The Muskoka Pioneer, Death and Burial

A splash of colour reflects in the Black River along the historic Cooper’s Falls Road on Sunday afternoon.   The colours have not reached their peak as of yet, but the evening frost will soon bring out the full beauty of the season. (Photos By Fred Schulz)

-THE MUSKOKA PIONEER, DEATH AND BURIAL - AND THE FOLKLORE IT HERALDED

"THE BURIAL OF A PIONEER"

     "THEY WASHED THEIR BODIES SO WHITE AND CLEAN, THOSE MEN OF THE PIONEER DAYS; THEIR BLOOD THEY LEFT TO SET IN THEIR VEINS, IT WAS THEIRS AND IT IS THERE TO STAY," WROTE FAMILY HISTORIAN, BERT SHEA, IN AUGUST 1962. THE POEM WOULD LATER BE PUBLISHED IN "THE COMING OF THE SHEAS, AND BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP."
      AN AMBITIOUS HISTORIAN, WITH KEEN INTEREST IN PIONEER TRADITIONS, COULD WRITE A FAIRLY THICK BOOK ON THE TRADITIONS, OF PIONEER FUNERALS, AND THE FOLKLORE, THAT GENERATED FROM MORTAL ILLNESSES, DEATHS, VIEWING, BURIALS AND WAKES, ON THE ONTARIO HOMESTEADS OF THE 1800'S. THERE ARE MANY FASCINATING STORIES DEALING WITH PIONEER FUNERALS, THAT GO BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF FUNERARY PROTOCOLS AND THE MORTAL PROCESS OF GRIEVING AND RECOVERY. BERT SHEA HANDLES THIS QUITE EFFECTIVELY, IN THIS SHORT FOLK STORY, PRESENTED AS A POEM.
     "THEY COMBED THEIR HAIR AND FOLDED THEIR HANDS, THEIR EYES THEY CLOSED WITH CARE; AND A CLEAN PRESSED VEST THEY GIRDED ON, AND COMBED OVER THEIR WHISKERS THERE. IN THE CASKET MADE FROM CLEAN WHITE PINE, THE CHOICE FROM THE FOREST GROVE, WITH PINS OF OAK TO JOIN IN TIGHT, BY STROKES OF THE HAMMER DROVE.
     "SO THEY LAID HIM THERE, TO REST IN PEACE, WHILE THEY YEARS IN HURRY FLY; TILL THE DAY WHERE EARTH AND TIME SHALL CEASE; TO WAKE AT THE TRUMPET'S CRY. AND THERE HIS IS RESTING IN SILENCE LONG, HIS SLUMBER UNMARRED BY THE CLAY, THE STORMS PASS ON, THE SEASONS CHANGE, AND THE WILD FLOWERS SPRING WITH MAY. BUT STILL THERE IS A MURMUR AT EVENTIDE, AS THE BREEZES WHISPER LOW, AND MEMORY STEALS O'ER THE GRASSY SPOT, AS SOFTLY, AS THE FALL OF THE SNOW. THEY HAVE LAID HIM THERE WITH LOVING CARE, AND THEIR TEAR DROPS, DAMPENED THE SOD; AS THE GOOD MAN COMMENDED HIS BODY TO EARTH, BUT HIS SOUL, IS AT REST WITH HIS GOD."
     THANKS TO BERT SHEA, SOME OF THESE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS, OF PIONEER DEATHS AND FUNERALS HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, THAT PAINT A PORTRAIT OF THOSE EMOTIONAL EVENTS. FEW OTHER HISTORIANS FOUND THEM TO BE RELEVANT, UNLESS THEY WERE FUNERALS OF COMMUNITY LEADERS AND POLITICIANS. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS MUSKOKA HISTORIAN, PORTRAYED THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF A THREE YEAR OLD CHILD IN THE UFFORD SETTLEMENT, VERY EARLY IN ITS HAMLET HISTORY.
     IT IS CONTAINED IN THE SECTION CAPTIONED, "COMING OF THE MORLEYS."NEWS OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST SON TO PIONEER PARENTS IN THE VILLAGE, AND IN WATT (TOWNSHIP OF PRESENT MUSKOKA LAKES), WAS RECEIVED WITH JOY BY ALL INHABITANTS, AND NEEDLESS TO SAY, HE WAS THE CENTRE OF INTEREST. BUT JOY DOES NOT ALWAYS REIGN AND OFT TIMES GREAT SORROW FOLLOWS CLOSE AT HAND, AND THE LITTLE COMMUNITY WAS SMITTEN BY SHOCK AND SORROW, WHEN THE LITTLE THREE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER OF THE SUFFERNS, WHILE AT PLAY BY ACCIDENT, FELL INTO THE CAMPFIRE AND LATER DIED OF BURNS.
     "EVERY EXPRESSION OF TENDER SYMPATHY WAS EXTENDED TO THE SORROWING PARENTS. LITTLE THERE WAS THAT COULD BE DONE; LITTLE THEY, THE HUMBLE PIONEERS HAD TO DO WITH, BUT TENDER HANDS PREPARED THE LITTLE BODY FOR BURIAL. JOHN L. SHEA, WHO ALWAYS SEEMED TO FILL THE PLACE OF THE NEED, MADE FROM THE WHITE PINE BOARDS, CLEAN AND SMOOTH, AND FASTENED THEM TOGETHER WITH FINE OAK PINS TO FORM THE LITTLE CASKET. NO, DEAR READER, THERE WERE NO NAILS OR SAWN LUMBER IN HER NEAT LITTLE BOX LINED WITH THE BEST THEY HAD, AND HER HEAD LAID ON A PILLOW OF DOWN. SHE WAS GIVEN CHRISTIAN BURIAL TRUE; THERE WERE NO CLERGYMEN PRESENT, BUT THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY GATHERED ABOUT THE LITTLE GRAVE SURROUNDING THE PARENTS, AND ONE WHO THERE ALWAYS IS, TO FILL THE NEED, STOOD BY HER HEAD AND IN TREMBLING VOICE DECLARED THE WORDS OF THE MASTER FROM THE OLD BOOK. 'I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE,' AND THEN THEIR VOICE ROSE IN PRAYERFUL SONG; 'ABIDE WITH ME,' THEN THE PRAYER FOR COMFORT AND CONSIDERATION TO THE SORROWING AND ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH ONE AND ALL, AMEN'."
     THE AUTHOR WRITES, "HEADS THAT WERE BOWED AND EYES THAT WERE DIMMED, ROSE TO VIEW THE HILLS THAT SEEMED TO STAND IN SILENT REVERENCE, AND LASTING WITNESS TO SORROWING COMMUNITY, AS THEY TURNED FROM THE GRAVESIDE. LITTLE GROUPS GATHERED TO TALK QUIETLY, SOME HELD THE HANDS OF THE PARENTS AND LED THEM GENTLY AWAY FROM THE GRAVE, THOUGH THE SUN SHONE BRIGHTLY, A DARK CLOUD HUNG HEAVILY OVER THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE COMMUNITY. THAT WAS NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN, EVEN IN OLD AGE, AS JOHN L.SHEA RELATED TO THE WRITER AS MUCH OF THE ACCOUNT AS WE KNOW. THERE WAS YET REMAINING IN HIS MANNER THE TRUE INDICATION OF THE SADNESS OF THE WHOLE AFFAIR; BUT THE WRITER REGRETS TO SAY HE FAILED TO ASK THE OLD VENERABLE THE EXACT PLACE OF HER GRAVE AND AT THIS DATE, THERE IS NONE ALIVE TO ASK; ALL WHO KNEW ARE NUMBERED BY MANY YEARS AMONG THE NOBLE DEAD, AND THE PLACE OF THE LITTLE GRAVE SHALL TO US REMAIN UNKNOWN."
     AS QUOTED EFORE IN THIS BLOG, FROM BERT'S SECOND BOOK, PIONEERS WOULD LATER BECOME VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE SOUND OF THE HORSE HOOVES, THE WHEELS OF THE HEARSE, AND THE DIM FLICKER OF LANTERN FLAMES, IN THE BLACK OF NIGHT, COMING ALONG THE COUNTRY LANE, TO DEAL WITH A HOMESTEAD DEATH. IT WAS NECESSARY, IN THE CASE OF CONTAGIOUS ILLNESSES, LIKE DYPHTHERIA, TO BURY THE BODIES LATE AT NIGHT, TO AVOID HAVING ANY CURIOUS CITIZENS ATTEND THE GRAVE-SITE. THE BODIES WERE STILL POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION, AND EVEN THE GRAVEDIGGERS AND UNDERTAKER WERE AT SERIOUS RISK OF CONTRACTING THE DISEASE. MANY FOLK STORIES DEVELOPED SURROUNDING THESE "MIDNIGHT" BURIALS, AND THE FEAR-INSPIRING SOUNDS OF THE WAGON WHEELS AND CLOMPING OF HOOVES, PASSING THEIR HOMESTEADS. IT CREATED GREAT ANTICIPATION ABOUT WHO HAD SUCCUMBED, OF THEIR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. THESE WERE THE SOUNDS AND EVENTS OF UNFOLDING HORROR, AND THERE WERE THOSE WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN THE HORSE-DRAWN HEARSE PASS THEM, ON THE ROAD, ONLY TO FIND OUT THEY HAD WITNESSED A PHANTOM UNDERTAKER.....WHEN THEY FOUND NO REPORTS OF ANY HOUSEHOLD REQUIRING THESE SERVICES. IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE, WHY THESE EVENTS AND SCENES, A SILHOUETTE IN THE MOONLIGHT OVER THE RURAL CLIME, WOULD INSPIRE GHOST STORIES AND CREATE FOLK TALES SHARED BETWEEN NEIGHBORS, AND THE GENERATIONS.
     "THAT FAIR YOUNG MAIDEN OF THE CLAN, THE SWEETEST OF THEM ALL, THAT DEATH'S COLD HAND TO LAY ON HER, SHE WOULD BE GONE BY FALL; HER PARENTS CRIED WITH BROKEN HEARTS TO THEIR GOD ON HIGH, TO SPARE THEIR DAUGHTER, THEIR YOUNGEST CHILD, ERE THEY IN SORROW SHOULD DIE. BUT HER GOD HAD OTHER PLANS FOR HER, AND HE FOR HER DID PREPARE; HE TOOK HER FROM THIS WORLD OF WOE, TO BE WITH HIM UP THERE; HE TOOK HER FROM THEIR LOVING ARMS, INTO HIS TENDER CARE. THERE IN THE SILENT NIGHT OF JUNE, IN THE CABIN BY CANDLE GLOW, HER BODY LAY COLD AND STILL, HER BROW AS FAIR AS THE SNOW; THE NEIGHBORS CAME FROM EVERYWHERE, AND BROUGHT FLOWERS KIND; TO SHARE THE GRIEF OF THEIR DEAR FRIENDS, IN THE EARLY SUMMER-TIME. BY JIM AND ALMIRA SHEA THEIR SORROW BORE; THEY KNEW THEIR DAUGHTER IN A BETTER LAND, ON THAT CELESTIAL SHORE, HER SUFFERING O'ER, SHE AWAITS ON THE GOLDEN STRAND." (THE POEM, "MARIA SHEA," WRITTEN IN RESPECT TO THE FIVE YEAR OLD'S DEATH AND BURIAL, IN A CEMETERY, IN THE HAMLET OF FALKENBURG.)
     THERE IS AN INTERESTING OVERVIEW, OF ANOTHER DEATH IN THE THREE MILE LAKE HAMLET, THAT I THOUGHT IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE IN TODAY'S BLOG ABOUT DEATH AND BURIAL. GEORGE HOLDICH, AN UPSTANDING GENTLEMAN, HOMESTEADING IN THE AREA, HAD GONE OUT FISHING ON THREE MILE LAKE, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOOD FOR HIS FAMILY. THEY WERE STRUGGLING PIONEERS, AND AS MANY HOMESTEAD EXPERIENCED IN THOSE EARLY YEARS, AGRICULTURAL SUCCESS WAS LIMITED TO NON-EXISTENT.....HARDLY ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN THE NEEDS OF A FAMILY. IT'S WHY THE LOGGING INDUSTRY PROVED TO BE A WINTER AND SPRING BOON TO THE HOMESTEAD ECONONMY. IN THIS CASE, HOWEVER, THE GOOD MR. HOLDICH UPSET HIS CANOE, AND WAS FOUND FLOATING NEARBY, ON A SEARCH CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM SHEA. IT SEEMED A GALE HAD MET THE LONE PADDLER, AND CAPSIZED HIS HANDMADE CANOE. AS IT WAS STILL COLD, IN APRIL, THE MAN HAD BEEN WEARING HEAVY CLOTHING, WHICH WEIGHED HIM DOWN WHEN HE ENTERED THE WATER. WHEN WILLIAM FOUND THE BODY, HE TOWED IT TO A BEACHFRONT, AND BECAUSE HE HAD TO SECURE LAWFUL ASSISTANCE, TO DEAL WITH THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH, HE HAD TO POUND A STAKE INTO THE GROUND, AND ATTACH A ROPE TO IT AND TO THE BODY, SO THAT IT WOULDN'T DRIFT AWAY. THE WATER WOULD TEMPORARILY PRESEVE THE BODY'S CONDITION. THE SAME THING WAS DONE TO CANADIAN LANDSCAPE ARTIST, TOM THOMSON, WHEN HIS BODY WAS FOUND IN ALGONQUIN PARK'S CANOE LAKE, IN JULY 1917.
     WHAT BOTHERED WILLIAM, AND FAMILY, WAS THAT MR. HOLDICH'S DROWNING DEATH, WHILE BAD ENOUGH, DESTINED HIS YOUNG FAMILY TO GREAT SUFFERING, AS HE WAS THEIR PROVIDER. BERT SHEA WRITES, "THIS TRAGEDY CAUSED A SHROUD OF GLOOM TO FALL OVER THE COMMUNITY, AS GEORGE HOLDICH WAS A MAN OF VERY FINE QUALITIES. BELOVED BY ALL, ESPECIALLY THE SHEAS. A MAN WHO WAS STRUGGLING AS THEY TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN, IN A LAND AND A DAY WHEE THERE WAS NONE TO SPARE; AND NO SOCIAL LEGISLATION IN FORCE. UNNUMBERED AND UNKNOWN ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WOODS WHO ARE LEFT IN THEIR COMFORTABLE HOME NEST, WHILE THEIR MOTHER GOES OUT TO SEEK FOOD FOR HERSELF AND HER FAMILY, BUT NEVER RETURNS, HAVING FALLEN PREY TO SOME EVIL BEAST OR BIRD OF THE DAY, OR NIGHT, WHEN HUMAN FAMILIES ARE LEFT WITHOUT THEIR SOURCE OF SUPPORT, THIS HAS BEEN THE LOT OF FAR TOO MANY OF OUR PIONEER FAMILIES, WHO LIVED AND FELT THE CHILLING WINDS OF LIFE IN BODY AND MIND, OR DIED OVERCOME IN THE STRUGGLE."
     ON THE UPBEAT SIDE, BERT SHEA CONCLUDES, "HOWEVER, THROUGH IT ALL, THE HOLDICH FAMILY CARRIED ON THROUGH THE HARD AND TRYING TIMES AND IN LATER DAYS HAVE BEEN NUMBERED AMONG THE SUCCESSFUL AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE OF THIS, OUR BELOVED AREA."
     DEATH AND BURIAL IN THE DAYS OF STRUGGLING HOMESTEADS, WERE PROFOUNDLY SPIRITFUL COMMUNITY EVENTS, AND TRADITIONS THAT RAN DEEP TO THE CORE OF NEIGHBORHOOD VALUES......SUCH THAT EVERYONE WAS IMPACTED, AND THRUST INTO MOURNING....BECAUSE IT WAS SEEN AS GOD'S WILL......THE RESULT, POSSIBLY, OF THEIR MORAL, RELIGIOUS FAILINGS. THESE WERE BLOWS TO THE WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY GENERALLY, AND GIVEN A PROFOUND LEVEL OF RESPECT; JUST AS MUCH AS IT INSPIRED FEAR ABOUT WHAT MIGHT LAY AHEAD FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE....OF WHICH THEY COUNTED THEMSELVES IN THAT NUMBER. BERT SHEA HAS CLEARLY SHOWN THIS IN HIS POEMS AND OVERVIEWS OF THESE FUNERARY EVENTS.
     MORE ON THE FOLK LORE OF MUSKOKA, IN COMING BLOGS.