SAMUEL P. CHALFANT, D. D. S.

 

 

 

Samuel P. Chalfant, D. D. S., whose office is at the corner of Market and Mason streets, San Francisco, has been engaged in the practice of dentistry since 1871.  He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and is of French descent; his ancestors settled in Pennsylvania and were among its early settlers.  Dr Chalfant was reared on his father’s farm in that State, the homestead having been in the family for generations, and was educated in the public schools of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and later attended the Lewisburg University, where he remained three years.  He then commenced the study of dentistry in 1866, under the preceptorship of Dr. R. L. McLellan, a dentist of Chester county, Pennsylvania, with whom he studied for three years.  He then held the position of assistant two years, and in 1870 entered the Philadelphia Dental College, where he graduated in 1871, receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery.  He entered in practice in St. Louis, where he remained until 1876, and in that year came to California, where he has since practiced continuously in San Francisco in his present office.

 

At the breaking out of the war, Dr. Chalfant responded to the call for volunteers, and in September, 1861, at the age of sixteen years, he enlisted in the Fifty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company  D, in which he served three years.  At the expiration of his time of service he joined the United States Veteran Volunteers, a command specially organized by General Hancock, in which he served until 1866.  During 1861-2 he served in the Army of the Potomac, being present at the battle of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, in the siege of Yorktown, and also the battles of White Oak Swamp, Malvern  Hill, and in fact all the battles of the seven-days fighting in front of Richmond in the Peninsular campaign.  In the winter of 1862-3 his regiment was sent with General Foster’s expedition to Charleston, South Carolina, intending to take that city.  They remained there until the fall of 1864, taking part in the fighting in Charleston Harbor during that time.