and other points, and afterward was occupied in farming. He died at Canon City in 1881. The mother is still living and is now the wife of James L. Duckett, of near Grand Junction, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this volume. Mr. Chapman grew to the age of twelve at Canon City, and in 1884 moved with his mother and the rest of the children to Mesa county. He received a public-school education, and in 1890, when he was but eighteen, began farming on rented land. This he continued in various parts of the county until 1903, when he bought the twenty acres of land on which he now lives, and where he carries on a flourishing industry in farming. On August 16, 1896, he was married to Miss Zella Howell, a native of Adair county, Iowa, the daughter of Emerson G. and Helen (Arnold) Howell, the father a native of Iowa and the mother of Ohio, both of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are the parents of two children, W.L. Lovell and Hilton W. In politics Mr. Chapman is independent, and in fraternal relations belongs to the Modern Woodmen of the World. His ways have been for the most part ways of pleasantness and all his paths have been along the lines of peaceful industry; yet none the less is he interested in the enduring welfare of his community and the progress, comfort and convenience of the people among whom his lot has been cast. And as he has been a substantial contributor to their advantages, so he has won an elevated and lasting place in their regard and good will.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.