Joseph Hooper Chadbourn was born on April 8, 1830, in Waterboro, Maine, to Nathan and Betsey Chadbourn. His father was a farmer who owned $7,000 of real estate in 1850. He grew up and attended school in Waterboro. He married Mary Jane Reed in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 27, 1860. They had at least three children: Cora, born around 1862; Madalina, born around 1864; and Freddie, born around 1866. They lived in Waterboro, and Chadbourn worked as a mason. The family moved to Boston in the 1860s. His wife died around 1895, and by 1900, he was living in his daughter Cora’s household in Boston. He died on December 2, 1911.