Born: June 17, 1859, Richmond, Indiana.
Died: December 25, 1918, New York City.
Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.
Wilbur was the son of Alexander Hamilton Chapman and Lorinda McWhinney. He married three times: to Irene Steddom, Agnes Pruyn, and Mabel Cornelia Moulton.
He graduated from Lake Forest College in 1879, and Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1882.
Ordained a Presbyterian minister, his first pastorate was split between churches in Liberty, Indiana, and College Corner, Ohio. In 1883 he became minister of the Old Saratoga Dutch Reformed Church in Schuylerville, New York. In 1885, he moved to the First Reformed Church in Albany, New York, and in 1890 to the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He was one of the founders of the Winona Lake Bible Conference and, in 1900, traveled to the Holy Land.