William Allen Chipman (November 8, 1757 – December 28, 1845) was a merchant, land owner, judge, and political figure in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
. He represented
King's County from 1799 to 1806, from 1818 to 1826 and from 1828 to 1830,
Sydney County from 1807 to 1808 and
Cornwallis Township from 1811 to 1818 in the
Nova Scotia House of Assembly
The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (; ), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, and together with the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia makes up the Nova Scotia Legislature.
The assembly is ...
He was born in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, the son of Handley Chipman and Jean Allen, and came to Cornwallis Township with his parents in 1761. Chipman served as clerk for the township and customs collector for King's County. He was also justice of the peace and judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas from 1821 to 1841. In 1777, he married Ann Osborn. Chipman voted against the measure (which passed) to allow
Laurence Kavanagh to sit in the assembly without taking the required oath against
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...
. He was a prominent member of the local
freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
s and helped establish the
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
church in Nova Scotia. As a member of the Nova Scotia Baptist Education Society, he helped establish
Horton Academy and Queen's College (later
Acadia University
Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...
). He died in Cornwallis.
His son
Samuel
Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...
also served in the House of Assembly.
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1757 births
1845 deaths
18th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
19th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
Canadian Baptists
Colony of Nova Scotia judges
{{NovaScotia-MLA-stub