"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chapman 
Publishing Company, 1903. p. 700.
 
MILTON S. CHAPIN

     Starting out in life with assets consisting solely of his own perseverance
and good common sense, Milton S. Chapin has so adjusted his opportunities as to
be numbered among the most substantial upbuilders of Yamhill county. A
courageous soldier during the Civil war, for many years a successful farmer and
stock-raiser, and at all times a broad-minded and enterprising citizen. Mr.
Chapin has earned the right to the comparative immunity from active business
cares which he now enjoys.    
     A native of Branch county, Mich., Mr. Chapin was born April 28, 1837, and
is the oldest of the three children born to his parents, one son being deceased,
while Nelson is a farmer of Polk county, Ore. His father, who was a contractor
and builder for the greater part of his active life, died in Michigan at the age
of forty-five years, and was survived by his wife--for many years a school
teacher--until her death in Yamhill county in 1878, she having been a resident
of this state for ten years. In his youth Milton S. Chapin attended the district
schools of Michigan, and when sixteen years of age determined to henceforth make
his own living. Removing to Lagrange county, Ind., he remained there until 1861,
in August of which year he enlisted as a private in Company G, Thirtieth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry. After being mustered in at Fort Wayne he was sent to
Independence, and from there to Louisville, Ky., later to Nashville, Tenn.,
being under command of Colonel Lawton, who subsequently met his death in the
Philippines. Besides many minor engagements he participated in the battles of
Shiloh, Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, and the Atlantic campaign, and though
subjected to the thickest of the fight fortunately escaped injury sufficiently
serious to incapacitate him for fighting. Not more than thirty per cent, of the
brave Thirtieth returned to Indiana, and it was said that no regiment was
subjected to greater danger or hardship, or more courageously stood by their
leader and colors.
     After his discharge from the service September 24, 1864, at Indianapolis,
Mr. Chapin engaged in farming near Springfield, Ill., and September 1, 1866, he
married Mrs. Jane (Crum) Arthington, a native of Illinois. Thereafter he
continued to live in Illinois for nineteen years, and was known in his
neighborhood as one of its most reliable and successful agriculturists. Four
children were born in Illinois, of whom Jennie is deceased; Charles is a farmer
in this locality; Pratt is deceased; and Harry is a resident of Sherman county,
Ore.
     In 1884 Mr. Chapin disposed of his Illinois interests and, removing to
Oregon, settled on what was known as the Galloway farm, three and a half miles
east of Sheridan, where he lived for sixteen years. In 1900 he built a
delightful little home on a small portion of his property, and this is all that
remains to him of the three hundred and sixty-four acres which he once owned in
this fertile section. The rest of the property has been divided among the
children of Mr. Chapin. In politics decidedly independent, Mr. Chapin has never
taken an active interest in the political agitation by which he has been
surrounded, but has rather chosen the quiet and unobtrusive life of the
high-minded, popular and unostentatious country gentleman. For more than fifty
years he has been a member of the Christian church, and during that time has
exerted his emphatic energies toward its upbuilding and general support. He is a
welcome member of Custer Post No. 55, G.A.R., and has passed all of the chairs
in connection with that organization. To an exceptional degree Mr. Chapin enjoys
the confidence of his fellow townsmen, and his fine personal characteristics
have won and retained for many years the most desirable of friendships.


     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in July 2007 by Denise Sproed Merritt.
Contact Denise through her website - http://merritthome.clearwire.net/ or
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~merritt/