Thibault DePayen

Samuel was a Deacon. Deacon Samuel Chapin was born in Paignton, Devonshire, England on October 8, 1598. He left his native England in 1635 to escape religious persecution. He settled for a time in Roxbury, Massachusetts, before moving his family and helping to found a site they called Agawam. Four years later, Agawam was renamed Springfield, and Deacon Chapin became one of the leading men in the government of the town, and held many public offices during his life, including: Selectmen, Auditor and Magistrate, and he was Deacon of the church. During his life, he became a symbol of the new country's religious founders. Over two centuries after his death, he was immortilized by master sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in bronze with his work called "The Puritan", an 8 foot 7 1/2 inch, 1887 piece that can now be found in Springfield's Merrick Park, to emphasize the piety and perhaps moral rigidity of the country's religious founders. Smaller variants of the work can be found in various museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, at City Hall Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Louvre, Paris, France. Samuel is an ancestor of many famous Americans, including President Grover Cleveland, President William Taft, financier John Pierpont Morgan, actor Spencer Tracy and author/poet Harriet Beecher Stowe. A book was written about the life of Deacon Chapin, titled "Life of Deacon Samuel Chapin of Springfield".