Alida L. Evans was born October 10, 1889 in Olger, Ogemaw County, Michigan to John L. Evans and Huldah L. "Lille" Shimel. She was the oldest of eight children, the Evans siblings include Lewis, Harold, Ceneth, and Kermith. Her family came to Lansing behind the yoke of oxen around 1900. Alida had an eighth grade education. 

On September 22, 1908, Alida married Harry Chapman in St. Johns. The couple resided in Lansing from 1908 through 1914, when they moved to Holt. Harry was a conductor on the interurban and street car lines. He was aboard the first-ever interurban car that came through Holt in October 1908. Once the couple moved to Holt in 1914, Alida worked as a ticket agent in the interurban office. The couple lived in one house for their entire life in Holt, the first house east of the school on Holt Road, 4244 Holt Road. 

In 1919, Alida took over the Holt telephone exchange and moved the operation into her home. She worked as Holt's telephone operated for several years thereafter. Harry was very active in the community. He was president of the Holt Community Council and organized the first Holt Fire Department in 1924. The original fire siren switch was located at the Chapman home, while the siren was located at the fire barn around the corner on Cedar Street. The couple also operated the Red and White grocery store in Holt in the 1940s. Harry also served as treasurer of Delhi Township from 1948 to 1958. 

In 1920, Mrs. Chapman began as a Holt correspondent with the State Journal in Lansing. In 1922, she took up duties in a similar role with the Ingham County News. She worked for both papers for 25 years, through roughly the late 1940s. By 1963, State Journal editor Hayden Palmer asked Alida to write a weekly history column on Delhi Township and Holt. She continued the column for twelve years, through 1975. 

During the Great Depression in 1930s, Alida started the Holt Christmas Council, which distributed baskets of food and goods to families in need. On August 31, 1935, she founded the Holt Nursing Home in her home. It originally had one patient, but as demand grew the home was eventually full in all 14 beds. In 1944, Alida sold the Holt Nursing Home to Rachel O'Connor and Elsie Hope, who moved the operation to 4235 Holt Road and continued it through 1951. 

Alida was active in the Holt Women's Club, frequently hosting monthly meetings in her home. She was also involved in the Holt Rebekah Lodge No. 446 and the local Red Cross chapter, in which she was active for more than 50 years. Near the end of her life, in 1973, Mrs. Chapman knitted 116 pair of mittens for Ingham Medical Center. She averaged more than 100 mittens per year, donating them to needy children. She frequently led in the knitting contests held by the Lansing State Journal. The Chapmans were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Holt. 

In 1961, Mrs. Campbell, the librarian for the Holt branch of the Ingham County Library, asked Mrs. Chapman to write a history of Holt for the local schools. Of her volunteer work and historical research and writing, Alida said "I wish no remuneration for my work, but if I can impress upon a few young people the hardship and suffering their ancestors went through to make this country great and make their lives therefore enjoyable I have accomplished my mission." A copy of this history is not known to exist. Please contact us if you have a copy or know where to find it. 

Alida L. Chapman died December 16, 1975 at age 86. The Delhi Township Bicentennial Commission published Alida Chapman's historical newspaper columns in a book titled Looking Back just months following her death in 1976. This work, comprised of many firsthand recollections, interviews with early residents, and primary source research conducted by Alida. Looking Back is among the preeminent Holt history publications to date. The Commission prefaced the book with "Mrs. Chapman's hope and dream was to interest people, young and old, in perpetuating their own family history. We hope this stimulates all of you into a research of your own and put in writing your remembrances of times past."