In addition to his ordinary business, and partly in connection with it,
Mr. Chapin turned his attention to the question of insurance. It was a
favorite maxim with him that the West was able to do its own insurance,
and with this idea ever present, he was favorable to the establishment of
home insurance companies. Of the Sun Fire Insurance Company, of
Cleveland, he was for some years the vice-president, and labored earnestly
for its success. Being a thorough believer in the principles of
Homoeopathy, as well as an enthusiast on the subject of western insurance,
he was a willing co-worker with a number of prominent citizens engaged in
the organization of the Hahnemann Life Insurance Company, of Cleveland.
The novel character of this company--it being the first of the kind in the
United States--is sufficient warrant for a brief statement of its history.
It was established in 1865, and numbered among its stockholders such
leading business men and substantial capitalists as Wm. A. Otis, George
Worthington, William Bingham, Stillman Witt, Selah Chamberlain, Dudley
Baldwin, D. P. Eells, M. G. Younglove, and the Hon. B. F. Wade. The
leading feature was the offer to insure those whose medical belief and
practice were exclusively Homoeopathic, at lower rates than those
subjecting themselves to Allopathic treatment. The theory on which this
offer is based is, that all the evidence goes to show a lower rate of
mortality under Homoeopathic than under Allopathic treatment. The
Honorable William Baines, Insurance Commissioner of New York, in speaking
of this company in his report, says: "The Hahnemann Life Insurance
Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, is the first western company admitted into
this State. It starts with a paid up capital of $200,000, one-half of
which is deposited with the State Treasurer of Ohio, for the protection of
policy holders. The company is organized on a basis of strength and
capital, even larger than that required of New York corporations; it
reduces the rate of premium to Homoeopathic members."