Most Worshipful Brother Arvis Scott Chapman

Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah 1894.

Bro. Chapman, the fourth child of Arvis Segrave and Lucina (Burr) Chapman, was born in Seville, Medina County, Ohio, August 17, 1839. During his infancy the family removed to Lodi, in the same county. and State, where they remained until September 1, 1845, when they settled in Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois. In the common schools of a frontier hamlet, supplemented by some instructions in private schools, he received such an education as could be obtained under the circumstances. At the age of sixteen he was employed as a clerk in a hardware and stove business owned by his father and brother.

October 1, 1863, he was called to Washington, D. C., to fill a responsible position in the War Department, which he resigned in 1864 to serve his country on the battlefield. When in April of that year, a call was issued from the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac for surgical and hospital volunteers, he supplied himself at his own expense, with all the necessary implements, went to the front, assisting and helping the wounded and dying during that memorable campaign of General Grant in 1864.

In 1867 and 1868 he held the office of Assistant County Clerk and Recorder of Bureau County, Illinois. In the winter of 1868 he began the study of dentistry, which occupation he has followed ever since successfully.

He came to Salt Lake City in January, 1878, and entered the dental office of Dr. J. R. Crawford, with whom he soon formed a partnership, which terminated by the removal of Dr. Crawford to New York.

In national politics Dr, Chapman has followed the banner of Abraham Lincoln ever since he cast his first vote, but from the day he stepped on Utah soil he has known no party affiliations, and could always be found in the ranks of those American citizens who fought for the exercise of American principles in all parts of our common country; and when at that memorable meeting held in the Salt Lake Theater December 19, 1893, it was resolved to disband the Liberal party of Utah and divide on party lines, Dr. Chapman was among those who opposed the movement and voted against the adoption of the resolution.

Bro. Chapman has been an enthusiastic and zealous Mason for nearly two scores of years, and his record as such can profitably be used as a mirror for the younger brethren. He was initiated in Bureau Lodge No. 112, Princeton, Ills., April 14th, passed May 19th, and raised June 9th, in the year 1863, was the senior Deacon of the Lodge in 1865, dimitted from it December 11, 1867, for the purpose of assisting in the formation of Princeton Lodge, U. D. which was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Illinois October 6, 1868, as Princeton Lodge No. 587. Of that Lodge he was Senior Deacon in 1869, Junior Warden in 1870, Senior Warden in 1871, and Master in 1877 and 1878.

He received the Capitular Degrees in Princeton Chapter No. 28, R. A. M., Princeton, Ills., as follows: M. M. September 24; P. M. and M. E. M., September 29, and R. A., October 1, in the year 1863; was Secretary of the Chapter in 1864, 1865 and 1866; P. S. in 1870, C. H. in 1871, and dimitted from it January 17, 1878. Affiliated with Utah Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., at Salt Lake City, March 12, 1892, in which he held several minor offices.

The Cryptic Degree were conferred upon him in Orion Council No. 8, R. & S. M., at Princeton, Ills., December 10, 1864; was Recorder of that Council 1865-66, and dimitted from it March 12, 1892. He is a charter member of Utah Council No. 1, R. & S. M. was T Ill Master in 1897 and in 1901 Dep. T Ill Master.

The Degrees of the A. A. S. R. from the fourth to the thirty-second Degree, inclusive, were communicated to him at Princeton, Ills., April 14 to 29, 1867, by Bro. David W. Thompson, thirty-third Degree, Dis. Dep. Insp. General, and W. A. Stevens, thirty-third Degree, Ill Gr Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Consistory of Illinois. He was M. E. and P. K. Sen. W. of Princeton Chapter Rose Croix, in 1868 and 1869; was V. G. S. K. of S. & A. in Princeton Council, Princes of Jerusalem, in 1868, and was Gr. Sec. and K. of S. in Princeton Consistory in 1867 and 1868.

Bro Chapman affiliated with our Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 2 March 14, 1881, and on December 12th of that year was elected Senior Warden; was Master of the Lodge in 1891 and 1892, and is one of its Trustees since 1794. And here it should be recorded that during this last twenty years old Mt. Moriah Lodge has had no member who has worked more faithfully and unceasingly for its interest than Bro. Chapman; to him the Lodge is largely indebted for its present sound financial condition, for the correct practice of the Utah Standard Work, and for the Sociability that exists between the members inside and outside of the Lodge. On December 10, 1900, Bro Chapman was unanimously elected an honorary life-member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, by which act it but feebly expressed its appreciation for the eminent services of a loyal craftsman and a member who has been its very soul for a full score of years.

In the Grand Lodge of Utah he was appointed Grand Orator in 1891; was elected Senior Grand Warden in 1892, Deputy Grand Master in 1893, and was Grand Master from January 17, 1894, to January 16, 1895. Is a member of the Jurisprudence Committee since January, 1895, and a member of the Board of custodians since January, 1898. Is Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Illinois since July 1, 1894, and of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia since April 20, 1898, and the Grand Lodge of Tasmania since July 28, 1892. He is an honorary member of the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast since October 11, 1895. His Lodge number is 175; Grand Lodge number 618.

Bro Chapman was the first Grand Master who received the Signet Ring presented to the Grand Lodge by the retiring and ever-to-be-remembered Grand Master, Bro. Albion Bernard Emery, and on Sunday, June 17, 1894, it was his sad duty to conduct the funeral ceremonies in the Congregational church at Salt Lake City, and to bury the last remains of that true and warm-hearted Mason in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Bro. Chapman was born a Mason and will die a Mason.

Ref: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Utah, 1901, page, 104, 105, 106.

Electronically Transcribed as written without corrections to grammar or spelling by Aaron E. Saathoff, P.M., February, 2005.