Archives West Finding Aid

Alexander Kesterson (alternately written as Kester, Kesterton, or Kesterin) Chapman was born December 21, 1884 in Mayview, Washington.  His father, Zenas Haines Chapman, served as a private in the Union army (Company K, 147^th Regiment Illinois), and received a commendation for Distinguished Service. In February 1884, Zenas married Martha Jane Mark Chapman in Pomeroy, Washington.

By 1900, the Chapman family was living in Grants Pass, Oregon, where Zenas had found work as a carpenter. Zenas passed away two years later, when Alexander was just 18. Martha would never remarry, and raised the couple’s five children – Alexander, Zena, Electa, Susie May, and William – alone. For her husband’s military service she received an “Army widow’s” pension which, in 1908, amounted to $12 per month, with an additional $2 per minor residing in the household.

Alexander began his studies at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1905. He studied electrical engineering and was very involved on campus as a student. Among other things, he was the treasurer of his senior class, track team captain, a member of the Zetegathian Literary Society and, by his senior year, had risen to the rank of Captain of the First battalion, Company C of the OAC Cadets. Of particular note is his status as a charter member of the Sphinx Society, a somewhat enigmatic honor society for select men of the senior class. Of Chapman, the Sphinx membership yearbook states: “He was always sincere in his convictions and lived up to them to the best of his ability…He was a worker and always ready.” Interestingly, his sister Zena also attended classes at OAC in 1905 as a “special,” non-degree-seeking student.

Chapman graduated from OAC in 1909. He moved back in with his mother and siblings still living in Grants Pass, and began work in the Plant Department of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. On November 9, 1913, Alexander married Jeritza Margaret Turk, an emigre from what is now Slovenia. Jeritza, who went by Margaret, had one child, Alphonse, from a previous marriage; the couple have one child, Lena Margaret, together.

By 1920, Alexander, Margaret, their children, and Alexander’s mother Martha had moved to Portland, Oregon, where Alexander worked as an electrical engineer for the telephone company, and Margaret as a cook in a delicatessen. In 1939 Margaret passed away; four years later, on September 25, 1943, Alexander married Arlie Belle Dorathy. Alexander K. Chapman died July 16, 1968 in Santa Clara, California.