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EDITOR'S DESK

Old soldiers never die

Judi McLeod

October 6, 2003

When a ceremony, complete with full dress American Civil War uniforms and muskets, gets underway in a remote cemetery in Novar, Ontario this weekend, a never-say-die U.S. civil war soldier will be there in spirit.

William Strong, who outlived four wives and eight children, lived a life more colourful and interesting than the hero of any Hollywood story.

First of all, this American soldier who came to be buried in Novar, near Huntsville, was a lifelong true hero on his own stage.

The leaves of Novar trees were not ablaze in crimson and gold six months ago, when Barb Patterson, a Huntsville-based genealogist, Dawn Henderson, a priest from the Anglican Church of Canada and Bruce Butgereit of the proud Sons of the Union Civil War Veterans in the United States got together to restore an abandoned cemetery and honour the grave of a long-ago soldier.

Through their work, and that of his great-grand-daughter Cindy Leep, the U.S. government will be sending to Canada, a Civil War headstone to be placed on the grave of the long-lost William Strong, on the Thanksgiving weekend of Oct. 18.

Steeped in mystery and romance, this heart-fetching tale takes its beginning from a daughter’s profound love for an aging mother.

Cindy Leep’s love for her mother knows no bounds. Proving that you can do most anything if you continue to try, Cindy takes after her spunky great-grandfather.

"In October of 2002, my mother, 85-year-old Phyllis Strong, of Saginaw, Michigan and I decided to put together five scrapbooks with pictures and anecdotal stories about our family history/genealogy," Leep told Canadafreepress.com.

What started off as a small project in Leep’s Grand Rapids home, turned into a major one lasting two and a half months. Planning the project as a Christmas gift for her siblings, Leep would do the entire picture scanning of some 600 photographs, while her mother, a journalist, would do the writing.

It didn’t take long for the story of William Strong to strike a haunting note. "My great-grandfather on my father’s side, all we knew of William is that he had served in the Civil War; that his first wife had died and he remarried by great-grandmother, Jane," Leep explained.

"We only knew of one other sister and one step brother. We had also heard that he died in Canada after he fell down a flight of stairs and that his sister Allie traveled to Canada for the funeral and got snowed in for two weeks."

Mind you, in the beginning, this was all hearsay that had to be painstakingly confirmed.

Before long, William’s great-granddaughter decided that contacting the U.S. National Archives where Civil War records on veterans are stored, would be in order.

Having downloaded the forms from the Internet, she mailed them to Washington, D.C.

The bright-eyed delight of her mother, when she received a package one month later, goaded her on.

"My Mom said `Isn’t this exciting, just like a mystery, only better because it’s our family!’"

A treasure trove of information was contained in the package posted by National Archives.

It was like coming across a cherished old family Bible that had been kept updated.

First of all was the military information, which indicated that plucky great-grandfather Strong had served in the 9th Michigan Infantry Company E and had fought in the Battle of Stone River and the capture of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and also the Battle at Chickamauga, Georgia.

Great grandpa Bill was a swashbuckler whose passion came leaping off the page more than a century later.

Born on April 17, 1838 in Ash, Monroe County, Michigan, there was a list of all eight of his children and their birth dates, and several wives Leep and her mother did not know about.

Proving the theory that true life is often stranger than fiction was an application for reimbursement to the U.S. pension office from the state Muskoka, the township of Chaffey, in the town of Novar, province of Ontario, Canada!

The application bore the signature of Minnie Maw of Novar, listed as William’s stepdaughter.

According to his death certificate, the rascally soldier, who had lived a life of adventure, was brought down by "chronic tubular nephritis" on Dec. 8, 1924.

For the wintry funeral, Ed Dewitt of Novar provided three teams of horses; the Rev. L. Sinclair sold the plot for five dollars and had the grave dug for six dollars. Total cost of medical care and burial was $184.25, for which Minnie of snowed-in fame wanted reimbursement.

To her delight, Leep found genealogist Barb Paterson of the Muskoka Parry Sound Group from Huntsville listed on a website. Better still, Patterson recognized all of the names listed in Leep’s email.

"The main questions for me, my mom and Barb were how did William ever end up in Canada and who was Minnie Maw."

Further investigations brought in the information that at an age when most are headed for the rocking chair, at 70 William was spiffing up to get married.

The soldier married Hortense E. Burdick on May 31, 1919 in Grand Rapids, Mich. William happened to be in Grand Rapids because an Old Soldiers Home was located there and he was a patient. His first wife Alvira Jackson had died in June of 1870 in Wayne Co. Mich. He had then remarried Jane Spencer in Wayne Co. in September of 1871, The couple moved to Midland, Mich. where William farmed. Jane died on Dec. 30, 1899. She was the mother of Leep’s grandfather Frank Strong who was a young buck of 18 at the time.

As it turned out, Leep’s hunch that Hortense Burdick Strong was the definite Canadian link proved right. Leep, who deduced that she was probably Minnie Maw’s mother from another marriage, also proved to be true.

Via emails with Barb Paterson, it was discovered that Hortense was buried next to William in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Novar, and that she had departed earth before her husband.

"Barb ultimately contacted Gerald Maw, whose grandmother was Minnie Maw, in Huntsville," said Leep. "My family had always heard that William had died falling down a flight of stairs. Gerald told me, `Oh no, he fell through a trap door in the floor to the cellar and died.’"

Then came the fascinating gem that the home where William died had been moved to the Muskoka Heritage Village and still stands, although somewhat changed from 1924.

Leep and her mother were overjoyed to hear from Maw that one of Minnie’s sisters is still alive and could have more information and possibly even pictures.

Clues keep coming in and one day all the dots to the mystery will be joined.

Meantime, William Strong continues to make news even long after his death.

When the Sons of the Union Veterans perform their international grave dedication and ceremony next weekend, it will mark the first time a dedication ceremony for a Civil War soldier will be conducted outside the United States.

So far, there has been nothing in William Strong’s days on earth that wasn’t colourful.

On the day of his graveside dedication, the trees of autumn will lend a panoramic background, ablaze in crimson and gold. The Civil War uniforms and muskets will take those in attendance back to the days of Abraham Lincoln. At the heart of the ceremony will be a proud great-granddaughter with her much beloved mother.

And the reverberating chuckle, destined to be heard by all at ceremony’s end, will be pure Civil War Soldier William Strong.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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