Week 9 of #52Ancestors
Some of the most interesting, and sometimes the saddest, stories are discovered when researching ancillary ancestors. For this week’s theme of “Gone Too Soon” I immediately thought of my half great uncle, Pleasant Chappell, and his wife, Mollie.
Pleasant was my great grandfather’s second child, his first son, and the first child with his second wife. Calvin Chappell married Martha Straup in October 1878, and Pleasant was born 7 October 1879.1
Pleasant was likely born in Washington County, Virginia, and then moved to Washington County, Tennessee with his parents. Pleasant married Mollie Landers on 25 December 1907, and the two continued to live in Washington County, Tennessee.2
Pleasant and Mollie had two sons, Norman (born in 1909) and Paul (born in 1915). On 4 April, 1919, Mollie gave birth to twins: Ruth and Roy. Sadly, Roy only lived for 23 days; Ruth lived for just over three months.3 The cause of death for both was malnutrition – likely because their mother had tuberculosis. Mollie died a few months later on10 October 1919, at the age of 32, from pulmonary tuberculosis.4
Now a widower with two small children, Pleasant moved to Appalachia, Virginia around September 1920. The move presumably had to do with his job as a brakesman for Southern Railway. Unfortunately, on 8 November 1920, he was killed in an accident while switching rail cars.5 Pleasant Chappell was forty-one years old.6
His now orphaned sons, Norman and Paul, appear to have been raised by Pleasant’s younger sister, Mary.
It is tragic to see so much loss in one family. My grandmother, Maude, was just seven years older than Norman. I can only assume that she knew the family, as I do have one photograph of Pleasant. Their deaths occurred just over one hundred years ago. I think about what their lives might have been like with the medical care that is now available. Mollie and her babies may have lived full, long lives.
SOURCES:
1Virginia Death Records, 1912-2014. 1920>27172-27718; P.M. Chappell, File No. 27687, 8 November 1920; image 549 of 584,”Virigina, U.S. Death Records, 1912-2014:, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/ 43004_172028008151_0041-00549?pId=670438 : accessed 25 February 2023); citing Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
2 “Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950,” database with images, entry for P.M. Chappel and Mollie Landers 25 December 1907, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/ 61903/3:1:3QS7-L93F-H99Y -4? cc=1619127&wc=Q63S-1WD%3A1589264470%2C1589374261 : accessed 25 February 2023), Washington > Marriage records, 1881-1922, vol 4 > image 399 of 715; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.
3 “Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966,” Roy Earnest Chappel, File No. 141, 27 April 1919; database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1HP-2S? cc=1417505&wc=34DN-4WL%3A1580569201 : accessed 27 February 2023), 004183656 > image 949 of 2390; citing Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966, Division of Vital Records, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville. “Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966,” Ruth E Chappel, File No. 837, 12 July 1919; database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/ 61903/3:1:S3HT-6LNH-D89?i=1349&cc=1417505: accessed 27 February 2023), 004183656 > image 1350 of 2357; citing Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966, Division of Vital Records, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.
4 Tennessee Death Records > Death Certificates > Washington > 1919, Mollie M. Chappell, 10 October 1919, File No. 324, database with images, Ancestry.com (https:// www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2376/images/33113_257800-01211? pId=483077: accessed 27 February 2023); citing Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1058, Roll 107, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.
5 “P.M. Chappell,” obituary, The Bristol (Tennessee) Herald Courier, 10 November 1920; p.2, col. 6; image copy, Newspapers.com (https:// www.newspapers.com/image/584469975/?article=ba595eb9-8b6b-4e1f-8f52- bb67cc5cadaa&focus=0.7228035,0.5183271,0.86197585,0.6316509&xid=3355: accessed 27 February 2023).
6 Virginia Death Records, 1912-2014. 1920>27172-27718; P.M. Chappell, File No. 27687, 8 November 1920; image 549 of 584,”Virgina, U.S. Death Records, 1912-2014″, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9278/images/ 43004_172028008151_0041-00549?pId=670438 : accessed 25 February 2023); citing Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
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