| Daybooks of Benjamin Chappell |
| Volume One: 1775 - 1788 Volume Two: 1797 - 1818 |
| Edited by R. LaVerne Chappell |
"Most people with an interest in the history of Prince
Edward Island will have heard of the Chappell Diaries, but
very few will have actually examined or even read them.
The original diaries (more correctly called 'Daybooks')
have been safely housed in the Prince Edward Island
Public Archives for many years, but because they are too
fragile to be handled by most researchers, anyone wanting
to consult them has had to do so through the medium of
microfilm. Given the faded eighteenth century handwriting
(that in placed becomes invisible on the microfilm), the
crammed pages, the idiosyncratic and inconsistent spelling,
and the specialist vocabulary connected with woodworking,
those few who have tried to read them have found it a
time-consuming and often unrewarding task.
Benjamin Chappell (born 1740, died 1825) was a skilled
woodworker and machinist who arrived in New London on
the Island of St. John (PEI) in the summer of 1774 with his
new wife Elizabeth. Chappell was also a Methodist
lay-preacher and had known the founder of Methodism,
John Wesley, in England. He was indentured to provide
four years of 'servitude' to Robert Clark, a London
Quaker and the proprietor of Lot 21, who had brought him
to the Island . . . after the termination of his indenture in
1778, Chappell moved to Charlottetown where he was to
spend the rest of his life.
LaVerne Chappell began the laborious task of transcribing
the Daybooks in the summer of 1998. Independently,
Gilbert Hughes of Belfast in Northern Ireland (an adopted
'summer Islander') had suggested to William and Elizabeth
Glen of the Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society
that the Society should transcribe the Chappell Daybooks
as part of its ongoing mission of making the Island's
historical sources more widely available to researchers -
genealogical and otherwise. It was at this point that word
of LaVerne's project came to the ear of the Society and an
agreement was reached amongst all three parties . . . due
to the labour of love . . . the Chappell Daybooks are now
available for the first time in this more 'user-friendly'
format, thus enabling genealogist and historians to make
greater use of them, which can only lead to a greater
appreciation of their value." - Dr. Doug Sobey
Edward Island will have heard of the Chappell Diaries, but
very few will have actually examined or even read them.
The original diaries (more correctly called 'Daybooks')
have been safely housed in the Prince Edward Island
Public Archives for many years, but because they are too
fragile to be handled by most researchers, anyone wanting
to consult them has had to do so through the medium of
microfilm. Given the faded eighteenth century handwriting
(that in placed becomes invisible on the microfilm), the
crammed pages, the idiosyncratic and inconsistent spelling,
and the specialist vocabulary connected with woodworking,
those few who have tried to read them have found it a
time-consuming and often unrewarding task.
Benjamin Chappell (born 1740, died 1825) was a skilled
woodworker and machinist who arrived in New London on
the Island of St. John (PEI) in the summer of 1774 with his
new wife Elizabeth. Chappell was also a Methodist
lay-preacher and had known the founder of Methodism,
John Wesley, in England. He was indentured to provide
four years of 'servitude' to Robert Clark, a London
Quaker and the proprietor of Lot 21, who had brought him
to the Island . . . after the termination of his indenture in
1778, Chappell moved to Charlottetown where he was to
spend the rest of his life.
LaVerne Chappell began the laborious task of transcribing
the Daybooks in the summer of 1998. Independently,
Gilbert Hughes of Belfast in Northern Ireland (an adopted
'summer Islander') had suggested to William and Elizabeth
Glen of the Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society
that the Society should transcribe the Chappell Daybooks
as part of its ongoing mission of making the Island's
historical sources more widely available to researchers -
genealogical and otherwise. It was at this point that word
of LaVerne's project came to the ear of the Society and an
agreement was reached amongst all three parties . . . due
to the labour of love . . . the Chappell Daybooks are now
available for the first time in this more 'user-friendly'
format, thus enabling genealogist and historians to make
greater use of them, which can only lead to a greater
appreciation of their value." - Dr. Doug Sobey
VOLUME ONE: 1775 TO 1788
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VOLUME TWO: 1797 TO 1818
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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THE AUTHOR R. LaVerne Chappell |
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