Pleasant T. Chapman Explained

Image Name:File:Pleasant T. Chapman.jpg
State1:Illinois
District1:24th
Party:Republican
Term Start1:March 4, 1905
Term End1:March 3, 1911
Preceded1:James R. Williams
Succeeded1:H. Robert Fowler
Office2:Member of the Illinois Senate
Term2:1890-1902
Birth Name:Pleasant Thomas Chapman
Birth Date:8 October 1854
Birth Place:Vienna, Illinois, US
Death Place:Vienna, Illinois, US
Occupation:lawyer
Alma Mater:McKendree College

Pleasant Thomas Chapman (October 8, 1854 – January 31, 1931) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Born on a farm near Vienna, Illinois, Chapman attended the public schools, and then went to McKendree College, in Lebanon, Illinois. Chapman graduated from McKendree in June, 1876.

He taught school while studying law, and served as superintendent of public schools of Johnson County from 1877 to 1882.

He was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon, Illinois, in 1878 and commenced practice in Vienna, Illinois.

He also engaged in banking and in agricultural pursuits. He served as judge of Johnson County from 1882 to 1890. He was a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1890 to 1902.

Chapman was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-ninth. He was reelected to the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses, and served from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911.He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress.

After leaving Congress Chapman resumed his legal, banking, business and farming interests. He was a delegate to the 1924 Republican National Convention.

He died in Vienna on January 31, 1931, and was interred in Vienna's Fraternal Cemetery.