Thursday, January 24, 2013

Cabinet Photograph of Harry Chapman; by a Bangor, Maine studio


Cabinet photograph of a distinguished appearing man identified on the reverse in rather childlike handwriting as Harry Chapman.

The photograph was taken by the Weston studio of Bangor, Maine.



From online research, hopefully correct: [corrections welcome!]

I found a Harry J. Chapman living at Bangor, Maine, and a Harry W. Chapman living at Old Town, Maine, not far from Bangor, both of them of plausible age for the man in the photograph.

Only for the weak reasoning that there were studios at Old Town or Orono that Harry W. Chapman could have patronized, I'm leaning toward the man in the photograph as Harry J. Chapman, who became a lawyer and judge at Bangor.

If you recognize this man from your family albums or research, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks!

Harry J. Chapman was born 12 April 1856 at Passadumkeag, Maine, the son of Charles Davis Chapman and Hannah L. (Haynes) Chapman, who were born at Orrington, Maine, and Passadumkeag, Maine, respectively.  Maine Births and Christenings show him born at Orrington, Maine, but perhaps that was actually a christening record.

Harry grew up at Orrington, Maine, attended the nearby East Maine Conference Seminary at Bucksport, Maine, and received a law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1882.  After a short period practicing law in Wisconsin, he opened his practice at Bangor, Maine and made his career there, as an attorney, a judge and a civic official.  He also taught at the University of Maine Law School from 1903 on and became an associate professor there in 1912.

He was an inventor and was interested in history, as evidenced by a lecture he gave on the history of the first Bangor City Hall to the Bangor Historical Society on 4 January 1916 and by his 1925 book Lords of Acadia, about the colonial period in Maine.

He wrote an article about the Battle of Hampden, which occurred late in the War of 1812, on 3 September 1814, as the British sailed up the Penobscot River, ultimately to Bangor.

On 27 May 1891, Harry J. Chapman married Clara Louise Clark of Winterport, Maine.  She was born about August 1866, the daughter of Albert B. and Elizabeth [possibly Curtis] Clark.

Harry and Clara had at least one child, a daughter Elizabeth, born 13 September 1894, at Bangor, Maine.

If you have corrections to the information above, or if you feel that the man pictured is another Harry Chapman, please leave a comment or contact me directly.  Thanks!

Bangor, Maine [See Orrington and Winterport downstream on the Penobscot River.  Passadumkeag is upstream of Bangor, beyond Old Town.] 


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Thanks for stopping by!





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