Tombstone Tuesday: William Christopher Chappell

9 December 2014, Chriss Coleman

Tombstone Tuesday is a blogging prompt from Geneabloggers.com.

As I was going through Rosemary’s photo albums I came across a photo I wasn’t expecting – a photo of her father’s gravestone. I never knew Rosemary Chappell. She passed away nearly 20 years before my husband and I got married. However, I have come to know Rosemary through the things she left behind. She was a genealogist at heart. She kept diaries, she labelled photos, and apparently she photographed tombstones. Actually, she was quite a shutterbug for her time.

Gravestone of William Christopher Chappell at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Photo of William C Chappell’s gravestone at Lundy’s Lane cemetery, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.1

The stone reads:

Chappell
William Christopher C.P.O.R.N [Chief Petty Officer Royal Navy]
Nov 29 1869 - Dec 28 1941
Beloved husband of
Elizabeth E. Farthing
[blank]
Requiescant in Pace

An updated version of this gravestone can be seen on the Niagara Falls Genealogy Search, which includes a burial date of 31 Dec 1941, as well as his wife’s details.

The updated version reads:

Chappell
William Christopher C.P.O.R.N [Chief Petty Officer Royal Navy]
Nov 29 1869 - Dec 28 1941
Beloved husband of
Elizabeth E. Farthing
Feb 3 1868 - Sep 3 1954 2
Requiescant in Pace

William had been suffering from heart troubles for several years prior to his death, and he had had several heart attacks that led to his being pensioned from Niagara Hydro. William died in his home as 2566 Lundy’s Lane, Niagara Falls, Ontario with his wife at his side.

His final words were to his wife, and he simply said, “Do you want to kiss me?” 3

William Chappell was my husband’s 2xgreat-grandfather.

Our lineage:

  • 5. William Christopher Chappell (1869-1941)
  • 4. Rosemary Cecelia Chappell (1900-1985)
  • 3. James Francis Walsh (1931-2001)
  • 2. My husband’s mother (living)
  • 1. My husband

  1. Photo album of Rosemary Chappell, scanned by author 9 Sep 2014, original in possesion of Joan [name withheld for private; address for private use], Simcoe county, Ontario. ↩

  2. Niagara Falls, database and images (http://www.niagarafalls.ca/city-hall/municipal-works/cemetery/genealogy : accessed 25 Jun 2014), memorial page for William Chappell (1869-1941), citing Lundy’s Lane Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. ↩

  3. Elizabeth Chappell and Rosemary Walsh, “Chappell and Walsh Family Log”, unpublished journal, 1923-1943 [vol.1], p.154. Diary held by Deb [name withheld for privacy; address for private use], Muskoka, Ontario, digital copy transmitted to Chriss Coleman, 11 Mar 2014. ↩

Copyright ©2014, Chriss Coleman

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