John L. Chipman (June 5, 1830-August 17, 1893) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan, serving as United States Representative to Congress and on the the Michigan Supreme Court. Logan was born in Detroit, Michigan, the grandson of Nathaniel Chipman, a U.S. Senator from Vermont. He attended the public schools of Detroit and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 1843-1845. He engaged in the Lake Superior region as explorer for the Montreal Mining Co. in 1846 and was assistant clerk of the Michigan House of Representatives in 1853. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1854, practicing in the Lake Superior region. He returned to Detroit and was city attorney from 1857 to 1860.
In 1865 and 1866, he was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives representing the First District of Wayne County. In 1866, he ran as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 1st congressional district, losing in the general election to Republican incumbent Fernando C. Beaman.
He was attorney of the police board of Detroit from 1867 to 1879, and was elected judge of the superior court of Detroit on May 1, 1879; he was reelected in 1885 and served until he resigned in 1887. In 1886, he had been elected to the Fiftieth Congress and was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1887, until his death in Detroit, 1893. He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.
