OBITUARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2324, 15 September 1898, Page 7

OBITUARY.

j Mr Robert Chapman, one of the early colon ists, died on Saturday at his residence, Town Belt road, near Nevada. Mr Chapman was born at Stonehaven, in Kincardineshire, and was educated first at a public school at Stonehaven, and afterwards at Edinburgh University. He was articled to a firm of solicitors in Stonehaven, where he served the necessary term, and then iemoved to Edinburgh, where he entered the law offices of Messrs Ray and Wood, writers to the Signet. He afterwards ' became managing clerk for Messrs Hope, Oliphant, and Mackay. In 1845 he married a niece of the late General Sutherland, who had been Governor of Mauritius. He became a member of the Otago Settlement Association, and was one of the first applicants for land. He was unable to leave with the first ship, but came out in the Blundell, arriving with his j wife and family on the 21st September, 1848. Soon after his arrival he was appointed clerk to the bench, to which office was added in 1849 that of registrar of births, deaths, and marriages for Otago, and official administrator of intestate estates. In the following year he became registrar of the Supreme Court and registrar of deed*. On the establishment of Provincial Councils about 1853, Mr Chapman was appointed clerk to the Council, which position he held till 1862, when he resigned owing to the pressure of other official duties. In 1868, owing to • failing health, he retired from office. Under the Provincial Council system, Mr Chapman was returning officer for Dunedin, Kaikorai, and Bruce, and in the early days his own house served as a polling booth more than once. Mr Chapman was a member of the Dunedin Town Board. He was admitted a solicitor of the Supreme Court, but never practised. Since his retirement in ]868 Mr Chapman lived very quietly at his residence near Nevada, and enjoyed good health until April of last year. Besides his widow, he leaves behind him two children out of five born — Mr C. R. Chapman and Mrs J. R. Sinclair. In 1892, when his son was mayor of the city, he erected, in memory of his friend, the late Dr Thomas Burns, the column which now forms a feature of the Octagon. The late Mr John Chisholm, sen., whose death at an advanced age is announced in our columns this week was a very old settler. For many years he was a well-known and justlyrespected resident of York place, and a member of Knox Church congregation. His wife, four sons, and two step-daughters (Mrs John Jackson and Mrs Frank Harkness) arrived by the same vessel, and the whole family were for a number of years located in or about the city. Three of the sons have been active and prominent public men for a length of time. These are Mr Alexander Chisholm, of West Taieri ; Rev. James Chisholm, of Milton ; and Mr Robert Chisholm (of Scoullar and Chisholm), the well-known city councillor.