Frederick Emmons Chapin

Frederick Emmons Chapin (December 7, 1860 – March 20, 1923) was an American attorney who, in the 1890s, was one of the first law clerks to the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Biography

Chapin was born at Crittenden, New York, on December 7, 1860, the son of Katherine (née Hart) and William Slocum Chapin.[1] He is related to John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.[1] He was educated in the public schools at Livingston County, New York.[2] He studied law at Columbian University, now called George Washington University, graduating in 1888.

On December 20, 1886, Chapin married Mary Rebecca Louisa Libbey, in Washington, D.C., and they had a son, Frederick Joseph Chapin, and a daughter, Marcia Katherine Chapin.[3][4][5] He is a member of the Episcopal church.[1]

For periods from 1885 to 1891, he served successively as private secretary to U.S. Senator Joseph Roswell Hawley, law clerk to Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson, and law clerk to Justice Henry Billings Brown of the Supreme Court of the United States.[6][7][8] In 1891 and 1892, he was a part-time reporter for the New York Tribune and New Haven Palladium.[9] In 1891 to 1892, he was clerk to the United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Post Roads.[10] Chapin was private secretary to Justice Jackson at the time of Jackson's death in August 1895.[11] He then entered private practice in Washington, D.C..[12][13]

In 1903, he worked as legal adviser to the Embassy of Japan.[1]

Chapin died in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 1923.[14]

See also

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 3)
• Clarence M. York
• Everett Riley York
• James S. Harlan
• Thomas A. Russell
• Thomas H. Fitnam

References

1. Macfarland, Henry Brown Floyd (January 1, 1908). District of Columbia: concise biographies of its prominent and representative contemporary citizens, and valuable statistical data. The Potomac Press. p. 79.
2. "Fred E. Chapin". The Washington Herald. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. May 30, 1919. p. 6. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
3. "Chapin Will is Filed". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 26, 1923. p. 4. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
4. "Society". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. October 16, 1923. p. 8. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
5. "Society: Miss Marcia Katherine Chapin, Popular in Younger Set, Engaged to Marry Mr. W. C. Meekins". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 17, 1924. p. 5. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
6. Peppers, Todd C. (2006). Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 244, n. 47. ISBN 0804753822. Retrieved September 26, 2017. Pointing out lack of records at the Supreme Court of Chapin's hiring as a law clerk.
7. "F. E. Chapin Dies, Paralysis Victim". Evening star. (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 20, 1923. p. 2. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
8. "University Club Election". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 6, 1894. p. 8. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
9. "Southward Bent". The Roanoke Times. Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 10, 1891. p. 1. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
10. Official register of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1907. p. 5. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
11. "His Successor". Daily Public Ledger (Maysville, Ky.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. August 10, 1895. p. 2. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
12. "The Courts". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. February 23, 1895. p. 2. Retrieved September 26, 2017. Frederick E. Chapin appointed guardian ad litem
13. "Legal Notices". The Morning Times (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. April 3, 1896. p. 7. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
14. "Deaths". Evening Star (Washington, D.C.). Library of Congress Historic Newspapers. March 21, 1923. p. 7. Retrieved September 26, 2017.