Newsletter - March, 2003

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S. S. G. S. NEWS

March, 2003
South Shore Genealogical Society PO Box 901 68 Bluenose Drive Lunenburg NS B0J 2C0 Phone : 1-902-634-4794 Ext. 26 ssgsoc@hotmail.com www.rootsweb.com/~nslssgs Winter Office Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 1:00 to 4:30 PM and Evenings by appointment Zellers - Club Z#: 840345301

President's Message
It's March 2003...do you know where your ancestors are? Well you had better find out soon because the word is out and the cousins are a comin'!! We are short weeks away from the celebrations set for the 250th Anniversary of the founding of Lunenburg. The Society is gearing up for the onslaught of researchers and those curious to discover more about their family roots. The Town of Lunenburg has a schedule of their planned events available from Recreation Director, Robin Scott (634-4006 or e-mail: lunenburg.recreation@ns.sympatico.ca ) The Town has a special weekend planned for June 7 and 8th starting with a re-enactment of the landing of the settlers at Rous's Brook at 11am followed by a procession to the bandstand and the Community Centre grounds where a community picnic and pig roast will take place at 12:30pm. There will be an historical regiment encampment in the field at the Community Centre grounds. In the evening a concert by the Elastic Millennium Choir will be held in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. On Sunday June 8th an Ecumenical Church service will be held on the waterfront beginning at 10:30am.
The Grand Family Reunion is set for July 10 -13 under the direction of Chris Young and his committee. Individuals wishing to register or seeking information about this event should contact recently appointed site manager, Pat Smith at 902-634-7229 or PO Box 1484, Lunenburg NS BOJ 2CO. The reunion has its own website at: http://www.seawhy.com/L250.html The Foreign Protestants Founding Families Monument will be unveiled on Blockhouse Hill at 2pm on July 12th. Donations for this worthy project continue to be received. Their website is http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monument/. Please note that the Society is not directly involved in either of these events. If you have questions or concerns contact the organizers directly at the addresses noted.
The Society will have a table at the Academy during the Grand Family Reunion to share genealogical tips with visitors and offer our publications for sale. We will have extended hours at the Society office on the third floor of the Fisheries Museum during the reunion. Members from 'away' who plan to be in town that weekend might consider offering their time for an hour or so assisting researchers in the office. We plan to have an album of ancestors on display at the Society's table. Please consider loaning old family photos for scanning to add to this display. This is the time to dig out your old scrapbooks, notebooks, recipes and family heirlooms to share with visitors to the Academy event and the Society office. Have fun at the 250th anniversary celebrations. Get out there and shake your family tree and see what falls out of its branches!

Oldest Spanish War Vet in U.S.
William B. Feindel, 105, Wheelwright, Carriage Smith
William B. Feindel, Sr., age 105, a former resident of Wakefield, passed away March 1 in Symmes Hospital, Arlington. Born in Midville Branch, N.S. on Aug. 15, 1871, he was a son of J. Albert and Josephine W. (MacKay) Feindel.
He came to Wakefield in 1884 and resided there until 1960, when he moved to Lexington.
A wheelwright and carriage-smith by trade, he, in partnership with the late Stephen J. Wannamaker, conducted a wagon building and blacksmith shop in Wakefield Junction.
After his partner's death, Mr. Feindel carried on the business alone until his retirement in 1951 after 61 years in the business.
Mr. Feindel was the sole surviving member of Camp 39, United Spanish War Veterans; the Veteran's organization of old "Company A" Sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the war with Spain in 1898. He and his brother, the late Henry A. Feindel, saw active service in the Puerto Rican campaign. They were both charter members of Wakefield Post 2106, Veterans' of Foreign Wars.
In May, 1976 VFW Post 2106 honored Mr. Feindel during a special program, after learning that the post had the honor of having him as the oldest living veteran in the United States.
He was the husband of Myrtie (Cooper) Feindel.
Mr. Feindel is survived by a son, William B. Feindel, Jr. of Atkinson, N.H.; a daughter, Caroline T. Feindel, with whom he made his home in Lexington; two sisters, Mrs. Grant W. (Dorothy) Brown of Wakefield and Mrs. Duncan (Laura) MacLennon of Wilton, N. H.; two grandchildren, William B. Feindel III of north Reading and James H. Feindel of Nashua, N. H.; and two great grand children, William B. Feindel IV and Kimberley J. Feindel both of North Reading.
Funeral services were held Thursday at 11 a.m. in Morrison Funeral Home, 13 Yale Ave., Wakefield with the Rev. Francis E. Potter of Lexington officiating.
Interment was in Lakeside Cemetery, Wakefield.
Taken from an unknown newspaper dated 1977

Horrible Accident at Mahone
Collision of Freight and Passenger Trains Kills Three Men, Wrecks the Mahone Freight Shed and Strews Lumber in All Directions .
The Greatest Disaster That Ever Happened on the H. & S.W. Railway - Terrible Sufferings of the Injured Men - Coroners Jury at Mahone Blame Railway, but They Don't Know It All.

On Saturday morning Mahone Junction was the scene of the most horrible railway accident that ever happened on the Central railway or the Halifax and South Western.
A head-on collision by a runaway freight and a passenger train resulted in the death of three men, the destruction of the freight building, the ruination of two locomotives, a box car and several flat cars, besides causing a scene of wreckage which ALMOST BEGGARS DESCRIPTION.
The scene in the station building on the arrival of the BULLETIN representative resembled a shambles. Two men lying dead, terribly maimed, one man in a dying condition, and all around human blood and torn flesh. The doctors and their assistants worked heroically, and did all possible to alleviate suffering and ease the last moments of the dying.
Superintendent Sullivan, cool and calm amidst THE SCENE OF HORROR, directed affairs intelligently and did all that was possible to facilitate the work of the physicians. In the meantime Mechanical Superintendent McLeod was using his best endeavors to produce order out of the chaos existing outside.
Soon after the accident, crowds began to congregate to view the catastrophe, and Sunday the scene was the objective point of many from Mahone and neighboring towns.

THE STORY OF THE DISASTER
The cause of the collision was as follows: A special freight train from Bridgewater for Lunenburg with 14 cars of lumber, in charge of Conductor Driscoll and Driver Barteaux of Engine No. 1, lost control of the air-brakes on the grade between blockhouse and Mahone Junction, and rushed through the switch which had been left open for the train to Halifax, which was shortly due, and crashed into the engine of the Lunenburg-Middleton train then standing at the station. Conductor Driscoll had left his train on the top of the grade and went forward to close the switch and direct his train on the Lunenburg track, but before he got to the switch the train rushed past him and the collision occurred.
Driver Barteaux and Fireman Lynch JUMPED AND WERE SAVED.
Driver William Phalen and Fireman Enos Crooks who were on the engine at the station were hurled some distance, Crooks landing under the platform. He was so terribly injured that he died in about two hours. Phalen had his left leg torn off just about the knee, and the right leg sustained a compound fracture. Willis W. Lowe, a section foreman, was standing in front of the freight shed and was crushed to death by flying lumber and freight cars. Two other men who were standing near warned Crooks to fly for his life but he did not heed. The others jumped and avoided injury.
Why Phalen and Crooks did not jump when the runaway freight approached cannot be understood. There was sufficient warning as the driver of the freight train whistled the alarm until he jumped, and the distance from the switch to where No. 3 was standing would give ample time for the men to jump to safety.
The engines telescoped and were wrecked. The passengers in the Lunenburg train were not aware that an accident had happened, as the passenger coaches were detached from the engine.
In a short time a relief train in charge of Superintendent Sullivan, and having on board T. R. McLeod, mechanical superintendent, and Doctors Stewart and Kelley, arrived on the scene, and, together with the assistance of Doctors Cochrane and Hamilton, of Mahone, all was done for the injured men that could be.
Driver Phalen was conveyed to the hospital by train, in charge of Doctors Stewart and Cochrane and accompanied by Mrs. Phalen and Rev. C. R. Freeman, but the poor fellow SUCCUMBED AND DIED at about 8:30 p.m. The remains were brought to Bridgewater on Monday Morning.
The Halifax trains used the siding in getting past the wreckage, and traffic was delayed for a very short time.
The dead are:
WILLIS W. LOWE, section foreman, who resided at Fauxburg, near Mahone, leaves a wife and nine children.
ENOS CROOKS, fireman, resided at Lunenburg, leaves a wife and two children.
WILLIAM PHALEN, engine driver, resided at Bridgewater, leaves a wife and one child.
There seems to be no doubt that the accident was caused by the failure of the air brakes to work. The train was a heavy one, but no heavier than many others that have pulled over the same road by the same engine. The Engine had difficulty in hauling the train, but it seems that if the brakes had worked properly the accident would have been avoided.
CORONER'S INQUEST ON LOWE.
An inquest was commenced on Saturday afternoon and continued on Sunday afternoon by Coroner Henry Schnare at Mahone. The jury was composed of:
N. Hebb, foreman,
James Reeves,
G. A. Westhaver,
Charles Andrews,
G. A. Lohnes,
Norman Millett,
Orrin Jodrey,
W. A. Begin,
James Schnare,
Francis Holloway,
Albert Daure,
J. Veinot.
The inquest was held on the death of Willis Lowe. At six o'clock the jury retired, and after a time brought in the following verdict:
"That Willis Lowe, while standing on the platform of the railway station and in front of the freight shed was struck by lumber and debris thrown upon him from the cars of a special train, extra No. 5, which collided with regular No. 3, standing at the depot, and that the said Willis Lowe then and there met death from injuries thereby received; and moreover, the jurors aforesaid, upon the oath aforesaid, do say that the train extra No. 5 was overloaded and insufficiently manned, and therefore caused the collision, the trainmen not being able to control said train while approaching Mahone Junction."
The lawyers present were V.J. Paton for the railway; D.F. Matheson for the Attorney General; McLean & Freeman for the heirs of Lowe, and R.C.S. Kaulbach for the heirs of Crooks. By this legal array it can be seen that there will be suits for damages if there is a remote possibility of winning.
CORONER'S INQUEST ON PHALEN.
On Monday Afternoon and evening Coroner March held an inquest into the death of Willard M. Phalen at Bridgewater. The jury were: George W. Goddard, foreman, Andrew W. Richardson William A. Hall, Stephen Messer, William Wilson, James E. Munroe, Chas. W. Clattenburg, Arthur A. Munroe, Robt. J. Reeves, J. Annis Wile, Robert R. Feindel, William P. Keenan.
The verdict was:
"That Willard M. Phalen, deceased, a driver on train No. 3 on the Halifax & S. W. Railway, died at the Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, on the night of the ninth of February, 1907, of shock induced by injuries received in a collision between engine extra No. 5, with Lumber train, and engine No. 1 of train 3, at Mahone Bay station, on the H. & S. W. Railway, on the ninth day of February, at about seven thirty-five a.m., and it is the opinion of the said jurors that the death of the said Willard M. Phalen was caused by said collision under circumstances which were under the control of the Halifax & S. W. Railway."

NOTES
The master mechanic states that engine No. 5 which hauled the special, could have handled 60 loaded cars on any grade if the air-brakes worked properly. The engines destroyed by the collision are numbers 1 and 5.
It is a question of the inquest on Willard M. Phalen was legal. Chap. 36, section 11 of the Revised Statutes states that if an inquest has been held into the death of one person, when several have been killed, it shall be held as sufficient for all.
Why Phalen and Crooks did not jump from their engine, when they could have seen the danger, is difficult to discover.
There seems to be a general opinion abroad that the coroner's jury at Mahone assumed knowledge they could not possibly possess when they stated in their verdict "on oath" the "No. 5 train was overloaded and insufficiently manned, and therefore caused the collision." If they had said "in their opinion" such was the case, it would have been nearer the mark and certainly sounded better.
Taken from the Bridgewater Bulletin, February 12, 1907 .

Bluenose Great Sailor
"She's Gone Crazy," Says Captain Angus Walters -Wants New Log.

Smashing all previous records for the distance and adding another bright gem to her crown as queen of the Atlantic fishing vessels, the champion Bluenose, Captain Angus Walters, completed the voyage out of Lunenburg to Halifax from dock to dock, in three hours and twenty-five minutes on Tuesday. The Bluenose completed the run from Eastern Point to the inner automatic at Halifax, a distance of 38 miles, in exactly two hours. No light sails were carried and under the four lowers the Bluenose bowled along on her record trip urged on by a stiff southwesterly breeze which her doughty skipper described as "an ordinary wind."
"She's gone crazy," declared Captain Walters of international schooner racing fame upon his arrival. "No ordinary vessel could do it. The Bluenose has made many fast trips but on the last she actually went crazy and that's all I can say for it. From now on I will refuse to race the Bluenose against any other vessel unless we take the mainsail off of her. Otherwise there would be no interest in it for me. If we race a United States craft we will probably tow an anchor over the side as well."
"The only thing I am interested in now," Captain Walters continued, "is whether we can secure a new kind of log. The old one will not register the speed fast enough and we would like to get one that will. Despite the fact that sailing vessels as a rule get slower with age the Bluenose seems to be improving like a rare liquor. She is now the fastest sailing vessel afloat," he added, declaring that the Bluenose can outsail any craft under sail on ocean passages. "As to the recent trans-Atlantic race to Spain, from which the Bluenose was barred, well we could have won that at a jog," he stated.
Taken from the Bridgewater Bulletin, March 19, 1929.

Acquisitions at SSGS
-The Nellie J. Banks, by Geoff Robinson, by Mary Saul
-St. Andrews Presbyterian Church Year Book, 1984, by Susan Hynick
-Falkenham genealogy, disc, by Darlene Vaughn
-Croft Genealogy by Donald Tower, by Mrs. Ruth Oxner
-Ned Harris' Letters from Mahone Bay 1884-1889, by Robert Tuck, by Deanna Falkenham
-The Kempton/Kimpton Families of North America, by Mrs. Eleanor Saunders
-Hans Jacob Mosher 1711-1779, by Frank Wagner
-Descendants of George Philip Himmelman 1734-1810, by Frank Wagner
-Assorted Wills of Wagner Family Members, by Frank Wagner
-Rafuse Genealogy, by Audrie (Rafuse) Mahon
-Dauphinee Descendants, by Bob Dauphinee
-Monuments of New Ross, CD Purchased from New Ross Historical Society
-School Registers, by Ernestine Wagner
-School Register - Hemford, by Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Silver

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