Frederick Emmons Chapin (December 7, 1860 – March 20, 1923) was an American attorney who, in the 1890s, was one of the first

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

s to the justices of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Biography

Chapin was born at

Crittenden, New York Crittenden is a small hamlet in the town of Alden in Erie County, New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the nort ...

, on December 7, 1860, the son of Katherine (née Hart) and William Slocum Chapin. He is related to John Hart, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

. He was educated in the public schools at

Livingston County, New York Livingston County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,834. Its county seat is Geneseo. The county is named after Robert R. Livingston, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and ...

. He studied law at Columbian University, now called

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, graduating in 1888. On December 20, 1886, Chapin married Mary Rebecca Louisa Libbey, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and they had a son, Frederick Joseph Chapin, and a daughter, Marcia Katherine Chapin. He is a member of the Episcopal church. For periods from 1885 to 1891, he served successively as private secretary to

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Joseph Roswell Hawley Joseph Roswell Hawley (October 31, 1826March 18, 1905) was the 42nd Governor of Connecticut, a U.S. politician in the Republican and Free Soil parties, a Civil War general, and a journalist and newspaper editor. He served two terms in the Unit ...

to Justice

Howell Edmunds Jackson Howell Edmunds Jackson (April 8, 1832 – August 8, 1895) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1893 until his death in 1895. His brief tenure on the ...

, and law clerk to Justice

Henry Billings Brown Henry Billings Brown (March 2, 1836 – September 4, 1913) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1891 to 1906. Although a respected lawyer and U.S. District Judge before ascending to the high court, Brown ...

of the

. In 1891 and 1892, he was a part-time reporter for the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'' and ''New Haven Palladium''. In 1891 to 1892, he was clerk to the

United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Post Roads United States Senate Committee on Civil Service is a defunct committee of the United States Senate. The first standing Senate committee with jurisdiction over the civil service was the United States Senate Committee on Civil Service and Retrench ...

. Chapin was private secretary to Justice Jackson at the time of Jackson's death in August 1895. He then entered private practice in Washington, D.C.. In 1903, he worked as legal adviser to the Embassy of Japan. Chapin died in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 1923.

References

1860 births 1923 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers George Washington University Law School alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Washington, D.C. People from Livingston, New York {{US-law-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References