Chapman, John G.

Born: 1798-07-05 La Plata, Maryland

Died: 1856-12-10 Charles County, Maryland

Chapman was tutored at home and attended a college in Pennsylvania in 1812-13. He graduated from Yale College in 1817. He studied law, earned admittance to the bar in 1819, and started a practice in Port Tobacco, Maryland. He also undertook agricultural pursuits. Chapman was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, from 1824 to 1832 and from 1843 to 1844. He served as speaker from 1826 to 1829 and in 1844. He won election to the State Senate in 1832, serving in that body until 1836. He was state president from 1833 to 1836. Chapman served in the State militia. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Maryland in 1844. Chapman won election, as a Whig, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1845 to 1849. At the end of his congressional term, Chapman returned to Port Tobacco and resumed his law practice. He served as president of the Maryland constitutional convention in 1851. He was the father of Maryland Congressman Andrew Grant Chapman.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 803; Gravestone, Mount Rest Cemetery, La Plata, MD.