Joseph Omer Lachapelle (1867 - 1927)
Joseph Lachapelle was born in L’Assomption, Quebec.1) Dr. Chapelle was a surgeon in Dawson in the early 1900s. Around 1909 he donated a statue to the Sisters of St. Ann to recognise the result of a successful operation. The statue was later taken to Victoria.2) St. Mary’s hospital was built in Dawson in 1906. A photo from that year, showing a statue and the hospital garden is held at the Dawson City Museum. The museum also has a photo of the interior of the hospital chapel showing the alter and statuary. The Sisters of St. Ann nurses lived on the main floor under the chapel.3)
In September 1927, Dr. Lachapelle petitioned the Dawson courts for a divorce and the case was heard by Justice Macaulay and a jury.4) In October 1927, Dr. Lachapelle and two others, Mrs. Bessie Ray and John Timson, were drowned after their canoe left Stewart for Dawson.5) Lachapelle’s spaniel was found in a famished condition in Henderson Slough, four miles below Stewart City.6)