- Alfred Chapman
Alfred Beck Chapman, one of the founders of Orange, was born
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 Hill until 1816. His father attended the University of North Carolina.Alfred Beck Chapman's maternal grandfather was a colonel in the
United States Army , and Chapman graduated 29th in his class at West Point in 1854. Upon graduation from West Point, Chapman was assigned to the First Regiment of Dragoons in Florida. His various postings eventually brought him in the late 1850s toCalifornia . Chapman resigned from the army in 1859, having achieved the rank of major, and marriedMary Scott , daughter of a prominentLos Angeles attorney. He studied law with her father,Jonathan R. Scott and was admitted to the bar inCalifornia . In 1863 Chapman became city attorney ofLos Angeles , and in 1868 he was elected district attorney ofLos Angeles County . He went into partnership with a boyhood friend,Andrew Glassell (first president of theLos Angeles Bar Association ) when the latter arrived in 1866.Col. George H. Smith , a formerConfederate Army officer and brother-in-law of Glassell, later joined the firm. Chapman and Glassell are best known in Orange County for being founders ofOrange, California . 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 would take his compensation in land, and nearly every final decree in partition would find that Glassell & Chapman had acquired land.The firm represented the Yorba and Peralta families in the partitioning of
Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1867-68, and had received for a portion of their fees certain grants 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 ofLos Angeles to map this tract, to which they gave the nameRichland Farm District .Richland was the name of theVirginia plantation owned by the father ofAndrew Glassell in the 1830s.A large transaction by Chapman was the purchase of confiscated Verdugo property at its foreclosure sale in 1869. Along with
Andrew Glassell and two additional partners, Chapman brought the legal suit that resulted in "The Great Partition of 1871," one of the most famous land trials inSouthern California . Not wanting to leaveJulio Verdugo homeless, Chapman quit-claimed 200 acres (0.8 km²) to the aging man, including his adobe.Chapman continued to practice law until 1880. After retirement he devoted full time to managing his 700 acre (2.8 km²) rancho in the upper
San Gabriel Valley , a portion of theSanta Anita grant, and became involved in citrus production. He would remarry after the death of his first wife in 1883. He had six children by his first marriage, and one child by his second marriage toMary L. Stephens , daughter of a pioneerCalifornia attorney and judge.Chapman died at his residence on
January 16 1915 .
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