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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of L. R. CHAPIN, M.D. 

[Surnames: BLACKISTON, CHAPIN, DIBBLE] 

CHAPIN, L. R., M.D. 

    
Of the men devoted to the science of healing in Canton, none bring to bear upon their calling larger gifts of scholarship and resource than Dr. L. R. Chapin. Far from selecting his life work in the untried enthusiasm of extreme youth, the choice of this genial practitioner was that of a mature mind, trained to thoughtfulness by years of practical experience as an educator and to full realization of the possibility and responsibility which confronted him. 
    
Dr. Chapin is a native of LaSalle County, IL, and was born on May 11, 1863. His parents, Oscar and Alice V. (DIBBLE) Chapin, were born in Washington, Co., NY and the former came to Illinois in 1846 at the age of seventeen, locating on the farm in La Salle County, where the balance of his active life was spent. His death occurred in Canton, Feb. 8, 1905, his wife having pre-deceased him in Ottawa, IL, in 1896. 
    
Dr. Chapin was educated in the common schools of La Salle Co. and the Normal and Scientific schools of Morris and Geneseo, IL, thereafter graduating from the Northwestern Normal and Scientific Schools in 1886. For the following seven years he engaged in educational work as Principal or Superintendent of Public Schools in different parts of the state. Thereafter, he took up the study of medicine at the Northwestern University Medical School of Chicago, from which he was duly graduated in the class of 1897. The same year he began a general and surgical practice in Canton, and in the meantime has served three years as County Physician. His skill in diagnosis and his successful treatment of complicated and long-standing cases have created a gratifying demand for his services and laid the foundation of what promises to be a career of exceptional breadth and usefulness. 
    
Politically the Doctor is a Republican. Fraternally he is associated with the Masons and Modern Woodmen of America. In Aug. 1888, he married Nora B. BLACKISTON, who was born in Geneseo, IL, daughter of William Priestley and Cecelia C. Blackiston, also natives of Geneseo.
They have had three children: Cecelia C., Alice B., and Cora Adelia. 
    
To a thorough professional equipment, Dr. Chapin adds a kindly and sympathetic manner, a genuine liking for his calling and a ready adaptation to its multitudinous and exacting demands.