Jimmy Chappell 1st grade
Jim and Gina on night out Jim with signature red pocket square
Interior of Chappell's Restaurant with one of 2 fieplaces
Jim with Walter Peyton's NFL Man of the Year award recipient unknown
The night Len Dawson was inducted into the high school hall of fame nominated by Jim Chappell.
Grand Marshall Jim Chappell w/ Grandson Jimmy at the Snake Saturday Parade
Chappell Family Coat of Arms
Painting of Legendary Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum
Honored by US Senator Eric Schmidt as "A Champion of Missouri". This designation is to recognize Missourians that go above and beyond to bring positive change to their community and state.
Dad's office building Iowa Land Company and his 1952 cadillac & jeep
Dad's friends at his office, Christmas 1955. Named left to right John Tumelty, Charles Wells, Buell Smith, Charles Chappell, & Alec Hartrick.
Jim and Gina Chappell, parents of the bride, Michelle and Dave's Wedding
2024 Kansas City Shepherd's Center "70 over 70 Award"
This flag was flown for James B. Chappell over the United States capital on November 17th, 1991 Veterans Day on the request of the Honorable Christopher S. Bond, United States Senator.
Jim was Enshrined in the Class of 2013 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
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James Birdsall Chappell Jim Chappell, one of the most well-known personalities in the Kansas City area, lived in Keokuk, Iowa, from his birth in 1942 until he went to college at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. At Drury he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree as an art major. Jim's parents were Charles Birdsall Chappell and Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell. His only sibling was his older brother, Charles Simpson Chappell.
Jim combined his knack for building long-lasting relationships with building a business – Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum in North Kansas City, Missouri. Chappell's has been the “go-to” place for sports and political personalities from all over the region – and beyond – for decades. Celebrated as one of the best sports bars in the country in numerous national publications and also picked by the newspaper, USA Today, as “the number one place in the country to watch the Super Bowl”, the restaurant has a welcoming bar, great food and a unique visual appeal with over a thousand football helmets covering the spacious ceiling and framed autographed photos and other memorabilia decorating the walls. The other extra ingredient for a fulfilling customer experience at Chappell's was, almost always, the opportunity to have an enlightening and pleasant interaction with the owner, Jim Chappell, who seemed to be omnipresent at lunch and dinner hours. Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum has achieved national acclaim as well as an exceptional local reputation. It has received coverage in Sports Illustrated, Sport Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today was the repeated subject of coverage in countless newspaper and magazine articles as well as radio and television. In 2012 Jim Chappell co-authored a captivating book “Conversations at Chappell's” and Jim was featured in a 30 minute biographical documentary produced by the KC Chiefs network about his relationship with many Kansas City Chiefs' greats. While acknowledging the fame and success he has achieved, Jim gives credit to his wife of 50 plus years, Gina, their two daughters and five grandchildren. He says, “The only reason I have been successful is because of Gina and our family.” He gives credit also to the values shaped by his parents who gave him a great life growing up. In addition to raising a family and running a business, Jim was involved in countless community and civic activities: Member and then Chairman of the Kansas City Planning Commission; Commissioner of the Kansas City Port Authority; Chairman of the Clay County Board of Election Commissioners. Since 1985, he has been on the Board of Directors of the First Bank of Missouri (now Security Bank of Kansas City) and, for 25 of those years, he served as Chairman of the Board. During this time, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Valley View Holding Company. Early in his career he made an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as a Missouri State Senator, with the support and endorsement of Kit Bond, a close personal friend and political advisor, who was a former Missouri Governor at that time and who eventually became a long-time U.S. Senator for Missouri. Jim Chappell's family history offers examples of success that set a high standard. Charles Chappell was a prominent realtor and historian, known throughout the state of Iowa. At his death, he was listed as a Notable Iowan in the Annals of Iowa. He was the president of Midland Homes and owner of the Iowa Land Company, a successful real-estate brokerage, appraising and insurance business. He died unexpectedly at the age of 54, the same year Jim was to be enrolled as a Freshman at Drury University. According to one commentary, “(Charles) had a distinct and stimulating personality, an inquiring mind and was particularly well-read and informed with a strong interest in history.” These are attributes that friends of Jim would say apply to Jim as well. Jim's mother, Pauline, attended the University of Kansas City, the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of music and danced for several years with the Kansas City Ballet. At 79 She earned a certificate for excellence in creative writing from Penn Valley Community College. She had high expectations and a determination for Jim to graduate from college, in spite of the personal setback of losing his father at a critical time in his life. Celebrities made sure they stopped by Chappell's when they were in Kansas City. The list of those included Dave Winfield, Marcus Allen, artist LeRoy Neiman, Warren Buffett and Vince Gill. Regulars included Hank Stram, Len Dawson, Hank Bauer, Joe Montana and George Brett. It was also a welcome hangout for federal judges, federal appellate judges, a United States Attorney General, United States Senators, Governors and countless federal and state representatives, and maybe, a few mobsters. The list of accolades and memberships associated with Jim Chappell include: member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Kansas City Police Retirement Board, graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy, named by the Kansas City Star as one of the “25 People Who Make Kansas City a Better Sports Town.” Jim's personal appeal and credentials have been described in a variety of ways: successful entrepreneur; community leader; Author; doting husband of Gina; father of two daughters and proud grandfather of five; funny, warm and charming; world traveler – traveling all over the world plus the 50 states. The typical experience when a customer walked through the door was to see this tall, good-looking gentleman rise from his seat at the front of the bar and offer his wide smile and recognize an old friend. It seems that everyone knows Jim and Jim knows everyone. You could usually find him walking around, giving new and old friends tours of the place or going from table to table telling patrons a quick story of the times hanging on the walls around them. One comment was, “It would be like the President taking you on a tour of the White House or Elvis taking you on a tour of Graceland.” The memorabilia on the walls and hanging from the ceiling were diverse, notable and interesting. Visitors could see John Wooden's 1930-31 Purdue All-Indiana trophy, Michael Jordan's autographed Olympic jersey, the boxing gloves Sylvester Stallone wore in “Rocky”, and home plate from Municipal Stadium signed by the 1955 Kansas City Athletics and several Monarchs. Chappell's was one of those places where you could eat a hundred times and be fascinated by a new photograph or trinket with each visit. It might be Tom Watson's putter or the signed photographs of baseball legends Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige posing in Monarch's uniforms. One could say that football helmets from every college and professional team known to mankind were hanging from the ceiling. Jim could take you directly to almost any of those helmets you might ask about and tell you a story about the team it represents. Along the way, Chappell the man has become somewhat of a celebrity. Too many times to count, he's been asked to tell someone “Happy Birthday” on a videotape or to sign Styrofoam baseballs that he gives to kids (the adults are the ones wanting the autograph). A few months ago, a man came into Chappell's and asked Jim to write a note to the man's father – the Chappell family's mailman back in Keokuk, who had cancer. “When a guy comes in and asks you to write a note to his dying dad that makes you feel good.” Chappell says softly, “I loved doing those things because it makes them feel special” For any self-respecting sports fan in Kansas City, the feeling is mutual. Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
Chappell was enshrined into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2013. With his new place in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Chappell's legacy is now sealed in sports history. For visitors to his restaurant and those who meet him, the impression of the man himself is to be just as enduring.   Selected Timeline of Jim Chappell's Career Highlights:
FUN FACTS and TRIVIA
QUOTES "Jim is a major factor of the Kansas City sports scene" -Bill Grigsby, Kansas city chiefs play by play announcer "Thank you for your hospitality in giving the Wizards soccer team a tour of your wonderful restaurant and a special thank you for making me a Chappell's Honorary Docent." -Lamar Hunt, owner Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Wizards "Kansas City and Missouri is lucky to have a place like Chappell's. And the coup de grace is that when you go, you get to talk to Jim. Walking into Chappell's for free is a better value than some sports museums I've paid to enter." -Marty Willadsen, vice-president. Missouri Sports Hall of Fame "Jim Chappell knows everyone, and everyone knows Jim. The tall, good-looking native has created a community within a community." -KCH&G Magazine "It is Jim's warm charisma and affable nature, though, that has no doubt earned him a place in the hearts of his customers." -North Magazine "A sports- and politics-oriented place whose fans say the 'sports and memorabilia are better than a museum', 'service is fast and efficient', and the owner [Jim Chappell] is 'always warm and charming'" -Zagat Restaurant Review "One reason to come here, whether you're black, white, Hispanic, it doesn't matter... everyone speaks the language of sports. And Jim Chappell does that better than anyone else in the city. Instead of saying why would someone want to go to Chappell's, a better question is why wouldn't someone want to come to Chappell's? It's a huge compliment to Jim. He treats everyone the same and with respect." -Sam Lacey, Former Kansas City Kings player 1970-82 “Jim and I have been friends for a long time and I especially appreciate his efforts to get me into the High School Hall of Fame.” -Len Dawson, Chiefs Former Quarterback and Kansas City Media Personality “I hear you’re quite the entrepreneur, Jim.” Warren Buffet, International Business Leader and Entrepreneur "No organization an put together a local baseball museum without first consulting with Jim Chappell." -Lloyd Johnson, Senior Research Associate, The National Baseball Hall of Fame "There's an endless flow of memories, and Jim Chappell has a story for every item, a name for every face, and an anecdote for every celebrity that has visited his restaurant." -The Liberty Tribune-News "Before I get started on what is there, let me mention that I've never seen so much stuff from years gone by since I was at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown." -St. Genevieve Herald "Jim Chappell is living his dream, and bringing back a sports world we remember as better." -The Pitch Weekly "Chappell's without a doubt has the best collection of sports memorabilia in Kansas City- probably the whole world! This restaurant could charge admission as a museum of sports artifacts." -Kansas City Golf Magazine "Boasting one of the best collections of sports memorabilia in the hospitality industry Chappell's may be as close to heaven as any sports fan will ever get in this earthly existence." -Nightclub and Bar Magazine "Rare as these sports items might be, seen all at once the artifacts combine to produce something even more remarkable: a warm feeling." -The Kansas City Star "Don't be surprised if you encounter a few celebrities while you are there." Speed Dreams: A Guide to America's 23 NASCAR Tracks "I put my baseball career behind me until I met Jim the first week he opened Chappell's. He was friends of Charley Finley owner of the Athletics, and he reunited us after seventeen years. Jim and I are good friends and he should have been my agent." -Lew Krausse, Former Kansas City A's Pitcher 1961-67 "A place like Chappell's should have been in New York the Yankee players would have loved it." -Hank Bauer, former right fielder of the New York Yankees "You can walk around Chappell's and find memorabilia for just about any sport and definitely any local team. On the flip side, if you want a good meal, you go to Chappell's. Besides the artifacts and food, though, Jim Chappell is always courteous and polite; a fun guy to be around." -Dennis Leonard, Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame Pitcher 1974-86 3 Time 20 Game Winning Pitcher "People told me for 15 years I needed to get to Chappell's. It is amazing. It's an unbelievable sports collection. He has some memorabilia that hasn't even been invented yet." -Steve Palermo, Major League Umpire "Jim, I love your place and thanks for taking good care of the guys!" -Joe Montana, Hall of fame quarterback San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Won 4 super bowls,3 time MVP. "Thank you for generosity, to me and to Chiefs fans everywhere !" -Clark Hunt ,owner Kansas City chiefs "Kansas City is fortunate to have someone like Jim Chappell. He's our hometown guy. He gets our history and what we're about." -Kathy Nelson, of the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission "May you be rewarded a thousand times over for all your kind deeds and what you have done for Kansas City." - George Toma, Hall of Fame Crew Chief for all the Super Bowls, Royals Stadium and Arrowhead. ANNALS OF IOWA
Iowa State Department of History and Archives NOTABLE IOWANS Charles Birdsall Chappell, prominent realtor and historian, known throughout the state, died at his home in Keokuk July 12, 1960; born at Independence, Iowa September 7, 1905, the son of Jesse McKee Chappell and Mary Birdsall Chappell; attended Kansas City University from 1924 to 1926 and graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism in 1930; was a newspaper reporter in Phoenix and Kansas City Star for three years, became a partner of the Eastern Land Company in 1933 and came to Keokuk in 1939 as owner and operator of the Iowa Land Company; developed and president of Midland Homes, Inc., a successful real estate brokerage, appraising and insurance business; served as an appraiser for the Veterans Administration, director of National Association of Real Estate Boards, past president of the Iowa Real Estate Association, director of the Farm Brokers Institute of Iowa, and was secretary of the Certified Appraisers of America, member of the Senior Residential Appraisers, and Lee County inheritance tax appraiser; listed in A.N. Marquis Who's Who of the Midwest, which profiled the most influential men and women in America's heartland. He was awarded the National Omega Tau Rho Medallion for his exemplary dedication and service to the real estate industry. He had a distinct and stimulating personality, an inquiring mind and was particularly well-read and informed with a strong interest in history; provided helpful knowledge and leadership in many state and local historical activities as a founder and past president of the Iowa Society for the Preservation of Historic Landmarks, a director, charter member and first vice president of the Lee County Historical Society and chairman of the Civil War Centennial committee for the 1960 Iowa State Fair, held membership in the Elks, Odd Fellows and St. John's Episcopal Church; survived by his wife Pauline and two sons, Charles Simpson Chappell and James Birdsall Chappell.
Awards and Honors |
Jim Chappell’s Family Home
216 High Street, Keokuk, Iowa
The concepts that shaped the remarkable house at 216 High Street which the Chappell family called home from 1942 to 1963 came from engineer and architect John H. Cole who designed and built the house for his own residence in the 1880s. At the time it was built it was one of the finest in the city. The Cole family lived in the house for 53 years until it was purchased by Jim’s father, Charles B. Chappell, in 1942. In addition to being an engineer and an architect, Mr. Cole and his brother owned and operated a successful stove business. Mr. Cole had also served as superintendent of the Carnegie Bridge which spanned the Mississippi River at Keokuk. The beautiful neighborhood Mr. Cole chose was one and a half blocks from the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.
In 1963, three years after Mr. Chappell’s death, Jim, his mother and his brother decided to sell the house. Both Jim and his brother were in college at the time and Mrs. Chappell decided the house was too much for her. The next owners kept the house for about 10 years. By the mid-1970s and early 80s the economy in Keokuk was in steep decline and many fine old homes fell into disrepair, including the one at 216 High Street, and were demolished.
The three-story house at 216 High Street was a large brick house with stained brown shingles and beautiful decorative gray wood trim. It had five magnificent fireplaces. The interior was ornately decorated with beautiful oak throughout. All the doors and windows had detailed oak carvings. The designed doors all had glass, brass or wooden doorknobs and pearl button light switches. Inside the front door was a reception foyer that contained a welcoming fireplace, a large chandelier and a comfortable alcove with a hall seat. The ceiling was beautifully decorated with wood that was planked in a square pattern. The library was the most impressive room in the house. It had a large, curved bay window with beautiful stained glass windows and two side windows. An persian carpet covered the wood floor. The mahogany fireplace was detailed with intricate carvings, a small shelf and a beveled mirror. A marble button with a decorative wooden holder was pushed to call for service. All the walls had built-in wooden bookshelves that housed over 2,500 books. Two large elegant sliding doors with detailed carved oak led into the dining room. The dining room was stunning with a built-in china cabinet and fireplace. The china cabinet held the family’s Haviland china from France that was passed down for two generations. There was a large mahogany antique table with six chairs and Jim’s mother’s piano was in the corner. A very large living room also had a fireplace, a stained glass bay window, a wood floor and an oriental carpet. Four bedrooms were upstairs on the second floor, each with a large walk-in closet. Typical of the time for fine houses, one bathroom served the entire second floor. The Master bedroom had a fireplace, a walk out balcony and bookcases filled with books. There was a small alcove with a chair and lamp for reading. The kitchen was ordinary for the time. It contained a pantry room and service stairs, referred to as “backstairs”. The stairs led to a bedroom upstairs where the domestic help stayed. There was a third floor that had two bedrooms, but was mostly used for storage. It had a walk-out door to a roof patio which was enjoyed on hot summer evenings.
The Chappell home is listed in a book Tales of Early Keokuk Homes by historian Raymond, E. Garrison.
(In the book the home 216 High St. is listed under 612 Exchange St. Mr. Cole previous home) page 25
About the Owners of 216 High Street, Keokuk, Iowa:
The Cole and Chappell families were both descended from Revolutionary ancestry. An ancestor of John Cole was Col. Phillip Cole. He commanded the 4th Battalion of Northumberland County, a Pennsylvania regiment which was in the battle at Trenton, NJ. James Birdsall Chappell is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) and daughter Michelle Ann Chappell Pato is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.)
Excerpts from the obituary of Mrs. John H. Cole:
Mrs. Leulia Warner Cole was born July 29, 1854 in Meshoppen, PA. She was married on December 23, 1873 in Emporium, PA to John H. Cole. Shortly afterward they moved to Keokuk. They had three daughters: Emma L, Ora Belle, and Iva Valentine. Two of the daughters were graduates of the University of Chicago.
Excerpts from the obituary of Mrs. Charles B Chappell:
Mrs. Pauline Simpson Chappell was born on May 12, 1901 in Kansas City, KS. She was married on March 20, 1940 in Lawrence, KS to Charles B. Chappell. Shortly afterward they moved to Keokuk, IA. She and Charles had two sons, Charles Simpson Chappell and James Birdsall Chappell. She attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
216 High Street, Keokuk, Iowa
The concepts that shaped the remarkable house at 216 High Street which the Chappell family called home from 1942 to 1963 came from engineer and architect John H. Cole who designed and built the house for his own residence in the 1880s. At the time it was built it was one of the finest in the city. The Cole family lived in the house for 53 years until it was purchased by Jim’s father, Charles B. Chappell, in 1942. In addition to being an engineer and an architect, Mr. Cole and his brother owned and operated a successful stove business. Mr. Cole had also served as superintendent of the Carnegie Bridge which spanned the Mississippi River at Keokuk. The beautiful neighborhood Mr. Cole chose was one and a half blocks from the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.
In 1963, three years after Mr. Chappell’s death, Jim, his mother and his brother decided to sell the house. Both Jim and his brother were in college at the time and Mrs. Chappell decided the house was too much for her. The next owners kept the house for about 10 years. By the mid-1970s and early 80s the economy in Keokuk was in steep decline and many fine old homes fell into disrepair, including the one at 216 High Street, and were demolished.
The three-story house at 216 High Street was a large brick house with stained brown shingles and beautiful decorative gray wood trim. It had five magnificent fireplaces. The interior was ornately decorated with beautiful oak throughout. All the doors and windows had detailed oak carvings. The designed doors all had glass, brass or wooden doorknobs and pearl button light switches. Inside the front door was a reception foyer that contained a welcoming fireplace, a large chandelier and a comfortable alcove with a hall seat. The ceiling was beautifully decorated with wood that was planked in a square pattern. The library was the most impressive room in the house. It had a large, curved bay window with beautiful stained glass windows and two side windows. An persian carpet covered the wood floor. The mahogany fireplace was detailed with intricate carvings, a small shelf and a beveled mirror. A marble button with a decorative wooden holder was pushed to call for service. All the walls had built-in wooden bookshelves that housed over 2,500 books. Two large elegant sliding doors with detailed carved oak led into the dining room. The dining room was stunning with a built-in china cabinet and fireplace. The china cabinet held the family’s Haviland china from France that was passed down for two generations. There was a large mahogany antique table with six chairs and Jim’s mother’s piano was in the corner. A very large living room also had a fireplace, a stained glass bay window, a wood floor and an oriental carpet. Four bedrooms were upstairs on the second floor, each with a large walk-in closet. Typical of the time for fine houses, one bathroom served the entire second floor. The Master bedroom had a fireplace, a walk out balcony and bookcases filled with books. There was a small alcove with a chair and lamp for reading. The kitchen was ordinary for the time. It contained a pantry room and service stairs, referred to as “backstairs”. The stairs led to a bedroom upstairs where the domestic help stayed. There was a third floor that had two bedrooms, but was mostly used for storage. It had a walk-out door to a roof patio which was enjoyed on hot summer evenings.
The Chappell home is listed in a book Tales of Early Keokuk Homes by historian Raymond, E. Garrison.
(In the book the home 216 High St. is listed under 612 Exchange St. Mr. Cole previous home) page 25
About the Owners of 216 High Street, Keokuk, Iowa:
The Cole and Chappell families were both descended from Revolutionary ancestry. An ancestor of John Cole was Col. Phillip Cole. He commanded the 4th Battalion of Northumberland County, a Pennsylvania regiment which was in the battle at Trenton, NJ. James Birdsall Chappell is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) and daughter Michelle Ann Chappell Pato is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.)
Excerpts from the obituary of Mrs. John H. Cole:
Mrs. Leulia Warner Cole was born July 29, 1854 in Meshoppen, PA. She was married on December 23, 1873 in Emporium, PA to John H. Cole. Shortly afterward they moved to Keokuk. They had three daughters: Emma L, Ora Belle, and Iva Valentine. Two of the daughters were graduates of the University of Chicago.
Excerpts from the obituary of Mrs. Charles B Chappell:
Mrs. Pauline Simpson Chappell was born on May 12, 1901 in Kansas City, KS. She was married on March 20, 1940 in Lawrence, KS to Charles B. Chappell. Shortly afterward they moved to Keokuk, IA. She and Charles had two sons, Charles Simpson Chappell and James Birdsall Chappell. She attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
Lt. Andrew H. Simpson was the grandfather of Jim's mother, Pauline Simpson
Chappell, and was an officer in the Civil War. He commanded the 93rd US
Infantry, which were a colored troop. After the war, he became a well-known
lawyer and, as member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R). This was a
fraternal organization of officers who served in the Civil War. As an
organization, one of its objectives was supporting voting rights for black veterans.
Chappell, and was an officer in the Civil War. He commanded the 93rd US
Infantry, which were a colored troop. After the war, he became a well-known
lawyer and, as member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R). This was a
fraternal organization of officers who served in the Civil War. As an
organization, one of its objectives was supporting voting rights for black veterans.
Joseph E. Simpson, Jr., Pauline's nephew and Jim cousin, served in World War II
as a major and, ironically commanded the colored 847 Engineer Aviation Battalion.
He said he was very proud of his command but, more importantly, he was proud of
his troops and their service. President Harry Truman ended segregation in the US
Military in 1948.
The Chappell Summer Cottage
Overlooking the Mississippi river
Jim spent many of the finest days of his youth at the family's summer cottage on river road overlooking the Mississippi river thirty yards away, the cottage was the centerpiece of twenty acres of fun. Jim and his brother swam and fished in the river. They had three horses and a pet mule named " Thunder." There was a shelter barn for the animals, who were stored off-site in the winter. On either side of the cottage was a creek, and every corner of the grounds told of a sense of mystery and excitement
The visitor was hit by a powerful splash of color. The cottage was nestled amid a gorgeous array of day-lilies, irises, honeysuckle, forsythia, rose of Sharon, hibiscus, lilac, and morning-glory. Blues rubbed shoulders with yellows, while reds and oranges and purples fanned out in a display studded with bursts of opaline. Jim never tired of reveling in the splendor, and it is clear that his artistic sensibility grew and took shape in the experience.
Jim's father had a treehouse built for the boys from which they could survey the wonders, as well as a log cabin that came in handy when they played cowboys and Indians. And he also had a barbecue pit built, where the family prepared delicious ribs. Surrounding the cottage were three porches, one screened-in and two outside with benches all facing the Mississippi river. One room featured the three double beds. Jim has fond memories of the classic furniture, the large round oak table in the kitchen, the icebox with its blocks of ice, the decorative fireplace with a large mounted deer head above and the radio--no television-- that brought the St. Louis Cardinals to the cottage.
Every variety of plant life could be found at the cottage. The vegetable gardens supplied their bounty, including watermelons that the family kept cool in a gunny sack down in the well. In every direction away from the river loomed a thick wood, which included maple trees that were tapped for syrup, Christmas trees that could be cut down for the Yuletide celebration at the family home, and a clearing with a large tree that had a tire attached for a swing. Deep in the wood was a clearing where Jim remembers a tree limb that was home to a tiny swallow. The cottage was only four miles from town, but it seemed like it was hundreds of miles away in a world of its own. Like Thoreau at Walden Pond, Jim was able to find an escape as well as the joy of nature on the outskirts of the city.
The Fourth of July was a highlight of life at the cottage. The family celebrated with cases of pop and a wide variety of sweets and desserts. The boys set off firecrackers during the day, while father arranged a powerful display of fireworks at night. The colors lighting up the sky would match the gorgeous palette supplied by nature in the flowers and shrubs below.
Another highlight was the hunt for a treasure chest that had been carefully prepared by Jim's father. The adventure of piecing together maps and clues and directions created a magic moment that one could look forward to all year. The hunt expresses the heart of the cottage and its captivating mystery. All around you was something to be explored, experiences to be savored, and memories to be treasured. Wherever he has gone later in life, Jim has enjoyed the inspiration of the cottage.
Overlooking the Mississippi river
Jim spent many of the finest days of his youth at the family's summer cottage on river road overlooking the Mississippi river thirty yards away, the cottage was the centerpiece of twenty acres of fun. Jim and his brother swam and fished in the river. They had three horses and a pet mule named " Thunder." There was a shelter barn for the animals, who were stored off-site in the winter. On either side of the cottage was a creek, and every corner of the grounds told of a sense of mystery and excitement
The visitor was hit by a powerful splash of color. The cottage was nestled amid a gorgeous array of day-lilies, irises, honeysuckle, forsythia, rose of Sharon, hibiscus, lilac, and morning-glory. Blues rubbed shoulders with yellows, while reds and oranges and purples fanned out in a display studded with bursts of opaline. Jim never tired of reveling in the splendor, and it is clear that his artistic sensibility grew and took shape in the experience.
Jim's father had a treehouse built for the boys from which they could survey the wonders, as well as a log cabin that came in handy when they played cowboys and Indians. And he also had a barbecue pit built, where the family prepared delicious ribs. Surrounding the cottage were three porches, one screened-in and two outside with benches all facing the Mississippi river. One room featured the three double beds. Jim has fond memories of the classic furniture, the large round oak table in the kitchen, the icebox with its blocks of ice, the decorative fireplace with a large mounted deer head above and the radio--no television-- that brought the St. Louis Cardinals to the cottage.
Every variety of plant life could be found at the cottage. The vegetable gardens supplied their bounty, including watermelons that the family kept cool in a gunny sack down in the well. In every direction away from the river loomed a thick wood, which included maple trees that were tapped for syrup, Christmas trees that could be cut down for the Yuletide celebration at the family home, and a clearing with a large tree that had a tire attached for a swing. Deep in the wood was a clearing where Jim remembers a tree limb that was home to a tiny swallow. The cottage was only four miles from town, but it seemed like it was hundreds of miles away in a world of its own. Like Thoreau at Walden Pond, Jim was able to find an escape as well as the joy of nature on the outskirts of the city.
The Fourth of July was a highlight of life at the cottage. The family celebrated with cases of pop and a wide variety of sweets and desserts. The boys set off firecrackers during the day, while father arranged a powerful display of fireworks at night. The colors lighting up the sky would match the gorgeous palette supplied by nature in the flowers and shrubs below.
Another highlight was the hunt for a treasure chest that had been carefully prepared by Jim's father. The adventure of piecing together maps and clues and directions created a magic moment that one could look forward to all year. The hunt expresses the heart of the cottage and its captivating mystery. All around you was something to be explored, experiences to be savored, and memories to be treasured. Wherever he has gone later in life, Jim has enjoyed the inspiration of the cottage.
The Chappell-Swedenburg House
In Ashland, Oregon, also known for hosting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, stands the Chappell-Swedenburg house, one of the most celebrated homes in the region. It was built in the early years of the twentieth century by Jim's ancestor Charles Church Chappell. Charles C. Chappell had been born in Jacksonville, Illinois and moved east for a successful career as a stockbroker in New York City, where he lived in his mansion on Fifth Avenue. In 1904, he moved his family to Ashland, a town he remembered from his early travels. Wherever he lived, he was surrounded by his collection of beautiful furnishings and art as well as antiques he had acquired on his European voyages. The remarkable house in Ashland was described by family friend Grace Miriam Flint in the Ashland Daily Tidings of January 29, 1966. This letter was one of the many letters of protest to save the house from demolishing it. As a result the house was saved and put on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. Charles C. Chappell's daughter, Charlotte, befriended Jim's mother Pauline, and Jim can remember her visiting the family home in Keokuk. Having grown up in the remarkable Ashland house, her visits to the carefully furnished and lovingly kept home at 216 High Street must have kept alive for Charlotte the Chappell family tradition of gracious living. The Chappell-Swedenburg house does indeed now stand on the grounds of Southern Oregon University, but it has been carefully preserved and renovated. In 1982, through the efforts of Jim's brother Charles S. Chappell and the Southern Oregon Historical Society, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now a jewel of the campus, it hosts special receptions, and continues to be a source of inspiration and wonder for those privileged to visit it.
Ms. Flint's letter is as follows:
In Ashland, Oregon, also known for hosting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, stands the Chappell-Swedenburg house, one of the most celebrated homes in the region. It was built in the early years of the twentieth century by Jim's ancestor Charles Church Chappell. Charles C. Chappell had been born in Jacksonville, Illinois and moved east for a successful career as a stockbroker in New York City, where he lived in his mansion on Fifth Avenue. In 1904, he moved his family to Ashland, a town he remembered from his early travels. Wherever he lived, he was surrounded by his collection of beautiful furnishings and art as well as antiques he had acquired on his European voyages. The remarkable house in Ashland was described by family friend Grace Miriam Flint in the Ashland Daily Tidings of January 29, 1966. This letter was one of the many letters of protest to save the house from demolishing it. As a result the house was saved and put on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. Charles C. Chappell's daughter, Charlotte, befriended Jim's mother Pauline, and Jim can remember her visiting the family home in Keokuk. Having grown up in the remarkable Ashland house, her visits to the carefully furnished and lovingly kept home at 216 High Street must have kept alive for Charlotte the Chappell family tradition of gracious living. The Chappell-Swedenburg house does indeed now stand on the grounds of Southern Oregon University, but it has been carefully preserved and renovated. In 1982, through the efforts of Jim's brother Charles S. Chappell and the Southern Oregon Historical Society, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now a jewel of the campus, it hosts special receptions, and continues to be a source of inspiration and wonder for those privileged to visit it.
Ms. Flint's letter is as follows:
The Editor, Sir:
"Edgar A. Guest said, "It takes a heap of living in a house to make it a home." When I looked at the picture of the beautiful spacious old home on Siskiyou Boulevard, known as the Chappell-Swedenburg home, in tonight's paper and though of the years living that had been done in that home, I was filled with sorrow and anger to learn that it may no longer be a home. I grew up on Mountain Avenue. I was a little girl at the time that house was erected by Charley Chappell at the turn of the century. Mr. Chappell ,his young wife Lucy, and their three little daughters, Helen, Charlotte and Ruth, came here from New York City to reside in Ashland and make it their permanent home.
Mr. Chappell has been a wealthy stockbroker in New York City, but when the market panicked, Mr. Chappell sold his mansion on 5th Avenue and brought all its elegant furnishings to Ashland to live. Years before when a young man, he had traveled in the west and had been in Ashland and had fallen in love with it. Now he felt he no longer cared to live in the city and desired to rear his family in a small community in the West. When they came here he bought a small home to live in for awhile. It still stands almost as I remember it on the intersecting corner of the boulevard, Iowa St. and Morse St.
Mr. Chappell was a keen businessman and proceeded to purchase property here. He purchased the land where the house now stands, and orchard, then a small farm on one corner of which the high school now stands. The land on which most of the college now stands and other pieces of property became valuable. When he built his beautiful home in 1903 and 1904 in the middle of an apple and pear orchard, the townspeople thought it was folly to build such an expensive home in the middle of the orchard, way out on the edge of town. But he wanted a home worthy of his family and the exquisite furnishings that would go into it. He had traveled all over the world when young and had brought home beautiful and rare things for his home. He was still a bachelor then. We were all poor people in Ashland then, mostly railroad people, merchants and school teachers, which my father was, and it was hard to comprehend why anyone would spend such an exorbitant amount on a house or even had that much to spend.
Only the finest of materials went into this house and he practically watched every nail that was driven in each board. I can still see him standing up on the roof when the bricklayers were building the huge chimney. My father was so worried he would lise his balance and fall. Finally all the precious treasures were placed in this house. The family moved in and the house made the start of becoming a home. It was like being in Fairyland to wander through this house. Helen and I had become friends and playmates so I was in and out at all times whenever I wished. This my introduction to beautiful furnishings and antiques, fine Haviland China and crystal, gorgeous Persian and Oriental rugs and many other treasures too numerous to mention.
He also erected a barn as beautiful as the house was, fine box stalls and harness rooms; things no one here had ever seen in a barn. He being reared on a farm in New York state at Strawberry Point, if I remember correctly, longed to have livestock around him and have his children learn to love them too. They had a driving horse called Barney, a darling fat little Shetland pony called Belle, and the cutest little pony cart and a fat old white short-haired dog called Duke, even a Jersey cow for a short while. Those days were full of excitement and fun. But Mr. Chappell was not to enjoy his home and this new life with his family to whom he was so devoted for long. For suddenly one hot summer day in 1905, his heart worn out from the stress of the long move and the strength expended on his home, just gave up and ceased to beat anymore, and his beloved family left alone to live with his memory and the lovely home had built for them. The girls grew up in this, but times were not easy for the lovely mother. She sold the piece of land where the high school now stands to the school board and piece by piece other property. Many treasures were sold from the home to maintain a home for her girls.
Through all these trying years, Dr. Swedenburg was their family doctor and beloved friend. When Mrs. Chappell, who was then Mrs. George Wilson, found it was too much for her to maintain such a large home, disposed of it to Dr. Swedenburg and she moved to San Francisco. Dr. Swedenburg had purchased this house to be a permanent home fir his family and he and Mrs. Swedenburg also filled it with many treasures. His widow at the time of her death recently had specified and wished it still to be a home for her daughter, who was left. But such was not to be. It seems a state or college can move in and condemn a house that has had a "Heap of Living in it" and is now a "home" so that the loved ones who are now entitled to it, can no longer claim it as such. They call it progress, but I call it heartbreak and cruelty."
Sincerely,
Grace Milam Flint
Ashland, OR
Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell
Jim's Mother: "Painting With Words"
Jim's gift for communication was shaped by the grace and wit of his mother Pauline Simpson Chappell. A ballerina and a writer, she impressed upon her son from an early age an appreciation of beauty and of proportion. From her he learned many of the skills of conversation, from the effective arrangement of words to the social power of wit and insight. When Jim read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, the wisdom of that book bore fruit on ground that had been prepared by Pauline. A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Pauline attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music. She studied ballet at the Kansas Conservatory of Music, and danced for several years with the Kansas City Ballet. Her devotion to the fine arts always informed her influence as a mother. Jim learned the importance of finding and channeling one's inspiration. In things big and small, she taught Jim the importance of careful arrangement and presentation. It was no surprise that Jim majored in the study of art at Drury University, or that he has always been known for his tasteful, elegant attire. Pauline Chappell had a lifelong passion for the written word. Writing stories came naturally to her, and she looked at the world through a writer's eyes, alert to the complexities and the comedy of human nature. While raising a family in Keokuk, she belonged to two literary clubs, the Scribblers, who focused on writing, and Current Comment, which focused on books and the arts. Later in life she returned to school to work on creative writing at Penn Valley College, where at age 79 she won a certificate for excellence in creative writing. One of the peaks of her writing career came with her great success in writing acclaimed commercial jingles during what has been called the "Contest Era," when American companies sponsored public competitions for advertising messages. This era coincided with the time her boys were growing up. Over those years she won, in addition to money, a vacuum cleaner, a refrigerator, a toaster, roller skates, cameras, radios, other appliances, and a bicycle which young Jim eagerly rode around town. But the commercial success never lessened her passion for poetry and for writing short stories. His mother taught Jim that there are many different kinds of success. Jim has had a lifelong passion for art. One sign of that passion is his remarkable library of collectible books on art history. Jim can always cite the artist, or school, or technique behind a painting. He has a museum in his mind. Yet Jim's most impressive artistic achievement would have to be Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum, with its unmatched and elegantly arranged collection of sports memorabilia. People come back ten, twenty, a hundred times, to explore the collection. Overhead is the most impressive feature of all, more than a thousand football helmets from high schools, colleges, and pro teams all over America, many of them signed. In an instant Jim can find the precise location of any helmet and tell its story. He built the museum and also carries it in his head. The museum earned Jim a place in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, and that achievement was born in the life lessons imparted by Pauline Chappell. Jim's wife Gina continues this family tradition. Gina carefully arranges the hunt for Easter baskets with a series of limericks indicating the clues to guide the grandchildren to their eventual destination. Thought-provoking and cleverly worded, the poems come naturally to Gina as they did to Pauline. Jim has truly been blessed by these two women and their gift for painting with words. As an example of this family tradition, here are some of Gina's witty limericks: |
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GINA CHAPPELL In Today’s Spotlight… Do you know “Gina?” Her real name is Georgina Marie Ann Vetter, although you’d never know it to be around her and her friends. She is 16 years old, brown – eyed, and has gorgeous golden brown hair. She is one of the best dressed girls in school and always comes in a new dress or new skirt that looks “neat” on her. She rides through town in a new 1961 Oldsmobile station wagon and gives any and all a ride. “Gina” is taking speech, English IV, American government, French II and bookkeeping. All of these subjects are favorite pastimes for her, especially when her next – door neighbor is there to help her. Included among her future plans is school in Kirksville or Cape Girardeau, majoring in history and minoring in art or physical education. “Gina” loves sports and was very proud when she was selected to play basketball her sophomore year. Among other things, she goes horseback riding, swimming and loves bowling; her average is around 95-100, much to her disgust. If you are in need of a good loyal friend, all you have to do is look around and find “Gina,” one of the best-liked students at Louisiana High School. GINA At the center of Jim's story is Gina, his wife of over fifty years. At every stage of his adventures in life, Jim has drawn on her support and inspiration. She meets every situation and every challenge with a smile. Everything she does she does with class, in a quiet, modest manner that puts everyone at ease. Her gracious presence complements a deep-seated kindness familiar to all who know her. She is a good friend to many and lives a life of service among her family, her friends, and in the community. Jim and Gina met while working at Arrowhead Lodge, and their story, including their wedding, is recounted in Bill Geist's memoir Lake of the Ozarks. Gina had graduated from Louisiana High School in Louisiana, Missouri, and then from Northeastern Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in Kirksville. At college she served as Treasurer of the Student Council and was an Echo Queen Candidate. In the Delta Zeta sorority she served as Secretary and received the Florence Hood Award for outstanding achievement. In a household where Gina sets the tone, there is no room for anxiety or despair. Jim has spent much time in the worlds of business and politics, where all too many people suffer from stress, worry, and frustrated ambition. Gina's serene, philosophical disposition has been a great example to Jim and allowed him to take the long view and not get caught up in the passing cares of the moment. An avid volunteer, Gina has won the Ada Edwards Laughlin Award of the Kansas City Assistance League for outstanding contributions to public service. This award is specifically designated for a member who has contributed significantly to the chapter while remaining behind the scenes, providing quiet and dedicated service above and beyond normal That description captures Gina perfectly, as someone who has never sought out credit or the limelight. This describes her work in the community, as well as her vital role among her friends and family. Gina also volunteered at St. Patrick Catholic School, working in the cafeteria and the library. She brightened the students; school days with her kindness, to the delight of her grandchildren. She has supplied her husband, her children, and her grandchildren, with a model of unselfish devotion to others that has inspired them in their own lives and careers. They have learned from her to work hard with joy, for the sake of the task, not of the self. There is an old saying that behind every great man is a great woman. Jim will leave it to others to decide whether he is a great man, but one thing he knows for sure is that beside him every step of the way has been a great woman. |
Echo Royalty |
KANSAS CITY, MO, January 05, 2024 /PressRelease/ -- James B. Chappell has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Chappell is one of Kansas City's most celebrated sports icons; along with the astounding collection of sports memorabilia he procured, he is the founder of one of the city's most treasured restaurant, Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum, which he established nearly 40 years ago and sold in 2018. Prior to opening the restaurant in 1986, he attended Drury University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1965; served on active reserve in the United States Army, with honorable discharge, from 1965 to 1971; and gained experience in the restaurant business, working at Arrowhead Lodge Restaurant and Lounge for several years.
Moving forward in his career, Mr. Chappell worked for Mobil Oil Corporation, in a management role, and became a member of Platte County Business & Professional Association before becoming a partner of C.R. Tantillo & Associates Insurance Company, a position he held for nearly 20 years. While acting as partner, Mr. Chappell opened his restaurant and pursued a leadership role as president for Mitina Inc., which he held from 1981 to 2018.
Along with his various professional pursuits, Mr. Chappell continued on with his education and completed a course and received a certificate from the FBI Citizens Academy in 2011. His interest in the government processes led him to hold numerous roles in local government, starting in 1978 when he was a candidate for state senator. For nearly 50 years and counting, Mr. Chappell has served as a commissioner, vice chairman, governor's advisor, and board member across various sectors of local government and law enforcement organizations and boards.
As an active member of his local community and government, Mr. Chappell has volunteered for and participated in numerous civic engagements over the last several decades, starting in 1976 with his involvement with the Republican National Convention Host Committee and ultimately being selected as an at-large delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention. Since then, he has sat on several boards and licensing bureaus and played a part in coordinating and fundraising efforts, including serving on the advisory council of the Clay County Sherriff's Office.
From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Chappell devoted his time as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics honorary coach and hosted the Jim Chappell Boy Scouts Golf Classic throughout the 1990s into the early 2000s. Furthermore, he served as chairman of the Clay County Board of Election Commissioners, appointed by Governor Matt Blunt, from 2005 to 2009. For his noteworthy contributions to the community, both as a public servant and restauranteur, Mr. Chappell has received several awards and recognitions, including the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award in 2000 and being named one of 25 individuals who made Kansas City a better sports town by the Kansas City Star in 2002.
In 2003, Mr. Chappell received the honor of being Grand Marshal of the Snake Sunday Parade and was enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 2013, among other recognitions. Along with his personal awards are those of his restaurant, which has received coverage by Yahoo and USA Today along with Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, where it was voted by both as one of the best sports restaurants in the nation. Since its debut on the restaurant scene, it has spent its time in the spotlight as a repeat subject of coverage in countless newspaper and magazine articles as well as radio and television shows.
Being known as an icon himself, and thus being afforded the opportunity to interact with and befriend other sports icons over the years, Mr. Chappell co-authored Conversations at Chappell's, a collection of stories shared by several local Kansas City sports icons, detailing their friendship with him. He was also featured in a short film produced by the Chiefs Network, called Chief's Kingdom, about his relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs. Mr. Chappell is also a past member of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Football League Alumni Association.
As a restauranteur, he held membership with the National Restaurant Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association, and the Kansas City Restaurant Association. His professional involvement also led him to serve as President of the North Kansas City Business Council. Mr. Chappell was also featured in the Hometown Heroes segment on local news station KMBZ, Channel 9. Outside of his professional affiliations, he is a patron of the arts and has maintained his membership with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since 1980 and with the Art Institute of Chicago since 1999.
Additionally, Mr. Chappell is a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church, the North Kansas City Hospital Auxiliary, the Kansas City Club, the American Legion Post 58, the Native Sons & Daughters of Greater Kansas City, and the Sons of the American Revolution, among various other organizations. After retiring from the restaurant business, his focus has been on his civic engagements and how he can continue to contribute to his local community. Mr. Chappell served on the Board of Directors for the First Bank of Missouri from 1985 to 2017, and was the Chairman of the Board from 1989 to 2017. He also served on the Board of Directors of Valley View Holding Company from 1994 to 2017. Upon the merger of First Bank of Missouri and Valley View Holding Company in 2017, becoming Security Bank, Mr. Chappell has continued to sit on the board of directors of Security Bank. Mr. Chappell is also actively involved in efforts to relocate the city's ballpark to North Kansas City.
About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
Mr. Chappell is one of Kansas City's most celebrated sports icons; along with the astounding collection of sports memorabilia he procured, he is the founder of one of the city's most treasured restaurant, Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum, which he established nearly 40 years ago and sold in 2018. Prior to opening the restaurant in 1986, he attended Drury University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1965; served on active reserve in the United States Army, with honorable discharge, from 1965 to 1971; and gained experience in the restaurant business, working at Arrowhead Lodge Restaurant and Lounge for several years.
Moving forward in his career, Mr. Chappell worked for Mobil Oil Corporation, in a management role, and became a member of Platte County Business & Professional Association before becoming a partner of C.R. Tantillo & Associates Insurance Company, a position he held for nearly 20 years. While acting as partner, Mr. Chappell opened his restaurant and pursued a leadership role as president for Mitina Inc., which he held from 1981 to 2018.
Along with his various professional pursuits, Mr. Chappell continued on with his education and completed a course and received a certificate from the FBI Citizens Academy in 2011. His interest in the government processes led him to hold numerous roles in local government, starting in 1978 when he was a candidate for state senator. For nearly 50 years and counting, Mr. Chappell has served as a commissioner, vice chairman, governor's advisor, and board member across various sectors of local government and law enforcement organizations and boards.
As an active member of his local community and government, Mr. Chappell has volunteered for and participated in numerous civic engagements over the last several decades, starting in 1976 with his involvement with the Republican National Convention Host Committee and ultimately being selected as an at-large delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention. Since then, he has sat on several boards and licensing bureaus and played a part in coordinating and fundraising efforts, including serving on the advisory council of the Clay County Sherriff's Office.
From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Chappell devoted his time as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics honorary coach and hosted the Jim Chappell Boy Scouts Golf Classic throughout the 1990s into the early 2000s. Furthermore, he served as chairman of the Clay County Board of Election Commissioners, appointed by Governor Matt Blunt, from 2005 to 2009. For his noteworthy contributions to the community, both as a public servant and restauranteur, Mr. Chappell has received several awards and recognitions, including the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award in 2000 and being named one of 25 individuals who made Kansas City a better sports town by the Kansas City Star in 2002.
In 2003, Mr. Chappell received the honor of being Grand Marshal of the Snake Sunday Parade and was enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 2013, among other recognitions. Along with his personal awards are those of his restaurant, which has received coverage by Yahoo and USA Today along with Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, where it was voted by both as one of the best sports restaurants in the nation. Since its debut on the restaurant scene, it has spent its time in the spotlight as a repeat subject of coverage in countless newspaper and magazine articles as well as radio and television shows.
Being known as an icon himself, and thus being afforded the opportunity to interact with and befriend other sports icons over the years, Mr. Chappell co-authored Conversations at Chappell's, a collection of stories shared by several local Kansas City sports icons, detailing their friendship with him. He was also featured in a short film produced by the Chiefs Network, called Chief's Kingdom, about his relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs. Mr. Chappell is also a past member of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Football League Alumni Association.
As a restauranteur, he held membership with the National Restaurant Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association, and the Kansas City Restaurant Association. His professional involvement also led him to serve as President of the North Kansas City Business Council. Mr. Chappell was also featured in the Hometown Heroes segment on local news station KMBZ, Channel 9. Outside of his professional affiliations, he is a patron of the arts and has maintained his membership with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since 1980 and with the Art Institute of Chicago since 1999.
Additionally, Mr. Chappell is a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church, the North Kansas City Hospital Auxiliary, the Kansas City Club, the American Legion Post 58, the Native Sons & Daughters of Greater Kansas City, and the Sons of the American Revolution, among various other organizations. After retiring from the restaurant business, his focus has been on his civic engagements and how he can continue to contribute to his local community. Mr. Chappell served on the Board of Directors for the First Bank of Missouri from 1985 to 2017, and was the Chairman of the Board from 1989 to 2017. He also served on the Board of Directors of Valley View Holding Company from 1994 to 2017. Upon the merger of First Bank of Missouri and Valley View Holding Company in 2017, becoming Security Bank, Mr. Chappell has continued to sit on the board of directors of Security Bank. Mr. Chappell is also actively involved in efforts to relocate the city's ballpark to North Kansas City.
About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
Jim & The Mike Murphy Show
Mike Murphy was the number one radio personality in Kansas City for a number of years. He won the prestigious Marconi Award for the large market personality of the year nationwide. Jim and Mike were good friends from Iowa and Jim was a regular on Mike's show. They referred to it at the “Southeast Iowa Show”. On occasion, Mike would do his show at Chappell's Restaurant. At one particular show, Mike got the idea to do a Chiefs Super Bowl Show (1969) and put Jim in charge of getting the players. The following is a quote from the Kansas City Star about the show:
“Jim Chappell and Mike Murphy coaxed Otis Taylor, Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Fred Arbanas, Ed Lothamer, Bobby Ply, Curt Merz, Bill Grigsby and other former Super Bowl Chiefs to join them at Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum in North Kansas City for Mike's Friday morning show. There is not enough space here to document, lies and love that filled those three hours. A more enjoyable use of the Marconi invention has yet to be invented.”
Kansas City Star
June 19, 1998
Mike said it was the best show they had ever had and immediately told Jim they should have a 1985 World Series Show. Jim got John Wathan, Danny Jackson, Jamie Quirk George Brett, Willie Wilson and several other Royals to do another great show at Chappell's.
Jim was a guest on several talk shows, but he always appreciated Mike's friendship and doing his shows best. He is still friends with Mike's nephew, Greg Schmidt (Meatsauce) as Mike nicknamed him. Some of the best times Jim, Mike and Greg had were the lunches after Murphy's show.
Mike Murphy was the number one radio personality in Kansas City for a number of years. He won the prestigious Marconi Award for the large market personality of the year nationwide. Jim and Mike were good friends from Iowa and Jim was a regular on Mike's show. They referred to it at the “Southeast Iowa Show”. On occasion, Mike would do his show at Chappell's Restaurant. At one particular show, Mike got the idea to do a Chiefs Super Bowl Show (1969) and put Jim in charge of getting the players. The following is a quote from the Kansas City Star about the show:
“Jim Chappell and Mike Murphy coaxed Otis Taylor, Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Fred Arbanas, Ed Lothamer, Bobby Ply, Curt Merz, Bill Grigsby and other former Super Bowl Chiefs to join them at Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum in North Kansas City for Mike's Friday morning show. There is not enough space here to document, lies and love that filled those three hours. A more enjoyable use of the Marconi invention has yet to be invented.”
Kansas City Star
June 19, 1998
Mike said it was the best show they had ever had and immediately told Jim they should have a 1985 World Series Show. Jim got John Wathan, Danny Jackson, Jamie Quirk George Brett, Willie Wilson and several other Royals to do another great show at Chappell's.
Jim was a guest on several talk shows, but he always appreciated Mike's friendship and doing his shows best. He is still friends with Mike's nephew, Greg Schmidt (Meatsauce) as Mike nicknamed him. Some of the best times Jim, Mike and Greg had were the lunches after Murphy's show.
The Story of 98
Jim has long been known for his distinctive car with its distinctive license plate "98." For four decades Jim has driven a succession of sleek black Jaguars. The story of that license plate points to Jim's role in the public life of Missouri and his standing as a champion of the state.
Typically, Missouri license plates feature the formula of a total of six numbers and letters. The only exceptions are license plates that are simply numbered "1" through "9999." These plates reflect the different levels of state government and are in principle assigned according to a set pattern. The single-digit plates are reserved for the Governor and other statewide officeholders. The two-digit numbers are controlled by the Governor, the three-digit numbers by State Senators, and the four-digit numbers by State Representatives. In practice the Governor plays the major role in assigning all two-, three-, and four-digit numbers. During the Governorship of Joe Teasdale these plates became lifelong possessions, regardless of changes in administration.
In his heyday in the first half of the twentieth century, Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast used his connections to secure license plates 98, 99, and 100 for his personal use. At the time, the Missouri State Capitol was called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in reference to Pendergast's unparalleled political clout. When passers-by noted the characteristic license plate outside political offices in downtown Kansas City, or maybe outside Harry Truman's office on the Independence Square, they knew that Boss Pendergast was nearby.
As Jim rose in prominence in the public life of Missouri, he found himself in possession of Pendergast's old license plate "98." This was a tribute to Jim's long career of public service and to his standing with state political leaders, especially Governor Christopher "Kit" Bond. Today Jim's license plate stands as a symbol of over a century of Missouri political tradition and also as a symbol of his own many decades as a pillar of the Show Me State. The distinctive "98" captures the spirit of Jim's keen sense of history and his long-standing dedication to public service.
Jim has long been known for his distinctive car with its distinctive license plate "98." For four decades Jim has driven a succession of sleek black Jaguars. The story of that license plate points to Jim's role in the public life of Missouri and his standing as a champion of the state.
Typically, Missouri license plates feature the formula of a total of six numbers and letters. The only exceptions are license plates that are simply numbered "1" through "9999." These plates reflect the different levels of state government and are in principle assigned according to a set pattern. The single-digit plates are reserved for the Governor and other statewide officeholders. The two-digit numbers are controlled by the Governor, the three-digit numbers by State Senators, and the four-digit numbers by State Representatives. In practice the Governor plays the major role in assigning all two-, three-, and four-digit numbers. During the Governorship of Joe Teasdale these plates became lifelong possessions, regardless of changes in administration.
In his heyday in the first half of the twentieth century, Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast used his connections to secure license plates 98, 99, and 100 for his personal use. At the time, the Missouri State Capitol was called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in reference to Pendergast's unparalleled political clout. When passers-by noted the characteristic license plate outside political offices in downtown Kansas City, or maybe outside Harry Truman's office on the Independence Square, they knew that Boss Pendergast was nearby.
As Jim rose in prominence in the public life of Missouri, he found himself in possession of Pendergast's old license plate "98." This was a tribute to Jim's long career of public service and to his standing with state political leaders, especially Governor Christopher "Kit" Bond. Today Jim's license plate stands as a symbol of over a century of Missouri political tradition and also as a symbol of his own many decades as a pillar of the Show Me State. The distinctive "98" captures the spirit of Jim's keen sense of history and his long-standing dedication to public service.
CHARLES M. CHAPPELL & MacMURRAY COLLEGE
In 1850, my great great grandfather, Charles M. Chappell, gave for the time a sizable donation to the endowment of the Illinois Women's College. In appreciation, he was given a perpetual scholarship for all his heirs. The name was changed to MacMurray College in 1930 in honor of James E. MacMurray, who was an Illinois state senator, president of the Acme Steel Corporation in Chicago, and college trustee whose commitment led to a substantial increase in the college's facilities and endowment in the late 1920s and 1930s. The institution remained an exclusive women's college until 1955 when they accepted men.
In 2020, MacMurrray announced its plans to close at the end of the spring semester in May 2020. The college cited “declining enrollments, rising competitive costs and an insufficient endowment.”
Charles M. Chappell's daughter, Amelia Chappell Rapp, graduated from Illinois Women's College. She was the only Chappell heir to use this scholarship in its 170 year history.
In 1850, my great great grandfather, Charles M. Chappell, gave for the time a sizable donation to the endowment of the Illinois Women's College. In appreciation, he was given a perpetual scholarship for all his heirs. The name was changed to MacMurray College in 1930 in honor of James E. MacMurray, who was an Illinois state senator, president of the Acme Steel Corporation in Chicago, and college trustee whose commitment led to a substantial increase in the college's facilities and endowment in the late 1920s and 1930s. The institution remained an exclusive women's college until 1955 when they accepted men.
In 2020, MacMurrray announced its plans to close at the end of the spring semester in May 2020. The college cited “declining enrollments, rising competitive costs and an insufficient endowment.”
Charles M. Chappell's daughter, Amelia Chappell Rapp, graduated from Illinois Women's College. She was the only Chappell heir to use this scholarship in its 170 year history.
Alice Birdsall: Legal Pioneer
One of Jim's (James Birdsall Chappell) most fascinating ancestors is the celebrated attorney Alice Mabeth Birdsall. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1880, Alice had a prominent career in the law and public service in Arizona and California at a time when there were very few female attorneys. Her father and brother were attorneys, and she had worked as a legal clerk and stenographer before attending law school in Washington, D.C. at the Washington College of Law, which is now part of American University. She graduated from law school in 1912 after completing a three-year course of study in one year with the highest grade-point average in the school's history.
That same year Alice established her legal career in Arizona, where for years she was the only woman licensed to practice law. Later, in 1927, when she was licensed also to practice law in California, a story in the Los Angeles Times about her admission to the California bar identifies her as someone who had been considered for the governorship of Arizona. She served as treasurer of the Arizona State Bar Association, and served for over a decade as official reporter of decisions for the Arizona Supreme Court, a capacity in which she compiled and published 26 volumes of decisions by the court. In the courtroom, Alice was a wily and determined advocate. One prominent Arizona attorney is reported to have said he would just as soon be facing any other attorney besides Alice Birdsall. Her trailblazing work in bankruptcy law earned her an appointment to the American Bar Association Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy.
In addition to her legal practice, Alice was an important contributor to public life. She lobbied for decades to secure women's right to serve on juries in Arizona, with ultimate success coming in 1945. Early in her career she worked hard to promote women's suffrage, serving an instrumental role in Arizona's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. During World War I, she served as chair of the Women's Liberty Loan Committee, and wound up raising fully half of all Liberty Loan money raised in Arizona. In 1920-one year after ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment-she served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, which nominated James Cox for president and Franklin D. Roosevelt for vice-president.
Having started her legal practice at the time Arizona entered the union as a state in 1912, Alice remained active in her legal career well into her seventies, retiring only a few months before her death in 1958. She is still remembered as a pillar of the legal world and an icon of women's achievement in professional life. In honor of her legacy she was enshrined in the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Jim can remember speaking with Aunt Alice over the phone when she would call the family in Keokuk from Arizona. She was a delightful conversationalist, and a source of encouragement and inspiration. She was especially careful to encourage Jim's education, and left a legacy to support Jim's studies at Drury University. In a tradition begun by Jim's mother Pauline and carried on at Drury by art professor Edith West, Alice Birdsall was one of those remarkable women whose inspiration and belief in Jim propelled him to pursue his dreams.
The contribution of the Birdsall family to public life is embodied in Roger Birdsall Memorial Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, named after Alice's brother and fellow attorney Roger. The golf courses and gorgeous grounds of Birdsall Park offer testimony to the accomplishments of this family, which stands in the leading ranks of the legal profession and public life across several states. Today the tradition is carried on by Jim's daughter Michele Ann Chappell Pato in New Mexico, whose distinguished legal career spans work in government and in the private sector. Alice would be proud.
Learn more here: Alice M Birdsall: Arizona Women Hall of Fame
One of Jim's (James Birdsall Chappell) most fascinating ancestors is the celebrated attorney Alice Mabeth Birdsall. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1880, Alice had a prominent career in the law and public service in Arizona and California at a time when there were very few female attorneys. Her father and brother were attorneys, and she had worked as a legal clerk and stenographer before attending law school in Washington, D.C. at the Washington College of Law, which is now part of American University. She graduated from law school in 1912 after completing a three-year course of study in one year with the highest grade-point average in the school's history.
That same year Alice established her legal career in Arizona, where for years she was the only woman licensed to practice law. Later, in 1927, when she was licensed also to practice law in California, a story in the Los Angeles Times about her admission to the California bar identifies her as someone who had been considered for the governorship of Arizona. She served as treasurer of the Arizona State Bar Association, and served for over a decade as official reporter of decisions for the Arizona Supreme Court, a capacity in which she compiled and published 26 volumes of decisions by the court. In the courtroom, Alice was a wily and determined advocate. One prominent Arizona attorney is reported to have said he would just as soon be facing any other attorney besides Alice Birdsall. Her trailblazing work in bankruptcy law earned her an appointment to the American Bar Association Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy.
In addition to her legal practice, Alice was an important contributor to public life. She lobbied for decades to secure women's right to serve on juries in Arizona, with ultimate success coming in 1945. Early in her career she worked hard to promote women's suffrage, serving an instrumental role in Arizona's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. During World War I, she served as chair of the Women's Liberty Loan Committee, and wound up raising fully half of all Liberty Loan money raised in Arizona. In 1920-one year after ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment-she served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, which nominated James Cox for president and Franklin D. Roosevelt for vice-president.
Having started her legal practice at the time Arizona entered the union as a state in 1912, Alice remained active in her legal career well into her seventies, retiring only a few months before her death in 1958. She is still remembered as a pillar of the legal world and an icon of women's achievement in professional life. In honor of her legacy she was enshrined in the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.
Jim can remember speaking with Aunt Alice over the phone when she would call the family in Keokuk from Arizona. She was a delightful conversationalist, and a source of encouragement and inspiration. She was especially careful to encourage Jim's education, and left a legacy to support Jim's studies at Drury University. In a tradition begun by Jim's mother Pauline and carried on at Drury by art professor Edith West, Alice Birdsall was one of those remarkable women whose inspiration and belief in Jim propelled him to pursue his dreams.
The contribution of the Birdsall family to public life is embodied in Roger Birdsall Memorial Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, named after Alice's brother and fellow attorney Roger. The golf courses and gorgeous grounds of Birdsall Park offer testimony to the accomplishments of this family, which stands in the leading ranks of the legal profession and public life across several states. Today the tradition is carried on by Jim's daughter Michele Ann Chappell Pato in New Mexico, whose distinguished legal career spans work in government and in the private sector. Alice would be proud.
Learn more here: Alice M Birdsall: Arizona Women Hall of Fame
Keokuk YMCA State Basketball Champions
In 1960, the Iowa State YMCA recognized there were some good basketball players who did not play for their respective high schools. Because of this, they organized a YMCA state basketball tournament. Keokuk entered the tournament with Ronnie Hinman, Johnny Sammons, Richard Bell, Gary McLaughlin and Jim Chappell as their starting lineup. The first game was against Burlington, which had two all-state caliber players who were suspended from their high school team. Keokuk beat them in overtime and went on to win the rest of the games to become the YMCA State Champions. The trophy was displayed at the Keokuk YMCA for many years.
In 1960, the Iowa State YMCA recognized there were some good basketball players who did not play for their respective high schools. Because of this, they organized a YMCA state basketball tournament. Keokuk entered the tournament with Ronnie Hinman, Johnny Sammons, Richard Bell, Gary McLaughlin and Jim Chappell as their starting lineup. The first game was against Burlington, which had two all-state caliber players who were suspended from their high school team. Keokuk beat them in overtime and went on to win the rest of the games to become the YMCA State Champions. The trophy was displayed at the Keokuk YMCA for many years.
Jim Chappell: A Good Sport and Great Scholar
April 17, 2011 by Pete Dulin
Seated at a table, Jim Chappell opens a book of poetry and begins to read in a deep baritone. His finger scans the lines like a narrow spotlight illuminating the page. His voice warms to the words and revels in the rhythm and alliteration. The periphery of the room melts away, the banter of voices and drone of a television fade, and Chappell’s table transforms into a stage.
Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping,
rapping at my chamber door.
”Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.”
Chappell’s impromptu recitation breathes vigor into Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem, The Raven, which was published over 150 years ago. “Isn’t that a great line?” he asks, referring to the opening. He marvels at Poe’s choice of words with the delight of a scholar, then leans back in his chair.
The presence of the room seeps into the moment, filled with football helmets, pennants, trophies, and sports memorabilia collected over many years. At Chappell’s Restaurant in North Kansas City, guests dine on classic American fare, discuss politics and sports, or mind the television as it broadcasts a football game. Named after the owner, Chappell’s celebrated its twentieth anniversary on November 24, 2006. Both owner and restaurant have received ample recognition for the voluminous collection of sports memorabilia that covers the walls and ceiling. The Kansas City Star, USA Today, Sport Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications have written articles or bestowed awards on Chappell’s as one of the best sports bars in America. Or sports museum, as Chappell prefers to call his establishment. In fact, guests won’t encounter glaring wide screen televisions, a limited menu of cheap fried bar food, and numerous guys in T-shirts found in most sports bars. Chappell’s is an uncommon place that is easily miscast, much like the owner. While he has been heralded for this popular repository of sports artifacts and his vast knowledge of its contents, few people know about the other side of Jim Chappell.
A Remarkable Mind
Born in Keokuk, Iowa, Chappell lived there during his young life until he left to attend college at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri and earned a degree in art. The young man grew up in a house filled with 5,000 books, supplying Chappell’s inquisitive mind with ample material to read every night as he still does today. His father, Charles, often strolled around the house and read poetry and literature aloud. “My dad would recite The Raven. I recited Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigrade for my grandmother,” he says.
Even today, Chappell demonstrates the ability to recall a wide range of poetry, facts, and stories drawn from his extensive reading and travels. His library at home contains 2,500 books. He recently read Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. Chappell re-reads classic works of literature on a regular basis, but also consumes biographies and art books on figures in literature, art, politics, and history. He displays a fascination with people and places such as Dorothy Parker, the famed Algonquin Round Table, Gertrude Stein, and the ex-patriots that lived in Europe.
“How would you like to be in Gertrude Stein’s living room with all these people from the Twenties? The Lost Generation of Fitzgerald, Pound, Woolf, Eliot, Hemingway…Stein named them ‘The Lost Generation’ after World War I and the Depression. These people were kind of lost and saw the horrors of war,” says Chappell.
As he speaks, Chappell looks like a tall, rugged scholar with close-cropped gray hair in casual attire. He pauses frequently to greet or bid goodbye to guests and local characters passing by the bar. A gold ring adorns his left hand as a symbol of his forty-year marriage to his wife Gina. They have two married daughters, Christina and Michelle.
Sports Man
A commemorative ring from Super Bowl IV in 1970, when the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed over the Minnesota Vikings, sparkles on Chappell’s right hand. It is the only obvious reference to sports that he wears regularly. The restaurant itself serves as a visual embodiment of sports in all shapes and forms. Chappell is a life-long collector and curator of knowledge, objects, and anecdotes. The museum, which he decorated himself, is a testament to sports acquisitions, purchases, and donations assembled over two decades. Naturally, he selects his customers as his favorite “thing” about the place.
As an icebreaker, Chappell will sometimes ask a visitor where he or she went to school. If the college or university has a sports team, then Chappell can usually point at a piece of related memorabilia in the restaurant. Thousands of collegiate and professional football helmets hang from the ceiling. A quick glance at the rafters uncovers old boxing gloves, wooden golf clubs above the bar, a photo of Chappell with Joe Montana, historic images of Babe Ruth, and baseball jerseys for the New York Yankees, former St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and Philadelphia Athletics, a team that moved to Kansas City in 1955 and headed to Oakland thirteen years later. The late, great Buck O’Neil signed a panoramic photograph of the Kansas City Monarchs Negro League Baseball team displayed in the back dining room. The list of notable sports achievers, well-known and obscure, goes on––photos of Hank Aaron, Royal third baseman George Brett, and KC Monarch Alfred “Slick” Surratt. Another signed photo depicts All-Star Alice ”Lefty” Hohlmeyer, who pitched and played first base for the Kenosha Comets from 1946-51, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988, and was one of the many women who inspired the Hollywood film, A League of Their Own.
Food
Even for non-sports enthusiasts, the establishment is an authentic slice of Americana that could never be reproduced like the faux historic hodge-podge décor of chain restaurants found across the metropolitan area. Chappell’s represents a history that lives beyond sheer statistics, controversies like drug use in sports, and the merchandising machine of the NFL, NBA, and MLB. If you don’t know or don’t care what those acronyms mean, it’s okay.
Chappell’s offers more than a stroll down sports memory lane. He launched the place as a political/sports bar in 1986, but eventually emphasized the sports aspect with a casual dining concept that has proven a winner ever since. The restaurant has grown from 65 to 235 seats and features a private banquet room.
The restaurant serves hearty, quality food from prime rib to all-American hamburgers. Chappell maintains that he couldn’t stay in business as a restaurant, especially for twenty years, if the food weren’t good. “I lot of people come for the memorabilia, but come back for the food. It’s more of a restaurant than a sports bar,” he says.
Families dine here in droves, partaking of a menu diverse enough to handle hearty appetites, health-conscious diets, and the finicky taste of kids. The menu does not strive for fussy innovation or cutting edge culinary surprises. Guests can order down-home and familiar favorites like chicken Caesar salad, steak soup, charbroiled chicken or salmon, steamed vegetables, a 12-ounce Kansas City strip, London broil, burgers, tenderloins, chicken fingers, and Philly steak sandwiches, for example. Signature desserts include a Snickers bar ice cream pie, apple caramel walnut cobbler, and a classic old-fashioned root beer float.
Scholar
Although his reputation for sports knowledge and memorabilia precedes him, the restaurant owner’s interest in arts and culture receives far less attention. Chappell exhibits a sense of satisfaction in mentally gathering and sharing a wealth of information about poetry, books, painters, and distant locales to people of like mind.
“People look at me and would never guess I was into poetry. I’m an artist and I can tell you how many times Stan Musial won the batting title,” states Chappell. He waits a beat. "seven” Moments later, he lists Emily Dickinson as his favorite poet, then recites the first stanza of a beloved poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” from memory.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
Chappell’s love for literature and poetry came from his family, but he nurtured a natural interest in art. ”Art came easy for me,” he says.
Chappell graduated from college with a degree in art. He continues to read and traveled extensively to sate his appetite for learning. The classic Greek and Roman art and modern conceptual works don’t impress him much, but he admires nearly all other major art periods. He has visited fifty states and forty-five countries, exploring museums and galleries such as the Louvre in Paris and Modern Museum of Modern Art in New York. Chappell does not simply spout information about an artist or period or poet. He offers a considered opinion and interpretation with the unassuming air of a friendly historian. ”I like the Renaissance, Pop Art by Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, Baroque, and the Impressionists. Everyone likes Impressionism now, but back then, no one liked it. The artist started their own salons to exhibit work,” says Chappell.
When asked what living artist or poet he would like to meet, Chappell pauses, flips pages in a book of poetry, and thinks. He muses out loud, truly contemplating the weight of his choice, and finally rationalizes an answer with keen insight. “I might be surprised by somebody, but would probably be disappointed. There are not going to be as good as their work,” says Chappell. “Dickinson was a recluse. I would like to meet her though. If I was guaranteed that they’d be like I thought they’d be, then I’d want to meet them.”
Of course, there are no such guarantees in life or death. Chappell wrestles less with the next question that he proposes. If he could pick somebody to come back from the dead to meet again, who would it be? He answers with certainty and forethought, “My dad. He saw me as a brat. He died at 54 from a heart attack. I wished he could have seen what I have become. He would have been proud of me and this place,” says Chappell.
The admission is touching when it comes from this savvy businessman, family man, sports historian, and modest intellectual. Jim Chappell sees himself through a different prism than his loyal customers and a staff that wears commemorative shirts for the anniversary. He talks about his biggest regrets even when seemingly surrounded by the trappings of success.
“I didn’t take more chances. When I took a big chance like opening this place, I succeeded,” says Chappell, gauging one measure of his life. “I’ve always taken the safe route. It’s a fear of failure. I still have it when I think about doing something else. It’s kind of odd because everyone sees me as successful. The truth is, no one sees himself as successful. I’ve done a lot, I guess.”
This last remark is an understatement, depending on how one looks at life. He jokes about his marriage of forty years being an accomplishment for his wife. Chappell is proud of his two daughters. He has served as chairman or member of numerous boards and commissions in politics, arts, and banking. He can rattle off a list of celebrities that he has met in this line of work––sports greats like George Brett, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Brooks Robinson; the artist Leroy Nieman; country music star Vince Gill; and countless state and local politicians that come through and shake hands with customers.
Chappell’s is the kind of place where athletes and aesthetes and politicians can cross paths with everyday folk. The restaurant owner still enjoys giving young kids a piece of memorabilia, like a signed foam baseball, to take home, only to see them come back as a grown adult, introduce themselves, and say, “I remember when…”
Statistics and signed baseballs tell only part of the story in sports. Similarly, the living legacy of Jim Chappell is not easy to distill based on the colorful confines of his famous restaurant, the rankings as one of the top sports bars in the country, or the collective memories of his friends and patrons.
Chappell cites a poem by John Donne, Death Be Not Proud, as another one of his favorites that discusses how not to be afraid of death. The selection seems to reflect an important characteristic about this man. Despite his self-portrayal as someone that didn’t take more chances, a more fitting emphasis is his willingness to seek opportunities – in art, literature, travel, sport, politics, business, and family – as a champion of life.
April 17, 2011 by Pete Dulin
Seated at a table, Jim Chappell opens a book of poetry and begins to read in a deep baritone. His finger scans the lines like a narrow spotlight illuminating the page. His voice warms to the words and revels in the rhythm and alliteration. The periphery of the room melts away, the banter of voices and drone of a television fade, and Chappell’s table transforms into a stage.
Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping,
rapping at my chamber door.
”Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.”
Chappell’s impromptu recitation breathes vigor into Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem, The Raven, which was published over 150 years ago. “Isn’t that a great line?” he asks, referring to the opening. He marvels at Poe’s choice of words with the delight of a scholar, then leans back in his chair.
The presence of the room seeps into the moment, filled with football helmets, pennants, trophies, and sports memorabilia collected over many years. At Chappell’s Restaurant in North Kansas City, guests dine on classic American fare, discuss politics and sports, or mind the television as it broadcasts a football game. Named after the owner, Chappell’s celebrated its twentieth anniversary on November 24, 2006. Both owner and restaurant have received ample recognition for the voluminous collection of sports memorabilia that covers the walls and ceiling. The Kansas City Star, USA Today, Sport Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications have written articles or bestowed awards on Chappell’s as one of the best sports bars in America. Or sports museum, as Chappell prefers to call his establishment. In fact, guests won’t encounter glaring wide screen televisions, a limited menu of cheap fried bar food, and numerous guys in T-shirts found in most sports bars. Chappell’s is an uncommon place that is easily miscast, much like the owner. While he has been heralded for this popular repository of sports artifacts and his vast knowledge of its contents, few people know about the other side of Jim Chappell.
A Remarkable Mind
Born in Keokuk, Iowa, Chappell lived there during his young life until he left to attend college at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri and earned a degree in art. The young man grew up in a house filled with 5,000 books, supplying Chappell’s inquisitive mind with ample material to read every night as he still does today. His father, Charles, often strolled around the house and read poetry and literature aloud. “My dad would recite The Raven. I recited Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigrade for my grandmother,” he says.
Even today, Chappell demonstrates the ability to recall a wide range of poetry, facts, and stories drawn from his extensive reading and travels. His library at home contains 2,500 books. He recently read Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson. Chappell re-reads classic works of literature on a regular basis, but also consumes biographies and art books on figures in literature, art, politics, and history. He displays a fascination with people and places such as Dorothy Parker, the famed Algonquin Round Table, Gertrude Stein, and the ex-patriots that lived in Europe.
“How would you like to be in Gertrude Stein’s living room with all these people from the Twenties? The Lost Generation of Fitzgerald, Pound, Woolf, Eliot, Hemingway…Stein named them ‘The Lost Generation’ after World War I and the Depression. These people were kind of lost and saw the horrors of war,” says Chappell.
As he speaks, Chappell looks like a tall, rugged scholar with close-cropped gray hair in casual attire. He pauses frequently to greet or bid goodbye to guests and local characters passing by the bar. A gold ring adorns his left hand as a symbol of his forty-year marriage to his wife Gina. They have two married daughters, Christina and Michelle.
Sports Man
A commemorative ring from Super Bowl IV in 1970, when the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed over the Minnesota Vikings, sparkles on Chappell’s right hand. It is the only obvious reference to sports that he wears regularly. The restaurant itself serves as a visual embodiment of sports in all shapes and forms. Chappell is a life-long collector and curator of knowledge, objects, and anecdotes. The museum, which he decorated himself, is a testament to sports acquisitions, purchases, and donations assembled over two decades. Naturally, he selects his customers as his favorite “thing” about the place.
As an icebreaker, Chappell will sometimes ask a visitor where he or she went to school. If the college or university has a sports team, then Chappell can usually point at a piece of related memorabilia in the restaurant. Thousands of collegiate and professional football helmets hang from the ceiling. A quick glance at the rafters uncovers old boxing gloves, wooden golf clubs above the bar, a photo of Chappell with Joe Montana, historic images of Babe Ruth, and baseball jerseys for the New York Yankees, former St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and Philadelphia Athletics, a team that moved to Kansas City in 1955 and headed to Oakland thirteen years later. The late, great Buck O’Neil signed a panoramic photograph of the Kansas City Monarchs Negro League Baseball team displayed in the back dining room. The list of notable sports achievers, well-known and obscure, goes on––photos of Hank Aaron, Royal third baseman George Brett, and KC Monarch Alfred “Slick” Surratt. Another signed photo depicts All-Star Alice ”Lefty” Hohlmeyer, who pitched and played first base for the Kenosha Comets from 1946-51, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988, and was one of the many women who inspired the Hollywood film, A League of Their Own.
Food
Even for non-sports enthusiasts, the establishment is an authentic slice of Americana that could never be reproduced like the faux historic hodge-podge décor of chain restaurants found across the metropolitan area. Chappell’s represents a history that lives beyond sheer statistics, controversies like drug use in sports, and the merchandising machine of the NFL, NBA, and MLB. If you don’t know or don’t care what those acronyms mean, it’s okay.
Chappell’s offers more than a stroll down sports memory lane. He launched the place as a political/sports bar in 1986, but eventually emphasized the sports aspect with a casual dining concept that has proven a winner ever since. The restaurant has grown from 65 to 235 seats and features a private banquet room.
The restaurant serves hearty, quality food from prime rib to all-American hamburgers. Chappell maintains that he couldn’t stay in business as a restaurant, especially for twenty years, if the food weren’t good. “I lot of people come for the memorabilia, but come back for the food. It’s more of a restaurant than a sports bar,” he says.
Families dine here in droves, partaking of a menu diverse enough to handle hearty appetites, health-conscious diets, and the finicky taste of kids. The menu does not strive for fussy innovation or cutting edge culinary surprises. Guests can order down-home and familiar favorites like chicken Caesar salad, steak soup, charbroiled chicken or salmon, steamed vegetables, a 12-ounce Kansas City strip, London broil, burgers, tenderloins, chicken fingers, and Philly steak sandwiches, for example. Signature desserts include a Snickers bar ice cream pie, apple caramel walnut cobbler, and a classic old-fashioned root beer float.
Scholar
Although his reputation for sports knowledge and memorabilia precedes him, the restaurant owner’s interest in arts and culture receives far less attention. Chappell exhibits a sense of satisfaction in mentally gathering and sharing a wealth of information about poetry, books, painters, and distant locales to people of like mind.
“People look at me and would never guess I was into poetry. I’m an artist and I can tell you how many times Stan Musial won the batting title,” states Chappell. He waits a beat. "seven” Moments later, he lists Emily Dickinson as his favorite poet, then recites the first stanza of a beloved poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” from memory.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
Chappell’s love for literature and poetry came from his family, but he nurtured a natural interest in art. ”Art came easy for me,” he says.
Chappell graduated from college with a degree in art. He continues to read and traveled extensively to sate his appetite for learning. The classic Greek and Roman art and modern conceptual works don’t impress him much, but he admires nearly all other major art periods. He has visited fifty states and forty-five countries, exploring museums and galleries such as the Louvre in Paris and Modern Museum of Modern Art in New York. Chappell does not simply spout information about an artist or period or poet. He offers a considered opinion and interpretation with the unassuming air of a friendly historian. ”I like the Renaissance, Pop Art by Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, Baroque, and the Impressionists. Everyone likes Impressionism now, but back then, no one liked it. The artist started their own salons to exhibit work,” says Chappell.
When asked what living artist or poet he would like to meet, Chappell pauses, flips pages in a book of poetry, and thinks. He muses out loud, truly contemplating the weight of his choice, and finally rationalizes an answer with keen insight. “I might be surprised by somebody, but would probably be disappointed. There are not going to be as good as their work,” says Chappell. “Dickinson was a recluse. I would like to meet her though. If I was guaranteed that they’d be like I thought they’d be, then I’d want to meet them.”
Of course, there are no such guarantees in life or death. Chappell wrestles less with the next question that he proposes. If he could pick somebody to come back from the dead to meet again, who would it be? He answers with certainty and forethought, “My dad. He saw me as a brat. He died at 54 from a heart attack. I wished he could have seen what I have become. He would have been proud of me and this place,” says Chappell.
The admission is touching when it comes from this savvy businessman, family man, sports historian, and modest intellectual. Jim Chappell sees himself through a different prism than his loyal customers and a staff that wears commemorative shirts for the anniversary. He talks about his biggest regrets even when seemingly surrounded by the trappings of success.
“I didn’t take more chances. When I took a big chance like opening this place, I succeeded,” says Chappell, gauging one measure of his life. “I’ve always taken the safe route. It’s a fear of failure. I still have it when I think about doing something else. It’s kind of odd because everyone sees me as successful. The truth is, no one sees himself as successful. I’ve done a lot, I guess.”
This last remark is an understatement, depending on how one looks at life. He jokes about his marriage of forty years being an accomplishment for his wife. Chappell is proud of his two daughters. He has served as chairman or member of numerous boards and commissions in politics, arts, and banking. He can rattle off a list of celebrities that he has met in this line of work––sports greats like George Brett, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Brooks Robinson; the artist Leroy Nieman; country music star Vince Gill; and countless state and local politicians that come through and shake hands with customers.
Chappell’s is the kind of place where athletes and aesthetes and politicians can cross paths with everyday folk. The restaurant owner still enjoys giving young kids a piece of memorabilia, like a signed foam baseball, to take home, only to see them come back as a grown adult, introduce themselves, and say, “I remember when…”
Statistics and signed baseballs tell only part of the story in sports. Similarly, the living legacy of Jim Chappell is not easy to distill based on the colorful confines of his famous restaurant, the rankings as one of the top sports bars in the country, or the collective memories of his friends and patrons.
Chappell cites a poem by John Donne, Death Be Not Proud, as another one of his favorites that discusses how not to be afraid of death. The selection seems to reflect an important characteristic about this man. Despite his self-portrayal as someone that didn’t take more chances, a more fitting emphasis is his willingness to seek opportunities – in art, literature, travel, sport, politics, business, and family – as a champion of life.
2018 SALE OF CHAPPELL'S RESTAURANT & SPORTS MUSEUM
Jim sold Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum in 2018 to David M. Block, a renown commercial real estate developer and broker. Although Jim sold the restaurant, he still remains extremely active and involved with the restaurant. You can find him there chatting with customers and giving tours of the memorabilia on almost a daily basis.
Jim sold Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum in 2018 to David M. Block, a renown commercial real estate developer and broker. Although Jim sold the restaurant, he still remains extremely active and involved with the restaurant. You can find him there chatting with customers and giving tours of the memorabilia on almost a daily basis.
Family Biographies and Obituaries
Chappell Birdsall and Simpson Families
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DEATH OF CHARLES M. CHAPPELL
Among our older and highly respected fellow citizens, few are better known than Mr. Charles Chappell, and the news of his death will be a shock to all his friends, as it comes so unexpectedly. For over forty years, Mr. Chappell has been a resident of our city, and has always borne a most excellent character. He was a hard working, energetic, industrious man, whose business integrity was never doubted by anyone, whose Christian convections were firm, and character consistent. In religious matter, he was not of a demonstrative nature, but earnest and sincere.
Although 68 years of age, having been born in Onondaga County, New York, December 23, 1808, he has almost up to the day of his death been actively engaged in business and has been in comparatively good health. He died at 1 o’clock in the morning after suffering from a fever. Funeral services will be held at the family residence on East College Avenue, conducted by the Rev. George Stevens, this morning at 10:00 o’clock.
Mr. Chappell leaves a widow and six children of his own, and one step-son. (Jacksonville, Ill., newspaper. Died 05 February 1877)
Among our older and highly respected fellow citizens, few are better known than Mr. Charles Chappell, and the news of his death will be a shock to all his friends, as it comes so unexpectedly. For over forty years, Mr. Chappell has been a resident of our city, and has always borne a most excellent character. He was a hard working, energetic, industrious man, whose business integrity was never doubted by anyone, whose Christian convections were firm, and character consistent. In religious matter, he was not of a demonstrative nature, but earnest and sincere.
Although 68 years of age, having been born in Onondaga County, New York, December 23, 1808, he has almost up to the day of his death been actively engaged in business and has been in comparatively good health. He died at 1 o’clock in the morning after suffering from a fever. Funeral services will be held at the family residence on East College Avenue, conducted by the Rev. George Stevens, this morning at 10:00 o’clock.
Mr. Chappell leaves a widow and six children of his own, and one step-son. (Jacksonville, Ill., newspaper. Died 05 February 1877)
CHARLES BIRDSALL CHAPPELL
Charles Birdsall Chappell, 54, of 216 High Street, widely known Keokuk real estate broker, died in his sleep at about 1 o’clock this morning in his home. His health had not been good for the last year but he was as active as usual and his death was a shock to the family and, his friends.
Although his grandfather was a pioneer Keokuk resident, he was born in Independence, Iowa September 7, 1905, the son of Jesse McKee, and Mary Birdsall Chappell, and came to Keokuk in March of 1939 after living in Missouri and Kansas. Since that time he has owned and operated the Iowa Land Co., at 30 North Fourth, and President of Midland Homes, engaging in real estate brokerage, appraising and insurance.
Prominent in State
Prominent throughout the state as a result of his real estate activity, he was a past president of the Iowa Real Estate Associate, director of National Associate of Real Estate Boards, director of the Iowa Farm Brokers, a member and at the time of his death president of the Keokuk Real Estate Board.
An avid and unusually well informed student of history, he was a past president of the Iowa Society for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, a director, charter member and the first vice president of the Lee County Historical Society and was currently serving as chairman of the Civil War Centennial committee for the Iowa State Fair. In addition he was secretary of the Certified Appraisers and was a Lee county inheritance tax appraiser.
A member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, he also was a member of the Elks and Odd Fellows.
An omnivorous reader with a rich background of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, he was highly individualistic in his thinking and an entertaining and informative conversationalist. A graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in Journalism he had done newspaper work in addition to his career in real estate.
On May 4, 1940 in Lawrence, Kansas, he married Mary Pauline Simpson who survives. Also surviving are two sons, Charles Simpson and James Birdsall at home. His only sister, Maybeth, preceded him in death. The funeral will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. in St. John’s Episcopal Church with burial in Oakland cemetery. The body will remain at the Schmidt Memorial Home until time for the service.
Charles Birdsall Chappell, 54, of 216 High Street, widely known Keokuk real estate broker, died in his sleep at about 1 o’clock this morning in his home. His health had not been good for the last year but he was as active as usual and his death was a shock to the family and, his friends.
Although his grandfather was a pioneer Keokuk resident, he was born in Independence, Iowa September 7, 1905, the son of Jesse McKee, and Mary Birdsall Chappell, and came to Keokuk in March of 1939 after living in Missouri and Kansas. Since that time he has owned and operated the Iowa Land Co., at 30 North Fourth, and President of Midland Homes, engaging in real estate brokerage, appraising and insurance.
Prominent in State
Prominent throughout the state as a result of his real estate activity, he was a past president of the Iowa Real Estate Associate, director of National Associate of Real Estate Boards, director of the Iowa Farm Brokers, a member and at the time of his death president of the Keokuk Real Estate Board.
An avid and unusually well informed student of history, he was a past president of the Iowa Society for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, a director, charter member and the first vice president of the Lee County Historical Society and was currently serving as chairman of the Civil War Centennial committee for the Iowa State Fair. In addition he was secretary of the Certified Appraisers and was a Lee county inheritance tax appraiser.
A member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, he also was a member of the Elks and Odd Fellows.
An omnivorous reader with a rich background of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, he was highly individualistic in his thinking and an entertaining and informative conversationalist. A graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in Journalism he had done newspaper work in addition to his career in real estate.
On May 4, 1940 in Lawrence, Kansas, he married Mary Pauline Simpson who survives. Also surviving are two sons, Charles Simpson and James Birdsall at home. His only sister, Maybeth, preceded him in death. The funeral will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. in St. John’s Episcopal Church with burial in Oakland cemetery. The body will remain at the Schmidt Memorial Home until time for the service.
ELIZA A. CHAPPELL
Mrs. Eliza Ann Church Chappell died at the residence of Mr. George B. Schureman, her son-in-law, on East North street yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock of cancer, from which she had been suffering for many years. Mrs. Chappell had been a resident of Jacksonville since 1827, and was the sole surviving member of Centenary church, of those who participated in its organization. Mrs. Chappell was 72 years of age and was the mother of a large family of children. Further notice will be given of the time of holding the funeral. (Jacksonville, Ill., newspaper; 20 November 1884) (Died 19 November 1884)
Mrs. Eliza Ann Church Chappell died at the residence of Mr. George B. Schureman, her son-in-law, on East North street yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock of cancer, from which she had been suffering for many years. Mrs. Chappell had been a resident of Jacksonville since 1827, and was the sole surviving member of Centenary church, of those who participated in its organization. Mrs. Chappell was 72 years of age and was the mother of a large family of children. Further notice will be given of the time of holding the funeral. (Jacksonville, Ill., newspaper; 20 November 1884) (Died 19 November 1884)
CHARLES CHURCH CHAPPELL FAMILY
Charles Church Chappell was born in 1849, in Jacksonville, Illinois, the son of Charles M. and Eliza Ann (Church).Graves Chappell.
His father, Charles M. was born on 23 December 1808, in Onondaga County, New York, and came to Jacksonville, Illinois, around 1835. The origins of the Chappell family are unknown, but research indicates that Charles’ ancestors settled in New England in the early part of the 17th century, and his father and grandfather may have been members of the Chappell branch that migrated to Onondaga County, New York after the Revolutionary War.
His mother, Eliza Ann Church, the daughter of Thomas and Jane (Gibbon) Church, was born 18 April 1813, in Lexington, Kentucky, and came with her family to Morgan County, Illinois, in 1827. Her father was a soldier in the War of 1812. She married George W. Graves on 22 October 1829, and they had one son before his death.
The length of the courtship between Charles M. Chappell and the young widow is unknown, but they were married by John Barger, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church on 23 August 1836.
Children born to Charles and Eliza were:
Mary Jane, circa 1837;
Alonzo Barger, 16 March 1839;
Francis C., 24 November 1842;
Sarah W., circa 1843;
Amelia, 05 April 1847;
Charles Church in 1849.
The 1850 Morgan County, Illinois, census lists the senior Charles’ occupation as shoemaker, but he may have had varied business interests. He owned property in his own right and his name appears on several deeds with his brother-in-law, Levi Church. He was one of the founders of the Republican Party in Morgan County in 1853, and a contributor to the permanent endowment of the Illinois Conference Female College in 1857. The college is now known as MacMurray College, and this Chappell family holds a perpetual tuition scholarship as a result of this sizable contribution. Eliza Ann was also active in community affairs, and since she was one of the early organizers of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, may have influenced the contribution.
Charles M. Chappell died suddenly at the age of 68, on 05 February 1877, and Eliza Ann Chappell died of cancer on 19 November 1884 at the age of 71.
Young Charles received the affection and attention often enjoyed by the youngest child in a large family, and the paternalism that goes with it. His older sisters worried over his boyish ways and lack of interest in school work. His early years were spent in Jacksonville, but before he was of age he made a trip to the West, and spent some time in Idaho. His Western travels may have been influenced by his older brother, Alonzo who crossed the plains with a wagon train in 1861, and “located” about the mining camps at Deer Lodge, Butte and Virginia City, Montana, for four of five years.
How much time Charles spent in the West, or how long he remained in Jacksonville after this trip is unknown, but around 1875, he went to New York City where he became a successful stockbroker and businessman. A bachelor most of his time in New York, he continued to travel extensively in the United States and abroad. Presumably, the two brothers, Alonzo and Charles kept in contact, and visited each other. Alonzo wrote to his son, Jesse McKee Chappell, on stationary from the Petroleum Club in New York in the 1870’s.
Charles was evidently the playboy of the family. Mary Birdsall Chappell related in later years that on one visit Charles brought a “lady friend” which upset his family a lot. On the other hand, Charles had picked up a good education and during one of these visits, he set his sisters right on grammar and other facts.
Whatever the case, Charles’ bachelor years ended in 1892, when he married Lucy Worth Kline in New York City. The family lived in a mansion on Fifth Avenue and Charles continued to prosper. Three children were born to Charles and Lucy: Helen Eliza, in 1893, Charlotte on 09 August 1898, and Ruth Katherine in 1900.
The stock market was a risky business in the 1890’s, and the Chappell fortunes were adversely affected, because of the Panic of 1893, By the end of the century, Charles had decided to leave New York, and traveled all over the West seeking the ideal place for a permanent home.
After visiting Ashland in Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, he wrote to his brother, Alonzo: “I have found the ideal spot which I have been seeking. It is Ashland, Oregon.” He sold his New York mansion on Fifth Avenue and brought all his elegant furnishings and moved to Ashland with his wife, and three young daughters.
By 1901, he had purchased fractional lots 21, 22, and 23, in Miner’s Addition of the City of Ashland, and the family lived in the house which still stands at the intersecting corner of Siskiyou Boulevard, Iowa Street and Mountain Avenue.
Charles apparently believed in the future of Ashland, as he began purchasing property in 1903, which was then on the southeast edge of town. He also became active in politics, and promoted public improvements.
In 1903, Charles C. Chappell commissioned architect Frank Clark to build a beautiful home in the middle of an orchard, the result was the Chappell-Swedenburg House, which still stands on the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Mountain Avenue. It was placed on the National Register of Historical Landmarks in 1982. The cost of the home was exorbitant. Ashland residents thought it was folly to build such a expensive home in the middle of an orchard. The Ashland Daily Tidings wrote: “He built for himself the handsomest residence building, without doubt, in Southern Oregon.”
Ms. Grace Milam Flint, who lived on Mountain Avenue as a child, said, “It was like being in Fairyland to wander through this house.”
In a Letter to the Editor, published in the Ashland Daily Tidings in 1966, Ms. Flint wrote that Charles practically watched every nail that was driven in each board. “I can still see him standing up on the roof when the bricklayers were building the huge chimney. My father was so worried that he would lose his balance and fall.”
Only the finest materials went into the house, Ms. Flint wrote, and a barn was erected that was as beautifully built as the house. When the construction was completed, the exquisite furnishings, collected by Charles during his travels and brought from the New York home, were placed in the house. The family occupied the home in the spring of 1904.
Ms. Flint and the oldest Chappell daughter, Helen, were friends and playmates, and so she was able to wander freely through the house. She wrote that the house was her introduction to beautiful furnishings and antiques, fine Havilind China and crystal, gorgeous Persian and Oriental rugs, and other treasures too numerous to mention.
The family has a driving horse called Barney, a darling fat little Shetland pony called Belle, and the cutest little pony cart. The also had a fat old white shorthaired dog named, Duke. It was a time of fun and excitement for the Chappell family. The family was settled into their new home, and Charles was serving his second year as a City Councilman from the ward of South Ashland.
But it was not to last for Charles C. Chappell. On 31 July 1905, he died from heart failure. He had suffered from heart trouble for about two years, but it was not considered serious until three months before his death, when he was critically ill and had to be treated in San Francisco. He had been confined to his home three weeks preceding his death, and it was obvious the final week of his life that he was very sick. His wife, Lucy, telegraphed his brother, Alonzo, who arrived two days before his younger brother’s death. The brother’s arrival seemed to cheer Charles up, but on the evening of the 31st, Charles died while the two brothers were talking.
His death was a loss to both his family and the City of Ashland. At the time of his death, he had six valuable pieces of property, excluding the lots on which the house was built. This property included land on which Ashland High School and much of Southern Oregon State College now stands.
Lucy Cline Chappell was only 34 at the time of her husband’s death. She was attractive and described in the Chappell family as a very “genteel” lady. There isn’t any indication, however, that she had any experience in handling financial affairs, or was prone to economize since it had never been necessary. She was now faced not only with the responsibility of raising three young girls, but of maintaining a household and standard of living that required considerable resources by the standards of the time. Lucy petitioned the County Court and was appointed Administratrix for the estate and guardian of Helen, Charlotte and Ruth in September of 1905.
In her petition, Lucy requested a monthly sum to maintain the family, and exclusion of personal property, which under the law would be exempt, for the convenience and support of the family during the administration. She also petitioned the court for an order of the sale of real estate, and the intent to sell said real estate for cash was published in the Ashland Daily Tidings as prescribed by law beginning on 20 December 1905.
Whether the financial matters could have been handled better, is a matter of speculation. Despite the descriptions of Mr. Chappell’s wealth, and his purchases of land, there isn’t any indication of his occupation, or sources of income, after arriving in Ashland, except for his position on the city council and investment income.
Lucy W. Chappell re-married. Her husband was George F. Wilson, manager of the Western Union Telegraph office in Ashland. They were married at Trinity Episcopal Church on 30 April 1908.
While there was little mention of the social activities of the Chappell family in the local paper in the years preceding Mr. Chappell’s death, numerous items on the George Wilson’s and the Chappell girls appeared in the Ashland Tidings between the years 1905 and 1912.
The marriage, however, was not exactly happy, and the family’s financial fortunes were dependent upon the sale of real estate. Ms. Flint wrote that Lucy was forced to sell some of the household treasures to help meet expenses and maintain the home.
By the end of 1908, all of the real estate had been sold and the estate closed. The family continued to live in the handsome Georgian style residence since it and the household items were exempt from probate, and the lots were apparently deeded to Helen, Charlotte and Ruth in June of 1903. George Wilson and Lucy appear to have come to some kind of agreement in May of 1912. She began to refer to herself and Mrs. Lucy Wilson rather than Mrs.
George F. Wilson, and Mr. Wilson granted her power of attorney during the same month because of difficulties in acting together. Lucy had established a home in San Francisco, although the Chappell house in Ashland was maintained. The whereabouts of George Wilson, after he left the Western Union office in 1912, are sketchy, but he did not reside in the house on Siskiyou Boulevard after 1913.
Lucy eventually moved to San Francisco, where she maintained a spacious apartment, until about 1931, when she returned to Ashland to reside with the Victoria Taverner family. She had Paget’s disease, and had been staying with her daughter, Charlotte, who was a nurse, in San Francisco, but her sharp tongue and Charlotte’s strong willed husband, Dr. Stanley Mentzer, were bound to clash. He told her she could not stay with them. Lucy and Victoria Taverner had always been friends and so Lucy came back to Ashland for the last ten years of her life. She died on 20 October 1941, at the Taverner home, 912 Siskiyou Boulevard, and was buried next to her husband, Charles, in Mountain View Cemetery.
There is an element of tragedy in the story of Charles C. Chappell and his grand house on the Boulevard. After putting so much effort in constructing such a fine home for his family, he died within 18 months of its completion. The home was an enchanting place for young girls to live, and the social functions reported in the newspapers indicate that there were happy times. However, it was only seven years after Mr. Chappell’s death that the family began to reside part of the time in San Francisco and by 1919, the family spent more time in San Francisco and less in Ashland. Standing empty most of the time, maintenance was neglected.
Whether it was Ruth’s marriage in June of 1919, or the impracticality trying to maintain an expensive, but seldom used home, that influenced the final decision is not known, but on 22 September 1919, the deed transferring the property to Dr. Francis G. Swedenburg and his wife was recorded at the County Court House. Less than 16 years after its construction, Charles C. Chappell’s house had passed from the Chappell family.
Charles Church Chappell was born in 1849, in Jacksonville, Illinois, the son of Charles M. and Eliza Ann (Church).Graves Chappell.
His father, Charles M. was born on 23 December 1808, in Onondaga County, New York, and came to Jacksonville, Illinois, around 1835. The origins of the Chappell family are unknown, but research indicates that Charles’ ancestors settled in New England in the early part of the 17th century, and his father and grandfather may have been members of the Chappell branch that migrated to Onondaga County, New York after the Revolutionary War.
His mother, Eliza Ann Church, the daughter of Thomas and Jane (Gibbon) Church, was born 18 April 1813, in Lexington, Kentucky, and came with her family to Morgan County, Illinois, in 1827. Her father was a soldier in the War of 1812. She married George W. Graves on 22 October 1829, and they had one son before his death.
The length of the courtship between Charles M. Chappell and the young widow is unknown, but they were married by John Barger, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church on 23 August 1836.
Children born to Charles and Eliza were:
Mary Jane, circa 1837;
Alonzo Barger, 16 March 1839;
Francis C., 24 November 1842;
Sarah W., circa 1843;
Amelia, 05 April 1847;
Charles Church in 1849.
The 1850 Morgan County, Illinois, census lists the senior Charles’ occupation as shoemaker, but he may have had varied business interests. He owned property in his own right and his name appears on several deeds with his brother-in-law, Levi Church. He was one of the founders of the Republican Party in Morgan County in 1853, and a contributor to the permanent endowment of the Illinois Conference Female College in 1857. The college is now known as MacMurray College, and this Chappell family holds a perpetual tuition scholarship as a result of this sizable contribution. Eliza Ann was also active in community affairs, and since she was one of the early organizers of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, may have influenced the contribution.
Charles M. Chappell died suddenly at the age of 68, on 05 February 1877, and Eliza Ann Chappell died of cancer on 19 November 1884 at the age of 71.
Young Charles received the affection and attention often enjoyed by the youngest child in a large family, and the paternalism that goes with it. His older sisters worried over his boyish ways and lack of interest in school work. His early years were spent in Jacksonville, but before he was of age he made a trip to the West, and spent some time in Idaho. His Western travels may have been influenced by his older brother, Alonzo who crossed the plains with a wagon train in 1861, and “located” about the mining camps at Deer Lodge, Butte and Virginia City, Montana, for four of five years.
How much time Charles spent in the West, or how long he remained in Jacksonville after this trip is unknown, but around 1875, he went to New York City where he became a successful stockbroker and businessman. A bachelor most of his time in New York, he continued to travel extensively in the United States and abroad. Presumably, the two brothers, Alonzo and Charles kept in contact, and visited each other. Alonzo wrote to his son, Jesse McKee Chappell, on stationary from the Petroleum Club in New York in the 1870’s.
Charles was evidently the playboy of the family. Mary Birdsall Chappell related in later years that on one visit Charles brought a “lady friend” which upset his family a lot. On the other hand, Charles had picked up a good education and during one of these visits, he set his sisters right on grammar and other facts.
Whatever the case, Charles’ bachelor years ended in 1892, when he married Lucy Worth Kline in New York City. The family lived in a mansion on Fifth Avenue and Charles continued to prosper. Three children were born to Charles and Lucy: Helen Eliza, in 1893, Charlotte on 09 August 1898, and Ruth Katherine in 1900.
The stock market was a risky business in the 1890’s, and the Chappell fortunes were adversely affected, because of the Panic of 1893, By the end of the century, Charles had decided to leave New York, and traveled all over the West seeking the ideal place for a permanent home.
After visiting Ashland in Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, he wrote to his brother, Alonzo: “I have found the ideal spot which I have been seeking. It is Ashland, Oregon.” He sold his New York mansion on Fifth Avenue and brought all his elegant furnishings and moved to Ashland with his wife, and three young daughters.
By 1901, he had purchased fractional lots 21, 22, and 23, in Miner’s Addition of the City of Ashland, and the family lived in the house which still stands at the intersecting corner of Siskiyou Boulevard, Iowa Street and Mountain Avenue.
Charles apparently believed in the future of Ashland, as he began purchasing property in 1903, which was then on the southeast edge of town. He also became active in politics, and promoted public improvements.
In 1903, Charles C. Chappell commissioned architect Frank Clark to build a beautiful home in the middle of an orchard, the result was the Chappell-Swedenburg House, which still stands on the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Mountain Avenue. It was placed on the National Register of Historical Landmarks in 1982. The cost of the home was exorbitant. Ashland residents thought it was folly to build such a expensive home in the middle of an orchard. The Ashland Daily Tidings wrote: “He built for himself the handsomest residence building, without doubt, in Southern Oregon.”
Ms. Grace Milam Flint, who lived on Mountain Avenue as a child, said, “It was like being in Fairyland to wander through this house.”
In a Letter to the Editor, published in the Ashland Daily Tidings in 1966, Ms. Flint wrote that Charles practically watched every nail that was driven in each board. “I can still see him standing up on the roof when the bricklayers were building the huge chimney. My father was so worried that he would lose his balance and fall.”
Only the finest materials went into the house, Ms. Flint wrote, and a barn was erected that was as beautifully built as the house. When the construction was completed, the exquisite furnishings, collected by Charles during his travels and brought from the New York home, were placed in the house. The family occupied the home in the spring of 1904.
Ms. Flint and the oldest Chappell daughter, Helen, were friends and playmates, and so she was able to wander freely through the house. She wrote that the house was her introduction to beautiful furnishings and antiques, fine Havilind China and crystal, gorgeous Persian and Oriental rugs, and other treasures too numerous to mention.
The family has a driving horse called Barney, a darling fat little Shetland pony called Belle, and the cutest little pony cart. The also had a fat old white shorthaired dog named, Duke. It was a time of fun and excitement for the Chappell family. The family was settled into their new home, and Charles was serving his second year as a City Councilman from the ward of South Ashland.
But it was not to last for Charles C. Chappell. On 31 July 1905, he died from heart failure. He had suffered from heart trouble for about two years, but it was not considered serious until three months before his death, when he was critically ill and had to be treated in San Francisco. He had been confined to his home three weeks preceding his death, and it was obvious the final week of his life that he was very sick. His wife, Lucy, telegraphed his brother, Alonzo, who arrived two days before his younger brother’s death. The brother’s arrival seemed to cheer Charles up, but on the evening of the 31st, Charles died while the two brothers were talking.
His death was a loss to both his family and the City of Ashland. At the time of his death, he had six valuable pieces of property, excluding the lots on which the house was built. This property included land on which Ashland High School and much of Southern Oregon State College now stands.
Lucy Cline Chappell was only 34 at the time of her husband’s death. She was attractive and described in the Chappell family as a very “genteel” lady. There isn’t any indication, however, that she had any experience in handling financial affairs, or was prone to economize since it had never been necessary. She was now faced not only with the responsibility of raising three young girls, but of maintaining a household and standard of living that required considerable resources by the standards of the time. Lucy petitioned the County Court and was appointed Administratrix for the estate and guardian of Helen, Charlotte and Ruth in September of 1905.
In her petition, Lucy requested a monthly sum to maintain the family, and exclusion of personal property, which under the law would be exempt, for the convenience and support of the family during the administration. She also petitioned the court for an order of the sale of real estate, and the intent to sell said real estate for cash was published in the Ashland Daily Tidings as prescribed by law beginning on 20 December 1905.
Whether the financial matters could have been handled better, is a matter of speculation. Despite the descriptions of Mr. Chappell’s wealth, and his purchases of land, there isn’t any indication of his occupation, or sources of income, after arriving in Ashland, except for his position on the city council and investment income.
Lucy W. Chappell re-married. Her husband was George F. Wilson, manager of the Western Union Telegraph office in Ashland. They were married at Trinity Episcopal Church on 30 April 1908.
While there was little mention of the social activities of the Chappell family in the local paper in the years preceding Mr. Chappell’s death, numerous items on the George Wilson’s and the Chappell girls appeared in the Ashland Tidings between the years 1905 and 1912.
The marriage, however, was not exactly happy, and the family’s financial fortunes were dependent upon the sale of real estate. Ms. Flint wrote that Lucy was forced to sell some of the household treasures to help meet expenses and maintain the home.
By the end of 1908, all of the real estate had been sold and the estate closed. The family continued to live in the handsome Georgian style residence since it and the household items were exempt from probate, and the lots were apparently deeded to Helen, Charlotte and Ruth in June of 1903. George Wilson and Lucy appear to have come to some kind of agreement in May of 1912. She began to refer to herself and Mrs. Lucy Wilson rather than Mrs.
George F. Wilson, and Mr. Wilson granted her power of attorney during the same month because of difficulties in acting together. Lucy had established a home in San Francisco, although the Chappell house in Ashland was maintained. The whereabouts of George Wilson, after he left the Western Union office in 1912, are sketchy, but he did not reside in the house on Siskiyou Boulevard after 1913.
Lucy eventually moved to San Francisco, where she maintained a spacious apartment, until about 1931, when she returned to Ashland to reside with the Victoria Taverner family. She had Paget’s disease, and had been staying with her daughter, Charlotte, who was a nurse, in San Francisco, but her sharp tongue and Charlotte’s strong willed husband, Dr. Stanley Mentzer, were bound to clash. He told her she could not stay with them. Lucy and Victoria Taverner had always been friends and so Lucy came back to Ashland for the last ten years of her life. She died on 20 October 1941, at the Taverner home, 912 Siskiyou Boulevard, and was buried next to her husband, Charles, in Mountain View Cemetery.
There is an element of tragedy in the story of Charles C. Chappell and his grand house on the Boulevard. After putting so much effort in constructing such a fine home for his family, he died within 18 months of its completion. The home was an enchanting place for young girls to live, and the social functions reported in the newspapers indicate that there were happy times. However, it was only seven years after Mr. Chappell’s death that the family began to reside part of the time in San Francisco and by 1919, the family spent more time in San Francisco and less in Ashland. Standing empty most of the time, maintenance was neglected.
Whether it was Ruth’s marriage in June of 1919, or the impracticality trying to maintain an expensive, but seldom used home, that influenced the final decision is not known, but on 22 September 1919, the deed transferring the property to Dr. Francis G. Swedenburg and his wife was recorded at the County Court House. Less than 16 years after its construction, Charles C. Chappell’s house had passed from the Chappell family.
WILSON FUNERAL PLANNED THURSDAY
Lucy Worth Kline Chappell Wilson passed away Oct. 20, 1941 at 912 Siskiyou boulevard. Funeral services will be held at the Episcopal church 10 a.m. Thursday, with Dr. C.E. Sayre in charge. Mrs. Wilson was well-known here, having lived in this community at various times throughout her life. She was born Oct. 14, 1869, in New York City, N.Y. She is survived by her husband George F. Wilson, and three daughters, Mrs. Charles Newton Lathrop of Newport, R.I., Mrs. Stanley Mentzer, of San Francisco, and Mrs. Frank B. Montanye of Tacoma Park, Maryland. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Charles Church Chappell. Mrs. Mentzer arrived yesterday and Mrs. Lathrop arrived by plane this afternoon. J.P. Dodge and Sons are the funeral directors in charge. (Ashland Daily Tidings, 22 October 1941)
WILSON FUNERAL HELD THIS A.M.
Funeral services for Lucy Wilson were held at 10 o’clock this morning in the Trinity Episcopal church. Dr. Claude E. Savre officiated.
Mrs. Stanley Mentzer of San Francisco and Mrs. Charles N. Lathrop from Newport, Rhode Island, arrived by plane last night to attend the funeral of their mother.
Pallbearers were Homer Billings, Fred Engle, Clyde Dunham, and W.H. McNair. Interment was held in Mountain View cemetery.
Arrangements were made through J.P. Dodge and Sons, funeral directors. (Ashland Daily Tidings, 23 October 1941)
Lucy Worth Kline Chappell Wilson passed away Oct. 20, 1941 at 912 Siskiyou boulevard. Funeral services will be held at the Episcopal church 10 a.m. Thursday, with Dr. C.E. Sayre in charge. Mrs. Wilson was well-known here, having lived in this community at various times throughout her life. She was born Oct. 14, 1869, in New York City, N.Y. She is survived by her husband George F. Wilson, and three daughters, Mrs. Charles Newton Lathrop of Newport, R.I., Mrs. Stanley Mentzer, of San Francisco, and Mrs. Frank B. Montanye of Tacoma Park, Maryland. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Charles Church Chappell. Mrs. Mentzer arrived yesterday and Mrs. Lathrop arrived by plane this afternoon. J.P. Dodge and Sons are the funeral directors in charge. (Ashland Daily Tidings, 22 October 1941)
WILSON FUNERAL HELD THIS A.M.
Funeral services for Lucy Wilson were held at 10 o’clock this morning in the Trinity Episcopal church. Dr. Claude E. Savre officiated.
Mrs. Stanley Mentzer of San Francisco and Mrs. Charles N. Lathrop from Newport, Rhode Island, arrived by plane last night to attend the funeral of their mother.
Pallbearers were Homer Billings, Fred Engle, Clyde Dunham, and W.H. McNair. Interment was held in Mountain View cemetery.
Arrangements were made through J.P. Dodge and Sons, funeral directors. (Ashland Daily Tidings, 23 October 1941)
ALONZO BARGER CHAPPELL
Alonzo Barger Chappell, affectionately known as “Lon”, for 21 years a highly respected resident and business man of Independence, passed away Tuesday evening, May 20, at 9 o’clock at his home in the Third Ward.
Mr. Chappell had not been well for the past year. Early last winter he was very ill for a time, but recuperated and this spring was able to be out, at his place of business, felt better than he had for many months and attended to the planting of his garden, but three weeks ago he was taken with a cold and continued to decline until death came, though he was confined to his bed for only a few days before. His death was due to a general breakdown of the system. About 15 years ago, Mr. Chappell was operated on for cancer. Since that time, he had worried more or less and this condition doubtless impaired his health. Before that he had been a strong, rugged man. The funeral services were conducted this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock from the residence of the Third Ward. Rev. Henry L.A. Fisk, of St. James Episcopal church, officiated. Burial was in Oakwood cemetery. The pallbearers were Messrs. S.A. Wilson, L.B. Young, A.N. Todd, A.G. Rigby, W.C. Simpson and D.F. Logan.
Mr. Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Ill. He was the son of Charles and Eliza Chappell. The date of his birth was March 16, 1839. He lived in Jacksonville, until 1861, when he crossed the plains with a wagon train and was located in and about the mining camps at Deer Lodge, Butte, and Virginia city, Mont…for four or five years, then returning the Jacksonville. On July 9, 1867, he was untied in marriage to Miss Sarah Rebecca McKee of Keokuk, Iowa.
He is survived by his widow, Sarah McKee Chappell and two sons, Postmaster Harry Church Chappell of Independence and Jesse McKee Chappell of Iola, Kan. The latter arrived Tuesday morning and was at the bedside of his father when he passed away. In 1892, Mr. Chappell and family moved to this city and here he had since made his home. For a year after coming here he was engaged in farming south of the Hospital. Later, for several years he and Arthur Morgan, now of Chicago, were engaged in the livery business in the old Trask barn on Third Avenue, N.E. Afterward Mr. Chappell conducted a fair store at the stand now occupied by the McEwen drugstore. He was engaged in the real estate business here more or less all the time since coming to Independence, being associated with H.T. Lynch, practically all the time in one way or another. For several years he and his son; Jesse Mckee Chappell, comprised the Hawkeye Land company, with offices over the Tabor drugstore, and Mr. Chappell, Sr., conducted that business until his death. Besides his devoted widow and two sons, Mr. Chappell leaves to mourn his death two sisters, Mesdames Amelia Rapp and Mrs. James Craig, both of Woodson, Ill., and three grandchildren, Church Chappell, of this city, and Maybeth and Charles B. Chappell, of Iola, Kan.
During his long residence here, Mr. Chappell won a wide friendship and acquaintance. He was a quiet, unassuming man, attended to his own affairs, was devoted to his home and family, fair and square in his dealings with his fellow man, and in all ways a good citizen, a real friend and neighbor. In politics, he was an ardent Republican. His familiar figure upon our streets, where he had for so long been seen, will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him, and they unite in extending to his sorrowing widow, children and other relatives a genuine sympathy. (Independence, Iowa, newspaper, May 1913)
ALONZO BARGER CHAPPELL
Alonzo Barger Chappell dies at his home in the third ward Tuesday evening after an illness of but three days. Mr. Chappell had been ailing for about two years, and was taken worse early last winter, at that time being confined to his bed for several days. He rallied from this, and up to about two weeks ago has been quite well. He caught some cold at that time and since Saturday has been confined to his bed.
Alonzo Barger Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Ill., March 16, 1839, which place was his home till 1867. He was one of the early pioneers who endured the hardships of crossing the country when it was new by wagon train about the year 1860. July 9, 1867, he was united in marriage to Sarah Rebecca McKee, at Keokuk, Iowa, and here he made his home till 1892 when he came to Independence. For a time he was connected in the livery business here with Art Morgan. Later he became interested in real estate, and has, for most of the time for the past 15 years been associated H.T. Lynch in this business. Mr. Chappell leaves a wife, two sons, and two sisters who have the heartfelt sympathy of all. The sons are Jesse M. Chappell of Iola, Kan., and Postmaster Harry Chappell of this city. The sisters are Mrs. Amelia Rapp and Mrs. James Craig of Woodson, Ill.
Mr. Chappell was a man of sterling traits of character, honorable, socialable, and a good man in the relations of life. He leaves many friends to mourn his death. The funeral will be held at the house on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock with burial at Oak Grove cemetery. (Independence, Iowa, newspaper, May 1913)
ALONZO BARGER CHAPPELL PASSED AWAY
Former Well Known Resident of Keokuk Died at His Home at Independence Iowa
ONLY MEAGER DETAILS
Visited Keokuk Periodically and Always Received a Warm Welcome From All Classes
Friends in the city have received the announcement of the death of Alonzo Barger Chappell, who will be well remembered as a former old citizen of Keokuk, and familiarly known as “Lon” Chappell. He was born in or in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Ill., and came to Keokuk many years ago. He was a man of many likeable qualities and he had a large circle of friends in the city. He married Miss Rebecca McKee of this vicinity. For a few years, he conducted a popular billiard hall on Main street, and then purchased a large farm near New Boston in this county which he conducted for two years and then returned to Keokuk, owning his residence property on Concert street. Later, he purchased a beautiful tract of land out on 2007 Grand Avenue and built an attractive resident on the end of the land nearest town, at about Nineteenth street. He sold a parcel of this tract at the farthest end of these holdings to Mrs. Cox, who built a summer home with other improvements. Later, Mr. Chappell removed to Independence, Iowa, where he continued to live until his death.
There have been no details received of his last illness, except that his friends in Keokuk knew he was suffering from a dangerous ailment. It seemed that the commencement of this of this sickness was a severe cold which produced a more dangerous illness, which prevented him from partaking sufficient nourishment to sustain life. For a time, he lingered, and at last death claimed him.
Many old friends in Keokuk who know him so well will be pained to learn of this death. After going to Independence, he frequently returned to Keokuk and always found a warm welcome from all classes. He was prominent in the organization of the old Free-for-all church here which for a time was a popular and prominent institution in the city in the latter part of the 70’s in the past century. Rev. John Burgess conducted the services of the organization and was very successful in gaining the objects for which it was organized and the early organizers and attendants were very zealous in the promotion of its progress.
Mr. Chappell is survived by his wife and two sons, Harry Church and Jesse Mckee Chappell. He was past 75 years of age. It is believed the funeral and burial will take place at Independence, though nothing definite has been received here on that subject. (Daily Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, May 1913)
Alonzo Barger Chappell, affectionately known as “Lon”, for 21 years a highly respected resident and business man of Independence, passed away Tuesday evening, May 20, at 9 o’clock at his home in the Third Ward.
Mr. Chappell had not been well for the past year. Early last winter he was very ill for a time, but recuperated and this spring was able to be out, at his place of business, felt better than he had for many months and attended to the planting of his garden, but three weeks ago he was taken with a cold and continued to decline until death came, though he was confined to his bed for only a few days before. His death was due to a general breakdown of the system. About 15 years ago, Mr. Chappell was operated on for cancer. Since that time, he had worried more or less and this condition doubtless impaired his health. Before that he had been a strong, rugged man. The funeral services were conducted this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock from the residence of the Third Ward. Rev. Henry L.A. Fisk, of St. James Episcopal church, officiated. Burial was in Oakwood cemetery. The pallbearers were Messrs. S.A. Wilson, L.B. Young, A.N. Todd, A.G. Rigby, W.C. Simpson and D.F. Logan.
Mr. Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Ill. He was the son of Charles and Eliza Chappell. The date of his birth was March 16, 1839. He lived in Jacksonville, until 1861, when he crossed the plains with a wagon train and was located in and about the mining camps at Deer Lodge, Butte, and Virginia city, Mont…for four or five years, then returning the Jacksonville. On July 9, 1867, he was untied in marriage to Miss Sarah Rebecca McKee of Keokuk, Iowa.
He is survived by his widow, Sarah McKee Chappell and two sons, Postmaster Harry Church Chappell of Independence and Jesse McKee Chappell of Iola, Kan. The latter arrived Tuesday morning and was at the bedside of his father when he passed away. In 1892, Mr. Chappell and family moved to this city and here he had since made his home. For a year after coming here he was engaged in farming south of the Hospital. Later, for several years he and Arthur Morgan, now of Chicago, were engaged in the livery business in the old Trask barn on Third Avenue, N.E. Afterward Mr. Chappell conducted a fair store at the stand now occupied by the McEwen drugstore. He was engaged in the real estate business here more or less all the time since coming to Independence, being associated with H.T. Lynch, practically all the time in one way or another. For several years he and his son; Jesse Mckee Chappell, comprised the Hawkeye Land company, with offices over the Tabor drugstore, and Mr. Chappell, Sr., conducted that business until his death. Besides his devoted widow and two sons, Mr. Chappell leaves to mourn his death two sisters, Mesdames Amelia Rapp and Mrs. James Craig, both of Woodson, Ill., and three grandchildren, Church Chappell, of this city, and Maybeth and Charles B. Chappell, of Iola, Kan.
During his long residence here, Mr. Chappell won a wide friendship and acquaintance. He was a quiet, unassuming man, attended to his own affairs, was devoted to his home and family, fair and square in his dealings with his fellow man, and in all ways a good citizen, a real friend and neighbor. In politics, he was an ardent Republican. His familiar figure upon our streets, where he had for so long been seen, will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him, and they unite in extending to his sorrowing widow, children and other relatives a genuine sympathy. (Independence, Iowa, newspaper, May 1913)
ALONZO BARGER CHAPPELL
Alonzo Barger Chappell dies at his home in the third ward Tuesday evening after an illness of but three days. Mr. Chappell had been ailing for about two years, and was taken worse early last winter, at that time being confined to his bed for several days. He rallied from this, and up to about two weeks ago has been quite well. He caught some cold at that time and since Saturday has been confined to his bed.
Alonzo Barger Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Ill., March 16, 1839, which place was his home till 1867. He was one of the early pioneers who endured the hardships of crossing the country when it was new by wagon train about the year 1860. July 9, 1867, he was united in marriage to Sarah Rebecca McKee, at Keokuk, Iowa, and here he made his home till 1892 when he came to Independence. For a time he was connected in the livery business here with Art Morgan. Later he became interested in real estate, and has, for most of the time for the past 15 years been associated H.T. Lynch in this business. Mr. Chappell leaves a wife, two sons, and two sisters who have the heartfelt sympathy of all. The sons are Jesse M. Chappell of Iola, Kan., and Postmaster Harry Chappell of this city. The sisters are Mrs. Amelia Rapp and Mrs. James Craig of Woodson, Ill.
Mr. Chappell was a man of sterling traits of character, honorable, socialable, and a good man in the relations of life. He leaves many friends to mourn his death. The funeral will be held at the house on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock with burial at Oak Grove cemetery. (Independence, Iowa, newspaper, May 1913)
ALONZO BARGER CHAPPELL PASSED AWAY
Former Well Known Resident of Keokuk Died at His Home at Independence Iowa
ONLY MEAGER DETAILS
Visited Keokuk Periodically and Always Received a Warm Welcome From All Classes
Friends in the city have received the announcement of the death of Alonzo Barger Chappell, who will be well remembered as a former old citizen of Keokuk, and familiarly known as “Lon” Chappell. He was born in or in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Ill., and came to Keokuk many years ago. He was a man of many likeable qualities and he had a large circle of friends in the city. He married Miss Rebecca McKee of this vicinity. For a few years, he conducted a popular billiard hall on Main street, and then purchased a large farm near New Boston in this county which he conducted for two years and then returned to Keokuk, owning his residence property on Concert street. Later, he purchased a beautiful tract of land out on 2007 Grand Avenue and built an attractive resident on the end of the land nearest town, at about Nineteenth street. He sold a parcel of this tract at the farthest end of these holdings to Mrs. Cox, who built a summer home with other improvements. Later, Mr. Chappell removed to Independence, Iowa, where he continued to live until his death.
There have been no details received of his last illness, except that his friends in Keokuk knew he was suffering from a dangerous ailment. It seemed that the commencement of this of this sickness was a severe cold which produced a more dangerous illness, which prevented him from partaking sufficient nourishment to sustain life. For a time, he lingered, and at last death claimed him.
Many old friends in Keokuk who know him so well will be pained to learn of this death. After going to Independence, he frequently returned to Keokuk and always found a warm welcome from all classes. He was prominent in the organization of the old Free-for-all church here which for a time was a popular and prominent institution in the city in the latter part of the 70’s in the past century. Rev. John Burgess conducted the services of the organization and was very successful in gaining the objects for which it was organized and the early organizers and attendants were very zealous in the promotion of its progress.
Mr. Chappell is survived by his wife and two sons, Harry Church and Jesse Mckee Chappell. He was past 75 years of age. It is believed the funeral and burial will take place at Independence, though nothing definite has been received here on that subject. (Daily Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, May 1913)
DR. LATHROP DEAD ON VISIT TO COAST
Social Service Executive of the Episcopal Church Was a Friend of Roosevelt
LEADER IN PRISON REFORM
Succumbs to Pneumonia While in San Francisco for Diocesan Convention Next Week
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30, 1931 (AP) – The Rev. Dr. Charles Newton Lathrop of New York, one of the most prominent clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church, died of pneumonia here this afternoon in St. Luke’s Hospital. Dr. Lathrop, executive secretary of the Department of Christian Social Service of the Church, had come here to speak at the Diocesan Convention next week.
He was born in San Francisco Nov. 16, 1871, and was rector of the Church of the Advent here from 1904 to 1916. He was dean of All Saints’ Cathedral in Milwaukee from 1917 to 1920.
He married Helen Elisa Chappell Jan. 7, 1919. They had one son, Charles Robert Lathrop born October 24, 1919..
Organized Social Service Work
Dr. Lathrop came to New York in the Spring of 1920 after his election to the post in which he continued until his death. He organized the Department of Christian Social Service and later attained national recognition for his efforts to bring about, under church offices, closer relations between capital and labor. He was identified also with the promotion of church work in the rural and isolated sections of the country, the organization of a school of social service for the clergy and the reform of American jails.
Several years ago during a conference on special service in Memphis, Dr. Lathrop had himself locked up in the city jail to acquaint himself with conditions from the inside, and produced a sensation at the General Convention at Washington, in 1928, when he declared publicly that “if a score of the Bishops of the Episcopal Church could be locked up in the average American jail for two or three weeks, I think there is no doubt that there would quickly follow needed reform in the administration of our jails.”
Before joining the staff of the Episcopal Church at national headquarters, Dr. Lathrop was closely identified with his friend Herbert Hoover in the work of Belgian relief in the early stages of the World War. From the outbreak of hostilities until the United States entered the conflict he was in charge under Mr. Hoover of the important work centering around Liege. Herbert Hoover who went on to be the 31st President of the United States.
At an earlier period he had been identified with Frances Heeney in the campaign against lawlessness in San Francisco. The Citizens League for Justice which did much to clean up conditions in San Francisco after the fire of 1908, was organized in Dean Lathrop’s study.
He was a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. In the days of Roosevelt’s Presidency, Dr. Lathrop received one night after midnight, a special delivery letter from the hands of a 15-year old boy. As the church of which he had charge was in the slum district of San Francisco, he at once sent a burning telegram to Roosevelt against the use of boys of immature years at such hours, with the result that Roosevelt at once issued an Executive order terminating [sic] the evil.
Some months later while on a speaking tour of San Francisco, President Roosevelt disappeared and was located several hours afterward in a pew in Dr. Lathrop’s church listening to the preaching of the fiery young pastor.
Dr. Lathrop attended public schools in San Francisco and spent a year at the University of California before entering Harvard, where he graduated in 1896. He took his theological degree from the Western Theological Seminary in 1901. His early career in San Francisco included service as chaplain of the State prison at San Quentin, and as a director of the Preston Industrial School for Delinquents.
A memorial service was held yesterday in the chapel of the Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, by the Rev. Dr. Hugh L. Burleson, missionary bishop of South Dakota.
Bishop James De Wolf Perry of the Episcopal Church issued the following statement on the death of Dr. Lathrop:
“The Episcopal Church has suffered an immeasurable loss in the death of Dr. Lathrop. His sudden removal from a position of great responsibility and wide usefulness in the midst of his career is a staggering blow to the organization which he served; it is a personal bereavement to every one of his associates. Dean Lathrop had been more than ten years a quickening social and spiritual force as head of the department of Christian social service in the National Council of the Church. He was more than a great executive. The movement which he so ably led had in him a soul, a source of vital inspiration.”
Social Service Executive of the Episcopal Church Was a Friend of Roosevelt
LEADER IN PRISON REFORM
Succumbs to Pneumonia While in San Francisco for Diocesan Convention Next Week
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30, 1931 (AP) – The Rev. Dr. Charles Newton Lathrop of New York, one of the most prominent clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church, died of pneumonia here this afternoon in St. Luke’s Hospital. Dr. Lathrop, executive secretary of the Department of Christian Social Service of the Church, had come here to speak at the Diocesan Convention next week.
He was born in San Francisco Nov. 16, 1871, and was rector of the Church of the Advent here from 1904 to 1916. He was dean of All Saints’ Cathedral in Milwaukee from 1917 to 1920.
He married Helen Elisa Chappell Jan. 7, 1919. They had one son, Charles Robert Lathrop born October 24, 1919..
Organized Social Service Work
Dr. Lathrop came to New York in the Spring of 1920 after his election to the post in which he continued until his death. He organized the Department of Christian Social Service and later attained national recognition for his efforts to bring about, under church offices, closer relations between capital and labor. He was identified also with the promotion of church work in the rural and isolated sections of the country, the organization of a school of social service for the clergy and the reform of American jails.
Several years ago during a conference on special service in Memphis, Dr. Lathrop had himself locked up in the city jail to acquaint himself with conditions from the inside, and produced a sensation at the General Convention at Washington, in 1928, when he declared publicly that “if a score of the Bishops of the Episcopal Church could be locked up in the average American jail for two or three weeks, I think there is no doubt that there would quickly follow needed reform in the administration of our jails.”
Before joining the staff of the Episcopal Church at national headquarters, Dr. Lathrop was closely identified with his friend Herbert Hoover in the work of Belgian relief in the early stages of the World War. From the outbreak of hostilities until the United States entered the conflict he was in charge under Mr. Hoover of the important work centering around Liege. Herbert Hoover who went on to be the 31st President of the United States.
At an earlier period he had been identified with Frances Heeney in the campaign against lawlessness in San Francisco. The Citizens League for Justice which did much to clean up conditions in San Francisco after the fire of 1908, was organized in Dean Lathrop’s study.
He was a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. In the days of Roosevelt’s Presidency, Dr. Lathrop received one night after midnight, a special delivery letter from the hands of a 15-year old boy. As the church of which he had charge was in the slum district of San Francisco, he at once sent a burning telegram to Roosevelt against the use of boys of immature years at such hours, with the result that Roosevelt at once issued an Executive order terminating [sic] the evil.
Some months later while on a speaking tour of San Francisco, President Roosevelt disappeared and was located several hours afterward in a pew in Dr. Lathrop’s church listening to the preaching of the fiery young pastor.
Dr. Lathrop attended public schools in San Francisco and spent a year at the University of California before entering Harvard, where he graduated in 1896. He took his theological degree from the Western Theological Seminary in 1901. His early career in San Francisco included service as chaplain of the State prison at San Quentin, and as a director of the Preston Industrial School for Delinquents.
A memorial service was held yesterday in the chapel of the Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, by the Rev. Dr. Hugh L. Burleson, missionary bishop of South Dakota.
Bishop James De Wolf Perry of the Episcopal Church issued the following statement on the death of Dr. Lathrop:
“The Episcopal Church has suffered an immeasurable loss in the death of Dr. Lathrop. His sudden removal from a position of great responsibility and wide usefulness in the midst of his career is a staggering blow to the organization which he served; it is a personal bereavement to every one of his associates. Dean Lathrop had been more than ten years a quickening social and spiritual force as head of the department of Christian social service in the National Council of the Church. He was more than a great executive. The movement which he so ably led had in him a soul, a source of vital inspiration.”
HELEN ELIZA CHAPPELL LATHROP
THE BISHOP’S WIFE
Helen Eliza Chappell was the oldest of the Chappell girls and was born in 1893 to a wealthy family, along with her sisters Charlotte and Ruth in New York City. Their father, Charles Church Chappell was a successful stock broker and businessman who traveled overseas collecting antiques and fine art for his 5th Avenue mansion.
In the late 1890s, he moved his family to Ashland, Oregon, and built one of the finest homes in Southern Oregon. He died when Helen was 12 years old. Because she was older, she may have felt the impact of her father’s death more than her younger sisters.
She attended Ashland schools, and was a 1912 graduate of Ashland High School. Although she probably was not as socially active as her sister Charlotte, she established some life-long friends, including Rose Taverner and certainly was remembered by Grace Flint. Her course study was Latin, and she was the anniversary orator in 1910. She also served as Secretary Senior Literary Society. In the school’s yearbook, the Rogue, she is described as “A perfect miss in all the graces that become a woman.”
Helen lived in Ashland and San Francisco with her mother and sisters between her graduation from high school in 1912 and 1917. A serious-minded young woman, Helen was very religious. She entered the Episcopal Convent of the Holy Nativity in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, being admitted a Postulant, a period lasting six months, by Archdeacon Babcock on April 11, 1917. The convent’s records do not indicate that she stayed beyond six months. The United States had entered the First World War in April, and it appears that Helen went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to engage in church educational work, and during her participation in war activities had met the Very Reverend Charles N. Lathrop, Dean of All Saints Cathedral in Milwaukee. She had been a parishioner of the Dean when he was rector of the Church of the Advent in San Francisco. They were married on January 7, 1919, at St. Matthew’s Church in Kenosha, and lived in Milwaukee for a time. A son, Charles Robert Lathrop, was born on October 24, 1919.
Dean Lathrop was also Chaplain at the Great Lakes Naval Training School. He won international fame early in the war for assisting his friend Herbert Hoover’s relief efforts in Belgium, and was in Leige until its fall to the Germans on August 7, 1914. He also was on a first name basis with President Theodore Roosevelt.
Just when the family moved to New York is unknown, by the Lathrops did reside there for a number of years. The marriage, however, was not entirely successful, and relations between the couple could not have been helped when Helen converted to Catholicism, probably around 1931. Her son, Charles, was received into the Catholic Church on March 6, 1931. It was about the same time that the now Bishop Lathrop was about to be made Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, a coveted position which he had to decline because of his wife’s conversion.
The exact date of Bishop Lathrop’s death is not known, but his family was quite wealthy, and he left a sizable estate to his son, Charles for his education, with any amount left over to go to a little church in New England, where the Bishop had his first parish.
Whether the family had moved to Newport, Rhode Island, prior to the Bishop’s death is unknown, but Helen and her son were living in Newport in 1938, when Amelia Chappell Rapp’s (Aunt Meel) will was probated. She died June 1, 1937, at the age of 90, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and bequeathed the bulk of her estate to the Chappell nieces. The family lived near a convent, and Helen spend a lot of time praying there, which upset Charles’ fraternal grandmother who may have felt that she should have been looking after her son.
Charles entered a Catholic monastery, but after a year decided it was not for him. He went to the University of Santa Clara for one year, and later attended Georgetown University. His aunts, Charlotte and Ruth expressed the opinion that Charles intended to educate himself as long as his father’s money lasted, but the comments may have been a little harsh considering the young man was going through a difficult period in rather difficult circumstances.
Ernest Schureman, a Chappell cousin, also expressed his opinions of Helen’s life style, and when she said she was going to do good works with her share of Amelia Rapp’s estate, he said , “What a hell of a thing to do with money.” It didn’t seem to bother him, however, when he left his estate, a considerable sum in 1951, to his favorite fraternal organization. He was a good friend of his cousin, Charles B. Chappell, however he did not leave any of his inheritance to Charles’ sons, Charles S. Chappell or his brother James B. Chappell for their college education.
During these years, Helen corresponded with the Taverner family in Ashland, and both she and her son, Charles Lathrop, visited with the Taverners in Ashland and San Francisco.
With the outbreak of the World War II, Charles Lathrop entered the Army and was trained as a pilot. He was shot down over France on September 2, 1944. Helen was grief stricken over her son’s death, and never recovered. She applied for entrance into a convent, and was finally accepted by a Cistercian Order in Ireland. The Cistercians were very strict and cloistered, and after about a year she left.
Helen then entered a Benedictine Convent outside Paris, as a boarder, and lived there until her death, probably sometime in the 1950s. When she knew she was going to die, she expressed happiness that she would be with her son again. She is buried in France.
THE BISHOP’S WIFE
Helen Eliza Chappell was the oldest of the Chappell girls and was born in 1893 to a wealthy family, along with her sisters Charlotte and Ruth in New York City. Their father, Charles Church Chappell was a successful stock broker and businessman who traveled overseas collecting antiques and fine art for his 5th Avenue mansion.
In the late 1890s, he moved his family to Ashland, Oregon, and built one of the finest homes in Southern Oregon. He died when Helen was 12 years old. Because she was older, she may have felt the impact of her father’s death more than her younger sisters.
She attended Ashland schools, and was a 1912 graduate of Ashland High School. Although she probably was not as socially active as her sister Charlotte, she established some life-long friends, including Rose Taverner and certainly was remembered by Grace Flint. Her course study was Latin, and she was the anniversary orator in 1910. She also served as Secretary Senior Literary Society. In the school’s yearbook, the Rogue, she is described as “A perfect miss in all the graces that become a woman.”
Helen lived in Ashland and San Francisco with her mother and sisters between her graduation from high school in 1912 and 1917. A serious-minded young woman, Helen was very religious. She entered the Episcopal Convent of the Holy Nativity in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, being admitted a Postulant, a period lasting six months, by Archdeacon Babcock on April 11, 1917. The convent’s records do not indicate that she stayed beyond six months. The United States had entered the First World War in April, and it appears that Helen went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to engage in church educational work, and during her participation in war activities had met the Very Reverend Charles N. Lathrop, Dean of All Saints Cathedral in Milwaukee. She had been a parishioner of the Dean when he was rector of the Church of the Advent in San Francisco. They were married on January 7, 1919, at St. Matthew’s Church in Kenosha, and lived in Milwaukee for a time. A son, Charles Robert Lathrop, was born on October 24, 1919.
Dean Lathrop was also Chaplain at the Great Lakes Naval Training School. He won international fame early in the war for assisting his friend Herbert Hoover’s relief efforts in Belgium, and was in Leige until its fall to the Germans on August 7, 1914. He also was on a first name basis with President Theodore Roosevelt.
Just when the family moved to New York is unknown, by the Lathrops did reside there for a number of years. The marriage, however, was not entirely successful, and relations between the couple could not have been helped when Helen converted to Catholicism, probably around 1931. Her son, Charles, was received into the Catholic Church on March 6, 1931. It was about the same time that the now Bishop Lathrop was about to be made Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, a coveted position which he had to decline because of his wife’s conversion.
The exact date of Bishop Lathrop’s death is not known, but his family was quite wealthy, and he left a sizable estate to his son, Charles for his education, with any amount left over to go to a little church in New England, where the Bishop had his first parish.
Whether the family had moved to Newport, Rhode Island, prior to the Bishop’s death is unknown, but Helen and her son were living in Newport in 1938, when Amelia Chappell Rapp’s (Aunt Meel) will was probated. She died June 1, 1937, at the age of 90, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and bequeathed the bulk of her estate to the Chappell nieces. The family lived near a convent, and Helen spend a lot of time praying there, which upset Charles’ fraternal grandmother who may have felt that she should have been looking after her son.
Charles entered a Catholic monastery, but after a year decided it was not for him. He went to the University of Santa Clara for one year, and later attended Georgetown University. His aunts, Charlotte and Ruth expressed the opinion that Charles intended to educate himself as long as his father’s money lasted, but the comments may have been a little harsh considering the young man was going through a difficult period in rather difficult circumstances.
Ernest Schureman, a Chappell cousin, also expressed his opinions of Helen’s life style, and when she said she was going to do good works with her share of Amelia Rapp’s estate, he said , “What a hell of a thing to do with money.” It didn’t seem to bother him, however, when he left his estate, a considerable sum in 1951, to his favorite fraternal organization. He was a good friend of his cousin, Charles B. Chappell, however he did not leave any of his inheritance to Charles’ sons, Charles S. Chappell or his brother James B. Chappell for their college education.
During these years, Helen corresponded with the Taverner family in Ashland, and both she and her son, Charles Lathrop, visited with the Taverners in Ashland and San Francisco.
With the outbreak of the World War II, Charles Lathrop entered the Army and was trained as a pilot. He was shot down over France on September 2, 1944. Helen was grief stricken over her son’s death, and never recovered. She applied for entrance into a convent, and was finally accepted by a Cistercian Order in Ireland. The Cistercians were very strict and cloistered, and after about a year she left.
Helen then entered a Benedictine Convent outside Paris, as a boarder, and lived there until her death, probably sometime in the 1950s. When she knew she was going to die, she expressed happiness that she would be with her son again. She is buried in France.
KILLED BY A MOTOR TRUCK
Jesse McKee Chappell Stuck as He Tried to Aid J.F. McIntyre, Also Injured
Jesse McKee Chappell, a real estate dealer, 952 Ohio Avenue, Kansas side, was fatally injured and J.F. McIntyre, 546 South Eleventh Street, Kansas side, was dangerously injured shortly before 12 o’clock last night, when they were struck by a truck at the west end of the Twelfth Street Viaduct. Chappell died in the ambulance on the way to the Mulberry Police Station, where he was being taken for treatment. McIntyre was taken to General Hospital.
Mr. Chappell was walking down the viaduct when he saw McIntyre lying in the street. He started to pick McIntyre up when the motor truck, driven by W.E. McCarty, a clerk in the grocery of Shine Y. McCarty, 1714 Central Avenue, Kansas side, struck both of them. McCarthy is being held at the Mulberry Police Station on a charge of careless driving. Dr. E.A. Greaves, deputy coroner, sent Chappell’s body to Quirk & Tobin undertaking establishment. Mr. Chappell was 42 years old and married. (Kansas City Times, 04 December 1918, page 1)
KILLED BY TRUCK WHILE HELPING ANOTHER MAN
Jesse McKee Chappell, 42 years old, 952 Ohio street, Kansas City, Kan., was run down and killed at midnight last night by a motor truck as he was attempting to help another man whom he found lying in the road on the Twelfth street viaduct. The man he was helping was J.F. McIntyre, 542 South Eleventh street, Kansas City, Kan. He was also badly bruised and was taken to the Emergency hospital.
Chappell lived for a minute after being hit and was being rushed to No. 2 station for attention when he died. The body was taken to the Quirk & Tobin undertaking rooms. The truck was driven by W.E. McCarthy, 338 North Fifteenth street, Kansas City, Kan. McCarthy was arrested and is being held for investigation, which will be conducted this morning. (Kansas City Journal, 04 December 1918, corrections made).
THE FUNERAL OF JESSE MCKEE CHAPPELL
Funeral services for J.M. Chappell, a Kansas side real estate dealer, will be held at 3 o’clock this afternoon from the home, 952 Ohio Avenue, Kansas side. Mr. Chappell was killed last Tuesday night when he was struck by a motor truck.
Jesse McKee Chappell Stuck as He Tried to Aid J.F. McIntyre, Also Injured
Jesse McKee Chappell, a real estate dealer, 952 Ohio Avenue, Kansas side, was fatally injured and J.F. McIntyre, 546 South Eleventh Street, Kansas side, was dangerously injured shortly before 12 o’clock last night, when they were struck by a truck at the west end of the Twelfth Street Viaduct. Chappell died in the ambulance on the way to the Mulberry Police Station, where he was being taken for treatment. McIntyre was taken to General Hospital.
Mr. Chappell was walking down the viaduct when he saw McIntyre lying in the street. He started to pick McIntyre up when the motor truck, driven by W.E. McCarty, a clerk in the grocery of Shine Y. McCarty, 1714 Central Avenue, Kansas side, struck both of them. McCarthy is being held at the Mulberry Police Station on a charge of careless driving. Dr. E.A. Greaves, deputy coroner, sent Chappell’s body to Quirk & Tobin undertaking establishment. Mr. Chappell was 42 years old and married. (Kansas City Times, 04 December 1918, page 1)
KILLED BY TRUCK WHILE HELPING ANOTHER MAN
Jesse McKee Chappell, 42 years old, 952 Ohio street, Kansas City, Kan., was run down and killed at midnight last night by a motor truck as he was attempting to help another man whom he found lying in the road on the Twelfth street viaduct. The man he was helping was J.F. McIntyre, 542 South Eleventh street, Kansas City, Kan. He was also badly bruised and was taken to the Emergency hospital.
Chappell lived for a minute after being hit and was being rushed to No. 2 station for attention when he died. The body was taken to the Quirk & Tobin undertaking rooms. The truck was driven by W.E. McCarthy, 338 North Fifteenth street, Kansas City, Kan. McCarthy was arrested and is being held for investigation, which will be conducted this morning. (Kansas City Journal, 04 December 1918, corrections made).
THE FUNERAL OF JESSE MCKEE CHAPPELL
Funeral services for J.M. Chappell, a Kansas side real estate dealer, will be held at 3 o’clock this afternoon from the home, 952 Ohio Avenue, Kansas side. Mr. Chappell was killed last Tuesday night when he was struck by a motor truck.
HARRY CHURCH CHAPPELL
Former Well Known Resident of Independence
Died Monday In California
Harry Church Chappell, former resident and prominent citizen of Independence, passed away Monday morning at the family home at Glendale, California. The funeral services are to be held at Glendale today, Wednesday.
Mr. Chappell was born December 21st, 1870 at Keokuk, Iowa. His parents were Alonzo Barger and Sarah McKee Chappell. In 1890 he came with his parents to Buchanan County, Iowa. For two years after coming here the family resided on a farm. They then came to Independence. Before coming here Mr. Chappell had graduated from the Keokuk schools. In 1892 he entered the study of law under the direction of and in the office of the late Judge C. E. Ransier. This course he completed and was admitted to practice in 1895. For two years he then served as deputy clerk of the court and for four additional years until 1901, as clerk of the court.
After that time he took up the practice of law in this city. From 1903 to 1907 he served as city attorney. He took a decided interest in republican politics and was prominent in the local affairs of the party. From 1903 to 1907 he was chairman of the Republican county central committee. From March 1909 to August 1913, he served as postmaster of Independence. The following April he became a member of the board of education. It was in this capacity that he took his greatest interest in public life and his services were of untold value. In 1910 he assumed the presidency of the board and continued in that capacity for over seven years.
In educational matters he was very progressive. With his co-workers he was able to look into the future and it is due to their wisdom and foresight that the present high school building was built and equipped on a basis which has made it one of the best in the state. In 1919 the family moved to Wyoming where they lived at Casper and Greybull. There he was connected with a power company. About seven years ago they moved to Glendale, California.
His marriage to Miss Katharyn Joella Allen occurred on October 11, 1899. They have one son, Church Allen Chappell, who has been a naval officer for several years and who is now studying naval aviation at Annapolis. Mr. Chappell was very public spirited, being interested in all affairs of civic improvement. For many years, he served a Scoutmaster of the first Boy Scout Troop ever organized in Independence. Harry and his wife write and publish the History of Buchanan County. Memories of his acts of kindness will ever bring a warmth of feeling to the Independence friends. (Independence Conservative, 10 February 1932. He died 05 February 1932)
Former Well Known Resident of Independence
Died Monday In California
Harry Church Chappell, former resident and prominent citizen of Independence, passed away Monday morning at the family home at Glendale, California. The funeral services are to be held at Glendale today, Wednesday.
Mr. Chappell was born December 21st, 1870 at Keokuk, Iowa. His parents were Alonzo Barger and Sarah McKee Chappell. In 1890 he came with his parents to Buchanan County, Iowa. For two years after coming here the family resided on a farm. They then came to Independence. Before coming here Mr. Chappell had graduated from the Keokuk schools. In 1892 he entered the study of law under the direction of and in the office of the late Judge C. E. Ransier. This course he completed and was admitted to practice in 1895. For two years he then served as deputy clerk of the court and for four additional years until 1901, as clerk of the court.
After that time he took up the practice of law in this city. From 1903 to 1907 he served as city attorney. He took a decided interest in republican politics and was prominent in the local affairs of the party. From 1903 to 1907 he was chairman of the Republican county central committee. From March 1909 to August 1913, he served as postmaster of Independence. The following April he became a member of the board of education. It was in this capacity that he took his greatest interest in public life and his services were of untold value. In 1910 he assumed the presidency of the board and continued in that capacity for over seven years.
In educational matters he was very progressive. With his co-workers he was able to look into the future and it is due to their wisdom and foresight that the present high school building was built and equipped on a basis which has made it one of the best in the state. In 1919 the family moved to Wyoming where they lived at Casper and Greybull. There he was connected with a power company. About seven years ago they moved to Glendale, California.
His marriage to Miss Katharyn Joella Allen occurred on October 11, 1899. They have one son, Church Allen Chappell, who has been a naval officer for several years and who is now studying naval aviation at Annapolis. Mr. Chappell was very public spirited, being interested in all affairs of civic improvement. For many years, he served a Scoutmaster of the first Boy Scout Troop ever organized in Independence. Harry and his wife write and publish the History of Buchanan County. Memories of his acts of kindness will ever bring a warmth of feeling to the Independence friends. (Independence Conservative, 10 February 1932. He died 05 February 1932)
HARRY CHURCH CHAPPELL
Harry Church Chappell, a leading member of the bar of Independence and president of the school board of that city, recognized as well as a prominent member of the republican party was born in Keokuk, Iowa, on the 21st of December, 1870. His parents were Alonzo Barger and Sarah Rebecca (McKee) Chappell. The family comes of English ancestry and was established on American soil in the seventeenth century. Alonzo Barger Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, March 16, 1839, and there acquired his education in the common schools. In 1860 he crossed the plains with a wagon team and spent the next five years in the mining regions of Utah, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana. After his return to Jacksonville, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Rebecca McKee, of Keokuk, Iowa, by whom he had two sons, Jesse McKee and Henry Church. For some time he was engaged in the upholstering business in Keokuk and later devoted his attention to real estate until 1890, when he located on a farm his attention being given to its cultivation for the following two years. In 1802 he came to Independence and after farming in Buchanan county, Iowa for one year, entered into partnership with Arthur Morgan in the livery business, which they conducted for two years. He was next engaged in the real estate business with his sons Jess McKee and Harry Church, under the name of the Hawkeye Land Company, with which he was affiliated up to the time of his death, which occurred May 20, 1913. His wife still survives him. She was born in Keokuk, August 9, 1849, and proved an efficient and careful housewife, a devoted mother and wife. She has always been of a very generous disposition and has devoted much time and means to charity. The father died May 29, 1913, but the mother still survives.
Harry Church Chappell was graduated from the Keokuk high school in June, 1890 and he entered upon the study of law in preparation for the bar under the direction of Hoorable Charles E. Ransler with whom he remained from June, 1892 until January 1, 1805. Following his admission to practice in the courts of this state he was chosen deputy clerk of the district court of Buchanan county, which position he filled from the 1st of January, 1895, until January, 1897. At the latter date he was made district court clerk and so continued until January, 1901, since which time he has engaged in the active practice of law in Independence. In 1903 he was elected to the office of city attorney at Independence and remained in that position through the year 1907.
In politics Mr. Chappell has always been a stalwart republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and has ever endeavored to perpetuate republican principles. He was made chairman of the republican county central committee in 1903 and continued in that office through 1907. He was an alternate delegate to the national republican convention from the third district of Iowa in 1908. He served as postmaster at Independence from March, 1909, until August, 1913, and in April, 1908, he became a member of the board of education, being called to the presidency in April, 1910, and still continuing in that position. His membership on the board of education appealed more strongly to him than any official position he ever held, and he probably devoted more time to the duties of it than any of his predecessors. At Independence on the 11th of October, 1899 Mr. Chappell was united in marriage to Miss Katharyn Joella Allen, and they have one son, Church, who was born October 15, 1900. The family occupy an enviable social position and to them is accorded the hospitality of Buchanan county’s best homes. Mr. Chappell is prominent in Masonry, holding membership in Independence Lodge No. 87 F. & A.M.; Aholiah Chapter, R .A. M.; and Kenneth Commandery, No. 32, K. T., of which he has been eminent commander since the 1st of January, 1913. He also belongs to Crescent Lodge, No. 46, K. P., of which he was chancellor commander for two terms, and he finds recreation through his membership in the Golf Club and in the Country Club. His efforts have been carefully directed and therefore resultant. He has ever stood for progress and advancement along line which affect the general interests of society and he is usually to be found in those gatherings where intelligent men are met in the discussion of important public problems.
Harry Church Chappell, a leading member of the bar of Independence and president of the school board of that city, recognized as well as a prominent member of the republican party was born in Keokuk, Iowa, on the 21st of December, 1870. His parents were Alonzo Barger and Sarah Rebecca (McKee) Chappell. The family comes of English ancestry and was established on American soil in the seventeenth century. Alonzo Barger Chappell was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, March 16, 1839, and there acquired his education in the common schools. In 1860 he crossed the plains with a wagon team and spent the next five years in the mining regions of Utah, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana. After his return to Jacksonville, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Rebecca McKee, of Keokuk, Iowa, by whom he had two sons, Jesse McKee and Henry Church. For some time he was engaged in the upholstering business in Keokuk and later devoted his attention to real estate until 1890, when he located on a farm his attention being given to its cultivation for the following two years. In 1802 he came to Independence and after farming in Buchanan county, Iowa for one year, entered into partnership with Arthur Morgan in the livery business, which they conducted for two years. He was next engaged in the real estate business with his sons Jess McKee and Harry Church, under the name of the Hawkeye Land Company, with which he was affiliated up to the time of his death, which occurred May 20, 1913. His wife still survives him. She was born in Keokuk, August 9, 1849, and proved an efficient and careful housewife, a devoted mother and wife. She has always been of a very generous disposition and has devoted much time and means to charity. The father died May 29, 1913, but the mother still survives.
Harry Church Chappell was graduated from the Keokuk high school in June, 1890 and he entered upon the study of law in preparation for the bar under the direction of Hoorable Charles E. Ransler with whom he remained from June, 1892 until January 1, 1805. Following his admission to practice in the courts of this state he was chosen deputy clerk of the district court of Buchanan county, which position he filled from the 1st of January, 1895, until January, 1897. At the latter date he was made district court clerk and so continued until January, 1901, since which time he has engaged in the active practice of law in Independence. In 1903 he was elected to the office of city attorney at Independence and remained in that position through the year 1907.
In politics Mr. Chappell has always been a stalwart republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and has ever endeavored to perpetuate republican principles. He was made chairman of the republican county central committee in 1903 and continued in that office through 1907. He was an alternate delegate to the national republican convention from the third district of Iowa in 1908. He served as postmaster at Independence from March, 1909, until August, 1913, and in April, 1908, he became a member of the board of education, being called to the presidency in April, 1910, and still continuing in that position. His membership on the board of education appealed more strongly to him than any official position he ever held, and he probably devoted more time to the duties of it than any of his predecessors. At Independence on the 11th of October, 1899 Mr. Chappell was united in marriage to Miss Katharyn Joella Allen, and they have one son, Church, who was born October 15, 1900. The family occupy an enviable social position and to them is accorded the hospitality of Buchanan county’s best homes. Mr. Chappell is prominent in Masonry, holding membership in Independence Lodge No. 87 F. & A.M.; Aholiah Chapter, R .A. M.; and Kenneth Commandery, No. 32, K. T., of which he has been eminent commander since the 1st of January, 1913. He also belongs to Crescent Lodge, No. 46, K. P., of which he was chancellor commander for two terms, and he finds recreation through his membership in the Golf Club and in the Country Club. His efforts have been carefully directed and therefore resultant. He has ever stood for progress and advancement along line which affect the general interests of society and he is usually to be found in those gatherings where intelligent men are met in the discussion of important public problems.
MRS. KATHARYN JOELLA CHAPPELL
Mrs. Katharyn Joella Chappell, whose home is one of the centers of literary and social culture to Independence and who is well known among the women’s clubs of Iowa, was born in Homer township, Buchanan county, on the 19th of November, 1877. Her father, Joel Oliver Allen, died November 9, 1877, just ten days before her birth and soon afterward her mother, Mrs. Mary J. (McGary) Allen, moved to Independence, Iowa, where Mrs. Chappell has since made her home. The Allen family was established in New England at an early period in the colonization of the new world and the branch to which Mrs. Chappell belongs is connected in a collateral line with Colonel Ethan Allen, the famous commander of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolutionary war. Her grandparents, Lyman Squires and Angeline (Burlingame) Allen moved from Ticonderoga, New Your, to Buchanan county, Iowa in the summer of 1855 and the former, as a teacher, was actively identified with early educational development here. His son, Joel O. Allen became an active farmer of Homer township and was prominent in community affairs, filing several offices. He was married August 10, 1862, to Miss Mary J. McGary, who was born August 16, 1841, and in June, 1850, came from Norwich, Vermont, to Iowa with her mother, three sisters and a brother. For a number of years she was connected with educational work in this county. Since her husband’s death Mrs. Allen has resided in Independence and is still the owner of valuable farm property in Homer township. She has been very active in club work and in charitable organizations, frequently filing official positions in connection therewith.
Her daughter Mrs. Chappell, the youngest in a family of four sons and five daughters of whom four are yet living was graduated from the Independence high school and on October 11, 1899 married Harry Church Chappell.
Mrs. Chappell is an active, energetic leader in the social literary and club life of Independence, and has held numerous important offices in the several clubs and societies of which she is a member. Her literary efforts have attracted more than local attention. Several plays which were written by her have been presented by women’s clubs in a number of Iowa cities.
She has long been active in the progress and betterment of the community and her ability is recognized and her influence felt by all with whom she comes in contact. She has been an interested observer and close student of many of the vital and significant problems of the age and her clear reasoning and logical deduction have made her opinions of worth in this connection. She has addressed various women’s clubs upon the vital topics of the hour and her writings, which bear the stamp of literary merit as well as deep thought, have attracted wide attention.
Mrs. Katharyn Joella Chappell, whose home is one of the centers of literary and social culture to Independence and who is well known among the women’s clubs of Iowa, was born in Homer township, Buchanan county, on the 19th of November, 1877. Her father, Joel Oliver Allen, died November 9, 1877, just ten days before her birth and soon afterward her mother, Mrs. Mary J. (McGary) Allen, moved to Independence, Iowa, where Mrs. Chappell has since made her home. The Allen family was established in New England at an early period in the colonization of the new world and the branch to which Mrs. Chappell belongs is connected in a collateral line with Colonel Ethan Allen, the famous commander of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolutionary war. Her grandparents, Lyman Squires and Angeline (Burlingame) Allen moved from Ticonderoga, New Your, to Buchanan county, Iowa in the summer of 1855 and the former, as a teacher, was actively identified with early educational development here. His son, Joel O. Allen became an active farmer of Homer township and was prominent in community affairs, filing several offices. He was married August 10, 1862, to Miss Mary J. McGary, who was born August 16, 1841, and in June, 1850, came from Norwich, Vermont, to Iowa with her mother, three sisters and a brother. For a number of years she was connected with educational work in this county. Since her husband’s death Mrs. Allen has resided in Independence and is still the owner of valuable farm property in Homer township. She has been very active in club work and in charitable organizations, frequently filing official positions in connection therewith.
Her daughter Mrs. Chappell, the youngest in a family of four sons and five daughters of whom four are yet living was graduated from the Independence high school and on October 11, 1899 married Harry Church Chappell.
Mrs. Chappell is an active, energetic leader in the social literary and club life of Independence, and has held numerous important offices in the several clubs and societies of which she is a member. Her literary efforts have attracted more than local attention. Several plays which were written by her have been presented by women’s clubs in a number of Iowa cities.
She has long been active in the progress and betterment of the community and her ability is recognized and her influence felt by all with whom she comes in contact. She has been an interested observer and close student of many of the vital and significant problems of the age and her clear reasoning and logical deduction have made her opinions of worth in this connection. She has addressed various women’s clubs upon the vital topics of the hour and her writings, which bear the stamp of literary merit as well as deep thought, have attracted wide attention.
MRS. CHAPPELL, AUTHOR OF COUNTY HISTORY BOOK, DIES
Friends received word of the death of Mrs. Harry Church Chappell on Saturday, October 19 at the home of her son, Church Chappell, 4081 El Bosque Road, Pebble Beach, Calif. She and her husband were authors of two Buchanan County history books.
Funeral services to be held at Forrest Lawn, Glendale, Calif., this week, are pending. Mrs. Katharyn Joella Chappell was born in Homer township, Buchanan county, Iowa on Nov. 19, 1877. Her parents were Joel Oliver and Mary J. McGary Allen. Her father died 10 days before her birth and soon afterward her mother moved to Independence where the family resided for many years.
The branch of the Allen family to which Mrs. Chappell belonged is connected in a collateral line with Colonel Ethan Allen, the famous commander of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolutionary War. Her grandparents came to Buchanan county from New York state in 1855.
Mrs. Chappell was the youngest in a family of four sons and five daughters. She attended and graduated from the Independence high school. Her marriage to Harry Church Chappell occurred Oct. 11, 1899. She was preceded in death by her husband. Mrs. Chappell is survived by one son, Church, a retired U.S. Navy captain and by two grandchildren.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Chappell had an active part in the development of Independence. Mr. Chappell was an attorney. He took an active part in civic affairs, served on the school board for many years and also was active in the Republican party.
Mrs. Chappell also took and active interest in club work and civic duties. She was a member of Penelope Van Princess chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In conjunction with her husband, they compiled the two volume Chappell History of Buchanan county, published in 1914. A few years later they moved to Casper, Wyo., and then to Glendale, Calif., where they resided until Mr. Chappell’s death.
Mrs. Chappell spent several years traveling abroad. She visited friends here on several occasions, remaining for several weeks. (Independence Conservative, 22 October 1968.)
Friends received word of the death of Mrs. Harry Church Chappell on Saturday, October 19 at the home of her son, Church Chappell, 4081 El Bosque Road, Pebble Beach, Calif. She and her husband were authors of two Buchanan County history books.
Funeral services to be held at Forrest Lawn, Glendale, Calif., this week, are pending. Mrs. Katharyn Joella Chappell was born in Homer township, Buchanan county, Iowa on Nov. 19, 1877. Her parents were Joel Oliver and Mary J. McGary Allen. Her father died 10 days before her birth and soon afterward her mother moved to Independence where the family resided for many years.
The branch of the Allen family to which Mrs. Chappell belonged is connected in a collateral line with Colonel Ethan Allen, the famous commander of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolutionary War. Her grandparents came to Buchanan county from New York state in 1855.
Mrs. Chappell was the youngest in a family of four sons and five daughters. She attended and graduated from the Independence high school. Her marriage to Harry Church Chappell occurred Oct. 11, 1899. She was preceded in death by her husband. Mrs. Chappell is survived by one son, Church, a retired U.S. Navy captain and by two grandchildren.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Chappell had an active part in the development of Independence. Mr. Chappell was an attorney. He took an active part in civic affairs, served on the school board for many years and also was active in the Republican party.
Mrs. Chappell also took and active interest in club work and civic duties. She was a member of Penelope Van Princess chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In conjunction with her husband, they compiled the two volume Chappell History of Buchanan county, published in 1914. A few years later they moved to Casper, Wyo., and then to Glendale, Calif., where they resided until Mr. Chappell’s death.
Mrs. Chappell spent several years traveling abroad. She visited friends here on several occasions, remaining for several weeks. (Independence Conservative, 22 October 1968.)
CAPTAIN CHURCH ALLEN CHAPPELL ‘23
Captain Church Allen Chappell USN (Ret.) died on 16 March 1976 in Pebble Beach, California. In accordance with his wishes, no services were held and his ashes were scattered at sea off Point Lobos.
Entering the Naval Academy from the State of Iowa, he was graduated with the Class of 1923 and proceeded to sea duty at once, serving in MISSISSIPPI, MARYLAND and SAVANNAH prior to being named Commanding Office of WASMUTH. Later he was Commanding Officer of the radio station in Los Banos, The Philippines, then served as Communications Officer in Salt Lake City. He was in Manila on 7 December 1941, then was ordered back to CONUS for postgraduate school. In 1944 he suffered a heart attack which precluded sea duty aboard combatant vessels and then joined the Staff of the Eighth Naval District in New Orleans, but in 1946 he took command of the transport LEJEUNE, carrying troops and dependents in the Western Pacific for a year. In all she transported approximately 100,000 troops. Captain Chappell later joined the Staff of the Far Western Sea Frontier in Tsingtao, China, then headed the NROTC Unit in Moscow, Idaho, before assuming his final command at the Naval Base in the Marianas.
He retired in 1953 and joined the faculty of the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach as a math instructor, but took complete retirement in 1966. He is survived by his widow, Gertrude, 4081 El Bosque, Pebble Beach CA 93953, and two children.
Captain Church Allen Chappell USN (Ret.) died on 16 March 1976 in Pebble Beach, California. In accordance with his wishes, no services were held and his ashes were scattered at sea off Point Lobos.
Entering the Naval Academy from the State of Iowa, he was graduated with the Class of 1923 and proceeded to sea duty at once, serving in MISSISSIPPI, MARYLAND and SAVANNAH prior to being named Commanding Office of WASMUTH. Later he was Commanding Officer of the radio station in Los Banos, The Philippines, then served as Communications Officer in Salt Lake City. He was in Manila on 7 December 1941, then was ordered back to CONUS for postgraduate school. In 1944 he suffered a heart attack which precluded sea duty aboard combatant vessels and then joined the Staff of the Eighth Naval District in New Orleans, but in 1946 he took command of the transport LEJEUNE, carrying troops and dependents in the Western Pacific for a year. In all she transported approximately 100,000 troops. Captain Chappell later joined the Staff of the Far Western Sea Frontier in Tsingtao, China, then headed the NROTC Unit in Moscow, Idaho, before assuming his final command at the Naval Base in the Marianas.
He retired in 1953 and joined the faculty of the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach as a math instructor, but took complete retirement in 1966. He is survived by his widow, Gertrude, 4081 El Bosque, Pebble Beach CA 93953, and two children.
MARY PAULINE SIMPSON CHAPPELL
Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, 89, midtown Kansas City, died Sept. 26, 1990, in the Our Lady of Mercy Home, 918 E. Ninth Street. She was born (12 May 1901) in Kansas City, Kan., (the daughter of Elmer Ellsworth and Louise Marie (Rankin) Simpson) and lived in this are most of her life. Mrs. Chappell worked for the Army Corp of Engineers in Sedalia, MO, and Centerville, Iowa, from 1963 to 1965. She worked at the corps’ Kansas City district office from 1965 until she retired in 1975. She worked for the City Ice Co. in the 1930’s. She attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She attended the Metropolitan Community Colleges after her retirement and received a certificate for student excellence in creative writing from Penn Valley Community College in 1980. She was a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Her husband, Charles B. Chappell died (12 July 1960). She had two sons Charles S. Chappell and James B. Chappell of Kansas City, and two granddaughters, Christina and Michelle. She passed away September 26, 1990 and was laid to rest in Jerome, Iowa. (Kansas City Star, 27 September 1990. Parenthesis inserts by editor.)
Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, 89, midtown Kansas City, died Sept. 26, 1990, in the Our Lady of Mercy Home, 918 E. Ninth Street. She was born (12 May 1901) in Kansas City, Kan., (the daughter of Elmer Ellsworth and Louise Marie (Rankin) Simpson) and lived in this are most of her life. Mrs. Chappell worked for the Army Corp of Engineers in Sedalia, MO, and Centerville, Iowa, from 1963 to 1965. She worked at the corps’ Kansas City district office from 1965 until she retired in 1975. She worked for the City Ice Co. in the 1930’s. She attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She attended the Metropolitan Community Colleges after her retirement and received a certificate for student excellence in creative writing from Penn Valley Community College in 1980. She was a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Her husband, Charles B. Chappell died (12 July 1960). She had two sons Charles S. Chappell and James B. Chappell of Kansas City, and two granddaughters, Christina and Michelle. She passed away September 26, 1990 and was laid to rest in Jerome, Iowa. (Kansas City Star, 27 September 1990. Parenthesis inserts by editor.)
MARY PAULINE SIMPSON CHAPPELL (OBITUARY)
Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, born 12 May 1901, was the daughter of Elmer Ellsworth and Louise Marie (Rankin). She lived all her early life in Kansas City, Kansas, where she attended school. After her graduation from high school, she attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She took a business course, and worked as a stenographer. Very independent, she would work at some jobs awhile, and then take trips. During this time she dated an independent, partial owner of the famous Emery Bird Thayer Department Store. She lived in San Antonio, Texas, for a short time. When the Depression came, she was working at the Kansas City Ice Co., and she stayed with them until her marriage to Charles Birdsall Chappell. She had two sons, Charles S. Chappell and James B. Chappell . She took college courses all during her working years, and danced with the Kansas City Ballet for a number of years.
After her marriage, she moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where she was active in several clubs, and worked her husband’s real estate office part time after the boys were old enough to take care of themselves. After the death of her husband, she went to work for the U.S. Government and held positions in several small towns until returning to Kansas City in 1966.
After her retirement in 1973, she continued her interest in wild flowers and nature, and made several trips with various groups. In addition, she made two trips to Europe, one by herself, and went on a sailing outing in the Bahamas, and studied whales off the coast of San Diego. Then she went to Hog Island off the coast of Maine stayed and studied nature at the National Audubon Society Camp.
She had a lifelong passion for the written word. Writing stories came naturally to her, and she looked at the world through a writer’s eyes, alert to the complexities and the comedy of human nature. While raising a family in Keokuk, she belonged to two literary clubs, the Scribblers, who focused on writing, the Current Comment, which focused on books and the arts. Later in life she returned to school to work on creative writing at Penn Valley College, where at age 79 she won a certificate for excellence in creative writing. One of the peaks of her writing career came with her great success in writing acclaimed commercial jingles during what has been called the “Contest Era,” when American companies sponsored public competitions for advertising messages. This era coincided with the time her boys were growing up. Over those years she won, in addition to money, a vacuum cleaner, a refrigerator, a toaster, roller skates, cameras, radios, other appliances, and a bicycle which young Jim eagerly rode around town. But the commercial success never lessened her passion for poetry and for writing. She died 26 September 1990 and was laid to rest in Jerome, Iowa.
Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, born 12 May 1901, was the daughter of Elmer Ellsworth and Louise Marie (Rankin). She lived all her early life in Kansas City, Kansas, where she attended school. After her graduation from high school, she attended the University of Kansas City and the Cranston School of Music and studied ballet at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She took a business course, and worked as a stenographer. Very independent, she would work at some jobs awhile, and then take trips. During this time she dated an independent, partial owner of the famous Emery Bird Thayer Department Store. She lived in San Antonio, Texas, for a short time. When the Depression came, she was working at the Kansas City Ice Co., and she stayed with them until her marriage to Charles Birdsall Chappell. She had two sons, Charles S. Chappell and James B. Chappell . She took college courses all during her working years, and danced with the Kansas City Ballet for a number of years.
After her marriage, she moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where she was active in several clubs, and worked her husband’s real estate office part time after the boys were old enough to take care of themselves. After the death of her husband, she went to work for the U.S. Government and held positions in several small towns until returning to Kansas City in 1966.
After her retirement in 1973, she continued her interest in wild flowers and nature, and made several trips with various groups. In addition, she made two trips to Europe, one by herself, and went on a sailing outing in the Bahamas, and studied whales off the coast of San Diego. Then she went to Hog Island off the coast of Maine stayed and studied nature at the National Audubon Society Camp.
She had a lifelong passion for the written word. Writing stories came naturally to her, and she looked at the world through a writer’s eyes, alert to the complexities and the comedy of human nature. While raising a family in Keokuk, she belonged to two literary clubs, the Scribblers, who focused on writing, the Current Comment, which focused on books and the arts. Later in life she returned to school to work on creative writing at Penn Valley College, where at age 79 she won a certificate for excellence in creative writing. One of the peaks of her writing career came with her great success in writing acclaimed commercial jingles during what has been called the “Contest Era,” when American companies sponsored public competitions for advertising messages. This era coincided with the time her boys were growing up. Over those years she won, in addition to money, a vacuum cleaner, a refrigerator, a toaster, roller skates, cameras, radios, other appliances, and a bicycle which young Jim eagerly rode around town. But the commercial success never lessened her passion for poetry and for writing. She died 26 September 1990 and was laid to rest in Jerome, Iowa.
MRS. MARY BIRDSALL CHAPPELL, DIES
Mrs. Mary Birdsall Chappell of 317 North Fourth street, Keokuk, Iowa, member of a pioneer Iowa family died suddenly at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Graham hospital where she had been taken Thursday night. She had been in failing health for some time.
The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Schmidt Memorial Home with the Rev. Clyde L. Jardine officiating. Burial will be in Oakland cemetery.
Mary Louise Birdsall was born in East Waterloo township, November 16, 1877; daughter of George Bronson Birdsall, an attorney and Anna McCaffery Birdsall, a pioneer school teacher. She attended country school and was graduated from East Waterloo high school at the age of 14.
Public Stenographer
She then attended Iowa State Teachers college, now known as Northern Iowa University, and started teaching school. After two years she took a business course and opened her own office as a public stenographer.
At that time there were few stenographers and she served many of the leading legal lights of Iowa, including Governor Horace A. Boise. She also became an official reporter for the state and national conventions of the Dairy and Drug associations.
While operating this office she acted as a correspondent for the Des Moines Register and Leader and in that capacity covered both the William Jennings Bryan and Theodore Roosevelt campaigns in northeast Iowa.
Organized Wilson Club
In 1901 she married Jesse McGee Chappell at Rockford, Ill., after which they lived briefly in Keokuk and Independence, Iowa, until they moved to Iola, Kan., where Mr. Chappell was owner of the Eastern Kansas Land Co., and the Eastern Kansas Oil Co. Mrs. Chappell was prominent in Women’s Study clubs in Kansas and in the advent of sufferage helped to organize the first Women’s Woodrow Wilson club.
The family moved to Kansas City in 1918 and after the death of her husband in December of that same year, she became executive secretary of the Red Cross of Kansas City, a position she held until her children finished school. In 1946, she moved back to Keokuk where she had lived since. She was an active member of the St. John’s Episcopal church.
Surviving are a son, Charles Birdsall Chappell of Keokuk, Iowa, grandchildren, Charles S. and James B. Chappell, a sister, Miss Alice Birdsall, an attorney at Phoenix, Ariz., a brother, Willis Birdsall, a retired attorney at Lynwood, Calif., and several nieces and nephews. A daughter, Miss Maybeth Chappell, died in January of 1953.
Mrs. Mary Birdsall Chappell of 317 North Fourth street, Keokuk, Iowa, member of a pioneer Iowa family died suddenly at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Graham hospital where she had been taken Thursday night. She had been in failing health for some time.
The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Schmidt Memorial Home with the Rev. Clyde L. Jardine officiating. Burial will be in Oakland cemetery.
Mary Louise Birdsall was born in East Waterloo township, November 16, 1877; daughter of George Bronson Birdsall, an attorney and Anna McCaffery Birdsall, a pioneer school teacher. She attended country school and was graduated from East Waterloo high school at the age of 14.
Public Stenographer
She then attended Iowa State Teachers college, now known as Northern Iowa University, and started teaching school. After two years she took a business course and opened her own office as a public stenographer.
At that time there were few stenographers and she served many of the leading legal lights of Iowa, including Governor Horace A. Boise. She also became an official reporter for the state and national conventions of the Dairy and Drug associations.
While operating this office she acted as a correspondent for the Des Moines Register and Leader and in that capacity covered both the William Jennings Bryan and Theodore Roosevelt campaigns in northeast Iowa.
Organized Wilson Club
In 1901 she married Jesse McGee Chappell at Rockford, Ill., after which they lived briefly in Keokuk and Independence, Iowa, until they moved to Iola, Kan., where Mr. Chappell was owner of the Eastern Kansas Land Co., and the Eastern Kansas Oil Co. Mrs. Chappell was prominent in Women’s Study clubs in Kansas and in the advent of sufferage helped to organize the first Women’s Woodrow Wilson club.
The family moved to Kansas City in 1918 and after the death of her husband in December of that same year, she became executive secretary of the Red Cross of Kansas City, a position she held until her children finished school. In 1946, she moved back to Keokuk where she had lived since. She was an active member of the St. John’s Episcopal church.
Surviving are a son, Charles Birdsall Chappell of Keokuk, Iowa, grandchildren, Charles S. and James B. Chappell, a sister, Miss Alice Birdsall, an attorney at Phoenix, Ariz., a brother, Willis Birdsall, a retired attorney at Lynwood, Calif., and several nieces and nephews. A daughter, Miss Maybeth Chappell, died in January of 1953.
CHARLES SIMPSON CHAPPELL
Charles Simpson Chappell, 59, Kansas City, MO died Monday, October 23, 2000. Services will be 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 25, at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral’s Community Kitchen is requested.
Charles was born and raised in Keokuk, IA and lived in Kansas City most his adult life. An avid and unusually well-informed student of history, he was a freelance writer and historian. He worked extensively on family genealogy with published results, and wrote “Genletter” a genealogical research publication. He was en route to Keokuk, where he planned further research on his family and hometown, when he died. An omnivorous reader and well-traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East, which gave him a rich background of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, he was highly individualistic in his thinking and an entertaining and informative conversationalist. He was a graduate of Keokuk Senior High School and Southwest Missouri State, where was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He was an editor for Reuters Ltd. News Service and an associate editor for “Bank News,” in which he had a monthly column on the international monetary system. In 1969, he was commended by J. Edger Hoover for an article published in “Bank News” on bank security. In the 1970s, he owned and operated “The Press,” a Kansas City, KS, weekly publication. His parents, Charles B. Chappell and Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, preceded him in death. He is survived by his beloved brother, James B. Chappell, a sister-in-law, Georgina Chappell, and niece, Christina Chappell Drumright, all of Kansas City, MO, and niece, Michelle Chappell Pato of Albuquerque, NM. He will be greatly missed by family and friends.
Charles Simpson Chappell, 59, Kansas City, MO died Monday, October 23, 2000. Services will be 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 25, at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral’s Community Kitchen is requested.
Charles was born and raised in Keokuk, IA and lived in Kansas City most his adult life. An avid and unusually well-informed student of history, he was a freelance writer and historian. He worked extensively on family genealogy with published results, and wrote “Genletter” a genealogical research publication. He was en route to Keokuk, where he planned further research on his family and hometown, when he died. An omnivorous reader and well-traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East, which gave him a rich background of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, he was highly individualistic in his thinking and an entertaining and informative conversationalist. He was a graduate of Keokuk Senior High School and Southwest Missouri State, where was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He was an editor for Reuters Ltd. News Service and an associate editor for “Bank News,” in which he had a monthly column on the international monetary system. In 1969, he was commended by J. Edger Hoover for an article published in “Bank News” on bank security. In the 1970s, he owned and operated “The Press,” a Kansas City, KS, weekly publication. His parents, Charles B. Chappell and Mary Pauline Simpson Chappell, preceded him in death. He is survived by his beloved brother, James B. Chappell, a sister-in-law, Georgina Chappell, and niece, Christina Chappell Drumright, all of Kansas City, MO, and niece, Michelle Chappell Pato of Albuquerque, NM. He will be greatly missed by family and friends.
CHRISTINA MARIE CHAPPELL DRUMRIGHT
Christina Marie (Chappell) Drumright, 48, passed away unexpectedly August 30, 2021, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She leaves behind three children, Mace, James and Mitchell Drumright, her parents, James and Georgina Chappell, sister and brother-in-law Michelle and David Pato, a nephew and niece, Michael and Allison Pato, mother-in-law, Nancy VanCil and partner, Bill West, and countless family and friends who will miss her beyond what words can express. She is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Darrel Drumright.
Christina was a lifelong resident of the Northland. She attended St. Therese Catholic School in Parkville from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Christina graduated from North Kansas City High School in 1991, after which she attended the University of Missouri. Wanting to be closer to her family, she moved back to Kansas City and graduated with honors from Park College in 1995. After working with her father at Chappell’s Restaurant and Sports Museum, she and her husband operated a successful Northland Chiropractic practice for over two decades before his passing in March 2019. Christina reinvented herself after Darrel’s death, becoming a Realtor in the North Kansas City area. She touched the lives of so many through her work at Chappell’s, Harmony Health Systems, and as a Realtor, as well as through her extensive volunteer work with St. Patrick’s School and Parrish, the Assistance League of Kansas City, and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts.
It is impossible to describe Christina, as there are no words that capture her sunshine, life and vitality. Her boisterous laugh was infectious, and will always ring clear in the hearts and minds of those who love and miss her. She loved her family and many friends fiercely, was remarkably protective and loyal. Christina had an astounding memory, and possessed an uncanny ability to remember and identify fascinating connections among dates and events. She loved her dogs, Cammie and Jax, jazzercise, chocolate, and classic television sit-coms. She gave all of herself always, was kind, and industrious. She was a devoted mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and member of the Northland community. She will be sorely missed, and remembered with warmth and love.
Christina Marie (Chappell) Drumright, 48, passed away unexpectedly August 30, 2021, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She leaves behind three children, Mace, James and Mitchell Drumright, her parents, James and Georgina Chappell, sister and brother-in-law Michelle and David Pato, a nephew and niece, Michael and Allison Pato, mother-in-law, Nancy VanCil and partner, Bill West, and countless family and friends who will miss her beyond what words can express. She is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Darrel Drumright.
Christina was a lifelong resident of the Northland. She attended St. Therese Catholic School in Parkville from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Christina graduated from North Kansas City High School in 1991, after which she attended the University of Missouri. Wanting to be closer to her family, she moved back to Kansas City and graduated with honors from Park College in 1995. After working with her father at Chappell’s Restaurant and Sports Museum, she and her husband operated a successful Northland Chiropractic practice for over two decades before his passing in March 2019. Christina reinvented herself after Darrel’s death, becoming a Realtor in the North Kansas City area. She touched the lives of so many through her work at Chappell’s, Harmony Health Systems, and as a Realtor, as well as through her extensive volunteer work with St. Patrick’s School and Parrish, the Assistance League of Kansas City, and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts.
It is impossible to describe Christina, as there are no words that capture her sunshine, life and vitality. Her boisterous laugh was infectious, and will always ring clear in the hearts and minds of those who love and miss her. She loved her family and many friends fiercely, was remarkably protective and loyal. Christina had an astounding memory, and possessed an uncanny ability to remember and identify fascinating connections among dates and events. She loved her dogs, Cammie and Jax, jazzercise, chocolate, and classic television sit-coms. She gave all of herself always, was kind, and industrious. She was a devoted mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and member of the Northland community. She will be sorely missed, and remembered with warmth and love.
Phoenix, Arizona, Tuesday, July 15, 1958 Alice Birdsall Won Legal Esteem
Retires With 45 Year Record; Paved Way For Women Attorneys By HENRY R. KIEL
The United Nations World quotes Warren R. Austin as telling about a traveler through rugged country asking his Indian guide how he was able to pick his way over treacherous trails through jagged peaks without losing his sense of direction.
“I have the near look and the far vision,” replied the guide. “With the one I see what is directly ahead of me; with the other I guide my course by the stars.”
As a result of using the far vision technique Alice Maybeth Birdsall achieved as outstanding reputation among members of the State Bar of Arizona, as well as the general public.
Miss Birdsall has announced her retirement from the general practice of law after 45 years of active association with the State Bar of Arizona. She disposed of her law library, office equipment and building space as of May 1, 1958.
History of Arizona, Vol. III, published by Record Publishing Co., in 1930, records that: “She (Miss Birdsall) conducts a general practice in which she has shown herself the peer of any of her colleagues, and has appeared as counsel in many important cases in the courts of this county. She has shown a ready familiarity with the statutes and with court decisions and precedents. This has gained for her a well merited reputation as a sound and dependable lawyer. She commands her full share of the legal business in (Phoenix).
“In addition to her regular practice, she serves (1915 to 1936) as reporter of decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court.”
There were two incidents that caused Alice to determine that her future lay in the practice of law: Greenlief’s book on ‘Evidence’ studied in her brother’s law office while employed as secretary after high school and later overhearing an associate lawyer in a large firm where she was employed tell the senior partner “you know she’s just as good as a lawyer?”
But things seem to come in pairs for Alice Birdsall. She points, with understandable pride, to tow of her accomplishments that were signal achievements in her law career. For years a recognized authority on bankruptcy law, Miss Birdsall as the first lawyer to name the corporation’s alter ego, the husband and wife, incorporators.
If not the first woman to forge her competitive esteem upon the records of our stat’s courts, she certainly blazed a clear path for subsequent constituents of the bar and bench to follow. The first lawyer to practice from the ranks of the feminine gender was Sarah Sorin who practiced with her father Colonel William Herring, chief counsel for Phelps-Dodge with offices in Tombstone and Tucson.
Sarah Sorin, when her father died, in 1912 asked George Stoneman, member of the State Bar’s board of governors to suggest someone who she might get to practice with her, Miss Birdsall had written Judge A.C. Baker at Phoenix about locating in Arizona. So the two women got together and Miss Birdsall took the state bar’s examination in November 1912 and was admitted. She entered the practice of law immediately with Sarah Sorin and shortly after this, in 1914, Sarah died.
In February 1915 Alice moved to Phoenix and established her independent law office in the Fleming Building. And when the Luhrs Tower was built and ready for occupancy in 1929 (same year Maricopa County Courthouse was built) she moved to offices on the fifth floor which were retained until May of this year and released only upon retirement.
Alice Fondly relates how, when she opened her offices in the Fleming Building in 1915, other lawyers considered her quite a novelty. When she went to court she could hear “she a woman lawyer?” and “I wouldn’t know what to do with a women in opposition on a case,” etc., etc. So, when she became established tow of her next door office neighbors came over to see her. “Barnett E. Marks and the late Pat Nelson came in and said are you Miss Birdsall?” “Yes.” “Are you a member of the bar, Miss Birdsall?” “Yes.” “Miss Birdsall,” continued Mr. Marks, “I wouldn’t know how to treat a woman lawyer in a case if she was opposing counsel with me.” “Well, Mr. Marks, you do or say anything you little heart desires and I’ll take care of myself,” Alice replied.
Later on Mr. Marks referred to the conversation again and then said: “And how.” “And, you know, I just passed the word around that I asked no quarter and I gave no quarter; that I can take care of myself come that may,” she said.
She was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention which was held in San Francisco in 1920, James M. Cox of Ohio, nominated for President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vice President.
She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Whittier, Calif. She maintains professional affiliations with the State Bar of Arizona, State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Women Lawyers and the International Association of Women Lawyers. Alice was foremost in the fight for the right of women to serve upon court juries in Arizona; and prior to this she was chairman of the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee during al the loan drives, also chairman for Phoenix of the four-minute men.
FORBES MAGAZINE quotes Edith Armstrong as saying “I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety of fear try to call me, they keep getting the busy signal-and soon forget my number..” Alice Birdsall has been too actively engaged in the ardent, whole-hearted, eager anticipation of legal research and serving her clients by winning her law cases to do any negative thinking. Doubt, anxiety and fear have long since forgotten her number because of the busy signal of her legal thinking.
Volume three of the History of Arizona, referred to above, concluded its splendid tribute to Miss Birdsall by saying “She is cordial and gracious and has a large circle of friends throughout the community, who esteem her for her professional ability and her splendid qualities of character.
The most eloquent praise that she would want to hear from those who knew her is: “Alice Birdsall unmistakably is a lawyer.”
Retires With 45 Year Record; Paved Way For Women Attorneys By HENRY R. KIEL
The United Nations World quotes Warren R. Austin as telling about a traveler through rugged country asking his Indian guide how he was able to pick his way over treacherous trails through jagged peaks without losing his sense of direction.
“I have the near look and the far vision,” replied the guide. “With the one I see what is directly ahead of me; with the other I guide my course by the stars.”
As a result of using the far vision technique Alice Maybeth Birdsall achieved as outstanding reputation among members of the State Bar of Arizona, as well as the general public.
Miss Birdsall has announced her retirement from the general practice of law after 45 years of active association with the State Bar of Arizona. She disposed of her law library, office equipment and building space as of May 1, 1958.
History of Arizona, Vol. III, published by Record Publishing Co., in 1930, records that: “She (Miss Birdsall) conducts a general practice in which she has shown herself the peer of any of her colleagues, and has appeared as counsel in many important cases in the courts of this county. She has shown a ready familiarity with the statutes and with court decisions and precedents. This has gained for her a well merited reputation as a sound and dependable lawyer. She commands her full share of the legal business in (Phoenix).
“In addition to her regular practice, she serves (1915 to 1936) as reporter of decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court.”
There were two incidents that caused Alice to determine that her future lay in the practice of law: Greenlief’s book on ‘Evidence’ studied in her brother’s law office while employed as secretary after high school and later overhearing an associate lawyer in a large firm where she was employed tell the senior partner “you know she’s just as good as a lawyer?”
But things seem to come in pairs for Alice Birdsall. She points, with understandable pride, to tow of her accomplishments that were signal achievements in her law career. For years a recognized authority on bankruptcy law, Miss Birdsall as the first lawyer to name the corporation’s alter ego, the husband and wife, incorporators.
If not the first woman to forge her competitive esteem upon the records of our stat’s courts, she certainly blazed a clear path for subsequent constituents of the bar and bench to follow. The first lawyer to practice from the ranks of the feminine gender was Sarah Sorin who practiced with her father Colonel William Herring, chief counsel for Phelps-Dodge with offices in Tombstone and Tucson.
Sarah Sorin, when her father died, in 1912 asked George Stoneman, member of the State Bar’s board of governors to suggest someone who she might get to practice with her, Miss Birdsall had written Judge A.C. Baker at Phoenix about locating in Arizona. So the two women got together and Miss Birdsall took the state bar’s examination in November 1912 and was admitted. She entered the practice of law immediately with Sarah Sorin and shortly after this, in 1914, Sarah died.
In February 1915 Alice moved to Phoenix and established her independent law office in the Fleming Building. And when the Luhrs Tower was built and ready for occupancy in 1929 (same year Maricopa County Courthouse was built) she moved to offices on the fifth floor which were retained until May of this year and released only upon retirement.
Alice Fondly relates how, when she opened her offices in the Fleming Building in 1915, other lawyers considered her quite a novelty. When she went to court she could hear “she a woman lawyer?” and “I wouldn’t know what to do with a women in opposition on a case,” etc., etc. So, when she became established tow of her next door office neighbors came over to see her. “Barnett E. Marks and the late Pat Nelson came in and said are you Miss Birdsall?” “Yes.” “Are you a member of the bar, Miss Birdsall?” “Yes.” “Miss Birdsall,” continued Mr. Marks, “I wouldn’t know how to treat a woman lawyer in a case if she was opposing counsel with me.” “Well, Mr. Marks, you do or say anything you little heart desires and I’ll take care of myself,” Alice replied.
Later on Mr. Marks referred to the conversation again and then said: “And how.” “And, you know, I just passed the word around that I asked no quarter and I gave no quarter; that I can take care of myself come that may,” she said.
She was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention which was held in San Francisco in 1920, James M. Cox of Ohio, nominated for President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vice President.
She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Whittier, Calif. She maintains professional affiliations with the State Bar of Arizona, State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Women Lawyers and the International Association of Women Lawyers. Alice was foremost in the fight for the right of women to serve upon court juries in Arizona; and prior to this she was chairman of the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee during al the loan drives, also chairman for Phoenix of the four-minute men.
FORBES MAGAZINE quotes Edith Armstrong as saying “I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety of fear try to call me, they keep getting the busy signal-and soon forget my number..” Alice Birdsall has been too actively engaged in the ardent, whole-hearted, eager anticipation of legal research and serving her clients by winning her law cases to do any negative thinking. Doubt, anxiety and fear have long since forgotten her number because of the busy signal of her legal thinking.
Volume three of the History of Arizona, referred to above, concluded its splendid tribute to Miss Birdsall by saying “She is cordial and gracious and has a large circle of friends throughout the community, who esteem her for her professional ability and her splendid qualities of character.
The most eloquent praise that she would want to hear from those who knew her is: “Alice Birdsall unmistakably is a lawyer.”
Alice Birdsall Dies; Had Long Law Career
By PAT KIRK
Miss Alice Maybeth Birdsall, pioneer woman lawyer in Arizona, died yesterday in a local rest home. She was 78.
Miss Birdsall, born in Waterloo, Iowa, retired in May of this year from the general practice of law after 45 years of active association with the State Bar of Arizona. Miss Birdsall attended public school in her home town, and was graduated from East Waterloo High School in 1895. She took a special course in the State Normal School, now Northern Iowa University at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and in 1900 moved to California.
Employed as a law clerk in large law offices for several years, she then entered the Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., from which she was graduated with a degree in 1912. Miss Birdsall took the courses for her degree for all three years in one, but she graduated with the highest grade ever established prior or since that time in receiving marks of 98 plus for a median average.
Admitted to the Washington, D.C., bar in 1912 she came to Arizona and took the state bar examination, passed, and was admitted that same year. Later she was admitted to the California bar in 1927.
A Democrat, Miss Birdsall served as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1920 in San Francisco. Active in public affairs, she belonged in the Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Order of the Eastern Star in Whittier, Calif.
She also was a member of the Maricopa County Bar Association, of which she was treasurer, the Arizona State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Association of Women Lawyers and the Commercial Law League of America.
MISS BIRDSALL was foremost in the fight for the right of women to serve upon court juries in Arizona. Prior to this she was chairman of the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee during all of the loan drives during the wars.
Miss Birdsall first entered her practice with Sarah Sorin, the first lawyer to practice from the ranks of the feminine gender in the state. She established her own practice in 1915.
It was Miss Birdsall who framed the bill which gives to children born in Arizona the full right of inheritance after paternity is established, along with other children born in wedlock of the same father.
It was she, too, who set the precedent for important bankruptcy law.
In Addition to her regular practice, Miss Birdsall served as reporter of decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court, from 1915 to 1936.
Volume III of the History of Arizona, referred to her by saying, “She is cordial and gracious and has a large circle of friends throughout the community, who esteem her for her professional ability and her splendid qualities of character.”
She is survived by her brother W.N. Birdsall of Lynwood, Calif.; two nephews, Charles B. Chappell of Keokuk, Iowa, and R.T. Birdsall of Waterloo, Iowa, and a niece, Mrs. Newman Dorr of Huntington Park, Calif.
Funeral services will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in A.L. Moore and Sons Mortuary, 333 W. Adams. Cremation will follow at Greenwood Memorial Park. (Phoenix Gazette October 7, 1958.)
By PAT KIRK
Miss Alice Maybeth Birdsall, pioneer woman lawyer in Arizona, died yesterday in a local rest home. She was 78.
Miss Birdsall, born in Waterloo, Iowa, retired in May of this year from the general practice of law after 45 years of active association with the State Bar of Arizona. Miss Birdsall attended public school in her home town, and was graduated from East Waterloo High School in 1895. She took a special course in the State Normal School, now Northern Iowa University at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and in 1900 moved to California.
Employed as a law clerk in large law offices for several years, she then entered the Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., from which she was graduated with a degree in 1912. Miss Birdsall took the courses for her degree for all three years in one, but she graduated with the highest grade ever established prior or since that time in receiving marks of 98 plus for a median average.
Admitted to the Washington, D.C., bar in 1912 she came to Arizona and took the state bar examination, passed, and was admitted that same year. Later she was admitted to the California bar in 1927.
A Democrat, Miss Birdsall served as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1920 in San Francisco. Active in public affairs, she belonged in the Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Order of the Eastern Star in Whittier, Calif.
She also was a member of the Maricopa County Bar Association, of which she was treasurer, the Arizona State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Association of Women Lawyers and the Commercial Law League of America.
MISS BIRDSALL was foremost in the fight for the right of women to serve upon court juries in Arizona. Prior to this she was chairman of the Women’s Liberty Loan Committee during all of the loan drives during the wars.
Miss Birdsall first entered her practice with Sarah Sorin, the first lawyer to practice from the ranks of the feminine gender in the state. She established her own practice in 1915.
It was Miss Birdsall who framed the bill which gives to children born in Arizona the full right of inheritance after paternity is established, along with other children born in wedlock of the same father.
It was she, too, who set the precedent for important bankruptcy law.
In Addition to her regular practice, Miss Birdsall served as reporter of decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court, from 1915 to 1936.
Volume III of the History of Arizona, referred to her by saying, “She is cordial and gracious and has a large circle of friends throughout the community, who esteem her for her professional ability and her splendid qualities of character.”
She is survived by her brother W.N. Birdsall of Lynwood, Calif.; two nephews, Charles B. Chappell of Keokuk, Iowa, and R.T. Birdsall of Waterloo, Iowa, and a niece, Mrs. Newman Dorr of Huntington Park, Calif.
Funeral services will be at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in A.L. Moore and Sons Mortuary, 333 W. Adams. Cremation will follow at Greenwood Memorial Park. (Phoenix Gazette October 7, 1958.)
MISS ALICE BIRDSALL
Tells Girls They Should Make Men Take Them Seriously
“Don’t take yourself too seriously, but make the men take you seriously.”
That’s the advice of Miss Alice M. Birdsall of Phoenix, Ariz., said to be the only woman lawyer in Arizona having her own office and mentioned in political circles as a possible candidate for governor, to girls entering a profession or business.
Miss Birdsall has been admitted to the practice of law in California and, though she will continue to reside in Phoenix, expects to do quite a bit of legal work in this state. Miss Birdsall said frankly she had no aspirations for the governorship of Arizona at present, but admitted if she ever should run she would “not run to vindicate any man.” She was taking a crack at “Ma” Ferguson of Texas, whose platform was to vindicate Husband Jim. “You can say if I ever run for governor or any other office I’ll run on my own merits.” Miss Birdsall said.
Women should be in politics, Miss Birdsall believes, and she said she could see no reason why a woman should not some day be President of the United States, again pointing out that such a woman should run on “her own merits.”
Miss Birdsall was a delegate to the Democratic convention in San Francisco in 1920 and from her conversation it was gleaned she had taken part in much committee work in Arizona. Besides practicing law Miss Birdsall is the reporter of the supreme court decisions of her native state.
While in Los Angeles she is stopping at the Alexandria Hotel. (Los Angeles Evening Express)
Tells Girls They Should Make Men Take Them Seriously
“Don’t take yourself too seriously, but make the men take you seriously.”
That’s the advice of Miss Alice M. Birdsall of Phoenix, Ariz., said to be the only woman lawyer in Arizona having her own office and mentioned in political circles as a possible candidate for governor, to girls entering a profession or business.
Miss Birdsall has been admitted to the practice of law in California and, though she will continue to reside in Phoenix, expects to do quite a bit of legal work in this state. Miss Birdsall said frankly she had no aspirations for the governorship of Arizona at present, but admitted if she ever should run she would “not run to vindicate any man.” She was taking a crack at “Ma” Ferguson of Texas, whose platform was to vindicate Husband Jim. “You can say if I ever run for governor or any other office I’ll run on my own merits.” Miss Birdsall said.
Women should be in politics, Miss Birdsall believes, and she said she could see no reason why a woman should not some day be President of the United States, again pointing out that such a woman should run on “her own merits.”
Miss Birdsall was a delegate to the Democratic convention in San Francisco in 1920 and from her conversation it was gleaned she had taken part in much committee work in Arizona. Besides practicing law Miss Birdsall is the reporter of the supreme court decisions of her native state.
While in Los Angeles she is stopping at the Alexandria Hotel. (Los Angeles Evening Express)
DR. DARREL DWAYNE DRUMRIGHT
Dr. Darrel Dwayne Drumright, a Northland chiropractor and founder of Harmony Health & Wellness of Kansas City, MO., age 56, died unexpectedly on Thursday, March 7, 2019, of natural causes. Darrel was a graduate with honors of Truman High School, class of 1981, attended the University of Missouri Kansas City where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He served our Country with distinction in the U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne Division, stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following his time in the service, he obtained his Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO. in 1992. Darrel deeply loved his family, his chiropractic practice of twenty-six years, music, and his hot rod, a 1978 Dodge Magnum. Prior to his military service as an airborne paratrooper, Darrel was fortunate enough to work with and train dolphins at Worlds of Fun Amusement Park. His optimistic outlook on life was infectious, and his no-worries attitude was an inspiration to all who knew him. He was an expert in eastern medicine, having received advanced training in Qi Gong and acupuncture in Beijing, and shared his knowledge with other members of the profession. Darrel was voted “Chiropractic Doctor of the Year: by the Missouri State of Chiropractors Association (MSCA) in 1997, served on the MSCA District Board of Directors, District II, as President between 2000-2002, and dedicated his life to helping people understand their options when making health care decisions. Darrel was very active in his children’s lives, having served on the school board at St. Patrick Catholic School, a school watchdog, a coach for his children’s sports teams, and as a cub scout leader. Darrel is survived by his lovely bride of 22 years, Christina (Chappell) Drumright; his loving children, Mace, James, and Mitchell Drumright; his mother, Nancy ValCil and partner, Bill West; mother and father-in-law, Jim and Gina Chappell; brother and sister-in-law, David and Michelle Pato, and nephew and niece, Michael and Allison; best friend, Page Crow, a fellow Chiropractor, and countless other family members and friends who will miss him dearly. He is preceded in death by his father, Robert Drumright and his sister, Michelle Drumright. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 14, 2019 at St. Patrick Catholic Church 1357 NE 42nd Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64116, where the visitation will be held Wednesday evening from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Rev. Matthew Brumleve presiding. A private committal service with military honors will be held at Leavenworth National Cemetery. In keeping with Darrel’s loving and generous spirit, his organ and tissues were shared with many people in need. Memorial contributions are suggested to St. Patrick Catholic School. The Meyers Northland Chapel has been entrusted with the final arrangements. Memories of Darrel and condolences may be left at www.meyersfuneralchapel.com.
Dr. Darrel Dwayne Drumright, a Northland chiropractor and founder of Harmony Health & Wellness of Kansas City, MO., age 56, died unexpectedly on Thursday, March 7, 2019, of natural causes. Darrel was a graduate with honors of Truman High School, class of 1981, attended the University of Missouri Kansas City where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He served our Country with distinction in the U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne Division, stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following his time in the service, he obtained his Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City, MO. in 1992. Darrel deeply loved his family, his chiropractic practice of twenty-six years, music, and his hot rod, a 1978 Dodge Magnum. Prior to his military service as an airborne paratrooper, Darrel was fortunate enough to work with and train dolphins at Worlds of Fun Amusement Park. His optimistic outlook on life was infectious, and his no-worries attitude was an inspiration to all who knew him. He was an expert in eastern medicine, having received advanced training in Qi Gong and acupuncture in Beijing, and shared his knowledge with other members of the profession. Darrel was voted “Chiropractic Doctor of the Year: by the Missouri State of Chiropractors Association (MSCA) in 1997, served on the MSCA District Board of Directors, District II, as President between 2000-2002, and dedicated his life to helping people understand their options when making health care decisions. Darrel was very active in his children’s lives, having served on the school board at St. Patrick Catholic School, a school watchdog, a coach for his children’s sports teams, and as a cub scout leader. Darrel is survived by his lovely bride of 22 years, Christina (Chappell) Drumright; his loving children, Mace, James, and Mitchell Drumright; his mother, Nancy ValCil and partner, Bill West; mother and father-in-law, Jim and Gina Chappell; brother and sister-in-law, David and Michelle Pato, and nephew and niece, Michael and Allison; best friend, Page Crow, a fellow Chiropractor, and countless other family members and friends who will miss him dearly. He is preceded in death by his father, Robert Drumright and his sister, Michelle Drumright. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 14, 2019 at St. Patrick Catholic Church 1357 NE 42nd Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64116, where the visitation will be held Wednesday evening from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Rev. Matthew Brumleve presiding. A private committal service with military honors will be held at Leavenworth National Cemetery. In keeping with Darrel’s loving and generous spirit, his organ and tissues were shared with many people in need. Memorial contributions are suggested to St. Patrick Catholic School. The Meyers Northland Chapel has been entrusted with the final arrangements. Memories of Darrel and condolences may be left at www.meyersfuneralchapel.com.
THOMAS LOUIS VETTER
Thomas Louis Vetter, 79, died at Advent Health Hospital from complications due to COVID-19 on November 11, 2021, surrounded by his loving family.
Tom was born on June 19, 1942 in Jamaica, New York to Louis and Ann Vetter. He discovered a love of travel at an early age and learned German as an exchange student. After earning his BS in Education at Truman University, Tom taught Math and German in Missouri. He earned an MS in Counseling Education from the University of Southern Illinois, where he met his beloved, Patty. They were married in 1969 and moved to Berlin, West Germany to teach at the John F. Kennedy School. He then became a guidance counselor for the USDESEA, now DODEA, Department of Defense Education Activity, where he continued his love of teaching and traveling. He and his family moved from Berlin, German to Naples, Italy to Ankara, Turkey and back to Baumholder, Germany over the span of 30 years. His fascination with the possibilities of technology led him to champion the use of computers in school starting in 1969.
After retiring from DODEA and moving back to the United States, Tom taught at multiple schools, including Sacred Heart and Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Florida, while enjoying semi-retired living. Tom volunteered extensively at our Lady of Hope as Minister of the Sick and as a 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus. Tom loved to spend time with his children and grandchildren, traveling, fishing, gardening and looking for outdoor adventures. He never met a meal he didn’t enjoy. He enjoyed playing pinochle and pickleball with friends, and learning Tai Chi. He loved to walk along the boardwalk at New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet and look for turtles.
As a livelong educator and dedicated Catholic, Tom inspired all who met him with his love of life, commitment to service, and exuberant optimism. Above all, Tom loved learning about people and helping people of all ages. Anyone who met Tom recognized his compassion and genuine love for humankind. The Dalai Lama emphasized that “it is not enough to be compassionate; we must act.” Tom Vetter exemplified compassion in action each day.
Thomas Vetter is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Patricia; his children, Mike (Shannon), Laura (Rick), Mary (Megan); his grandchildren, Jocelyn, Rachel, Virginia, Emiliana, William, and Malia; and his great-grandsons, Luca and Henry. He is survived by two sisters, Georgina Chappell and Marilyn Hartman and their families.
A mass of Christian burial will be held at 8:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church on December 3, 2021. The service may be viewed live online at ladyofhope.org/mass-times. A Celebration of Tom’s Life will be held after for family and friends. Cremation services will be managed by Baldwin Brothers Funeral services at 620 Dunlawton Ave, Port Orange, FL 32127; phone (386) 267-5653. Memorial contributions may be made in Tom’s memory to the Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org.
Thomas Louis Vetter, 79, died at Advent Health Hospital from complications due to COVID-19 on November 11, 2021, surrounded by his loving family.
Tom was born on June 19, 1942 in Jamaica, New York to Louis and Ann Vetter. He discovered a love of travel at an early age and learned German as an exchange student. After earning his BS in Education at Truman University, Tom taught Math and German in Missouri. He earned an MS in Counseling Education from the University of Southern Illinois, where he met his beloved, Patty. They were married in 1969 and moved to Berlin, West Germany to teach at the John F. Kennedy School. He then became a guidance counselor for the USDESEA, now DODEA, Department of Defense Education Activity, where he continued his love of teaching and traveling. He and his family moved from Berlin, German to Naples, Italy to Ankara, Turkey and back to Baumholder, Germany over the span of 30 years. His fascination with the possibilities of technology led him to champion the use of computers in school starting in 1969.
After retiring from DODEA and moving back to the United States, Tom taught at multiple schools, including Sacred Heart and Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Florida, while enjoying semi-retired living. Tom volunteered extensively at our Lady of Hope as Minister of the Sick and as a 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus. Tom loved to spend time with his children and grandchildren, traveling, fishing, gardening and looking for outdoor adventures. He never met a meal he didn’t enjoy. He enjoyed playing pinochle and pickleball with friends, and learning Tai Chi. He loved to walk along the boardwalk at New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet and look for turtles.
As a livelong educator and dedicated Catholic, Tom inspired all who met him with his love of life, commitment to service, and exuberant optimism. Above all, Tom loved learning about people and helping people of all ages. Anyone who met Tom recognized his compassion and genuine love for humankind. The Dalai Lama emphasized that “it is not enough to be compassionate; we must act.” Tom Vetter exemplified compassion in action each day.
Thomas Vetter is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Patricia; his children, Mike (Shannon), Laura (Rick), Mary (Megan); his grandchildren, Jocelyn, Rachel, Virginia, Emiliana, William, and Malia; and his great-grandsons, Luca and Henry. He is survived by two sisters, Georgina Chappell and Marilyn Hartman and their families.
A mass of Christian burial will be held at 8:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church on December 3, 2021. The service may be viewed live online at ladyofhope.org/mass-times. A Celebration of Tom’s Life will be held after for family and friends. Cremation services will be managed by Baldwin Brothers Funeral services at 620 Dunlawton Ave, Port Orange, FL 32127; phone (386) 267-5653. Memorial contributions may be made in Tom’s memory to the Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org.
George Bronson Birdsall
George Bronson Birdsall George Bronson Birdsall was one of the pioneer settlers in Blackhawk County. He was born September 21st, 1835 near Utica, New York, in Section 20 East Waterloo Township in Herkimer County he came to Waterloo as early as 1856. Having previously lived for two years in Rockford, Illinois. His grandfather Nathan Birdsall was an engineer and captain under General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The family was originally Quakers in religious beliefs. He attended the Sauquoit Academy or Oneida County at age of seventeen he began teaching school in the winter months. Before the opening of the Civil War, he was engaged in transporting freight from Debuque, Iowa with Oxs teams. In 1865 he enlisted at Springfield, Illinois, in Company 11, 15th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry in General Sherman's army. He was sent to Fort Leavenworth and then to the front to fight against the Indians, mustering out in the fall of 1865. He was in poor health for sometime after his return from the Army, but finally regained his health, and until 1901 operated a farm two miles northeast of Waterloo, which he bought in 1864. Politically he was a Republican. For 14 years he served in township offices. His wife Anna McCaffrey, was born in Sherbrooks, Canada, January 12, 1840, and died in Waterloo, May 4, 1901. She came to Waterloo in 1868, a refined educated lady and was a successful teacher. They had three children, Willis Nathan Birdsall born June 20, 1871 and he married Harriet A. Thompson and practiced law in both Iowa and California. Mary Louise was born November 16, 1877 and she married Jessie McGee and they lived in Independence, Iowa. Alice Maybeth was born July 27, 1880, lived in Whitaker, California and was a stenographer for Judge M.T. Owens formerly of Blackhawk County. During the last session of the California legislature, Ms. Birdsall was appointed a county clerk and was a practicing attorney in both Arizona and California. Several years after her death she was enshrined into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.
George Bronson Birdsall George Bronson Birdsall was one of the pioneer settlers in Blackhawk County. He was born September 21st, 1835 near Utica, New York, in Section 20 East Waterloo Township in Herkimer County he came to Waterloo as early as 1856. Having previously lived for two years in Rockford, Illinois. His grandfather Nathan Birdsall was an engineer and captain under General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The family was originally Quakers in religious beliefs. He attended the Sauquoit Academy or Oneida County at age of seventeen he began teaching school in the winter months. Before the opening of the Civil War, he was engaged in transporting freight from Debuque, Iowa with Oxs teams. In 1865 he enlisted at Springfield, Illinois, in Company 11, 15th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry in General Sherman's army. He was sent to Fort Leavenworth and then to the front to fight against the Indians, mustering out in the fall of 1865. He was in poor health for sometime after his return from the Army, but finally regained his health, and until 1901 operated a farm two miles northeast of Waterloo, which he bought in 1864. Politically he was a Republican. For 14 years he served in township offices. His wife Anna McCaffrey, was born in Sherbrooks, Canada, January 12, 1840, and died in Waterloo, May 4, 1901. She came to Waterloo in 1868, a refined educated lady and was a successful teacher. They had three children, Willis Nathan Birdsall born June 20, 1871 and he married Harriet A. Thompson and practiced law in both Iowa and California. Mary Louise was born November 16, 1877 and she married Jessie McGee and they lived in Independence, Iowa. Alice Maybeth was born July 27, 1880, lived in Whitaker, California and was a stenographer for Judge M.T. Owens formerly of Blackhawk County. During the last session of the California legislature, Ms. Birdsall was appointed a county clerk and was a practicing attorney in both Arizona and California. Several years after her death she was enshrined into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.
GEORGE BRONSON BIRDSALL 93
GEORGE BRONSON BIRDSALL 93, Formerly of Waterloo, Dies Word has been received of the death of George Bronson Birdsall, 93 years old, Black Hawk County pioneer and oldest surviving member of Robert Anderson Post G.A.R. at Pomona, California last Thursday. Mr. Birdsall had maintained his residence here and spent the winters in California for 20 years until 1924 and since that time failing health had prevented his return to Waterloo. He was for many years city assessor at Waterloo, Iowa, Mr. Birdsall was born September 21, 1835 in New York. He served in the Union forces with Company K, 15th Division Infantry regiment during the Civil War. He was married to Miss Anna McCaffrey in Illinois and they made their home on a farm near East Waterloo. Surviving are a son and two daughters, Willis Nathan Birdsall, Santa Fe, New Mexico former municipal court judge in Waterloo, Miss Alice Maybeth Birdsall, who became an attorney and is engaged in the practice of law in Phoenix, Arizona and Mrs. Mary Birdsall Chappell, Kansas City, Kansas, four grandchildren, Roger Prentiss Birdsall Waterloo attorney, Mrs. Newman Dorr, Des Moines and Charles Birdsall and Mabeth Chappell Kansas City, Kansas, and two great grandchildren, Sarah May Birdsall, Waterloo and Mary Alice Dorr, Des Moines. (NOTE: He was also survived by Julie Dorr) The son, Willis N. Birdsall was with him at the time of his death. Funeral services were conducted Friday at Pomona. The body was placed in a receiving vault in California and will be brought here for burial beside his wife in Fairview cemetery later, when all the relatives will be here for a burial service.
GEORGE BRONSON BIRDSALL 93, Formerly of Waterloo, Dies Word has been received of the death of George Bronson Birdsall, 93 years old, Black Hawk County pioneer and oldest surviving member of Robert Anderson Post G.A.R. at Pomona, California last Thursday. Mr. Birdsall had maintained his residence here and spent the winters in California for 20 years until 1924 and since that time failing health had prevented his return to Waterloo. He was for many years city assessor at Waterloo, Iowa, Mr. Birdsall was born September 21, 1835 in New York. He served in the Union forces with Company K, 15th Division Infantry regiment during the Civil War. He was married to Miss Anna McCaffrey in Illinois and they made their home on a farm near East Waterloo. Surviving are a son and two daughters, Willis Nathan Birdsall, Santa Fe, New Mexico former municipal court judge in Waterloo, Miss Alice Maybeth Birdsall, who became an attorney and is engaged in the practice of law in Phoenix, Arizona and Mrs. Mary Birdsall Chappell, Kansas City, Kansas, four grandchildren, Roger Prentiss Birdsall Waterloo attorney, Mrs. Newman Dorr, Des Moines and Charles Birdsall and Mabeth Chappell Kansas City, Kansas, and two great grandchildren, Sarah May Birdsall, Waterloo and Mary Alice Dorr, Des Moines. (NOTE: He was also survived by Julie Dorr) The son, Willis N. Birdsall was with him at the time of his death. Funeral services were conducted Friday at Pomona. The body was placed in a receiving vault in California and will be brought here for burial beside his wife in Fairview cemetery later, when all the relatives will be here for a burial service.
WILLIS NATHAN BRONSON BIRDSALL
WILLIS NATHAN BRONSON BIRDSALL Willis Nathan Bronson Birdsall, a prominent member of the Black Hawk County bar, residing in Waterloo, Iowa, was born in this city June 20, 1871, and is a son of George Birdsall and Anna (McCaffrey) Birdsall. His great grandfather, Nathan Birdsall, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War from Dutchess County, New York. Nathan’s brother, Benjamin Birdsall was colonel of the same regiment. The Birdsall’s first ancestors in this country were Quakers, and were driven from Massachusetts by early persecutions, going first to Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and later to Long Island, afterward removing to Dutchess County, New York, in 1704. George Bronson Birdsall was named after George Soule, one of the passengers on the “Mayflower,” and a direct ancestor. Willis Nathan Bronson Birdsall completed a common-school course at Waterloo, and was 18 years old when he entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, with which he remained until 1802. He then began the study of law in the office of Tuthill & Reed, of Waterloo, was graduated from the University of Iowa, and was admitted to practice in 1895. He practiced for four years at Reinbeck and then returned to Waterloo. He is the attorney for the Western Mutual Fire Insurance Association, and had a large private practice. On November 2, 1895, Mr. Birdsall was married to Edna M. Thompson, who was born at Reinbeck, Iowa, February 22, 1875, and is a daughter of Prentiss M. and Harriet A. Thompson, early settlers of Grundy County. Mr. and Mrs. Birdsall have two children, Roger Prentiss, born August 5, 1896; and Jean Caryl, born October 19, 1898. From early youth Mr. Birdsall has been interested in public affairs, and was formerly a Republican in politics. The issues of 1896 however, caused him to change his views, and since that date he has been a Democrat. In 1900, he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for Congress in this district. Fraternally, he is a Mason, and Elk and a Knight of Pythias.
WILLIS NATHAN BRONSON BIRDSALL Willis Nathan Bronson Birdsall, a prominent member of the Black Hawk County bar, residing in Waterloo, Iowa, was born in this city June 20, 1871, and is a son of George Birdsall and Anna (McCaffrey) Birdsall. His great grandfather, Nathan Birdsall, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War from Dutchess County, New York. Nathan’s brother, Benjamin Birdsall was colonel of the same regiment. The Birdsall’s first ancestors in this country were Quakers, and were driven from Massachusetts by early persecutions, going first to Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and later to Long Island, afterward removing to Dutchess County, New York, in 1704. George Bronson Birdsall was named after George Soule, one of the passengers on the “Mayflower,” and a direct ancestor. Willis Nathan Bronson Birdsall completed a common-school course at Waterloo, and was 18 years old when he entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, with which he remained until 1802. He then began the study of law in the office of Tuthill & Reed, of Waterloo, was graduated from the University of Iowa, and was admitted to practice in 1895. He practiced for four years at Reinbeck and then returned to Waterloo. He is the attorney for the Western Mutual Fire Insurance Association, and had a large private practice. On November 2, 1895, Mr. Birdsall was married to Edna M. Thompson, who was born at Reinbeck, Iowa, February 22, 1875, and is a daughter of Prentiss M. and Harriet A. Thompson, early settlers of Grundy County. Mr. and Mrs. Birdsall have two children, Roger Prentiss, born August 5, 1896; and Jean Caryl, born October 19, 1898. From early youth Mr. Birdsall has been interested in public affairs, and was formerly a Republican in politics. The issues of 1896 however, caused him to change his views, and since that date he has been a Democrat. In 1900, he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for Congress in this district. Fraternally, he is a Mason, and Elk and a Knight of Pythias.
ROGER BIRDSALL
LAWYER; SERVICES ARE TOMORROW
Roger Prentiss Birdsall, a Waterloo lawyer for 46 years, died Friday at 9:30 p.m. at Allen Memorial Hospital of a heart condition. Mr. Birdsall, 71, of 305 Lillian Lane was a member of the Birdsall, Pickett and McLendon law firm. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at the First Congregational Church with the Rev. Charles Jacobs, pastor, officiating. Private burial services will follow the church services. There will be no visitation and the casket will not be open. Native of Reinbeck He was born August 5, 1896, the son of Edna and Willis N. Birdsall. He married Dorothea Wickham Sept. 1, 1923, in Washington. He graduated from West High School in 1914 and attended the University of Minnesota, Grinnell College, and the University of Iowa Law School. He received his law degree in 1921. Headed County Bar Birdsall was a World War I veteran, serving in the army. He was past president of the Black Hawk County Bar Association, a member of the American Bar Association and served on the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association for eight years. He was also a past president of the Knife and Fork Club and a member of Sunnyside Country Club, the American Legion and the First Congregational Church. Widow, Daughter Survivors Survivors include his widow; one daughter, Mrs. Frank McLendon of 907 Meadow Lane; one granddaughter, and one sister, Mrs. Newman Dorr of Seal Beach, Calif. Preceding him in death were his parents and one infant daughter. Parrott & Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. (Waterloo Daily Courier, Sunday, February 11, 1968)
LAWYER; SERVICES ARE TOMORROW
Roger Prentiss Birdsall, a Waterloo lawyer for 46 years, died Friday at 9:30 p.m. at Allen Memorial Hospital of a heart condition. Mr. Birdsall, 71, of 305 Lillian Lane was a member of the Birdsall, Pickett and McLendon law firm. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at the First Congregational Church with the Rev. Charles Jacobs, pastor, officiating. Private burial services will follow the church services. There will be no visitation and the casket will not be open. Native of Reinbeck He was born August 5, 1896, the son of Edna and Willis N. Birdsall. He married Dorothea Wickham Sept. 1, 1923, in Washington. He graduated from West High School in 1914 and attended the University of Minnesota, Grinnell College, and the University of Iowa Law School. He received his law degree in 1921. Headed County Bar Birdsall was a World War I veteran, serving in the army. He was past president of the Black Hawk County Bar Association, a member of the American Bar Association and served on the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association for eight years. He was also a past president of the Knife and Fork Club and a member of Sunnyside Country Club, the American Legion and the First Congregational Church. Widow, Daughter Survivors Survivors include his widow; one daughter, Mrs. Frank McLendon of 907 Meadow Lane; one granddaughter, and one sister, Mrs. Newman Dorr of Seal Beach, Calif. Preceding him in death were his parents and one infant daughter. Parrott & Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. (Waterloo Daily Courier, Sunday, February 11, 1968)
DOROTHEA BIRDSALL
Dorothea Birdsall, 92, of Friendship Village, died there Tuesday, March 19, of natural causes. She was born July 20, 1898, in Washington, Iowa, daughter of Emmett and Sarah Marbourg Wickham. She married Roger Prentiss Birdsall on Sept. 1, 1923, in Washington. He died in 1968. Mrs. Birdsall graduated from Vassai College in 1920 and received her master’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa. She was charter president of Chapter IU, PEO, and past president of the American Association of University Women in Waterloo. Survivors include a daughter, Sally Birdsall McLendon of Waterloo; and a granddaughter. She was preceded in death by an infant daughter. Memorial services will be 1:30 p.m. Friday at O’Keefe & Towne-Grarup & Waychoff Funeral Home, with burial at a later date in Fairview Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Memorials may be made to American Cancer Society of Friendship Village Medical Center. (Waterloo Courier, Wednesday, March 20, 1991)
Dorothea Birdsall, 92, of Friendship Village, died there Tuesday, March 19, of natural causes. She was born July 20, 1898, in Washington, Iowa, daughter of Emmett and Sarah Marbourg Wickham. She married Roger Prentiss Birdsall on Sept. 1, 1923, in Washington. He died in 1968. Mrs. Birdsall graduated from Vassai College in 1920 and received her master’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa. She was charter president of Chapter IU, PEO, and past president of the American Association of University Women in Waterloo. Survivors include a daughter, Sally Birdsall McLendon of Waterloo; and a granddaughter. She was preceded in death by an infant daughter. Memorial services will be 1:30 p.m. Friday at O’Keefe & Towne-Grarup & Waychoff Funeral Home, with burial at a later date in Fairview Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Memorials may be made to American Cancer Society of Friendship Village Medical Center. (Waterloo Courier, Wednesday, March 20, 1991)
MRS. DORR WILL TEACH EXPRESSION
Mrs. Newman Dorr, 909 Thirty-fifth Street, is planning to resume work soon in her chosen field of expression by opening a studio. She will specialize in giving lessons to small groups of children or adults. She believes that every person, of whatever age, needs the poise which is gained through a directed study of self expression. “Elocution as an art is dead,” says Mrs. Dorr, “and there exists no longer the concentrated effort to develop speakers of pieces for Friday afternoon school programs. In its place has evolved a study of individual development, or self expression, through the medium of personal direction.” “A child loves the exercises and charts which cause his growth in studio work. He or she learns how to walk, how to meet people, and how to talk connectedly with words to fit his ideas. For the talented person, trained guidance early is the safest guard for their talent.” Mrs. Dorr, who will use as her professional name Jean B. Dorr began her work in expression at the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Art. After extensive work in the dramatic art department of the State University of Iowa, she directed amateur theatricals for a year and a half for the John B. Rogers Co., and then did private studio work in Waterloo. A year on the faculty of the dramatic art department of Drake University followed. In addition, Mrs. Dorr has received special training from Mrs. Gladys Powers Ackerman, Leland Powers school graduate, who for ten years has conducted large studios in Chicago and Detroit. MRS. DORR TO OPEN EXPRESSION STUDIO Mrs. Newman Dorr, who is shown here with her young daughter, Mary Alice, will soon open a studio of expression at 909 Thirty-fifth Street. Mrs. Dorr was formerly a member of the dramatic art department of Drake University, and at one time did private studio work in Waterloo. (Des Moines Sunday Register, Jan. 22, 1928)
Mrs. Newman Dorr, 909 Thirty-fifth Street, is planning to resume work soon in her chosen field of expression by opening a studio. She will specialize in giving lessons to small groups of children or adults. She believes that every person, of whatever age, needs the poise which is gained through a directed study of self expression. “Elocution as an art is dead,” says Mrs. Dorr, “and there exists no longer the concentrated effort to develop speakers of pieces for Friday afternoon school programs. In its place has evolved a study of individual development, or self expression, through the medium of personal direction.” “A child loves the exercises and charts which cause his growth in studio work. He or she learns how to walk, how to meet people, and how to talk connectedly with words to fit his ideas. For the talented person, trained guidance early is the safest guard for their talent.” Mrs. Dorr, who will use as her professional name Jean B. Dorr began her work in expression at the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Art. After extensive work in the dramatic art department of the State University of Iowa, she directed amateur theatricals for a year and a half for the John B. Rogers Co., and then did private studio work in Waterloo. A year on the faculty of the dramatic art department of Drake University followed. In addition, Mrs. Dorr has received special training from Mrs. Gladys Powers Ackerman, Leland Powers school graduate, who for ten years has conducted large studios in Chicago and Detroit. MRS. DORR TO OPEN EXPRESSION STUDIO Mrs. Newman Dorr, who is shown here with her young daughter, Mary Alice, will soon open a studio of expression at 909 Thirty-fifth Street. Mrs. Dorr was formerly a member of the dramatic art department of Drake University, and at one time did private studio work in Waterloo. (Des Moines Sunday Register, Jan. 22, 1928)
MRS. JAMES CHAPPELL CRAIG
MRS. JAMES CHAPPELL CRAIG Mrs. James Chappell Craig a well known and lifelong resident of Morgan County passed away at 4:15 o’clock in the afternoon, Thursday August 21, 1924 at her home in Woodson. Mrs. Craig was 74 years of age, and had been in failing health for some time. The deceased was born in Jacksonville on August 6, 1850, a daughter of Charles and Eliza Chappell. She was united in marriage with James W. Craig, who survives her. She also leaves to mourn her departure a sister, Mrs. Amelia Chappell Rapp of St. Cloud, Florida. Mrs. Craig was a member of the Unity Presbyterian church at Woodson for many years. She was a woman of fine character, and her parting has brought sorrow to many in her home community. The remains were removed to the Gilliam Funeral Home in this city. Until the time of the funeral which is to be held at 2:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon, the remains may be viewed there. The services will be held at the funeral home and internment made in Diamond Grove cemetery. (Jacksonville, Illinois, newspaper August 1924)
FUNERALS
Services for the late Mrs. Sarah Chappell Craig of Woodson wee conducted this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock in the Gilliam Funeral Home. Rev. W.E. Spoonts of Northminister church was in charge, and internment was made in Diamond Grove cemetery. In care of the flowers were the Misses Olive and Ann Hodgson. The bearers were J.R. Henry, Thomas Irlam, J.H. Devore, P.H. Buckthrope, John Baxter and Earl Mortimer. (Jacksonville, Illinois, newspaper 25 August 1924) James Craig - First wife Eliza J. Furtune (1838 – 1871) died at age 32. They had 4 children: 1. Carrie L. Craig 1863 - 1952 2. Mable Craig 1865 – 1871 3. Charles Augustus Craig 1967 – 1951 4. Laura Craig 1868 – 1887 A widower, he married Sarah Chappell 1873 Editor’s Note: There was some debate over James M or James W Craig. The obituaries for James Craig and his wife Sarah both have the middle initial “W”, but the marriage license lists his name as James M. Craig. Also, it appears most of the information, particularly the age and birthdate, which were supplied by Miss Nellie Shureman for the death certificate are incorrect. Both the 1850 and 1860 federal census records indicate that Sarah Chappell Craig was born in 1843. Therefore, the year of birth is probably incorrect.
MRS. JAMES CHAPPELL CRAIG Mrs. James Chappell Craig a well known and lifelong resident of Morgan County passed away at 4:15 o’clock in the afternoon, Thursday August 21, 1924 at her home in Woodson. Mrs. Craig was 74 years of age, and had been in failing health for some time. The deceased was born in Jacksonville on August 6, 1850, a daughter of Charles and Eliza Chappell. She was united in marriage with James W. Craig, who survives her. She also leaves to mourn her departure a sister, Mrs. Amelia Chappell Rapp of St. Cloud, Florida. Mrs. Craig was a member of the Unity Presbyterian church at Woodson for many years. She was a woman of fine character, and her parting has brought sorrow to many in her home community. The remains were removed to the Gilliam Funeral Home in this city. Until the time of the funeral which is to be held at 2:30 o’clock Saturday afternoon, the remains may be viewed there. The services will be held at the funeral home and internment made in Diamond Grove cemetery. (Jacksonville, Illinois, newspaper August 1924)
FUNERALS
Services for the late Mrs. Sarah Chappell Craig of Woodson wee conducted this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock in the Gilliam Funeral Home. Rev. W.E. Spoonts of Northminister church was in charge, and internment was made in Diamond Grove cemetery. In care of the flowers were the Misses Olive and Ann Hodgson. The bearers were J.R. Henry, Thomas Irlam, J.H. Devore, P.H. Buckthrope, John Baxter and Earl Mortimer. (Jacksonville, Illinois, newspaper 25 August 1924) James Craig - First wife Eliza J. Furtune (1838 – 1871) died at age 32. They had 4 children: 1. Carrie L. Craig 1863 - 1952 2. Mable Craig 1865 – 1871 3. Charles Augustus Craig 1967 – 1951 4. Laura Craig 1868 – 1887 A widower, he married Sarah Chappell 1873 Editor’s Note: There was some debate over James M or James W Craig. The obituaries for James Craig and his wife Sarah both have the middle initial “W”, but the marriage license lists his name as James M. Craig. Also, it appears most of the information, particularly the age and birthdate, which were supplied by Miss Nellie Shureman for the death certificate are incorrect. Both the 1850 and 1860 federal census records indicate that Sarah Chappell Craig was born in 1843. Therefore, the year of birth is probably incorrect.
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