SAMUEL CHAPIN

• Birth Notes
  • October 8, 1598

• Death Notes
  • November 1, 1675

• General Notes
  • Deacon Samuel Chapin (October 8, 1598 – November 1, 1675) was one of the founders of Springfield, Massachusetts.
    
    He was born in Paignton (now part of Torquay), Devonshire, England, to John and Phillippe Easton on October 8, 1598.
    
    On February 9, 1623, Samuel married Cicily Penny. They had seven children: Sarah, Henry, Hannah, David, Catherine, Josiah, and Japhet. Through them, they had many famous descendants, including Presidents Grover Cleveland and William Taft, actor Spencer Tracy, abolitionist John Brown, and financier J.P. Morgan.
    
    It is not known exactly when he immigrated to America, but it was after 1624. He immigrated to America to escape religious persecution. Centuries later, he was immortalized by master sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens in bronze with The Puritan, an 1887 work now residing in Springfield's Merrick Park and created in the late-nineteenth-century to emphasize the piety, and perhaps moral rigidity, of the country's religious founders—evident in the sculpted Chapin's proud pose, certain stride, flowing cape and hefty Bible, as well as his assertive use of a walking cane. Smaller variants of the same work can be found in several museums.