Thomas L. Chappell Biography


	This biography appears on pages 293-294 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				THOMAS L. CHAPPELL. 

	Thomas L. Chappell is one of the foremost citizens and successful 
financiers of Brookings, South Dakota. His birth occurred in Elk Grove, 
Wisconsin, on the 18th of April, 1858, his parents being Edward and 
Eliza (Pierce) Chappell, who were born, reared and married in Camborne, 
England. In 1834 they crossed the Atlantic to the United States, 
locating first at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and subsequently in 
McConnellsburg, that state. Thence they removed to Wisconsin in 1857, 
taking up their abode on a farm in Elk Grove, where the father devoted 
his attention to general agricultural pursuits for about twenty years. 
On the expiration of that period he removed to Platteville, Wisconsin, 
and about 1882 established his home in Iveyville, Iowa, where he spent 
the remainder of his life in honorable retirement and where his wife 
also passed away. 

	Thomas L. Chappell was reared under the parental roof and 
supplemented his early education, acquired in the public schools, by a 
four years' course in the State Normal School at Platteville, 
Wisconsin. He then followed farming in the Badger state for five years, 
and subsequently spells four years on a farm at Rockwell, Iowa. During 
the next three years he acted as manager of the Farmers Incorporated 
Cooperative Society, which handles grain, coal, live stock, flour, 
lumber, etc., and is one of the largest institutions of the kind in the 
l~nited States at the present time. Mr. Chappell was made manager 
immediately after its incorporation and laid the cornerstone for the 
subsequent growth and splendid development of the enterprise. In 1892 
he severed his connection with the company and organized the Farmers 
State Bank at Rockwell, Iowa, becoming cashier of the institution and 
also a member of its board of directors. For a period of ten and a half 
years he had charge of the financial policy of the bank, and his 
efforts were a potent factor in its continued growth and success. In 
1902 he came west in search of a suitable location for a new bank, and 
after traveling through lowa, North and South Dakota and southern 
Minnesota he took up his permanent abode at Brookings, this state, on 
the 16th of August of that year. Here he organized the Farmers National 
Bank, was made cashier and directed its policy, with the result that 
the institution is now one of the successful and sound financial 
concerns of the state. He retired from the banking business in 1915. He 
owns the brick block formerly occupied by the post office and also 
seven residence buildings, five of which are of the most modern 
construction. 

	In 1880 Mr. Chappell was united in marriage to Miss Minnie 
Vincent, of Galena, Illinois, by whom he has six children, as follows: 
Bessie, who is a graduate of the Brookings high school and the South 
Dakota State College at Brookings, also has a degree from Chicago 
University and pursued special work in the Iowa State Teachers, College 
of Cedar Falls and is now engaged in teaching at Lamar, Colorado; 
Elsie, a graduate of the South Dakota State College of Brookings, who 
is the wife of J. W. Wilson, a son of J. W. Wilson, Sr., former 
secretary of the United States department of agriculture; William, an 
electrician residing in San Francisco, California; Vincent, who is a 
graduate of the South Dakota State College of Brookings, and is now a 
member of the faculty of the Iowa State College at Ames; Mabel, a 
graduate of the public schools, who is now attending South Dakota State 
College; and Genevieve, a public-school student. 

	Mr. Chappell is a republican in politics but has never sought nor 
desired office as a reward for his party fealty. He is a valued member 
of the Brookings Commercial Club, and fraternally is identified with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Brookings Lodge, No. 
40. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which he serves as treasurer and to which his wife 
also belongs. They enjoy a wide acquaintance throughout the community, 
and attractive social qualities have gained for them the high regard of 
many friends.