Biography of C. A. Chamberlain

	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1898. Page 300.

	Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit 
	purposes. All other rights reserved. 



HON. C. A. CHAMBERLAIN. While a large statement to make, it would not be 
stretching the facts at all to say that Hon. C. A. Chamberlin is the 
most prominent man in Clare township, Moody county. He has served a term 
each in the house and senate of the state legislature, is wealthy, and 
has one of the largest and finest farms in the county, situated in 
section 23, near Flandreau. If popularity and prominence are to be 
measured by one's past, surely Mr. Chamberlin ought to enjoy them to the 
full, for he has distinguished himself both in the business world and in 
the field of politics, and no name is better known than his in the 
section where he lives. His birthplace is McHenry county, Illinois, 
where he came into this world on the 27th of August, 1855. His parents, 
W. E. and Elizabeth J. (Reed) Chamberlin, are natives respectively of 
Williamstown, Massachusetts, and of Ohio. They were married in Beloit, 
Wisconsin, and soon afterward settled in Illinois. In 1857 they removed 
to Minnesota, settling in Dodge county, where they improved a farm and 
still own the same. They now reside in the village of Dodge Center, 
Minnesota. Both are members of the Methodist church. Eight children were 
the fruit of their union, seven of whom still survive, the third, 
Elnora, being deceased. Those now living are: Wells E., Charles A., the 
subject of this sketch; Emery, Alvin C., Lucy M., Marshall W. and Gracie 
E. Charles spent his early years upon the farm in Minnesota, receiving 
his education at the country schools near by. At the age of twenty he 
began teaching school and afterward improved a farm in Dodge county, 
Minnesota. In June, 1877, he came to Dakota and located upon a small 
portion of the farm which he now owns. The scene which met his gaze when 
he first looked upon his new possession was a desolate one. There was 
but one fellow settler within miles; the soil was in its virgin state, 
entirely innocent of the kind offices of a plow; there was scarce a 
sound save the soughing of the prairie wind or the yelp of an Indian or 
some wild animal; the nearest railroad station was at Worthington, 
Minnesota, miles and miles away. The outlook was indeed one which 
required a stout heart to contemplate with any satisfaction, but Mr. 
Chamberlin seems to have brushed away his longings for civilization, and 
to have plunged into this wilderness, determined to make at least one 
oasis in the desert. To look at this magnificent twelve-hundredacre farm 
of today, with its waving mountain of grain, its fine buildings, cribs, 
etc., and all the unmistakable marks of a flourishing industry about, 
any visitor would indeed say that he had succeeded. Mr. Chamberlin's 
career in the Dakotas is a splendid exemplification of the fact that the 
man who has brains, industry and enterprise will succeed anywhere that 
his lot is cast, be it in the limited aristocracy of wealth, or as one 
of the countless millions of that vast republic of poverty, which 
welcomes all classes, and whose charms seem irresistible until one lands 
upon its shores. Mr. Chamberlin has over nine hundred acres of his land 
under the plow and the improvements which he has put up are quite in 
keeping with the size and importance of his farm. He formerly raised 
sheep in addition to general farming, but has now given up live stock 
and devotes his time to general crops exclusively. Mr. Chamberlin has 
also been active in the political life of Moody county, and has always 
been a Republican. In 1893 he was elected to the house, and in 1895 was 
returned to the capital as a member of the senate' in both of which 
offices he proved himself a faithful and conscientious servant of the 
people. He was chairman of the original township board, has been school 
treasurer most of the time since the district was organized, and has 
held the offices of township treasurer and committeeman.

	Mr. Chamberlin was married in 1878 to Miss Mary Antionette 
Coleman. Mrs. Chamberlin is a native of New York, and the daughter of 
Ferdinand and Phoebe (Doty) Coleman, who went from the Empire state to 
Wisconsin in 1857 and settled in Green Lake county. Mrs. Coleman is 
deceased, while Mr. Coleman is now living with Mr. Chamberlin. Mrs. 
Chamberlin was born May 18, 1855, and received her education in 
Wisconsin. She also taught school there for a number of years. Mr. and 
Mrs. Chamberlin are the parents of five children: Guy F., Clarence W., 
Mary E., Thomas R. and Davis C.