John Chandler Simpson was a retired Naval officer and businessman. Caught in the Ring of Fire when attending his son Tom's wedding, Simpson and his wife, Mary were transported back to Germany in the year 1631 along with the rest of Grantville. Initially seeking to impose order on the town, Simpson ran afoul of the more "liberal" mindset represented by Mike Stearns. After a failed bid for political office in the nascent New United States, Simpson turned his attention to what he knew: business and naval matters. Simpson soon became the head of the navy of the United States of Europe.