John Wilbur Chapman

John Wilbur Chapman (June 17, 1859, Richmond, Indiana – December 25, 1918, New York, New York) was a Presbyterian evangelist in the late 19th Century, generally traveling with gospel singer Charles Alexander. His parents were Alexander H. and Lorinda (McWhinney) Chapman.

Chapman grew up attending Quaker Day School and Methodist Sunday School. At age 17, he made a public declaration of his Christian faith and joined the Richmond Presbyterian Church. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lake Forest College and his seminary degree from Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed his ordination into the ministry 13 April 1881, while still attending Lane. He was later awarded a Doctorate in Divinity from the College of Wooster and an LL.D. from Heidelberg University.

In May 1882, Chapman married Irene Steddon. In April 1886, she bore him a daughter, Bertha Irene Chapman. Irene Steddon Chapman died in May 1886. Chapman remarried on November 4, 1888, to Agnes Pruyn Strain; they had four children: Robert (who died in infancy), John Wilbur Jr., Alexander Hamilton, and Agnes Pruyn. His second wife died on June 25, 1907. Chapman married a third and final time on August 30, 1910, to Mabel Cornelia Moulton.

Chapman took on several pastorates before shifting to the evangelistic circuit. He began preaching with the legendary D.L. Moody in 1893, as well as leading many evangelistic events of his own. Among Chapman's disciples on the evangelistic circuit was Billy Sunday.

In late 1895, Chapman was appointed Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian General Assembly's Committee on Evangelism, overseeing the activities of 51 evangelists in 470 cities. In 1904, Chapman began work on an evangelistic campaign to maximize the efforts of his field evangelists and result in more converts. The testing ground for his theories was Pittsburgh, which he divided into nine zones in which simultaneous tent meetings would be occurring. Syracuse, New York was the second city in the campaign, meeting with a satisfactory level of success.

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