Sticky stones

Hugh Heal with the well-travelled gravestones.

Grave markers journey to the swamp and back

This is a story about roving tombstones. It begins, sadly enough, with famine. County Cavan was a popular place in the early 1800s. The population of Cavan had ballooned to 250,000—five times its present size—largely due to the availability of the potato and its ability to feed a great many people at a low cost. But when the crop failed—through disease and mismanagement— the land could no longer sustain the population of Cavan, nor indeed all of Ireland. Disease became rampant and social order broke down.

Amid the turmoil and hardship Stuart and Elaner Wallar made their break from their native land, sailing for Canada in 1922. The couple eventually settled on land south of Ameliasburgh now known as Melville Road, overlooking Lake Consecon.

When they died—Stuart in 1848 and Elaner some 30 years later— they were buried in a cemetery in Carrying Place. A pair of large marble tombstones, five feet by two feet, were erected to mark their graves. The size of the tombstones suggests the couple prospered on the fertile land.

Both tombstones appear to have been created at the same time. They are simple records of birth and death. Only Stuart’s stone belies any emotion. The last line reads: “erected by a disconsolate widow.”

Decades passed and the Wallar tombstones became damaged. Descendants of the family created new tombstones to replace those broken markers. The pieces were brought home to the homestead on Melville Road.

At this point Ralph Margetson takes up the story. His farm is likely part of the original homestead. Ralph explains that the tombstone fragments ended up in the basement of a home nearby, “up against the cistern wall,” where they likely resided for more than 40 years. A cousin bought the property after the war and discarded the pieces in the swamp—the lowland around Consecon Creek. It was common practice to discard unwanted items in such a way—there were no municipal dumps. Typically, farmers would haul loads during the winter and in the spring they would disappear into the wetland.

When he was building his current home in the early ’70s, Ralph began scouring about looking for flat limetones to build a retaining wall in his yard. A neighbour told him about the tombstones in the swamp. Ralph found the stones and hauled them up to house and placed them against the snake fence where they rested for another few years.

In recent months a member of the Wallar family contacted the 7th Town Genealogical Centre in Ameliasburgh inquiring about their Prince Edward County relatives. Diane Helm, a volunteer with the Centre, agreed to do some digging. She too lives on Melville Road near Margetson, on land that once belonged to the Wallars’ relatives.

Helm remembered the tombstones along Ralph’s fence. She took pictures of the forgotten tombstone pieces and brought pictures to the Genealogical Centre. That is where another volunteer, Hugh Heal, offered to repair and restore the well-travelled headstones.

Elaner’s stone was broken, but the pieces fit together rather well. A large section of Stuart’s stone was never recovered. Heal used logic and some creative licence to fill in the middle section.

Now, for the first time in likely 85 years, Stuart and Elaner’s stones have been put back together and are standing together again. It isn’t clear yet exactly where they will find their ultimate resting spot, but it will no doubt be on a prominent spot on the high ground overlooking Lake Consecon. Perhaps close to the spot where the Wallars first decided they would settle in a new land.