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Nancy Millar
is known as Canada's Cheerful Tombstone Tourist. She's traveled
all over the country exploring graveyards and talking to people,
the result of which is Once Upon A Tomb, a history of Canada from
the back end, as it were. It's history as she found it in graveyards.
Once
Upon a Tomb - Alberta
Mystery Veteran?
by Nancy
Millar
In the spring
of 1995, I finished my cross-country graveyard explorations in
British Columbia and then went directly to Saskatchewan. Nothing
wrong with Alberta, you understand. It was just that I'd been
there, done that. Truth is - I had already explored Alberta.
In the early
1990's, I was writing a weekly column for the Calgary Herald.
Every now and then when I tired of politics and social trends
and other worldly subjects, I'd trot out to a graveyard and write
about it instead. I worried that folk would find it morbid or
scary so I wrote carefully, cheerfully, as is my wont and lo behold,
the response was positive. I had lots of phone calls from people
saying… I like graveyards too, and have you been to this
one or that one? In fact I built up quite a file of 'Places To
Go'. Eventually, it occurred to me that this might be another
way to write about Canadian history. Instead of re-writing material
that had already been done well by authors like James Gray and
Grant MacEwan, why not start from the graveyard and work backwards,
as it were?
That's when
I began exploring Alberta graveyards. At first, I was enormously
disappointed. Albertans don't say much on their gravemarkers.
We are strong, silent folk, not given to mush or high praise.
Also, we are young in Alberta, not even 100 years old as a province
yet, so we came along after the days of wine and roses when words
and praise were heaped upon marble. Day after day, I'd stand in
front of the gravemarker of some notable who might have been expected
to have hints about his or her life, but nothing. Maybe "Ever
Loved, Ever Remembered" which is Alberta's favorite epitaph
but not much more.
Gradually,
however, I learned to "read" the gravestones. the stories
are there but you have to winkle them out. For instance, in the
northern Alberta town of High Prairie is a modest black granite
marker with these words on it:
"In
Loving Memory of Peter Tomkins
Born
Dec. 10, 1873
Died Jan. 21, 1940
Veteran 1885 Rebellion."
I was delighted
to find the mention of the North West Rebellion. That alone made
my trip to High Prairie worth it. But then I did the arithmetic.
Peter would have been 12 years old at the time of the rebellion.
How did that make him a veteran?
It was a great
story once I unraveled it. Turns out the birth date is wrong by
some 7 or 8 years. Peter Tomkins was old enough in 1885 to be
out repairing telegraph lines around Batoche, SK. When Riel's
men realized he was working on behalf of the government forces,
trying to reestablish contact with Regina, they took him prisoner.
For the last few weeks of that confusing but pivotal battle in
Canadian history, Peter Tomkins languished in a crude prison,
mad as an old wet hen, so mad that he readily agreed to testify
against Louis Riel at his trial later that year, the trial ended
in prompt execution for Riel.
Tomkins changed
his mind many years later. In some papers at Glenbow Museum in
Calgary, I found a note that he had written to his son. Part of
it said, "They should never have hanged Riel. He never did
anything worse than a good Union man would do to his group, and
someday they'll build a monument."
Imagine -
all that important and compelling information form one small gravemarker
in one small town. That's when I quit complaining and realized
I'd have to take the quiet hints presented to me and do the rest
of the work myself. I had, I suppose, learned to "read between
the lines."
  
Nancy
Millar's books about graveyards include Remember Me As You Pass
By, (stories from Alberta graveyards) and Once Upon A Tomb (stories
from Canadian graveyards.) Both are a combination of history,
story and travel. They are available from many bookstores, see
the Links provided, or from Deadwood Distribution, e-mail nemillar@telusplanet.net.
Her other books include Once Upon A Wedding - Canadian history
through actual weddings; The Famous Five: Emily Murphy and the
Case of the Missing Persons, and Once Upon An Outhouse. Also available
from Deadwood or link with www.nancymillar.com.
This story,
with permission from the author, Nancy Millar, was supplied to
us by Canadian Funeral News, a magazine dedicated to the advancement
of funeral service in Canada and is published 12 times per year
by OT Communications. Suite 1025, 101-6th Ave. SW Calgary, AB,
T2P 3P4 Tel: 403-264-3270 Fax: 403-264-3276
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