Alfred Chapman

For the Australian footballer, seeAlf Chapman.

Alfred Beck Chapman(September 6, 1829 – January 16, 1915) was aLos Angelesreal estate attorney and investor. He was one of the founders of the city ofOrange, California.

Alfred Chapman
Undated portrait
Los Angeles City Attorney
In office 1862–1865
Preceded by	Myer J. Newmark
Succeeded by	James H. Lader
Los Angeles County District Attorney
In office 1867–1869
Preceded by	Volney E. Howard
Succeeded by	Cameron E. Thom
Personal details
Born	(1829-09-06)September 6, 1829 Greensboro, Alabama,U.S.
Died	January 16, 1915(1915-01-16)(aged 85) San Gabriel Valley,California,U.S.
Resting place	San Gabriel Cemetery,San Gabriel, California,U.S.

Personal

Chapman was born on September 6, 1829, inGreensboro, Alabama.His grandfather,Robert Hett Chapman,was born inOrange, New Jersey,studied theology and was a pastor from 1796 to 1812, at which time he became president of theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hilluntil 1816. His father attended the University of North Carolina.

Military

Chapman was aCadetat theMilitary Academy at West Point,from September 1, 1850, to July 1, 1854, when he was graduated 29th in his class. He was promoted toBrevetSecond LieutenantOf Artillery, July 1, 1854. Serving first in Florida in the early part of theThird Seminole War,1854-55 during which he was promoted Second Lieutenant, U. S. 3rd Artillery Regiment. On February 15, 1855, he became a Second Lieutenant, U. S. 1st Dragoon Regiment, March 3, 1855, being ordered on frontier duty, atAlbuquerque,New Mexico Territoryin 1856. There he was on escort duty at both Albuquerque andCamp Moore.AtFort Buchanan,in 1857–1858, he participated in the 1857 Gila Expedition, and engagedApache,in the Combat on Gila River, N.M., June 27, 1857.While at Fort Buchanan, he also made the first census for the United States of thePima,PapagoandMaricopapeoples of Arizona.

Later in 1858 he was sent toFort Tejon,California,serving there from 1858 into 1859. There he was involved in theMohave Warscouting against theMohave people,and was engaged in a skirmish at Beall's Crossing of the Colorado River, January 9, 1859. Three days earlier he had been promoted toFirst Lieutenant,1st Dragoons and was then sent toFort Crook,California, serving there 1859-60, and then atFort Churchill,inUtah Territory(nowNevada) from later 1860 until he resigned, May 14, 1861, following news of the beginning of theAmerican Civil War.Following his resignation Chapman moved to Los Angeles, inSouthern Californiawhere he took up the practice of law in 1862.

Attorney

Chapman married Mary Scott, the daughter of Los Angeles attorney Jonathan R. Scott, with whom hestudied law.In 1861 he set up apartnershipwithCameron E. Thom.

In 1863 Chapman became city attorney of Los Angeles, replacingMyer J. Newmark,who resigned,and in 1868 he was electeddistrict attorney of Los Angeles County.He went into partnership with a boyhood friend,Andrew Glassell,when the latter arrived in Los Angeles in 1866.Colonel George H. Smith,a formerConfederate Armyofficer and brother-in-law of Glassell, joined the firm in 1870. Their law practice was confined chiefly to real estate transactions, and they made their fortunes by handling the large partition suits. Chapman was the businessman of the firm. He took his compensation in land, and nearly every final decree in partition would find that Glassell & Chapman had acquired more property.

Chapman and Glassell are best known inOrange Countyfor being founders ofOrange, California.The firm represented theYorbaand Peralta families in the partitioning ofRancho Santiago de Santa Anain 1867, and had received for a portion of their fees certain large parcels of land in the partition. He joined with one of his partners,Andrew Glassell,to develop a new community, Richland (which would eventually be named Orange). They hired the land surveyor, Frank Lecouvrier of Los Angeles, to map this tract, which they called Richland Farm District. 'Richland' was originally the name of theVirginiaplantation owned by the father ofAndrew Glassellin the 1830s.

A large transaction by Chapman and Glassell was the legal suit known as "The Great Partition of 1871", brought against theVerdugoRancho San Rafaelproperties on theLos Angeles Riverand in theVerdugo Mountains.The legal fees were again paid in substantial land transfers.He at one time also owned "practically all the land" whereGlendale, California,and the suburb of Tropico were established.

Chapman continued to practice law until 1880. After retirement, he devoted full-time to managing his 700-acre (2.8 km²) rancho in the upperSan Gabriel Valley,a portion of theRancho Santa Anitagrant, and became involved in citrus production.

Family and later life

Chapman had six children by his first marriage to Mary Scott. He married again after her death in 1883, and had one child by his second marriage to Mary L. Stephens, daughter of a pioneer California attorney and judge.

Chapman died on January 16, 1915, at the age of 85 in his residence near Sunny Slope in theSan Gabriel Valley,"the result of heart failure following a severecold."Survivors were his wife and children A.S. Chapman and Richard H. Chapman of Los Angeles, William Chapman ofSpokane, Washington,and Mrs. L.C. Lantz, Mrs. Charles Lantz and Mrs. Evelyn L. Johnson, all of Los Angeles.

Legacy

He is often misidentified as the namesake for Chapman University in Orange, however, businessman and citrus magnateCharles C. Chapmanactually has that distinction.

Chapman Avenue, which bisects the heart of Orange, was indeed named to honor attorney Alfred Beck Chapman.

The neighborhood ofChapman Woodsin Pasadena, the site of Chapman's rancho in the San Gabriel Valley, is named after Alfred Chapman.