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Born on December 25. 1825, in Middletown. Connecticut, son of Ezekiel and Eliza Chadwick. Brother of Henry. Married to Jane A. Smith; father of four children, Stephen J.. Fitter F., Ella P. and Mary. Chadwick received his elementary education in Connecticut; read law in New York City; and was admitted to the New York Bar on May 30, 1850. Sailed for Oregon via Panama on March 13. 1851; also aboard ship was Zenas Moody, who became the seventh governor of Oregon. Chadwick arrived in Oregon on April 21 of that year and settled in Scottsburg, where he set up a law practice and became the first postmaster of the town. Moved from Scottsburg to Roseburg, where he was elected the first Judge of Douglas County. Served as Assistant United States District Attorney for the Southern District of Oregon. In 1866 he was one of the original directors of a Salem corporation, the Oregon Central Railroad Company, which subsequently became part of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Represented Douglas County at Oregon's Constitutional Convention in 1857; was a Democratic presidential elector in 1864 and 1868; elected Secretary of State in 1870 and reelected to that office in 1874. Chadwick succeeded to the office of governor on February 1, 1877, after the resignation of Governor LaFayette Grover, who had been elected to the United States Senate. He served simultaneously as Governor and Secretary of State until the expiration of his term on September 11, 1878. The most dramatic event of his short term in office was a personal appearance which he made in eastern Oregon in 1878 during a period of general disorder caused by a series of raids conducted by the Bannock Indians. Chadwick was credited with aiding and encouraging the white settlers during the conflict and with insisting upon the punishment of the Indians responsible for starting the conflict. When the brief war was over. he insisted that friendly Indian chiefs surrender the instigators for prosecution by the state of Oregon: nine Indians were subsequently hung. The Governor's participation in the Indian war contributed to his fame more than did his other activities while in office. Chadwick did not seek reelection to a second term as governor. He resumed his law career in Salem and was particularly active in the Grand Lodge of Masons. He died in Salem on January 15. 1895.
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Bibliography: 1. Oregonian (Portland) (January 16, 1895); 2. Elwood Evans, History of the Pacific Northwest (Portland, 1889); 3. Harvey K. Hines, An Illustrated History of the State qf Oregon (Chicago, 1893); 4. Harrison Rittenhouse Kincaid, Political and Official History and Register of Oregon (Salem, 1899). 5. Correspondence from Chadwick is in the Joseph Lane Papers, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, and in the 0. C. Applegate Papers and the Asahel Bush Papers, located in the University of Oregon Library, Eugene. 7. Family photographs, diary and some papers at the Oregon State Library, Salem.8. Political Graveyard