William Albert Chapman Colfax County, New Mexico

William Albert Chapman, county surveyor of Colfax County. New Mexico, was born in Maiden, Massachusetts, June 2, 1861, son of John W. and Agnes (Allen) Chapman. His father was killed in a wreck on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, at Angola, New York, in December, 1868; his mother died October 1, 1867, and thus at an early age William A. was left to the care of a guardian. He was educated in Allen's English and Classical School at West Newton, Massachusetts, and at Highland Military Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts, where he graduated.

Afterward he attended Croton Military Institute, Croton, New York, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1883. on account of failing health he sought a change of climate and came to San Marcial, New Mexico, where he remained until 1887, engaged in the cattle business, and where he was so unfortunate as to lose everything he had. In 1887 he came to Raton and worked at anything he could get; was transit man for L. S. Preston, surveyor for the Maxwell Land Grant Co.; taught school at Catskill, Elizabethtown and Poñil Park in Moreno Valley; in 1898 was elected county superintendent of schools, to which office he was twice reelected, and at the end of his third term declined re-nomination, his last term ending January, 1, 1904. In 1900 he was president of the Territorial Educational Association. He was elected county surveyor in the fall of 1904. Previous to this, while teaching, in 1895, he filled the office of county surveyor. Since January 1905, he has been a member of the school board; is also a member of the examining board for Colfax County. Mr. Chapman has been a Mason since the first year of his residence in New Mexico, having received the degrees in Hiram Lodge No. 13 at San Marcial; is now a member of Gate City Lodge, A. F. & A. M.; Raton Chapter No. 6, R. A. M. and Aztec Commandery No. 5. He was first lieutenant of the Third Regiment of Cavalry, New Mexico National Guards, commissioned October 29, 1887, by Governor Ross, and served throughout his administration. Politically he has always been a Democrat. At the spring election of 1906 he was elected city clerk for a two year term, and in May of the same year was appointed city engineer by "Mayor McAuliffe.

August 3. 1899, Mr. Chapman married Lottie Manville, a native of Bayard, Iowa, and they have one son, Manville Chapman.

Back | Colfax County Biographies

Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.

Please come back Again!!