Francis T. Chadbourn was born around 1845 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. His father died on April 25, 1860.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 30, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company K of the 27th Maine Infantry. The regiment spent the next several months defending Washington, D.C., and Chadbourn mustered out on July 17, 1863.
Chadbourn settled in Saco, Maine, after leaving the army, and he earned a living as an upholsterer. He married Linnie Durgin on September 12, 1869, and their daughter Gracie was born around 1877. They lived in Boston, Massachusetts, until the 1870s, when they moved to Gorham, Maine. His wife died in the late 1800s.
In December 1910, he was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Togus, Maine. According to his admission records, he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was suffering from “mitral insufficiency.” He was discharged in August 1911 at his own request, but he reentered the facility in January 1912. He died in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1916.