Hello again, let me start by reiterating that I come from the U.S. and thus my knowledge about Canada's towns and various locations is lacking. This was one of many reasons I was thrilled to join Dr. Mike Dove on a trip with his Undergraduate class, some Alumni, and some of my Public History classmates. One location which stood out to me was the Old St. Thomas Church. While we were in the church we learned about the church’s history, but one thing of note was that the curator had a model of the church which came in multiple pieces which he could use to show off how the church expanded over time. It is a minor detail, but one which I found interesting as it gave an easily understood visual representation and demonstration of the building and its changes, especially as we were inside of the building and could not see some of the elements at that moment. It also made demonstrating points such as the possible placement locations of the church steeple simple to both show and understand. It left me thinking about other applications of easily workable models. Outside of the church, we visited the cemetery which had several stories to some of the graves that were noted upon. Such graves consisted of Daniel Rapelje’s son, who was the first to be buried on the site in 1819, and Judge Hugh Richardson who convicted Louis Riel. It was fascinating to learn that they were buried and amazing to see it in person, but there were a couple graves of interest which held rumor and superstition. One of these was the Chisholm family who had supposedly been cursed by an Irish maid they had treated poorly. According to the rumor, the maid laid a curse upon the family and all seven died within 7 years of each other. The other was Maria Ermatinger’s grave. She was Reverend Maurice Baldwin’s wife and she died in childbirth alongside their newborn. Her tombstone was made of sandstone similarly to most gravestones, but the location the sandstone was acquired from was rich in iron which, over time resulted in the tombstone turning black. This brought about rumors that Maria was a witch, which then brought about various superstitions only furthering the rumors. It left me with split opinions about rumor and the attention brought about by it. On one hand, it helps to generate attention and curiosity, whereas on the other, it is misinformation, and in this case it is calling her something she was not, while also possibly damaging to the church’s reputation as convicted witches were not to buried on church grounds. One other grave we learned about was of particular interest to me which was Octavius Wallace, who was a Canadian soldier in the American Civil War. I personally never learned that Canadians had fought in the American Civil War, so this was a major surprise to me. We learned that he was offered around 300$ as a sign-on bonus and was killed in the Battle of Williamsburg in Virginia. For him to be buried in the Province of Canada, he needed to be embalmed which his friends in his regiment pooled the money for, and he was transported to, then buried in the Old St. Thomas Church cemetery alongside an American flag and the Grand Army of the Republic star for his service in the Civil War. These made him the first embalmed person to be buried in the graveyard, and the only in the graveyard to have an American flag next to his tombstone. From this portion of the trip, not only did I learn about the usage of models, but also that historical and amazing stories or discoveries can be found left behind by those buried or by the structures in the graveyards.
- jessecsturgill