Rev. Chester Smith Percival was born on March 12, 1822, in Vernon, Oneida, New York.

He was an Episcopalian clergyman, educator, and poet. In 1845, he graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York. During his studies, he contributed to the newspapers of Rome and Utica. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at various schools in New York and Tennessee, where he became a principal of the Summer Academy at Gallatin. He returned to New York to become principal of the Vernon Academy. He established a Church boarding school for boys at Fredonia, but it did not survive the financial crisis of 1857. He studied for his ministry, and in 1860, he was ordained at Utica. In 1861, he became a rector of the parish in Homer, New York, and during the Civil War, he was appointed a Chaplain of the 12th New York Infantry. In 1864, he accepted a call to become rector of Grace Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He spent the next thirty-one years at seven Iowa parishes. He became widely known as a writer of prose and verse. His poems, published in "Louisville Journal," were republished in many leading newspapers and magazines of the country. In 1883, he received an honorary Ph.D. degree from Hamilton College. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1890, Dr. Percival was appointed a chaplain of the Soldiers' Home at Marshalltown, Iowa.

In 1846, he married Elizabeth Hodges (1820–1908). He died on August 4, 1892, in Marshalltown, Marshall, Iowa.