Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman

Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman. . Alvan Wentworth Chapman (1809-1899) was a physician and internationally renowned botanist. His discovery of an amazing variety of plants, and flowers over his decades of work in the South established him as one of the brightest scientific minds of the times., One of Dr. Chapman's major accomplishments was authoring Flora of the Southern United States in 1860, the first comprehensive description of U.S. plants outside the northeast., Dr. Chapman was born on September 28, 1809, at Southampton, Massachusetts. He graduated with honors from Amherst College in 1830. He received his medical degree in Louisville, Kentucky. In the winter of 1835, Dr. Chapman moved to Florida where he practiced medicine first at Quincy and then Marianna. In 1839 he married Mrs. Mary Ann Hancock of New Bern, North Carolina, who had two daughters. They had one child together who died in infancy., He moved to Apalachicola in 1847. His last home still stands today on the corner of Avenue E (HWY 98) and 6th street. His love for the science of botany became a principal work of his life especially after the Civil War. He was influenced by his friendships with botanists Hardy Croom who discovered the rare Florida Torreya tree and Harvard scientist Asa Gray. He was also friends with local physician John Gorrie who invented the ice-making machine and is considered the father of air conditioning., In addition, Dr. Chapman was a local businessman, County Judge, Mayor, and Collector of Customs. He died in 1899 at almost 90 years of age. A contemporary, C.I. Kimball, wrote, "The passing of Dr. Chapman is to this community like the fall of a mighty oak which leaves the landscape desolate." His gravesite can be found at the historic Chestnut Street Cemetery., To learn more, visit www.DowntownApalachicola.com/plaque. Photo credit: State Archives of Florida.