Representative Absalom Harris Chappell

Absalom Harris Chappell (December 18, 1801 – December 11, 1878) was an American politician and lawyer who served in the Georgia House of Representatives, the Georgia Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. He was born on December 18, 1801, in Mount Zion, Georgia, the oldest son of Joseph Chappell and Dorothy Harris Chappell. Raised in the early decades of the nineteenth century in a slaveholding Southern society, he would later become a prominent figure in Georgia’s legal and political life. He owned slaves.

Chappell pursued higher education at the University of Georgia in Athens in 1820, though he did not complete a degree. He then read law under the prominent jurist and politician Augustin Smith Clayton, a common path to the legal profession in that era. After completing his legal studies, he passed the state bar examination and commenced practice as a lawyer in Georgia, establishing himself professionally before entering public life.

Chappell’s political career began at the state level. He was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1832 and 1833, marking his first service in the state legislature. He then served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1834 through 1839, participating in debates and legislation during a period of significant political and economic change in Georgia and the broader South. Over these years he built a reputation as an experienced legislator and aligned himself with the Whig Party, which advocated for internal improvements, a stronger role for Congress in economic policy, and opposition to what it viewed as executive overreach.

As a member of the Whig Party representing Georgia, Chappell advanced to national office in the early 1840s. Following the resignation of Representative-elect John B. Lamar, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 to fill the vacancy. He served one term in Congress, from 1843 until 1845, during the Twenty-eighth Congress, a significant period in American history marked by debates over territorial expansion, economic policy, and the evolving sectional tensions over slavery. In this role he contributed to the legislative process, participating in the democratic governance of the nation and representing the interests of his Georgia constituents. He did not seek re-election at the end of his term.

After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, Chappell returned to state politics. He was elected to one more term in the Georgia Senate in 1845 and served as president of that body, reflecting the esteem in which he was held by his legislative colleagues. Alongside his political service, he continued his work as a lawyer, remaining an influential figure in Georgia’s legal and civic affairs.

Chappell’s personal life was closely connected to other prominent Southern families. In 1842, he married Loretto Rebecca Lamar, the younger sister of Judge Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (I) and Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas. Absalom and Loretto Chappell had five children who survived to adulthood. Their four sons pursued notable public careers: Joseph Harris Chappell became president of normal schools devoted to teacher education; Thomas Jefferson Chappell served as a state legislator and judge; and Lucius Henry Chappell was elected to two terms as mayor of Columbus, Georgia, further extending the family’s influence in regional public life.

Absalom Harris Chappell spent his later years in Columbus, Georgia, where he continued to be regarded as a senior figure in the community. He died in Columbus on December 11, 1878, just one week short of his seventy-seventh birthday. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery, also known as Old City Cemetery, in Columbus, Georgia.