| 1. | George E. Eccles was born on 16 Aug 1874 in Almonte, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada (son of John Eccles and Mary Ann Nesbit); died on 26 Aug 1909 in At Sea; was buried in St. Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery, Almonte, Mississippi Mills, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. Other Events and Attributes:
- _FGLINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190312319
- _FGRAVE: 190312319
- _FSFTID: LHS7-X7M
- _FSLINK: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHS7-X7M
Notes:
Died:
A monument to George Eccles, who helped save more than 200 lives during a shipwreck in 1909, was unveiled at the St. Paul's Anglican Church cemetery on Wolf Grove Road.
The Almonte native was the first radio telegrapher to die at sea ? bravely sticking to his post, summoning help ? after the SS Ohio, a 340-foot steamer, struck a rock off the coast of British Columbia in the dead of an August night.
In the roughly 30 minutes before the sinking, Eccles, then 36, was able to contact two nearby ships and 208 souls were safely disembarked. But, with water lapping at his feet, he stuck to his station, even going below decks to look for a shipmate. Heightening the drama were Eccles' final, desperate transmissions, as reported in multiple newspapers: "Passengers all off and adrift in small boats. Captain and crew going off in the last boat, waiting for me now. Good-bye. My God, I'm ?"
And there the words ended. His last breath wasn't far behind. His dramatic death was reported around the world and his funeral in Almonte brought the town to a standstill.
There was a wooden sign marking the birthplace of Eccles ? a nearby farm ? but it had become weather-beaten and difficult to read. Local resident and actor David Frisch spied the old sign one day and began to investigate the forgotten saga.
The youngest of eight children, Eccles was born in 1873 and, as a young man, learned the new art of telegraphy from the resident CPR ticket agent in Almonte. At one point, he moved to Ottawa to be a sessional clerk at the House of Commons but wireless communication appears to have been his passion.
The skill took him to Winnipeg to work in the rail yards, then Seattle, where he hooked on with the firm that ran the SS Ohio to Alaska. While in Winnipeg, he married Nettie Barry, had two boys and was blamed, perhaps unfairly, for a workplace accident in 1905 that no doubt scarred him. One newspaper report said he had been at his telegraph station for 36 hours straight when a communication error led to a head-on train collision that resulted in at least one fatality. He was dismissed.
(Adding to the cruel timing of the sinking, too, was the fact Eccles had given notice of his resignation and the fateful trip was to be his last one.)
In Almonte, meanwhile, he was mourned like a hero for the ages. At his funeral, the town literally shut down and the mayor and councillors led hundreds in a cortege described as "the largest in the history of the town."
Storyline courtesy of Kelly Egan- Ottawa Sun
Buried:
Inscription
A Hero Rests in This Grave
George E. Eccles
1873-1909
On August 20/1909 the SS Ohio struck a rock
off the B.C. coast & sank.
Eccles a native of Almonte & ship's telegrapher
remained at his post summoning help from
nearby vessels until 208 were rescued.
It cost him his life.
"Be noble & the nobleness that lies in other men
sleeping but never dead will rise in majesty
to meet thine own"
This monument was donated in 2008
by Kincaid & Loney Monuments &
C.FR. Gamble Funeral Home
to honour a hero whose grave
was never marked
George married Carmanetta Florence Barry in 1902 in Winnipeg, Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Carmanetta was born on 18 Nov 1886 in Winnipeg, Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; died on 1 Jan 1950 in Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada; was buried in Ocean View Burial Park, Burnaby, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- William George Eccles was born on 16 May 1904 in Winnipeg, Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; died on 3 Jan 1969 in Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada; was buried in 1969 in Capilano View Cemetery, West Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.
- Allan Ambrose Eccles was born on 24 Jan 1906 in Winnipeg, Greater Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; died on 9 Jun 1974 in North Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada; was buried in Capilano View Cemetery, West Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.
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1874 - 1909 (35 years)
