Who was Oscar Pulver?
Why did his marker disappear?
by John B. Weichel
Click for a larger image.
Photo Courtesy of Patrick Folkes 1976
Who was Oscar Pulver?
Why did his marker disappear?
by John B. Weichel
Click for a larger image.
Photo Courtesy of Patrick Folkes 1976
In the old Southampton cemetery, there once was a tombstone that read "Farewell In Memory of Osker Pulver Drowned Oct. 17, 1871 Aged 24 years."
The stone also contained this verse, which was missing the last few words:
In the hush of the night
On the waste of the sea
Or alone with the breeze with chill
I have ever a presence
That whispers of thee
Andy my body ??????
Several basic questions were already formed when a search for the stone was begun several years ago. Who was Osker Pulver? Was he from Southampton? And how did he come to drown on Lake Huron?
At the cemetery, however, the mystery deepened. The tombstone was nowhere to be found. Had it slipped down the bank of the Saugeen River? It is known that other gravestones had tumbled over the high, eroding bank of the Saugeen. Or was it overlooked when the stones from the old cemetery were moved to safety?
There is no doubt the stone once existed. It was there in the mid-1970s for it was noted in a cemetery-wide survey, which is preserved at the Bruce County Museum & Archives.
Since then, equally strong proof of its existence has surfaced. A photograph of the stone has recently been received.
At a meeting of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee held in Tobermory last fall, Patrick Folkes, the marine historian, had a surprise for fo'c's'le. Not only did he have a picture of the Pulver tombstone, which he had taken in November of 1976, while it was still visible in the old cemetery, he also had some information concerning the drowning. His photograph of the stone, reproduced on the cover of this issue, shows that the cemetery enumerator had made several mistakes transcribing the stone. The inscription says Osker, not Asker, and the date of his death was Oct. 17, 1871, not 1876, as the recorder had thought. And the last line of the verse appears to be different than the surveyor believed:
In the hush of the night
on the waste of the sea
Or alone with the breeze with chill
I have ever a presence
that whispers of thee
and my body lies down ??????
Mr. Folkes, who published "Shipwrecks of the Saugeen" in 1970, provided the following transcription of a news story in the Toronto Globe, Monday Oct. 30, 1871. It is the only notice FO'C'S'LE has seen of Oscar Pulver's death:
"A man named Oscar Pulver, a resident of Southampton, fell off Hiram Parker's boat, halfway between the fishing islands and Southampton on Wednesday last and was drowned."
Who was Oscar Pulver? A search of local records turned up a few leads. In the 1871 Southampton census there is an entry for an Oscar Pulver. He is a 22-year-old farmer living at the home of Henry Granger, a 61-year-old farmer, and his wife Providence, 54. Besides half a dozen Granger children, there is also Catherine Pulver, age 24, in the same household. She could be his sister, since they are both shown as being single. In separate listings there are two other Pulver families living in Southampton, Elon, age 35, and his family, and William, age 31, and his family.
No Pulvers are shown in the previous census of 1861, or the census made in 1891. Records of Lake Huron shipwrecks do not show an incident in 1871 involving a Pulver.
Who was Hiram Parker? He is listed as a contractor, in both the 1861 and 1871 census of Southampton. Thirty-nine years of age at the time of the 1871 census, he was of English stock, born in Ontario. He and his wife Abigail had eight children.
Sometime in the 1870s, Hiram Parker moved to Howdenvale, a small harbour community on the Lake Huron shore, about halfway between Southampton and Tobermory. The Albemarle Township History credits Hiram and his wife with being Howdenvale's first settlers.
It is likely that Hiram was a fisherman at the time of Oscar Pulver drowned while on a passage between the Fishing Islands and Southampton.
Oscar Pulver's death is recorded in a ledger (with the rather ominous-sounding title "Deaths") at the Bruce County Museum & Archives. There, Oscar is shown as age 20 years, having drowned Nov. 12, 1871 on Lake Huron. He was a laborer and his birthplace and religion are both unknown. Dr. W. S. Scott, MD was coroner in the incident. The death was registered Nov. 15, 1871, the registrar being Chas. Forest, Southampton.
Intrigued by the Oscar Pulver story, singer and songwriter David Archibald composed the following lyrics, The Wind and the Chill based on the graveyard inscription, for presentation at one of his marine heritage performances at the Bruce County Museum & Archives:
In the hush of the night
On the waste of the sea
Or alone with the wind and the chill
I have a presence
That whispers to thee
And my body lies here still
All alone with the wind and the chill.
In the cold of the grave
By a wintry moon
There's a loneliness love can't fulfill
My body was taken
Taken too soon
But my soul will wander still
All alone with the wind and the chill
You can download and play "The Wind and the Chill" from the new hit CD "The Spirit of the Inland Sea" by David Archibald. If you would like to buy the entire CD, please contact David as follows:
Rogues Hollow Music
Box 147
Newburgh, Ontario
K0K-2SO
email: davarch@istar.ca
613-378-2545
(Note - Few have captured the romance of Southampton's maritime past with way David Archibald has. He is a popular performer at the Bruce County Museum, where his marine songs have included original pieces he wrote about Capt. John Monro; the Chantry Lighthouse whitewashers'; the practice of caulking leaky schooners with horse manure, and the Fishing Islands hermit with a broken heart - JBW)
(Please look for David's CD on "The Inland Sea" soon to be released and his wonderful CD Titanic - Mike Sterling)
Footnotes:
Anyone with a copy of Shipwrecks of the Saugeen realizes that this engaging little book is in the "hen's teeth" category. Long out of print, it is still well worth watching for in used book ships and at estate sales.
This is not to say that October 1871 was a quiet month on this part of Bruce Coast: Charles Lustrum, who had survived a shipwreck near Alpena, Michigan, was picked up just offshore, after drifting more than 100 miles in 56 hours; two families from Michigan -- 13 adults and children in all -- drifted across Lake Huron in a small boat, finally landing at Kincardine; the Southhampton schooner Cascaden was wrecked at Cape Hurd; and the Huron was said to be stranded at Southampton.
The nearest of the Fishing Islands is about 15 miles north of Southampton. This chain of more than 90 islands stretches north toward Stokes Bay, extending over 15 or 20 miles. In the mid 1880's, the Wiarton Echo noted that Hiram Parker had bought the schooner Caroline from M. McKenzie of Southampton, in which he intended to "do a general coastal trade along the shore" with himself in command. There is no evidence that he owned a schooner before the Caroline, and it would appear that he was fishing -- which would suggest that he was operating the smaller "Huron Boat" type -- when Oscar Pulver drowned in 1871. Also, the Albermarle History shows he sold the fishing equipment in 1884. Parker was reported in 1886 to be building a "magnificent residence on his farm near Big Pike Bay. It is not known if he is going to reside there or not."
Charles Forest was clerk of Southampton. Beginning, in 1859, he had operated the ferry that carried freight and passengers back and forth across the river at Southampton before the first bridge was built in 1865. An engaging question is raised by a news item in the Owen Sound Advertiser of April 7, 1881: "Mr. forest of Southampton attempted suicide on Tuesday by cutting his throat with a razor. He however did not accomplish his purpose." The only forest listed in the census of that year is clerk, Charles Forest. His name is sometimes spelled Forrest.
