Thomas E. Chandler, S. T. D., district superintendent of the Ottawa district, Methodist Episcopal church, and a resident of Ottawa, Kan., was born at New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio, June 1, 1864. He is the son of John A. and Elizabeth C. (Morris) Chandler, both natives of Ohio and early settlers in Harrison county. The Chandler ancestry can be traced back in England to William the Conqueror, under whom one of the direct ancestors was a general. John A. Chandler is a descendant of the old and well known Chandler family of Pennsylvania and was a birth-right Quaker. He served in the Civil war as a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio infantry and saw service at Harper's Ferry and in the Virginia campaign. His brother, Thomas, was one of Lincoln's body-guard and is now a minister in New York. After the war John A. Chandler gave his attention to farming at New Athens, Ohio, until 1867, at which time he removed to near Kansas City, Mo., and continued his occupation of farming. Later he removed to Baldwin, Kan., but is now a retired resident of Belton, Mo. He is an ardent Republican and an active participant in political affairs, though he has himself never sought official preferment. He and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Isaac Chandler, grandfather of Thomas E., was a native Quaker of Pennsylvania, but while yet a young man he settled at Flushing, Ohio, where he accumulated a large estate, and where he continued to reside until his death. He was with Perry in September, 1813, when the latter won his brilliant victory on Lake Erie, when for the first time in history was effected the capture of an entire English fleet. John Morris, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Chandler, was born in West Virginia, was of English descent, and a relative of Bishop Thomas Morris. In 1805, when yet a young man, he moved to New Athens, Ohio, where he became wealthy and where he lived until his death.

Dr. Chandler, after being a student in the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, graduated at Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., in 1890. Then after two years in the Northwestern University, he entered the Boston Theological Seminary, where he was graduated in 1894. Four years later he returned to Boston where he took a post-graduate course in the graduate school of arts and sciences in Boston University, completing the course in 1900. He began his ministry as pastor of the Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church at Kansas City, Kan., followed by a pastorate at the Kansas Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Topeka, Kan. From there he was transferred to the Swampscott, Mass., Methodist Episcopal Church, thence to the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Newport, R. I., the oldest Methodist church structure standing in the New England states. He remained there for three years, then accepted the charge at the Pawtucket Methodist Episcopal Church, Providence, R. I., at the conclusion of which pastorate he went abroad and traveled throughout Europe. In 1905 he was transferred to Paola, Kan., where he held the charge three and a half years, and was then made successor to Dr. Bernard Kelly, as district superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal church, Ottawa district. He removed to Ottawa in 1909.

In 1894 Dr. Chandler was united in marriage with Caroline Boughton, his classmate at Baker University and the daughter of Homer Boughton of Topeka. Mr. Boughton settled in Auburn, Kan., about 1870, but has been a resident of Topeka for the past twenty-six years and is there engaged in the real estate and investment business. He is a brother of Gen. Horace Boughton of Massachusetts. Dr. and Mrs. Chandler have one daughter, Elizabeth, who is attending the Ottawa public schools.

Dr. Chandler is prominent on the lecture platform as well as in the ministry, one of his best lectures being entitled, "Kissing the Blarney Stone." In 1900 he was chaplain of the Rhode Island state legislature and while at Newport, R. I., he became a member of the old Washington Commandery No. 4, Knights Templars. He is also a member of the Kansas State Historical Society, and in 1910 he was made president and manager of the Ottawa Chautauqua Assembly.