The Name "Controversy"

Check out The Library of Virginia under "Confederate Pension Rolls." Enter the name "Chappell." Open "James W Chappelle" and "Jane E Chappell" to view their applications.

One of our family mysteries has to do with these documents. Jane did not have an "e" on the end of her name, although there is no question as to her identity, James' identity, or their marriage.
I do know from an ancestor of George Washington Chappell, James' younger brother, that there was a huge rift caused within the family by his insistence in adding an "e" to the surname. (James and George's brother John also added an "e" onto the end of his last name, but this ancestor said that James was credited with doing it first.)

At first I thought it might have had some connection to his military service, but James' spelling predates his enlistment in 1861 because his signature on the enlistment papers bears the "e" on the end in his own handwriting. Then, in 2001, my contact from the DAR said that not much attention was paid to spelling one's last name "correctly" or in conformance with other family members prior to the start of social security.

When it became important for all of the members of an immediate family to spell their last names in the same way, initially because of social security, a decision would had to have been made. If James and John were unwilling to change the way they had been spelling their last names for themselves, wives, children, and descendants, it stands to reason that it would have created waves. (By the way, I haven't discovered any deviation from the "e" on the end among James and Jane's children or descendants.)

Almost a decade after James' death, when Elizabeth signed her pension application, she signed it without the "e" like the majority of her in-laws instead of her children. Although it is possible that Elizabeth's conformance with the other Chappells was simply a matter of habit after a lifetime of each person spelling his or her name any way he or she pleased, I tend to think she was well aware of the controversy and conformed because she was dependent on her family, many of whom were unhappy with the name issue. The pressure may have been considerable, bearing in mind that the Chappell and Slack family ties were crossed many times.

Anyway, enjoy seeing their own handwriting. I thought it was pretty exciting, myself!
http://ajax.lva.lib.va.us/

CORRECTION: Prior to editing this post, I had published an error resulting from my misinterpretation of some information. Please take note that we have no reason to believe that the surname Chappell is derived from Chappelear.