Samuel Chapman was born in Manchester, England. With his parents, he left his native land for the United States in 1865. His father found employment in the shipyards around Dorchester, MA. Chapman apprenticed under his father and also with John M. Woods, a furniture maker and designer from Cambridge, MA. By 1875, he was working on architectural interiors of homes and churches in the Boston area. In 1895, Oscar Norman, an architect from New York City, asked Chapman to help design the interiors of dwellings of his wealthy clients. He also made reproduction furniture for Cooper, Williams, a Boston architectural firm, and was employed by C.A. Wellington and Company.
Chapman eventually joined financier C.M. Tyler to form the Tyler-Chapman Company. Prior to World War I, Chapman designed and installed the first wood elevator passenger cab in New York City. He dominated this field in New York and installed other cabs in Boston and Philadelphia. In 1927, Tyler-Chapman contracted to fabricate the interior woodwork for two ships, the Morro Castle and the Oriente. Chapman died before completing this commission; however, his sons, Lester, Millard, and Harold finished the project.
From the description of Papers, 1875-1921. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 84666025
