Boone County Kentucky Historical Society

Edward Young Chapin Bio, by James Duvall


Edward Young Chapin
By James Duvall, M.A.
Edward Young Chapin (1865 - 1954) , banker; b. Petersburg, Ky., 8 Oct 1865. grad, Univ Cincinnati 1886; Studied law with John G. Carlisle, Covington; Administration and Trust Co. founder and pres. 1894; American Trust and Banking Co. with Henry S. Probosco, 1912.  Home Address: 24 Bluff View, Chattanooga, d. 7 Mar 1954; bur. Forest Hill Cem., Chattanooga
Mason, Democrat.
[Henry S. Probosco was a well-known Cincinnati philanthropist.  He donated the fountain that stands on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati.]
 
"Edward Young Chapin, president of the American Trust & Banking Company of Chattanooga, was born October 8, 1865, in Petersburg, Kentucky, and there acquired his preliminary education, while later he continued his studies at Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Thinking to make the practice of law his life work he later began reading in the law office of John G. Carlisle of Covington, Kentucky, and later entered the law department of the College of Cincinnati, from which he was graduated with the class of 1886. In the same year he opened an office in Covington but in 1887 removed to Chattanooga, where he practiced successfully for a period of fifteen years. Since 1896, however, he has been connected with the financial interests of the city, for in that year he organized the Administration & Trust Company, of which he has since been the president and in 1912, in association with H. S. Probasco, he organized the American Trust & Banking Company, becoming its vice president and Chairman of the Board. In 1919 he was elected to the presidency of the latter corporation and has so continued to this time. In addition to his duties as a banker he is vice president of the Tennessee Furniture Corporation, vice president of the Walsh & Weidner Boiler Company and secretary of the Crystal Springs Bleachery Company. Important business interests thus benefit by his cooperation, sound judgment and capable control."
He directed a furniture factory, hosiery mill, a spinning mill, and stove works. Chapin Library was donated to the town of Petersburg on September 10, 1949, and was added to the Christian Church there. The 6,000 volumes donated included his novel A Harvesting of Green Fields.
In 1890 Mr. Chapin was married to Miss Elise Hutcheson.
[Tennessee the Volunteer State 1769–1923: Volume 2, p. 291.]
Mr. Chapin is interested in many projects of public importance. He was appointed a trustee of the Erlanger Hospital in 1902 and continued to fill the position until 1912, when he resigned. He has been a trustee of the Chattanooga Public Library since 1916 and a member of the Hamilton county school board since 1919. He was also one of the organizers of the Chattanooga Tuberculosis Sanitarium Association and continues as one of its trustees. He has written many pamphlets and booklets on financial and fiduciary subjects, which have had a national circulation and he has contributed extensively to various banking and trust company periodicals. The subjective and objective interests of his life have been well balanced. While he has been actuated by a laudable ambition to win success in his business affairs and has made for himself a most creditable place in financial and business circles, he has never neglected his duties nor his obligations to his fellowmen but at all times has stood ready to aid the public in advancing standards of life for the individual and the community.  [Tennessee the Volunteer State 1769–1923: Volume 2.]
References:
Who Was Who in America, Volume 3, 1951-1960. (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1966), p. 149.
E. Y. Chapin, A Harvesting of Green Fields, Privately Printed, 1939 - (Novel).   
"Reminiscences of Petersburg," Boone County Recorder, "Historical Edition" - September 4, 1930, p. 1. “Edward Young Chaplin,” p. 7.
"Frontier Seems Like Yesterday – In Historical Petersburg, Families Have Stayed on Since 1700," Kentucky Enquirer, September 17, 1995, B3.