KEN. CHAPEZE, attorney at law, was born in Bardstown, Ky., in 1838, and is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Shepherd) Chapeze, and is of French extraction. The paternal grandfather was born in Paris, France; came to America at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, in which he was a noted surgeon. The father of our subject was born in Bardstown, Ky., in 1787. There was perhaps no man in central Kentucky who was more prominent, or enjoyed a more extended acquaintance than did the famous lawyer, Benjamin Chapeze. He practiced law at Bardstown and Elizabethtown, and in 1839, while defending a man the third time for murder, at Elizabethtown, he was taken suddenly ill, and expired in a few days. The subject of this sketch is one of ten children, and, in his early life, was obliged to support his mother. In early life he was a road-wagoner, and by this means he paid his way at school. In addition to attending school at Bardstown, he spent some time at St. Mary's College, in Marion County, Ky. He borrowed books and read law under Phil Lee and William Weston, and was admitted to the bar at Shepherdsville, Ky., in 1857, and there remained until 1864, when he came to Union County, and here has continued the practice of his profession. He is one of the most successful practitioners at the Union County bar. He was elected county attorney of Bullitt, in 1858. He was married in 1868, to Miss Virginia Hancock, of Henderson, Ky. The union has been blessed with five children, viz.: Louisa (deceased), Ken, Ben, Elizabeth and Mary. He is a Democrat, and Mrs. Chapeze is a member of the Catholic Church.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1021.