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Volume 14, No. 1
Biggar Root Booster
Newsletter Biggar Branch Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
Newsletter Biggar Branch Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
Volume 14, No. 1 Winter 2008
Annual Report - The Year in Review
No workshops were held at our monthly meetings, but instead we focussed on aiding our members with their own personal research. We held a three part Beginners Workshop on October 16, October 23, and November 7. Six people registered for the classes, but in the end four attended the classes. The classes were a mix of instruction and "hands on" activities using the resources the Branch has in its library. Rae was the instructor. The workshops did not result in our Branch attracting new members.
We published four issues of our newsletter, The Biggar Root Booster, with a total of 16 pages published for the year. Topics included: The Year in Review, Wikipedia for Tracing Your Ancestors, Ukrainian Archives, Passenger Ship Lists, Ancestry Announces Major Additions to Canada Collection; Biggar Branch Updates Biggar Cemetery Recording; Library and Archives Canada and Ancestry.ca Unveil Strategic Partnership at Ontario Genealogical Society Annual Seminar, Domestics Brought to Canada, Ancestry Online Community Creates More Than 275 Million Profiles and 3 Million Family Trees In Last Year, Federation and Findmypast.com Online Partnership, Biggar Branch SGS ‘wiki’, The United Church of Canada Archives Finds a New Home, World Cat. We advertised our publications in the newsletter and used some Biggar historical facts as fillers.
Electronic copies of our newsletter in PDF format were sent to 15 of the 19 other SGS Branches. One of the Branches had indicated no interest in receiving our newsletter and for three others we do not have an email address. So if there is any SGS Branch out there who is not receiving our newspaper and would like to get a copy please forward your email address to our email address which is published in the Bulletin.
We received electronic copies of the Regina Branch newsletter and a hard copy was placed in our library.
We continued to work on the Biggar Heritage Album during 2007. Several more pages have been completed and placed in the albums.
Our publications program continued to expand so that the Branch now has eight publications. During 2007, three new publications came off the press. These being: Births, Deaths and Marriages from The Independent 1941 to 1945, Births, Deaths and Marriages from The Independent 1946 to 1950, and as a result of completing the update of Biggar Cemetery, We produced the Biggar Cemetery Directory with Plot Map . The birth, death and marriage series covers from 1913 to 1950 in five volumes with 349 pages of data. We continued to clip the obituaries from The Independent and plan to publish in manuscript form an index of the obits for 2006 and 2007 in 2008 for a few select institutions and will sometime in the future, after a few more years go to a full scale publication of the information. We already have two books: Obituary Index The Independent 1990 to 2005 and another volume which covers the period 1984 to 1989 so between the publications the index spans from 1984 to 2007. We have hard copies of the obituaries from 1991 to 2005. Copies of all our publications are donated to the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society, Biggar Museum & Gallery and two copies are placed on Legal Deposit with Library and Archives Canada. All of our publications were placed on consignment at the Biggar Museum & Gallery and we continue to receive orders via Coutts Library Services for our publications. - Our Branch brochure, the Basic Search and Canadian National Railway Seniority List Search brochures are placed at the Biggar Museum & Gallery and Saskatchewan Genealogical Society Library. We received two written queries last year and we were successful in providing some new information and confirming information the parties concerned already had. We also answer written genealogical queries on behalf of the Biggar Museum & Gallery, but none were received, but did answer about three telephone queries. The updating of Biggar Cemetery was completed and a electronic copy in SRI format was forwarded to the Saskatchewan Genealogy Society. Detailed printouts were given to the Town of Biggar, Biggar Museum & Gallery and a copy kept for the Biggar Branch library. Completing the update resulted in the Branch publishing a directory with a plot map of the cemetery. We were fortunate to receive a Community Grant from Saskatchewan Lotteries for producing the detailed listing. The grant of $86.00 only covered about half of the costs of the printout. The branch picked up the balance. For the whole cemetery update project, some $64.00 worth of supplies were donated. Thirty or more trips worth $93.45 were made to the cemetery, a minimum of 138 hours were spent compiling, editing and checking data worth over $1041.00, and at a minimum of approximately 118 hours worth $890.00 were spent prior to the project inputting data into the computer from the 1985 recording and creating a plot map of the cemetery. The self-help and volunteer time at a minimum value comes to over $2090.00 for the project. Biggar Branch has these Special Collections:
- Town of Biggar Census for 1912, 1915, 1920, 1924,1929 and 1945
- assortment of Canadian National Railway Seniority Lists
- CNR Retirees honoured by Biggar Terminal Retirement Association 1946 - 1991
- births, marriage and deaths from The Independent newspaper 1913 to 1950
- Obituary Index The Independent newspaper 1984 to 2006
- obituaries on file from The Independent 1991 to 2006
- births, deaths and marriages and other notable items from the Landis Record newspaper 1916, April 27 to 1937, August 25th, not indexed
- 2 collections of Biggar undertaker records, indexes
- 1911 Canadian Census Index for Village of Biggar
- cemetery recordings for cemeteries in the R.M. of Biggar including the Town of Biggar, R.M. of Glenside, Landis, Cando and Ruthilda.
- 1881 Canadian Census Index
- HOME CD
- International Research Directories & the British Isles Genealogical Register
- basic ‘how to" books and research papers for Saskatchewan, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Scandinavia
We donated a copy of Tracing Your Saskatchewan Ancestors: A Guide to the Records and How To Use Them to the Reading Room at the Biggar Museum & Gallery.
We expanded our library collection purchasing 6 publications: Tracing Your Aboriginal Ancestors in the Prairie Provinces; Tracing Your Saskatchewan Ancestors, 3rd Edition; Births, Deaths, Marriages from Regina Leader 1914 ––1916; Ukrainian Genealogy - A Beginner's Guide; Genealogical Research Directory 2007 and The Scottish Family Tree Detective. Four of the six were purchased from the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society.
Last fall, Rae set up a website for the Branch using the ‘wiki’ format with wetpaint.com at no cost to the Branch. The site is paid for with Google Adsense Ads. The web address is http://biggargenealogy.wetpaint.com The site includes our Branch Library Catalogue, sources available for research at the Biggar Museum & Gallery, announcements, some local history, our research services, links to other websites, including the SGS page and a list of local history books for our area which are online. The website is worth the effort alone for publishing our Branch Library Listing online for our members.
At the Legion Awards Night in November, Rae was presented with a "Certificate of Appreciation" by the Royal Canadian Legion, Biggar Branch for his efforts in assisting the Legion identify the graves of Legion Members at the Biggar Cemetery and for including a symbol on the map in the Biggar Cemetery Directory with Plot Map to identify the grave of "One Who Served This Country".
In November, long time Branch Member, Marj Hawes celebrated her 90th Birthday and the Branch extended its congratulations. Marj was our Branch Secretary for many years.
The Wreck of the Steamer
John B. Lyon
September 1900
The Wreck of the steamer John B. Lyon of Lake Erie, September 11, 1900 as told by David Thomas Brown of Lot One Concession Two, Moore Township, Second Engineer the only ships officer that survived of a crew of 14, eight perished, to his only surviving son Harry S. Brown. The John B. Lyon was built in the quayle shipyard in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1881. She was of wood constructions over a steel frame. She was 256 feet long with a beam or width of 42 feet and depth of 20 feet. She had twin smoke stakes set athwartships or crosswise of the ship. She had a web of stays between the smoke stacks which gave her the name of a spider boat. She belonged to the Gilchrist fleet. She was powered by a steeple quadruple expansion engine which means there were four cylinders hooked up in tandem one above the other. A very unusual power plant being the only one of that type that I have ever heard of. Steam being supplied by two fitzgibon two fire boilers.
The Lyon was only 19 years old when she met her doom on wild lake Erie at a point approximately ten miles north north west of the town of Girard, Pennsylvania. The time of the end approximately 2.00 a.m., September 11, 1900.
The Lyon and her barge, the W.A. Georger had loaded iron ore at Marquette, Michigan. After a normal passage down the lakes, she dropped her barge at Ashtabula, Ohio, while the Lyon’s destination was Cleveland, Ohio, 25 miles further west. However, as chief engineer Charles Willous of Cleveland, had complained of the poor quality of coal she was burning. Captain Senghas of Marine City, Michigan. It was decided to go further east to Conneaut, Ohio, upon arrival at Conneaut there was no fuel available, but there was fuel available at Erie, Pennsylvania, another 70 miles further east so the Lyon headed for Erie and disaster. As there was no weather forecasts in those days Captain Senghas had no way of knowing that a hurricane had struck far away in Galveston, Texas, a couple of days earlier causing terrible damage and taking the lives of 1,500 people. This storm was now about to strike lake Erie and take 8 more lives. As the Lyons was steaming along somewhere between Conneaut and Girard, Pennsylvania, she started to feel the effects of the dying hurricane. Some of her timbers were groaning from effect of the rapidly rising seas. She soon developed a bad leak somewhere in the cargo hole. Two of the deck hands volunteered to go into the cargo to see is there was anything they could do. They never returned. At this point, I will try to narrate the story as Dad told it to me.
I went on watch at midnight the water was rising fast, the Captain called all hands and it was decided to work her closer to land but it was a losing battle and we all knew it. Captain Senghas left the bridge in charge of the mate and came below to prepare as best as he could for the coming disaster. It was found one deckhand had no lifebelt . The Captain removed his and put on the deckhand, the deck hand survived, the heroic Captain perished. At this time it was agreed that Captain Senghas would stay at the engine room door or companionway and Chief Engineer Willous would stay at the fire room door to call the firemen when the time came. After the Chief Engineer, a fireman came off watch at midnight he shaved and put on his best clothes and came below to say goodbye to my firemen and I. When I asked him why he was all dressed up he replied if I am going to be a corpse I might as well be a good looking one. Shortly before 2.00 am a hatch cover let go so now the ship was taking water from the broken hatch as well as through the bottom. Captain Senghas tied his wife and the Chef’s wife to a hatch plank. At about 2.a.m. he shouted for me to come up at once as she was down by the head and was sinking. I made it up to the deck alright. My fireman did not make it when I saw the water coming up the deck for a moment I was scared but when it got to my feet I was determined to try as hard as I could to survive as I had a wife and then month old daughter at home. The suction drew me down for a few terrifying seconds when I came to surface I was in a mass of floating wreckage, I got my face into the wind and climbed over most of it, I found a step ladder that had been nailed to wall of the after cabin and a hammock and a couple of short timbers which I managed to tie together with some rope into a make shift raft. At this time I saw a length of spar or mast come above a wave with a man clinging to it. It was the Chief Engineer’s fireman, he had been back aft on the fantail deck by the main mast when she went under. Part of the fantail deck floated away with part of the mainmast fastened to it the firemen climbed up and managed to tie himself to it and washed ashore in about four hours. The Captain’s wife and the Chef’s wife also were ashore in about four hours, both their husband’s perished. The waves where huge and each one had a comber on top six to ten feet high. I had to hold my breath as I went through each one. It was terrible. With the coming of daylight the seas started to abate during the forenoon. I twice sighted a tug that was looking for survivors but was not able to attract their attention. Late in the afternoon, I sighted a red building on a hill so I left the raft and started swimming toward it. I finally made it to shore when I passed out about 6.00pm. Two men found me. I thought they were cruel as they made me stand up and my legs hurt but by the time we got to the red building which was a saw mill I could walk again. The cook in the saw mill gave me a bowl of black coffee to drink. I thought, I had never tasted anything as good as it was. They put me to bed and I slept for twelve hours. It was a terrible ordeal. The next day, I saw the other survivors. I asked the Chief’s firemen what he was going to do. He said I am going to get as far away from the great lakes as I can. I might not be lucky again. He must have gone a long way for I never heard of him again.
Chief Engineer, David T. Brown the Old Chief, or old Davey the Chief, he was called by his crew on the Alexander Leslie his last ship, he must have been a good Chief for he had the same crew for seven ears but they almost all volunteered for naval service in World War Two. He tried to go too, but they turned him down because of his age.
The old Chief lived for 42 years after this terrible ordeal. To me his last surviving son he was the last Engineer that ever opened the throttle on his main engine and got his ship under way. I am glad he was such a good swimmer or I would not be her to tell about this terrible ordeal. He sailed away on his final voyage on July 1, 1942 at the age of 69 years, 8 months. May he sail on forever on tranquil seas with our Blessed Lord and Saviour at the helm.
He left all of us a great legacy, of honesty, integrity and bravery.
Signed - Harry S. Brown.
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