grave post - Erlme

I stopped off to wander through the Clifford Cemetery, but the mosquitos at dusk made it a short visit.

The name and current date on this stone as well as the bear and rooster stone made me pause. 

FISHER, Erlme Anne – passed away quietly at Listowel Memorial Hospital on Saturday April 19, 2014 at the age of 78. Erlme was a member of Atwood Presbyterian Church and the Women’s Missionary Society. 

The Alex Dixon Stewart listed on the stone was her brother who died in infancy. Today would have been her 79th birthday.

It would seem she also had a truly unique name. According to the only baby name website that recognized Erlme, there is one other person, in Michigan, who currently has this name.

grave post - Fridtjof Adalbert

The unusual name[s] is what attracted me to this gravestone. 

There is a Frebold House of some historical importance in Ancaster (where I saw this grave stone) but other than that there is no information on the family. I admit I didn't try too hard, though was surprised to see the name appear a few times on Ancestry.com (which I am not serious enough into to pay for a membership). But I did do some research of the names.

Fridtjof is a Scandinavian name meaning 'peace thief'. I wonder if his parents thought of that when naming him? Or maybe he was named after Fridtjof Nansen whose interesting life achievements you can read on a post from Badass of the Week.  He did win the Nobel Peace Prize (among other distinctions) which I find a tiny bit ironic.

 Adalbert is an an even lesser used name and is an archaic German variant of Albert and means 'noble bright'. An Adalbert was a mystic and the patron saint of Bohemia back in the 8thC. Except for a Prince or two of Prussia and Bavaria there aren't many listed Adalberts in wikipedia after the mid-12thC. Then suddenly there is a Bulgarian footballer born 1969. So maybe it isn't as unusual as originally thought.

grave post - Lodor

Job Loder (or as he spelled his name Lodor) came to Upper Canada after suffering some setbacks in his native "Jersies" (New Jersey) and finding himself hopelessly in debt. It is said that he left his State, not to escape his debtors, but to find a way to repay them. And by 1897 he did just that, even though by then his debts had been forgiven by "the law of time". Since he was born in mid 1775, he must have been a very young man when his business (whatever it was) failed. He returned to NJ to fulfill his moral obligation of his financial debt and then bought himself a grand carriage to return to Upper Canada and settled in Long Point on the shores of Lake Erie. He was a millwright and builder and had much greater success with the several mills he built or bought and expanded in the area, including the Union Grist Mill in Ancaster which is 75 miles NE of Long Point. Job is buried in the St John's Anglican Cemetery

Job's family life gets a little confusing. It is possible he was married twice, or maybe three times, each time to a sister of his previous wife. First recorded marriage was with Annie Lawrence from whom a son, William, was born. There is also mention of a marriage to a Anna Lawrence from whom a daughter, Mariah, was born. It seems Anna was also married previously to a John Loder.  Another marriage is recorded with Phebe Lawrence (Annie's and Anna's younger sister) and it looks like Phebe and Anna were both married to John before marrying Job Loder. Take from that what you will. Of course, ancestry.com could be wrong.
My head hurts from trying to figure this out. If you are interested, you can read a colourful account of Job Loder here. And you can read about other Taphophile Tragics stories here.

grave post - Anketell Henderson

Anketell Matthew Henderson died on June 23rd, 1876, at Toronto, in Canada, whither he had gone for rest and change of scene.

edited announcement from The Argus (Melbourne Australia) Friday 4 August 1876

News by cable brings intelligence of the death at Toronto of the Rev. A. M. Henderson, late minister of the Collins Street Congregational Church.

Born in Ireland, he emigrated to Australia where he was requested to help revive the Collins St church which, from various causes, had been greatly reduced in numbers, and stood much in need of a revival of its formerly possessed importance.

His style was not only earnest and forcible, but his extensive reading gave him an advantage in illustration of which he made excellent use. But he was a man of strong will, and had a somewhat despotic manner of asserting it, so that, with no doubt, the best intentions and most praiseworthy purposes, he sometimes made enemies whom a little tact might have converted into friends.

Still, it seems he had enough admirers to have a special monument erected at the St James Cemetery near the home of his nephew John Garvin of 342 Jarvis St (image) where he had been staying when he died.
About a year ago Mr Henderson's health began seriously to give way, and he was recommended to discontinue his duties for awhile. Arrangements were made for a tour to the old country by way of New Zealand, where he derived much benefit from the mineral baths. At Honolulu too, he rested awhile.
The newspaper account does not specify what his illness was, but did indicate that "from the nature of the affection from which he suffered it was hardly likely that any improvement would be permanent".

It seems the Rev Henderson also had some run ins with the press and this newspaper did not shy away from pointing out a few of his faults due to his impulsive and aggressive nature.

It is unknown whether he was travelling alone, but he left behind "a widow and five children, two of whom are married".










see who else has lived and died in foreign lands at Taphophile Tragics