John O. Chambers, a successful physician and surgeon, of Hanover, was born at Marysville, Nodaway county, Missouri, October 12, 1856. He is a son of John and Sarah R. (Weddington) Chambers. The father was a contractor and builder, following that occupation throughout his life. The mother was born in Tennessee and is a descendant of a long line of Southern ancestors. Her father was a large planter and slave holder before the war.

Dr. Chambers was reared in his native county and attended the rural schools. After completing the common branches he taught school for a few years. His father died when Dr. Chambers was a small boy, and he was compelled to assist his widowed mother in supporting the family. He was ambitious to attain a higher education, and besides helping his mother he paid his own way through college by teaching. He entered the Northern Indiana College at Valparaiso, now known as the Valparaiso University, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1882 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then returned to Nodaway county and taught school several years, when he went to Nebraska, where he was also engaged in teaching, and came to Kansas as a teacher in the city schools of Horton, and was employed there five years. He then decided to take up the profession of medicine, and entered the Louisville Medical College, Louisville, Ky., graduating in the class of 1891 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He also took several special courses of lectures in addition to the regular course, and is now admitted to practice in both the States of Nebraska and Kansas. He located at Hanover in 1896, where he has since been engaged in practice. Dr. Chambers has been successful in his chosen field of endeavor. He is a skillful physician and has built up a large practice in and around Hanover.

He was united in marriage, October 21, 1894, to Miss Mattie Williams, a native of New Hampshire, where she received a public school and college education. She was a teacher in the Horton city schools at the time of her marriage.

Dr. Chambers is the local surgeon for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad companies at Hanover. He is a member of the County and State Medical associations and has been president of the County Medical Association and also president of the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railway Surgeons' Association. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican.