Margaret Oleath Hansen was born November 4, 1886 in Denmark, Brown County, Wisconsin to Jens (James) and Marie Kirstine Jensdatter Hansen, who had emigrated from Denmark in 1881.
By the time the 1900 United States Federal Census was enumerated, they were living in Marinette, Marinette County, Wisconsin. James was working as “Laber in coal.” [1] The census taker was not the best at his job (sorry John Stratton, whoever you are), as he noted that Marie was the mother of nine children, with eight living, and then proceeded to enumerate nine children. The eldest, Peter, age 22, had been born in Denmark, and the youngest, Willie and Ethel, were enumerated as both being two years of age, born just five months apart. I am sure with a bit more research, I could sort this out, but this short piece is to be about Margaret, or Maggie as she was called.
On October 3, 1903, just a month shy of her 17th birthday, Maggie’s mother passed away at the age of 50, in Marinette. Maggie would marry Henry Louis (Ludwig) Edward Dettman on March 3, 1908 in Menominee, Menominee County, Wisconsin. The couple worked together in the grocery business their entire marriage. Henry died in 1956 at the age 70, and Margaret passed away on May 22, 1968. She was 81 years old.
Why my interest in Margaret? While doing newspaper research, I came across an article about a Margaret Hanson, [sic] 20 years old, of Marinette. [2] This article was directly above the article I was looking to review, and was titled: “Insane Girl Would Be Lawyer.” The sub-title goes on to report: “Margaret Hanson of Marinette Is Cultured, but Suffers Hallucinations.” That caught my attention! The article states that this poor girl’s “hallucination” was that she wished to become a lawyer and study for the bar. For wishing to become a lawyer, she was committed to the insane asylum.
Margaret told the 1940 United States Federal Census [3] enumerator that the highest grade in school that she had completed was 5th grade. The court in 1906 found her “cultured and refined,” and “she was able to quote long passages from Dickens, Shakespeare and other authors.” So while she only had formal schooling till 5th grade, she never stopped learning. For her desire to continue learning, and to become a lawyer, the court committed her to the insane asylum, and it just so happened that the newly built Marinette County Asylum, Mental Health Institution, and Poor Home was open, and ready to accept patients.
Marinette County Insane Asylum, Marinette, Wis.
There is the chance that the Margaret whose life I briefly told, is not the Margaret who wished to be a lawyer, but she was the only Margaret Hansen living in Marinette, age 20. I also do not know how long she was kept at the asylum, but she married Henry Dettman two years later, so I so hope it was not a long stay. If I did wish to search further, the Coffrin Library at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has the asylum records. While most information is restricted, it does look as though the admission book may be open for viewing. [4]
I am so glad to be living in a time when a young woman, obviously smart, who wished to become a lawyer, can become a lawyer.
Sources:
1900 U.S. census, Marinette County, Wisconsin, population schedule, Marinette, 4th Ward, enumeration district (ED) 118, sheet 2 (penned), p. 129B (stamped), dwelling 23, family 28, James Hanson household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jan 2021); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, FHL Microfilm: 1241799.
“Insane Girl Would Be Lawyer,” The Manitowoc Pilot, 15 Feb 1906, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 21 Jan 2021).
1940 U.S. census, Marinette County, Indiana, population schedule, Marinette, 5th Ward, enumeration district (ED) 38-21, sheet 10, p. 290A, household 218, Henry L. Dittman household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Jan 2021); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627.
Pine View Health Care Center Records, 1906-1993. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mari0030
Archived posts from “The Aroma of Bread,” first published 12 Oct 2013, with comments from 12 Oct 2020.
It is so hard to believe that it has been seven years since the summer that we spent cleaning out Butch and Marie’s house and preparing it for sale. So much has happened since that time.
Here is the post from 2013:
A couple of weeks ago we were at the house to continue the cleaning. On the agenda for this particular day was to clean out the eaves, which were full of leaves and debris.
Standing on the ladder doing a task that he had done many many times over the years, Gary got to thinking and remembering. Remembering the time that he was up on the roof painting the trim on this very window. Having finished painting, he needed to clip the aluminum storm back onto the house. Finding he needed some help holding the window in place – or the ability to grow extra arms, he asked Marie to lend him a hand. Up for the challenge, she climbed into the tub, and at 5’2″ (on a good day), she fearlessly took hold of her side of the window. As Gary worked to get it clipped, and Marie worked to hold it steady, she said for the first time what would become a favorite family phrase: “Strong like bull!” And that was almost the end of the window as both she and Gary got the giggles as they looked at each other through the opening.
Cleaning out the gutters that nice fall day, Gary paused to remember a moment of shared laughter with his mother.
Yesterday I presented virtually at the 13th Annual Minnesota Northstar Genealogy Conference. What a difference it is to present to an audience you cannot see, but know are there because the number of attendees is listed on the Go To Meeting dashboard.It was a great conference, and I am glad that I have my first virtual presentation under my belt. I look forward to doing it again, and I am hopeful that we will soon be meeting in person.
While tweaking my Maps presentation for this conference, I found a map that I feel adds, well, “another layer to the story” of the Lady Elgin. This 1857 Map of the Milwaukee & Superior Rail Road and its Connections. [1]
Trying to imagine what happened that day when the news of the disaster reached the Cook household, my mind goes in two directions. William might have been waiting at home on the farm in Stockbridge, Calumet County, with Sarah, James, Samuel, Alfred, Albert, and Henrietta. Or just as likely the family had traveled to Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, where both Mary Catherine and Watson were living. Kate had married Conner W. Healy in Fond du Lac on 14 Dec 1858, and Watson married Judith Louisa Drake in Stockbridge on 12 Oct 1859.
If I were planning this return welcome, I would choose the latter, as Jane, Elizabeth Ann, and Jacob would have been exhausted from their long journey home. First boarding the propeller The Sun in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, traveling through the Great Lakes to Milwaukee. Once arriving in Milwaukee they would have caught the Milwaukee and Superior Railroad line to Cedarburg. In Cedarburg, they would have transferred to the Fond Du Lac Air Line to Fond du Lac. If you look at Calumet County lined in pink, you can see that the Manitowoc & Mississippi Rail Road was already entering the county, but was still a considerable distance from their home in Stockbridge. Arriving in Fond du Lac they would have been met with the whole family and been able to celebrate their return while taking a much-needed rest from their travels.
What prompts me to write this post is not this anticipated happy welcome home, but the trip that William, Watson, and Jacob would make. The route they would have taken both going to Chicago, and the sad return trip home.
As I see it in my mind’s eye, the news reached Fond du Lac, and it was from there that William and Watson boarded the Fond du Lac Air Line, riding the line to Cedarburg where they transferred to the Milwaukee & Superior line. Reaching Milwaukee, they boarded the Milwaukee and Chicago Railroad and headed south to meet Watson. Was he waiting for them in Racine, Racine County which is where he had been rescued? Or had he traveled to Milwaukee to wait. I would guess that after so many hours in the water being battered and thrown around by the waves, he was waiting for them in Racine. One can just imagine the hugs, the tears, and the joy of seeing Jacob. But also the tears and fears of what still was ahead of them when they reached Chicago.
This brings to mind another question. In his own words, Jacob states: “It was about 2 o’clock in the night when the boat went down and about 5 the next afternoon I drifted in near enough to the shore to reach the end of a pole held out to me by a man suspended by a rope in the hands of several others from the top of that high clay bank south of Racine.” [2] Did the family stay at home till they heard from Jacob, or did they immediately prepare to leave for Chicago?
I would guess that plans were made for the younger children to remain with Kate and Judith. Watson and Judith had a newborn son. Arthur Watson Cook was born 11 Jul 1860, and Kate and Conner’s little boy, Henry George Healy, would be celebrating his first birthday on October 4th. Two little nephews to keep entertained would help pass the time.
The Lady Elgin was struck around 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning near Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois, then drifted south towards Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois where “it began to go to pieces.” [3] The high winds and waves sent Jacob north towards Racine, while other passengers went south towards Chicago.
Just look at how the railway line hugs the shore of Lake Michigan! Joining Jacob in Racine, most likely on Sunday, September 9th, the three men traveled the rails to Chicago. I can just imagine Jacob looking out the window of the train noting landmarks that he could just see above the waves as he clung to “a piece of plank about eighteen inches wides by six feet in length.” [4] All three looking desperately for any sign of Jane and Elizabeth out on the water. Would Jacob have recognized the spot where the Lady Elgin was hit by the Augusta? Or was it too dark for him to recognize an exact location?
Elizabeth Ann’s body was recovered on Tuesday, September 11th and brought with the 14 other bodies recovered that day to the Chicago Courthouse, to be laid out for identification. As Watson described it in a letter to his sister, they did not recognize her the first day, but upon returning the next morning after she had been “washed” and put in a coffin, they found her. [5]
We do not know how long William and his sons stayed in Chicago, watching, waiting, praying that they would see the face of Jane. But at some point, they would have arranged for Elizabeth Ann’s coffin to travel north to Stockbridge. Most likely she was sent home as soon as she was recognized – you couldn’t just take a coffin back to the boarding house, and park it.
And then the long, sad trip home. Riding the Milwaukee and Chicago Railroad north, past the spot at Winnetka where the Lady Elgin broke into pieces, past the spot near Waukegan where the Lady Elgin was struck, and following the bobbing path of Jacob to Racine as he clung on for dear life, hoping to be rescued.
Sources:
Nesbitt & Company, and Milwaukee And Superior Railroad Company. Map of the Milwaukee & Superior Rail Road and its connections. New York, 1857. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/98688717/.
“An Appleton Man’s Escape. His Mother and Sister Were Both Lost—The Former’s Body Never Recovered,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 4 Sep 1892.
“Graves of Lady Elgin Dead Desecrated,” The Chicago Sunday Tribune, 26 May 1899, Sunday, p. 1, part 4; Editorial Sheet; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018).
The Cook Family, circa 1894. Missing is their eldest son, Herbert
On this day 127 years ago, my great-great-grandfather, 43-year-old Alfred Cook, arrived in Marshfield in time to catch the 6:15 train bound for Wausau. September 26, 1893, was a Tuesday, and Alfred, chairman of the Town of Brighton, he was on his way to attend the meeting of the county board of Marathon county. Living in Unity, Marathon County, he would have been up extraordinarily early to travel the approximately 15 miles to Marshfield. Did he travel by train on the Wisconsin Central, [1] or did he travel by horse and buggy?
On this day the way freight on the Milwaukee Lake Shore railway to Wausau was made up of eighteen freight cars. Alfred, along with the Rev. James Brown, Christ Vogt, and Conductor Dunn, settled in for the trip riding in the caboose.
“Just before reaching McMillan there is a steep grade. When the last section of the train was nearly to the top a coupler broke, leaving a portion of the train to follow. None of the train men were aware of the break and when the forward section reached McMillan about three quarters of a mile distant, it pulled up at the station. Without warning, the last section came tearing down upon them gaining speed at every revolution of the wheels.” “The two sections came together with a crash, throwing one car from the track and the passengers across the caboose, badly bruising them all.” The sentence goes on to say, “and probably fatally injuring Mr. Cook, who struck the water cooler with his head, causing concussion of the brain.” [2]
“The wounded men were brought back to this city [Marshfield] and medical aid summoned. With the exception of Mr. Cook, the injuries to the others are slight beyond a bad shaking up and more or less bruised. Mr. Cook was first taken to the hospital, but as that institution is full of patients, he was taken to the Tremont house where he now lies” and was seen by Dr. Budge, and the railroad’s chief surgeon, Dr. J. F. Pritchard. “Mr. Cook’s wife, relatives and friends came down from Unity on the first train and are doing all they can for him. [3] Alfred’s sister Kate and his brother-in-law Conner Healy accompanied Amanda and their eldest son, Herbert, to Marshfield. I can only imagine what they were thinking as they rode the 15 miles from Unity to the Tremont House in Marshfield. [4]
“Between Life and Death. Alfred Cook, of Unity, Lies in a Precarious Condition at the Tremont.” reads the headline of The Marshfield News the next day. The newspaper reported that he had not yet regained consciousness, and was delirious. [5] His condition did not improve over the next few days as newspapers around the state reported that “should he recover, he will be disabled for life and total blind.” [6]
The Cook family brought Alfred home to Unity on Friday, September 29th. At that time he was still in “an unconscious condition, but on Saturday he regained consciousness. He knew all who spoke to him but could not see them.” [7]
S. A. Cook left Neenah, Winnebago County for Unity on Wednesday, October 4th to visit his brother. The Neenah Daily Times reported that “Mr. Cook is recovering slowly but has not regained his sight. He is occasionally delirious, from the blow on his head, the only external mark of which is a bruise about the size of a quarter. He imagines that he is still under the car and continually pleads that his companion (who was but slightly hurt) [he is most likely referring to Chris Vogt who was also on his way to the county board meeting] be taken out quickly. ‘He is worse hurt than I am and I can wait,’ is the constant cry which shows the nature of the man. He thinks they have been under the car three weeks, and protests against the delay and darkness, which he attributes to bad management on the part of the railroad company. He does not realize that he is blind and frequently asks why lanterns are not procured.” [8] He was also imagining that the “car was settling down upon him and struggles to hold it up until he sinks back exhausted. At such times he has to be held in bed.” [9]
Friday, October 6th he was again seen by Dr. Budge and Dr. Pritchard, joined by Prof. John E. Owen, chief surgeon of the Chicago Northwestern Railway, Dr. Tilly a “celebrated eye surgeon of Chicago,” and B. A. Little, traveling claim agent. These men examined and consulted on Alfred’s case, deciding to wait two weeks longer, “after which if he does not regain his sanity and sight an operation will be performed.” [10] Upon examining him, Dr. Tilly decided that “there is no injury to the globe of the eye, the optic nerve or the optic track, to cause his blindness, and hence it must be in the visual center, located in the occipital lobe of the brain and that there is pressure on the brain, either from fracture of the skull or from blood clots lying underneath the skull. He advised an exploratory incision through the scalp to ascertain if the skull was fractured, but as Mr. Cook has improved generally so rapidly, although he is totally blind, his friends would not consent to an immediate operation.” [11]
By the time the Appleton Weekly Post went to press on October 12th, Alfred was improving slowly, being conscious part of the time, but “still has fits of delirium and violence, and is still totally blind.” [12] His condition was still critical a month after the accident, and “Drs. Owen and Pritchard of the Northwestern road, Dr. Badger, of Marshfield, Dr. Barnett of Neenah and Dr. Reeve” of Appleton arrived to again examine him and consult as to whether or not an operation should be performed. [13] The Marshfield Times reported the next day, October 27th that an operation would be performed.
Friday, October 13th, S.A. again traveled to Unity to be by his brother’s side. [14] The next day word was received in Appleton that Alfred “was sinking.” “The physicians have decided that an operation must be performed to remove a sliver of bone which they think is resting on the brain.” [15] Alfred was now totally paralyzed on the left side. I am sure that Jacob caught the next train to Unity to join S.A. at Alfred’s side, and to be a support to their sister-in-law, Amanda. I have been unable to find news of the operation taking place, so I am doubtful that they went forward with the plan to operate.
Two months after the accident on November 30th, The Marshfield Times reported that he is finally regaining some of his eyesight, and is feeling much better. [16] Alfred was definitely feeling better, as, accompanied by his son Herbert, he “visited friends in Marshfield on December 15th, and plans were being made that he, accompanied by Herbert, would go south for the “months of January and February.” [17]
Christmas night Alfred, accompanied by Herbert, left for Hot Springs, Arkansas, “where he hopes to regain his sight and also his mental equilibrium.” He was still having “occasional flighty spells, and his sight is totally lacking.” [18]
The Appleton Weekly Post reported the first news of the fact that Alfred sued the railroad (I am hoping to scope out details). The paper reported that “about December 11th” [19] he had “made a settlement with the railroad company on terms perfectly satisfactory to his family and friends, but in deference to the wishes of all concerned, the amount is not made public.” [20]
Alfred and Herbert returned to Wisconsin earlier than originally reported, as the news was published that they had made a stop in Appleton the last week of January to visit with his brother, Jacob, and his family. The time away did much to improve his health, but he had not yet “recovered his sight.” [21]
The last news we have of Alfred’s condition was published in the Marshfield Times on April 20, 1894. The article reports the news that Alfred’s character and honesty had come into question, as it states “After his return [from his trip to Hot Springs] it was rumored that Mr. Cook had regained his eyesight suddenly and was nearly as well as ever, casting reflections on him that he had been playing possum with the railway company, that as soon as he received the money his eyesight returned very rapidly.” The article starts with a quick recap of the events. “It will be remembered that Mr. Cook from the effects of the injury was totally blind in both eyes, with a loss of sensation in the whole right half of the body and an impairment of motion in the same. After several weeks his physicians discovered he could detect a little light in the right half of both eyes, but the other half of both eyes were totally blind.” It continues “Now the facts are that to-day the one-half of each eye that he detected light soon after the injury, has so far improved that he is able to see to go around but the other half of each eye is totally blind the same as after the injury and it is believed will remain so the remainder of his life.” The railroad company was “very thankful that he can see sufficiently so he is able to go around without a guide and they believe there is no man that would be willing to be placed in Mr. Cook’s condition for the amount of money received.” [22]
While this story is remarkable just as it is told, what has struck me is that this story was not passed down from generation to generation. Scanning a newspaper website in November 2006 I came across an article titled “Railway Wreck Near Marshfield” that contained the search term “Alfred Cook, of Unity,” [23] I questioned whether or not this was “my” Alfred Cook, of Unity, as I had not heard of the accident, or that he was partially blind. It took finding the papers that also included the names of his brothers, that I knew that is was “my” ancestor.
1905
Alfred was still very ill one week later when on October 4th he celebrated his 44th birthday. He was still a young man, a man who had a very young family at home, as he had recently become a father for the tenth. His wife, Amanda Melinda Blood Cook, age 40, had given birth to Raymond Donald on May 1st. At the time of the accident, this little boy was almost 5 months old. The rest of the children ranged in age from 19 to 2 years old.
Their eldest child, Herbert Alfred, was 19 years old. George Sewell had turned 17 just 11 days before the accident, and my great-grandfather, Lewis Herman was 16. The rest of the children were: Henrietta – 15, Mabel – 12, Emelyn was seven, as she had celebrated her birthday on September 3rd, Walter – 4, Edith – 3, and Ella, who turned 2 years old two days after the accident on September 28th. While only a handful of these people lived into my lifetime, seven of them saw my father grow into adulthood. The longest living was Raymond, whose son Rod was instrumental in keeping the Cook traditions and stories alive. Except for this one.
Alfred died on January 30, 1921, he was 70 years old. After the accident, he continued to live a full and active life.
How this story was lost, we may never know.
Sources:
Railroad Commission Of Wisconsin, and Graham L Rice. Official railroad map of Wisconsin. [Madison, Wis.: Railroad Commissioner, 1900] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2006629781/; accessed 17 Jul 2020.
“A Broken Coupler,” The Marshfield Times, 29 Sep 1893, Friday, p. 1, col. 1; digital images, NewspaperARCHIVE.com (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 12 Dec 2007).
Ibid.
“Unity Items.,” The Marshfield News, 5 Oct 1893, Thursday, p. 8, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017).
“Between Life and Death,” The Marshfield News, 28 Sep 1893, Thursday, p. 1, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
The Neenah Daily Times, 2 Oct 1893, Monday Evening, p. 4, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Unity Items,” The Marshfield News, 5 Oct 1893, Thursday, p. 8, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017).
“A Terrible Sufferer,” The Neenah Daily Times, 4 Oct 1893, Wednesday Evening, p. 1, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Curious Effects of a Slight Hurt,” Wisconsin State Journal, 17 Oct 1893, Tuesday, p. 2, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Alfred Cook’s Condition,” Appleton Weekly Post, 12 Oct 1893, Thursday, p. 5, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
The Marshfield News, 12 Oct 1893, Thursday, p. 4, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Improving Slowly,” Appleton Weekly Post, 12 Oct 1893, Thursday, p. 6, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Condition of Alfred Cook,” 26 Oct 1893, Thursday Evening, p. 4, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
The Neenah Daily Times, 13 Oct 1893, Friday Evening, p. 4, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Growing Worse,” Appleton Crescent, 14 Oct 1893, p. 5, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
The Marshfield News, 30 Nov 1893, Thursday, p. 8, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 24 Mar 2017).
“Unity,” The Marshfield News, 21 Dec 1893, Thursday, p. 8, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017).
“Gone to Hot Springs,” Appleton Weekly Post, 28 Dec 1893, Thursday, p. 1, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017).
“Mr. Cook’s Condition. The Unity Man who was Injured in the McMillan Railroad Accident.,” The Marshfield Times, 20 Apr 1894, Friday, p. 1, col. 4; digital images, NewspaperARCHIVE (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 12 Dec 2007).
Ibid.
Appleton Weekly Post, 1 Feb 1894, Thursday, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 27 Mar 2017).
“Mr. Cook’s Condition. The Unity Man who was Injured in the McMillan Railroad Accident.”
“Railway Wreck Near Marshfield,” The Marshfield Times, September 30, 1893, p. 3, col. 3; digital images, NewspaperARCHIVE (www.newspaperarchive.com : accessed 20 Nov 2006).
There were many people on the bluffs watching for the Lady Elgin to pass the night of September 7-8, 1860. One of the watchers was Henry “Hank” Mower who lived in Highwood, Lake, Illinois, “just at the edge of a bit of woods which joins on the south the clump of tree which rise above the graves of the Lady Elgin dead.” Highwood is located in Moraine Township, between Chicago and Kenosha. When he was asked if “any of the Lady Elgin dead were buried in the woodland cow pasture” Mower replied, yes, “with my own hands—for I am a carpenter by trade—I made four coffins for four of the unidentified dead which the waves tossed ashore after the wreck of the steamer thirty-nine years ago. I helped bury all four.” He continued his tale: “I was on the beach immediately after the wreck of the Lady Elgin. You see, it was cut down a good ways north of here, but drifted south some miles and the great majority of the survivors reached shore near Winnetka, and it was there also that most of the bodies were washed ashore. I saw the boat go by the old lighthouse on the night it went down. It was a big steamer, and big steamers were not as plentiful in those days as they are now; moreover, the Lady Elgin was the most famous boat on the great lakes. It was quite the common thing for the people along the shore to go to the bluffs to see it go by. “On that night it was brilliantly lighted, for it had many excursionists on board. After watching it pass I went away from the bluffs, but heard of the wreck a few hours afterward and went sought to that point of the beach where the people were gathered. The sight was something awful. On what appeared to me to be the roof of the pilothouse there were floating certainly more than forty people. All at once a give wave engulfed them and they were all lost.” “For days afterward bodies continued to be washed up by the sea on the beach just below the lighthouse.” 1]
It was here at the lighthouse that the townspeople lay the bodies that had been recovered from the shore. “Underneath the stairway which mounted to the stone floor supporting the great lamp there lay the bodies of many of the dead, and there grief-stricken people by the hundreds viewed the grewsome [sic] line of faces showing above the white sheets to see if the loved one sought might not be there. From this place were carried many of the unidentified dead to be buried in now almost unknown graves.” 2]
Owen Monahan was the lighthouse keep. The night of September 8th he, and several men who were with him, were looking for the passing of the Lady Elgin. “They watched its lights until it was well near Waukegan, and then all at once they seemed to know, half by intuition, that something was wrong. The vessel soon drifted back helplessly across the line of their vision as rapidly, perhaps more rapidly than but a span of time before it had passed proudly northward. Monahan left the light in charge of an attendant, and with some of his fellow-watchers started south, following the still burning lights of the steamer. They were among the hardest workers at the scenes of rescue where rescue was possible.” 3]
“When the stricken Lady Elgin had drifted to a point nearly opposite Winnetka it began to go to pieces. The people flocked near and far to rescue. Two students Spencer and Combs, from the Garrett Biblical Institute at Northwester University, “with ropes around their waists, rushed into the waves and rescued many persons. On one occasion, Spencer saw that he could not reach a struggling person whom he was seeking because of the shortness of the rope, he bade them cast him loose and after a hard fight succeeded in saving two people…” Due to his heroic efforts, he saved at least 17 lives that night, and at the cost of his own health. He would be pulled in with each survivor, and would immediately dive in and rescue another, and this effort made a lasting effect on him, as he was a semi-invalid for the rest of his life. “After the wreck men whom the newspapers of the day characterized as ‘devils and beasts’ were found rifling the bodies of the dead. Others broke open casks of liquor which the waves had thrown ashore and became a mad as the elements.” 4]
There are many other first hand accounts of brave rescues, and heroic measures to make it to shore, but I feel that these few tales gives the flavor of what happened that awful night 160 years ago.
The lake continued to let go of the passengers well into December, when two more bodies were discovered washed onto the shore near St. Joseph, Berrien Co., Michigan. 5] We can only hope that they were given proper burial, as identification would have been almost impossible due to the “very advanced stage of decomposition.” Two cemeteries were noted in those early newspapers as having graves for the unidentified, Rosehill Cemetery, and the small cemetery at Highwood, Illinois.
The cemetery at Highwood, Lake, Illinois was soon “Forgotten and neglected in a desolate section of a half woodland, half meadowland pasturage, in a remote corner of the little Village of Highwood, Ill., sleep some—no one seems to know just how many—of the unidentified dead who gave up their lives with the loss of the steamer Lady Elgin..” “Due east as the crow flies, within the half mile, stands a battered, crumbling lighthouse with its sightless eyes directed seaward. Once, years in the past, they glinted with fire, and one beam, shot out on an inky night, was the last land light which most of the luckless ones on the Lady Elgin ever saw in life.” 6] Adam Selzer wrote a blog post about the cemetery in his blog: “Adam Selzer’s Mysterious Chicago Tours, September 3, 2015.” He states that this lost cemetery had been located by the Highwood Historical Society, and documented in their newsletter. Unfortunately the link to this newsletter is long dead. This cemetery can also be found on Find A Grave, Cemetery ID: 2676413.
Rosehill Cemetery became another resting spot for the unrecognized dead. “From the elevated slope at Rose Hill, where those unknown dead are buried, could be seen out beyond the trees that fringe the lake shore, the calm blue waters, in the very spot where the Lady Elgin and her victims went down in the seething angry waves.” The Chicago Tribune wrote in 1861: “Twenty-seven bodies, after long and hopelessly awaiting recognition and recovery by friends, were here tenderly buried side by side, in a tract set apart by the Directors of Rose Hill.” “Here they rest. Not undistinguished, for among the Cemetery records are treasured the shreds of information and description, the which even now, or years hence, may furnish a clue to inquiring friends, and by this record the resting place of any one of the bodies may be pointed out. There is little hope now that of those poor remains, which were washed up stark and ghastly from the too late relenting waves, any will ever be removed to be gathered to kindred dust. The neatly turfed lot, with its gravelled walks and and [sic] blooming flowers, tells of the care and attentions befitting the grave of the stranger, and in due time a proper memorial will be raised to mark the spot where repose these unknown dead, and to commemorate the calamity which one year ago to-day fell like a pall upon so many hearts and homes.” 7] Sadly, a search of Rosehill’s website makes no mention of these 27 unknown victims.
The Lady Elgin is also remembered in Milwaukee, where a Wisconsin Historical Marker, number 327, named: Sinking of the Lady Elgin was erected by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1996. The marker is mounted on the wall of 102 North Water Street, at the corner of Water and East Erie Street.
Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee has many memorials dedicated to family members lost on the Lady Elgin. Monuments, called cenotaphs, have the inscription included: “lost on the Lady Elgin” as a memorial for these people, as they are not actually buried in the cemetery. Many memorials can be found in Blocks 5, 6, and 7, a majority in block 6.
Following the disaster, media coverage slowed, yet the Lady Elgin was not forgotten. In March 1861 a song titled “Lost on the Lady Elgin” was written by Henry Clay Work, which became a national best-seller, and it can still be heard today on YouTube. Although survivors gathered annually near the date of the tragedy, they did not formally create a society until September 7, 1889, when the Lady Elgin Survivors Society was formally formed. Reunions of the survivors were held until 1907. One notable reunion was held in September 1891. Survivors participated in an excursion from Milwaukee to Winnetka, to walk the beach where many had been saved, and many of the lost had been recovered. On the beach north of Winnetka was found a thirty-foot piece of the wreck, half buried in the sand. Each of the survivors received a piece of the hull as a souvenir.
The tragedy that was the loss of the Lady Elgin is a much deeper story than I have written here. There is an important political component to the reason that so many from Milwaukee had travelled to Chicago that day. There is also the sad story of the finding of the sunken Lady Elgin, and the court battle over who owned the rights to the wreck sitting at the bottom of the lake. Others have written about this important side of the tragedy. My goal was to reflect on the Cook family, and the toll it took on all of them to lose a mother and a sister, and for Jacob to have survived, badly bruised, and grieving for the fact that he could not save his mother and sister. So much was taken from them that tragic day, yet the children of Jane McGarvy Cook rose above it, and all of them became well respected, well liked citizens. On that day in 1860, Jane was 49 years old, she had been married to William Cook for 28 years. She was the mother of 12 children, including two sets of twins. Her oldest child was 27, her youngest was just eight years old.
In 1910 Col. Watrous wrote for The Chilton Times: “No pen can describe the grief, shock and distress in the Cook household when the awful news reached it. The very day that the happy flock in the Stockbridge home was expecting the return of the absent ones the terrible news came instead. The father was utterly crushed. The great heart, strong intellect, the master mind, the loving, successful planner and leader, the pilot of the interesting family was no more; her going meant final disaster to the father, irreparable loss to nine [sic] surviving boys and girls.
There was no money to meet payments on the six farms and they were lost. But little was saved on the homestead. The wreck of the Lady Elgin seems to have wrecked the whole family, yet only for a short time did it seem so.”8]
Lady Elgin books in my library:
~ Charles M. Scanlan, The Lady Elgin Disaster, September 8, 1860, (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Charles M. Scanlan, 1928).
~ Pete Caesar, The Lady Elgin is Down, revised 1999 ed. (Green Bay, Wisconsin: Great Lakes Marine Research, 1981).
~ Valerie Van Heest, Lost on the Lady Elgin, first ed. (United States of America: In-Depth Editions, 2010).
Notes:
“Graves of Lady Elgin Dead Desecrated,” The Chicago Sunday Tribune, 26 May 1899, Sunday, p. 1, part 4; Editorial Sheet; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
“More Bodies Found,” The St. Joseph Traveler, 5 Dec 1860, Wednesday, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 Jul 2018).
“Graves of Lady Elgin Dead Desecrated,” The Chicago Sunday Tribune, 26 May 1899, Sunday, p. 1, part 4; Editorial Sheet; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018).
“The Unknown Dead,” The Chicago Tribune, 7 Sep 1861, Saturday, p. 4, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 Jul 2018).
“A Memorable Time ~ Old Day-Events Are Recalled ~ Lieut. Col. J. A. Watrous of Milwaukee Writes for The Times of the Coming of the Cook Family to Stockbridge,” (Chilton)The Chilton Times, 19 Mar 1910, Saturday, p. 1, col. 2.
It is that time of year when the Cook family starts to remember a September night, now 160 years ago, the night that the family lost the matriarch of the family, a woman with a “great heart, strong intellect, the master mind, the loving, successful planner and leader, the pilot”1] of the family, Jane McGarvy Cook.
I have written twice before about that fateful night, [A Face to a Name, and September 6, 1860] but have yet to complete the story, so here it is, to the best of my knowledge, and with what I have discovered as of today, 5 Sep 2020.
The route home.
“The Cook money in Canada was due in August, 1860. It was planned that Mrs. [Jane McGarvy] Cook, one of the boys and a girl, should go to their old home on a visit and bring the wealth back to the new home, where it would soon be needed in meeting payments on the farms.” The farms were purchased in 1856, as “Mr. Cook bought one large farm for immediate use, making a considerable payment, and bargained for six others, a farm for each of the boys.. A payment was made on each of the additional farms.” And so plans were made that Jane would travel home to Canada where she “received it [the money] in gold–$12,000. It was a cumbersome package, but they preferred it that way to taking drafts.” 2] Family history tells us that she had sewn the coins into the hem of her dress in preparation for the journey home.
And so it was that Jacob Harrison Cook, age 19, the third son, and sixth born child to William Palmer and Jane McGarvy Cook, accompanied his mother back to their old home in Canada. Most likely they took the train to Milwaukee, and from there went by boat up around Michigan and on to Canada. It was a much anticipated visit, as Jane was looking forward to spending time with her 76-year-old mother, Elizabeth Eaken McGarvy, and her sister, Elizabeth McGarvy Watson. She would also be able to see her eldest son, William Charles, who had been working for his Uncle Jacob since the springtime, and prepare for her eldest Elizabeth Ann, to return to Wisconsin with them.
Relying on Jacob’s memory of the return trip 32 years after the event, 3] the family “took passage on a propeller from Collingwood, Ontario, Canada to Milwaukee. We arrived near Milwaukee in the night, and it was so cloudy and dark that the captain thought it would not be safe to attempt to land so we continued to Chicago, where we transferred to the first boat leaving for Milwaukee.” That boat was the steamer, the Lady Elgin, which began its return trip to Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin around 11:00 p.m.
Leaving Chicago, the steamer headed north and had reached Winnetka, approximately 30 miles north of Chicago, traveling about nine miles from shore, when shortly after 1:00 a.m. it was hit by the schooner Augusta with such a great force that Jacob’s first thought was that the boat must have been struck by lightening. The Augusta had rammed bow first into the Lady Elgin’s side, sheering off one of her two 30-foot paddle wheels, then punched through the hull. Getting no signal of distress from the Lady Elgin, the Captain of the Augusta sailed on for Chicago. The crew of the Lady Elgin rushed to stuff mattresses into the hole, to throw all heavy objects overboard including a grand piano, and even to drive the 200 head of cattle kept below deck out into the churning waters, yet the water kept rushing in. “The creaking and grating of broken timbers, the solemn sound of the bell calling for help, the sound of distress from the whistle, which continued as long as there was enough steam to make a noise; all added to the horror of the situation.” 4]
A call was made for life preservers, both Jane and Elizabeth Ann were lucky to each receive one of these wooden preservers. Above all the noise and confusion Captain Wilson asked that all women come up to the hurricane deck. “The deck was soon crowded. A few moments later a monster wave struck the boat, breaking the iron rods that sustained one of the heavy smoke stacks. A flash of lightning followed, lighting the scene for an instant, and we saw the smoke stack fall across the deck, crushing, and burying several women beneath it.” Jacob recalls the last time that he saw his mother and sister, they were “sitting on the edge of the hurricane deck, strapped into their wooden preservers and waiting for the end, mother said that probably the boat was so near shore that it might not sink below the surface. Those were the last words I ever heard her speak for at that instant the boat went down,” 5] taking Jacob with it.
Again, in Jacob’s voice 32 years after the accident. “When I came up my hands touched something, which proved to be a piece of plank about eighteen inches wides by six feet in length. It was about 2 o’clock in the night when the boat went down and about 5 the next afternoon I drifted in near enough to the shore to reach the end of a pole held out to me by a man suspended by a rope in the hands of several others from the top of that high clay bank south of Racine.” 6]
A simplified view of where the Lady Elgin collided with the Augusta, and where Jacob came to shore
Captain Jack Wilson had not kept a list of the passengers he had aboard the steamer that ill-fated night, but it is estimated that there were over 400 people aboard when it went down in the stormy, choppy waters of Lake Michigan. On September 9th it was being reported that an estimated 287 people had been lost, 7] “sunk in the lake about twelve miles off Winetka, sixteen miles north of this city [Chicago].” “When our reporters reached Winetka, at 10 A. M., the surf was rolling in heavily, and breaking in thunder along the beach, the gale having risen to a fearful fury from the north east, and thus nearly on shore. The shore there is an uneven bluff ranging from thirty to sixty feet in height, with a narrow strip of beach at its base.”
“The whole beach for 8 miles we found strewed with fragments of the light upper portions of the ill-fated steamer, and out to sea where the waves were rolling more heavily then is usually seen even in our September gales, the surface of the angry waters for miles in extent, as far as the eye could reach sea-ward was dotted with fragments of the wreck, and rafts and spars, with what were clearly made out to be human beings clinging to them.8]
“The shore was strewn with fragments of the wreck. Captain Wilson during the interval offered, caused all available portions of the upper works of the steamer to be cut away, and thus raft-material might be abundant when the steamer should go down. Bur for the high seas running, and as it was could there have been some means of rescue outside the hue of surf, the wisdom of Captain Wilson’s order would doubtless have saved his own brave life and those of many others now lost.” 9] “Had the accident occurred in a smooth sea, hundreds must have been saved who floated securely on rafts until they were carried into the breakers.”
“When the intelligence of the loss of the steamer…reached Milwaukee, like wildfire spread the news through the city. The telegraph and newspaper offices were thronged all day..the telegraph lines given up exclusively to dispatches concerning the disaster. 10]
How did the Cooks, waiting at home for the arrival of Jane, Elizabeth Ann and Jacob, hear of the news? I would assume (maybe wrongly) that the family was not aware that there had been a change in plans, and that they had not landed as expected in Milwaukee that Friday night. Did Jacob wire the news after he was finally rescued around 5:00 p.m. Saturday night? Or was the family already in Milwaukee, having ridden down on the train to meet them? We may never know.
The local newspaper, The Chilton Times, in 1860 was published each Saturday morning, and the news must have reached John P. Hume too late for publication in the September 8th edition. The following week, Mr. Hume did include the news, but by September 15th he deemed it second page news, and took his information from the Milwaukee News. On the third page, way down the column, under “Local Items,” he finally acknowledges that “…Among the victims who met with a watery grave were two from this county—Mrs. Cook and daughter of Stockbridge. Mrs. Cook with her son and daughter were on their way home from Canada at the time of the accident. The son after a hard struggle was saved but the mother and daughter perished.” 11] Am I judging this man too harshly when I say that I feel his delivery was a bit cold, and very uncaring?
The news did reach the Cook farm, and Watson accompanied his father to Milwaukee where they met Jacob, and the three continued on to Chicago. They were at the court house on Tuesday, September 11, when the Coroner’s Jury came in to session to assist the “eager crowd of mourners watching and waiting in the hope that each fresh arrival from the shore would bring them their own dead.” 12]
Here I will share in Watson’s own words what happened when they reached Chicago. He wrote the following words to his twin sister, Loretta Elliott from Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on March 10, 1861.
“Oh, Dearest Sister I can’t begin to tell my feelings of our loved ones which we have lost God can only tell my feelings who ever nows the loss of a Mother but them that has the trile of loosing a kind and loving mother as ourn was, and a Dear sister as Lizabeth ann was Oh may God only save us from such deaths. Oh horrible horrible horrible was the site to se our Dear Sister when she was brought from the lake shore to the court house the in chicago the Bodies was laid a long in a row and our Dear sister a long with the rest there was some four or five woman laid together and Father Jacob and I looked at them and went a way satisfied that mother and sister wasent there, and the next day they was washed and put in coffins and we went and looked at them a gain and found our Dear sister Oh may heaven bless her soul and may good never permit me to se a nother such a site Oh it was awful to se the hundreds yes I may truly say thousands as there were rushing to get their lost wones I shall never forget the site before I left chicago you couldent harly tell wether they ware human beings or not I can never the them driven from my site Oh could I but tellyou my feelings I would but pen ink and paper can never describe them, and Oh worse hits where is our mother Oh Dear Dear it seems at times as though it was but a dream and she would soon be home but no she has gone to her long home and that is in heaven and if we do but manage rite we will wone day meet her there where triles and troubles are no more, Oh if we could hae only buried her body what consolation it would have bin to us all. it has half kill paw he says if he could only get her body and have it buried decent he could rest a little easier, Oh if I was only there to night I could tell you all an awful long story but no I aint there I will tell you what I can in this and wen you rite a gain tell me what you are the most anxious to now and I will do the best I can in sending it to you all if there be eny thing in particular that uncle aunt or Gramother whishes to hear tell me and I will send it to them if I can Oh how I would like to se you all I dream often of you all being here and Oh how sad I feel when I se it isent only a dream-” 13]
Elizabeth Ann had drifted to the shore of Chicago and her body was recovered on September 11, 1860. She was one of 15 bodies recovered that day, and she received the number 19. The Press Tribune reported that the “Coroner’s Jury came in to session yesterday at 9 P.M. at the Court House, to resume their mournful duties over the ill-fated victims of the late calamity. The scenes throughout the day were of the most sad and affecting nature…” As Watson described in his letter to his sister, they did not recognize her the first day, but upon returning the next morning after she had been “washed” and put in a coffin, they found her. The newspaper goes on to report: “No. 19. Heretofore unknown, was identified this morning, by Jacob Cook, of Fond du Lac, as Eliza Ann Cook, of Stockbridge, Wis., who had been on a visit to Canada, and at the time of the accident was returning home. Trunk delivered to Jacob Cook.” 14] Jacobs voice tells us: “…we found, but could identify by a scar only, the body of my sister…” 15]
Chicago, Illinois, 1856. See the Court House just below the Chicago River on Randolph and South Clark Street
Watson gives no indication in his letter to his sister how long they stayed in Chicago, watching, waiting, each day heading to the Court House and scanning the bodies recovered that day. The numbers kept climbing, and by October 29th they had reached 160. 16] But inquests were not only being held in Chicago, as bodies continued to be recovered from other shorelines, including Kenosha, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Racine, Racine, Wisconsin, and the shores of Michigan. “The long and continued prevalence of northern and northeasterly winds has, within a short time past, brought to various points of the shore between Waukegan and Michigan City, a distance of about a hundred miles increased numbers of bodies of victims… The bodies now being found are much changed by advanced decomposition, and only recognizable, if at all, by fragments of clothing, jewelry, &c., adhering to them.” 17]
Searching through the inquests, I kept hoping to find a sign of Jane, much as William, Jacob and Watson must have searched each day, hoping to find their beloved wife and mother. On October 29th the Chicago Tribune reported that “At Winnetka, on Friday, an inquest was held on the body of a female, unknown, which came ashore at that place. It was very much decomposed, and only fragments of clothing adhered to it. Height five feet. A plain gold ring, taken from the third finger of the left hand, is in possession of John L. Wilson, at Winnetka. The body was interred at Rosehill, on Saturday.” 18] Could this be Jane? If she truly went down with $12,000 worth of gold sewn into her skirt hem, it seems likely that it would have taken time for the skirt to deteriorate to the point that it would set her free. We will never know.
NOTES:
“Historical Sketch of the Cook Family,” The Marshfield News, 14 Apr 1910, Thursday, p. 1, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 12 Jan 2018).
“A Memorable Time ~ Old Day-Events Are Recalled ~ Lieut. Col. J. A. Watrous of Milwaukee Writes for The Times of the Coming of the Cook Family to Stockbridge,” (Chilton)The Chilton Times, 19 Mar 1910, Saturday, p. 1, col. 2.
“An Appleton Man’s Escape. His Mother and Sister Were Both Lost—The Former’s Body Never Recovered,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 4 Sep 1892.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
“The Lake Michigan Calamity,” The Daily Exchange, 11 Sep 1860, p.1, co. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018.)
“Awful Marine Calamity!,” The St. Joseph Traveler, 12 Sep 1860, Wednesday, p. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 22 Jul 2018).
Ibid.
Ibid.
“Local Items” The Chilton Times, 15 Sep 1860, Saturday, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Jul 2018).
“The Lady Elgin Calamity,” The Press Tribune, 13 Sep 1860, Thursday, p. 1, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018).
“The Lady Elgin Calamity,” The Press Tribune, 13 Sep 1860, Thursday, p. 1, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 4 Jul 2018).
“The Loss of the Lady Elgin.” Cit. Date: 22 Aug 2008.
“Inquests,” The Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct 1860, Monday, p. 1, col. 5, digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Jul 2018).
“The Lady Elgin Disaster–More Bodies Found,” The Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct 1860, Saturday, p. 1, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Jul 2018).
“Inquests,” The Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct 1860, Monday, p. 1, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Jul 2018).
