Amzi Chapin (1768–1835) was a cabinetmaker, singing-school teacher shapenote and composer.
He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts into a family of cabinet-makers. He was the son of Edward Chapin (1724–1800) of Chicopee MA, younger brother of Aaron Chapin and Lucius, and the second cousin of Eliphant Chapin (1741–1805). The family is claimed to be of Welsh descent.[1]
Chapin worked in Hartford, Connecticut from 1788 until 1791[2], when he moved to New Haven. Thereafter he embarked on a career as an itinerant singing teacher, composer and cabinetmaker in the South and Midwest.
Chapin married Hannah Power, daughter of Rev. James Power, on 10 October 1800 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, where he taught and farmed for the next thirty years.[3] They had seven children including five daughters named Jane, Eunice, Eliza, Rebecca and Hannah.[4]
In 1831 the Chapins and their children's families moved to Northfield, Ohio in 1831. Chapin was one of the pioneers of Northfield Township, and one of the four founders of the Presbyterian congregation there. He died there on 19 February 1835.
Chapin taught singing schools in Virginia and North Carolina, before moving to Kentucky and then Pennsylvania. He was a proponent of Andrew Law's four-note method of shapenote notation. Amzi's elder brother Lucius (1760–1842) was also a singing teacher, and the two were apparently among the first to teach sacred music west of the Allegheny Mountains. The well-known tune "Primrose" (47t in the Sacred Harp) is by Amzi Chapin, while Lucius contributes "Vernon" (95) and the Ninety-Third Psalm (31t). "Olney" and "Rockingham" (63 and 300b in the Southern Harmony) are credited to "Chapin".