About
Where neighbours meet…
Chapple is a Township municipality located in the Rainy River District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Communities located within the Township include Barwick, Dobie, Mather, Tait, Long Sault, Roseberry, Shenston, Potts and Richardson Townships.
The Township was named after lawyer Thomas William Chapple, a former Ontario MPP from 1894 to 1898, who served as a judge for the Rainy River District from 1898 to 1926.
With a land area of roughly 558 square kilometres, Chapple’s landscape features breathtaking views of the Rainy River, vast forests, and large swaths of agricultural and farm land.
Click to view the Township of Chapple’s most recent Strategic Plan
100 Years Ago in Chapple
FAMILY HISTORIES
Chapple Heritage continues to collect materials for family histories. Information of the following families, all residing in Chapple before 1910 has now been archived: James Tierney, Hugh Caldwell, Samuel Rice, Edward Holmes, Adam and James Hoover, Joseph Gibbens, Joseph Fearon, Arthur Ion, John Ritchie, Dan Smith, Arthur James Smith, William Shaw, Herman Howell, William Dumbrill, John Kidd Robertson, Robert James McGauley, George Thomas Hubbard, Cale Smith, John Hillcox, Robert Stirrett, Andrew Frood, George W. Davis, John and Archie Kerr, John and William Sim, Oliver Obens, William John Anderson, Thomas Knechtel, William and John Gordon, and John and William Evans.
Materials relating to a number of other families who settled in our township before 1930 is also being compiled: James Abbott, Dr. Blakely, Dr. McIntyre, George Both, M. T. Cathcart, Harry Choquette, Fred Cousins, Joseph Elviage, Richard Esson, Malcolm Gillies, Frederick ‘Dick’ Harvey, James Johnston, Kernehan, James Lavender, Lindsell, Lovell, Love, Traiton Luckens, Madill, Archie McDonald, John McNabb, Forbes, James McPherson, William Muir, Pentney, Nels Peterson, Kate Ruttan, William Scott, William Shannon, Jospeh Syncox, Duke Toner, Albert Tull, James Warren, Thomas Weston, Dick Wilson, T.B. Wilson, William Wright, Eli Johnson and Wolden family.
There are many other families, not yet identified. The Chapple Heritage Committee continues searching for family histories that have not already been published in the Chapple History Book. If you have information or photos that you would like to provide for any of the families mentioned, please contact Rilla Race at brrace2@gmail.com.
While much of the focus is on the earliest settler families in Chapple, histories from later than 1930 are also welcome.
Copies of Between the Ripples – Stories of Chapple are available at the Chapple Heritage Museum and the Municipal Office for $25. All proceeds go to the Chapple Heritage Committee.