Hope Caroline Chapin, née Brown, was born in Providence, Rhode Island on 20 January 1885. She was the daughter of Daniel Russell Brown, a Connecticut-born merchant, and the former Isabella Barrows, a native of Massachusetts.

She was married on 10 April 1912 married to Howard Millar Chapin, a news correspondent for The Evening News; in February 1912 the couple had obtained a joint passport for them both, pre-empting their honeymoon to Europe. Husband and wife boarded the Carpathia as first class passengers.

Howard Chapin, one of several newspapermen aboard, found himself able to interact with survivors and managed to interview several, including Richard Norris Williams; a special report was published in The Evening News on 19 April 1912.

Mr and Mrs Chapin, who were childless, continued to travel extensively and remained as residents of Providence where Howard later worked as a librarian for the Rhode Island Historical Society. 

Hope Chapin predeceased her husband when she passed away on 22 October 1938.