on of Lt. Col. James Chamberlain and Ann Sample, of Adams Co., PA. John graduated from Dickinson College in 1825. During the time when brother Jeremiah was President of Oakland College, in MS, John taught mathematics, chemistry, natural sciences, and English at the college. After Jeremiah's death, he moved his family to Lexington, MO. John first married Mary Unknown in abt. 1822. They had a daughter, Clara. In 1856, he married Eliza Brooks Hutchins in Lexington, MO. The couple had four children: Anne Ireland; Jeremiah Hutchins; James Blaine; and John, Jr.