I decided to add this page to my site as having retired and looking for something to occupy my time, I decided to look into my family genealogy. Fortunately there is a lot of information at least on part of my family available on the Internet once you know where to look so I was able to quickly build a database of almost 20,000 names so far. That was the easy part - finding more information about some of these people and getting past dead ends on some of the various branches is a lot tougher and time consuming.
(Last update - March 3, 2024)
(Last update - March 3, 2024)
I use MyHeritage's Family Tree Builder desktop software and I really like it for use on my computer (and it is free). It also has the ability to upload the database to a web based tree. I was never a fan of the layout of that web site and don't have a need to actually use it but I recently looked at it in some detail and I find it not very well designed but that is just my opinion.
If you think you might be related to our Corkum family, and want to look around my online tree, you can find it at
https://corkumfamily.myheritage.com - (Click on the "View family tree" link in the left menu). Something also happened recently (Feb 2024) and my desktop software is currently refusing to upload any new updates to the web site. The last update was January 21, 2024 with a total of 19,383 names at that point. If you are related and would like to see living people in my tree, on the MyHeritage site click the "Request membership" link in the left menu which will then ask you to create a free login, and will send me a request to add you.
This tree contains almost exclusively my Corkum paternal line as far back as 1525. I have researched a lot of the descendants but there are still many branches I have not yet gotten to. I have recently also included my maternal Rhodenizer tree back as far as my 2X Great Grandfather (1813) and all his descendants.
I am now also posting some of my records for deceased people to WikiTree where the information is fully available as part of their worldwide genealogical database ... no logins or membership required unless you want to contribute (and Google can find it too.)
If you think you might be related to our Corkum family, and want to look around my online tree, you can find it at
https://corkumfamily.myheritage.com - (Click on the "View family tree" link in the left menu). Something also happened recently (Feb 2024) and my desktop software is currently refusing to upload any new updates to the web site. The last update was January 21, 2024 with a total of 19,383 names at that point. If you are related and would like to see living people in my tree, on the MyHeritage site click the "Request membership" link in the left menu which will then ask you to create a free login, and will send me a request to add you.
This tree contains almost exclusively my Corkum paternal line as far back as 1525. I have researched a lot of the descendants but there are still many branches I have not yet gotten to. I have recently also included my maternal Rhodenizer tree back as far as my 2X Great Grandfather (1813) and all his descendants.
I am now also posting some of my records for deceased people to WikiTree where the information is fully available as part of their worldwide genealogical database ... no logins or membership required unless you want to contribute (and Google can find it too.)
Many of these people originally were just names and dates I'd found on another old archived Lunenburg County database however since 2016 I am working through them one by one digging up (pun intended) more information to provide a better picture of these people, what they did, where they lived, etc. (and including my sources), and I am finding more people as I do so. Most up to the mid-1900's in Nova Scotia were farmers and fishermen. The people I have listed below on this page are the more interesting ones I've found so far.
If you are a CORKUM or a descendant of a CORKUM and are interested in your family history, look for a deceased ancestor (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.) and if you find someone then you may be in my database or I would like to add you to it. Even if you are not a CORKUM but find that you are a cousin through someone who married a CORKUM, why not use the Contact page to say hello! I'd appreciate if you would include the name of the parent or grandparent you found and let me know where you "fit" in the tree.
If you are a CORKUM and do not find any ancestor in my database, continue reading below. You're still a cousin (and I may not have found your family yet) or you may be descended from Hermann - I have no information on his descendants. My database includes only descendants of Wilhelm. If there is anyone with records that can trace back to Hermann, I would love to hear from you.
If you are a CORKUM or a descendant of a CORKUM and are interested in your family history, look for a deceased ancestor (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.) and if you find someone then you may be in my database or I would like to add you to it. Even if you are not a CORKUM but find that you are a cousin through someone who married a CORKUM, why not use the Contact page to say hello! I'd appreciate if you would include the name of the parent or grandparent you found and let me know where you "fit" in the tree.
If you are a CORKUM and do not find any ancestor in my database, continue reading below. You're still a cousin (and I may not have found your family yet) or you may be descended from Hermann - I have no information on his descendants. My database includes only descendants of Wilhelm. If there is anyone with records that can trace back to Hermann, I would love to hear from you.
If you want to look up your own genealogy records, I've made a list of various possibly useful web sites that I've come across in my research. These are listed on this page (also in menu drop down) - Sites For Genealogy Research.
My Family - The Corkum's
Our Corkum history goes back to 1525 (I'm trusting others have gotten this correct - I have no way to verify this) which was about when my Great (x10) Grandfather Johannes was born in Gorinchem, South Holland. The name of the city is where our family name came from - listen to this Wikipedia audio file for the pronunciation. (See next page for some information on Gorinchem.)
The late Vivian R. Corkum, a school teacher who lived in New Cumberland, Lunenburg County had travelled to Germany in the 1990's and researched the Corkum origins there with the help of a local researcher in Westhofen. In 2003, Vivian self-published her book von Gorkum of Johannes of Holland. Vivian passed away in 2009 at the age of 88. (My thanks to Vivian's book for some of the information I have included below. She somehow found the above portrait but unfortunately did not indicate how or where.) Because of religious persecution including an incident in Gorinchem in June 1572, (see Wikipedia) many citizens including Johannes' son Peter Heinrich fled to safer regions. Peter went to Wesel, Germany where they were given the surname "von Gorinchem" (from Gorinchem) which later became von Gorkum.
While nothing is known about Johannes, his son Peter (b. 1550) was a trader and merchant which, and this is just my opinion, suggests that his father was more than just an ordinary citizen. That would explain how there was a portrait of him because only persons of some means would have been able to afford that luxury in those times. Peter's son, also named Peter Heinrich, inherited the "Schaben Mill" (a grain and oil mill) in Westhofen about 1654. He returned to Wesel after two years leaving the mill in the hands of his two sons. The mill remained in the family until 1746 when it was sold and the two von Gorkum brothers, Johann Wilhelm and Johann Hermann and their families left Germany to come to Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the ship "Pearl" in 1752. By that time the surname was just Gorkum which later became Corkum probably early in the 1800's.
Those were the only known male Gorkum's living at the time so it is assumed the family name would not have continued in Germany although it is possible that there were some daughters who may have married and remained resulting in numerous distant relatives in Germany (or elsewhere) today however we have no knowledge any such families. (A recent search on a German database turned up a person named Gorkum in the 1800's. I suspect it might just be coincidentally a descendant of someone else who came from Gorinchem, Holland also and ended up with that name which sounds more likely than it would be a relative. It was however in the same region of Germany where my family had lived. Also, historically many people had large families so the fact that no other male relatives are known from Holland and Germany may ... again in my opinion ... be a result of no known records and there may be other distant European relatives that may never be found.)
Hermann and his wife Magdalena died on the voyage although some children survived. Wilhelm and Sofia settled in Lunenburg and were among the first settlers of the town. I have found a copy of his original land grants. He received a house lot on the corner of Fox and Cornwallis Streets where the front entrance of Zion Lutheran Church is located today. The town lots were too small to grow enough food so the settlers received 1/4 acre garden lots outside town where the community of Garden Lots is located today (hence the community name). He received a 30 acre farm lot near the end of the road in today's Feltzen South and a 300 acre forest lot along the LaHave River in today's community of Oak Hill in Dayspring.
(Coincidentally, I have a copy of a deed that shows that the 300-acre lot adjacent to Wilhelm's was purchased by a Rodenhizer about 100 years later in 1850. I have not researched that person but he was likely a relative on my mother's side.)
I've also found that our extended relatives are farther afield than we realized. Many of them emigrated to the US - the vast majority of those that left Lunenburg County settled in Massachusetts in communities near Boston in the late 1800's and early 1900's, although a few went to other New England states and a few farther west. Closer to home, there were a large number also in the 1800's in Chester and other communities around Lunenburg County and some went to other counties. Today of course people are much more transient and relatives are scattered in many locations in Canada and the US. Researching genealogy includes finding where deceased relatives are buried and I have found records of extended family in well over 250 cemeteries, many in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia and New England.
The late Vivian R. Corkum, a school teacher who lived in New Cumberland, Lunenburg County had travelled to Germany in the 1990's and researched the Corkum origins there with the help of a local researcher in Westhofen. In 2003, Vivian self-published her book von Gorkum of Johannes of Holland. Vivian passed away in 2009 at the age of 88. (My thanks to Vivian's book for some of the information I have included below. She somehow found the above portrait but unfortunately did not indicate how or where.) Because of religious persecution including an incident in Gorinchem in June 1572, (see Wikipedia) many citizens including Johannes' son Peter Heinrich fled to safer regions. Peter went to Wesel, Germany where they were given the surname "von Gorinchem" (from Gorinchem) which later became von Gorkum.
While nothing is known about Johannes, his son Peter (b. 1550) was a trader and merchant which, and this is just my opinion, suggests that his father was more than just an ordinary citizen. That would explain how there was a portrait of him because only persons of some means would have been able to afford that luxury in those times. Peter's son, also named Peter Heinrich, inherited the "Schaben Mill" (a grain and oil mill) in Westhofen about 1654. He returned to Wesel after two years leaving the mill in the hands of his two sons. The mill remained in the family until 1746 when it was sold and the two von Gorkum brothers, Johann Wilhelm and Johann Hermann and their families left Germany to come to Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the ship "Pearl" in 1752. By that time the surname was just Gorkum which later became Corkum probably early in the 1800's.
Those were the only known male Gorkum's living at the time so it is assumed the family name would not have continued in Germany although it is possible that there were some daughters who may have married and remained resulting in numerous distant relatives in Germany (or elsewhere) today however we have no knowledge any such families. (A recent search on a German database turned up a person named Gorkum in the 1800's. I suspect it might just be coincidentally a descendant of someone else who came from Gorinchem, Holland also and ended up with that name which sounds more likely than it would be a relative. It was however in the same region of Germany where my family had lived. Also, historically many people had large families so the fact that no other male relatives are known from Holland and Germany may ... again in my opinion ... be a result of no known records and there may be other distant European relatives that may never be found.)
Hermann and his wife Magdalena died on the voyage although some children survived. Wilhelm and Sofia settled in Lunenburg and were among the first settlers of the town. I have found a copy of his original land grants. He received a house lot on the corner of Fox and Cornwallis Streets where the front entrance of Zion Lutheran Church is located today. The town lots were too small to grow enough food so the settlers received 1/4 acre garden lots outside town where the community of Garden Lots is located today (hence the community name). He received a 30 acre farm lot near the end of the road in today's Feltzen South and a 300 acre forest lot along the LaHave River in today's community of Oak Hill in Dayspring.
(Coincidentally, I have a copy of a deed that shows that the 300-acre lot adjacent to Wilhelm's was purchased by a Rodenhizer about 100 years later in 1850. I have not researched that person but he was likely a relative on my mother's side.)
I've also found that our extended relatives are farther afield than we realized. Many of them emigrated to the US - the vast majority of those that left Lunenburg County settled in Massachusetts in communities near Boston in the late 1800's and early 1900's, although a few went to other New England states and a few farther west. Closer to home, there were a large number also in the 1800's in Chester and other communities around Lunenburg County and some went to other counties. Today of course people are much more transient and relatives are scattered in many locations in Canada and the US. Researching genealogy includes finding where deceased relatives are buried and I have found records of extended family in well over 250 cemeteries, many in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia and New England.
There is a monument in the Town of Lunenburg honouring the original Foreign Protestant settlers which includes the "Gorkum" name. A web site with pictures is here.
I have no idea where Hermann's children settled - I have no information on the first generations of his line leaving me with many unconnected Corkum names, presumably many of his descendants. If anyone reading this knows anything about that line of the family I would sincerely appreciate any information you can provide. It is my guess since I know of no other Corkum settlers coming from Europe, that all Corkum's must be related through these two brothers. As a caveat, everything I know about the early generations of Corkum's from Johannes in 1525 up until official records can be found on-line starting in the 1860's-1870's comes mostly from Vivian's book or other people's genealogy databases as very little original documentation from the early period is available on-line where I've done all my research. It appears that everyone seems to be copying from each other, often without stating sources so we are sometimes unable to confirm the accuracy of the information from those years and seem to be trusting that someone started with some verifiable sources. Therefore errors are bound to occur such as dates, locations, people who may be named in error (hopefully few) and also those who have not been found at all (likely many) - those living today who we have not yet connected, and those past who have unfortunately disappeared into history. I have tried to document everything where possible to proper sources but if you find something you know to be incorrect, or have information that I can add (including if you are related), please reach out to me through my contact page.
I haven't yet gotten very far on the other three ancestral lines although they all came from Germany - Zinck (paternal grandmother), Rhodenizer (maternal grandfather), and Hebb (maternal grandmother).
For more information on the Corkum family history from Holland to Germany and finally to Nova Scotia, see the buttons at the bottom of this page!
I haven't yet gotten very far on the other three ancestral lines although they all came from Germany - Zinck (paternal grandmother), Rhodenizer (maternal grandfather), and Hebb (maternal grandmother).
For more information on the Corkum family history from Holland to Germany and finally to Nova Scotia, see the buttons at the bottom of this page!
Interesting Relatives
I thought I'd include some interesting people I've discovered so far in my extended family.
First ... those who were born Corkum ...
James Amiel Corkum (1852 - 1938)
This is my Great Grandfather who I have learned was a ship owner in the fishing industry here. Between 1884 and 1920 he owned a number of fishing schooners, fifteen in total (that I found) although the most was four at one time. Detailed information about the schooners was found on the Canadian government's website archives. If you would like to know more about the schooners, I have collected it in this document "Fishing Schooners of the Corkum Family"
• • • • •
Capt. Alexander Christopher Corkum (1861 - 1946)
OK, I just wanted to brag a bit. I learned we had a poet in our family tree. Capt. Alexander (born in Nova Scotia) was an American third cousin three times removed. He wrote a book of poetry titled "Musings of a Mariner" and published in 1921. It is very good poetry. It has been republished in paperback by various publishers and is available on Chapters/Indigo or Amazon or you can view or download a free copy of the original here. Click on the PDF link under the picture of the book.
Alexander wrote a second book of poetry published in 1935 called "Reflections in Rhythm". It seems to be extremely rare and only a few copies in US libraries according to a web search. I've also learned that Alexander was a bit of a songwriter too. There were two songs copyrighted in 1935. One is "The Vale of Margaree" and the other is "The Long Road to Recovery" (see here). I have not been able to find the words. One of Capt. Alex's poems was entered into the Congressional record in 1940 - see here. US Copyright also shows that in 1936 he was issued a copyright for the lyrics to songs "Voices of the Air", and "Eventide" (see here, pages 109 and 175).
Alexander wrote a second book of poetry published in 1935 called "Reflections in Rhythm". It seems to be extremely rare and only a few copies in US libraries according to a web search. I've also learned that Alexander was a bit of a songwriter too. There were two songs copyrighted in 1935. One is "The Vale of Margaree" and the other is "The Long Road to Recovery" (see here). I have not been able to find the words. One of Capt. Alex's poems was entered into the Congressional record in 1940 - see here. US Copyright also shows that in 1936 he was issued a copyright for the lyrics to songs "Voices of the Air", and "Eventide" (see here, pages 109 and 175).
I also found another interesting story about Capt. Alexander Corkum. In 1911 he was Master of the luxury yacht Gunilda on the Great Lakes owned by William L. Harkness, an American who was a major shareholder in Standard Oil at that time. They were cruising on Lake Superior on the Canadian side and the practice was to take on a pilot to navigate around the islands in the Canadian waters. The owner refused to pay the $25 pilot fee (nearly $600 in today's dollars according to the Bank of Canada's inflation calculator) and they were using American navigation charts which were not up to date on Canadian waters. I'm sure you've already guessed where this story is going. Yes, they grounded on a shoal that wasn't on the chart (seen here in the picture). It was a steel hulled yacht which was undamaged, so they were not taking on any water. A tug was called, all the passengers were taken ashore, but because of the way it apparently was grounded they were told it would take a second tug to stabilize the yacht while it was pulled off the shoal. The owner refused to pay for a second tug so the one tug attempted to pull it off but something went wrong and the yacht sank in about 270 feet of water ($100,000 insurance claim at that time, estimated about $2.4 million today). For years divers had tried to locate it but it was not found until 1967 - complicated to dive that deep. That side story was interesting too about one diver who was very obsessed with locating it (his partner died in the attempt) and raising it - he was the one who eventually found it but never raised it and it is now I believe a popular site with deep water divers. There are now pictures of the wreck available here and an interview with divers who went down to the wreck in 2017. (I found the story as a chapter in a book "Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivor's Tale" by Marlin Bree, and the diver story on a diver web site, but wasn't sure it was my Capt. Alexander until I found a story in a 2014 "Northern Wilds" magazine about lighthouses on the Great Lakes, unrelated to this but they used a quote from one of Alexander's poems about a lighthouse and referenced it to him as the Captain of this yacht. Amazing what Google will find if you ask the right questions!) You can preview a few pages of the story from "Wake of the Green Storm" at Google Books - go to Chapter 23 "Wreck of the Gunilda" on page 153. There is also a summary of the wreck at this web site.
It seems that Capt. Alexander had some significant exploits at sea during service in World War 1. I have found an article on that in a 1920 issue of the corporate magazine of the Morse Dry Dock in Brooklyn NY. You can download a PDF of that here. On page 3 there is a story about the steamship "U.S.S. Huron" being converted from wartime service to peacetime use as a passenger liner. If you then go to page 6, the story "Baffling the Submarines" talks about some of Capt. Alexander's wartime adventures but at the beginning of the article also mentions that he was now the captain of the Huron.
Capt. Alexander once again made the pages of that corporate magazine in 1922 which you can download here. Go to page 7 and see the story "Old Friend Publishes Poem" which talks about Capt. Alexander recently publishing his "Musings of a Mariner" book and also prints one of his poems in the magazine. At this time he is now captain of the "American Legion".
Some other references I found are:
1902 - In the history of "The Eastern Yacht Club" of Marblehead, Massachusetts. At the bottom of page 72 it states that Capt. Alexander was sailing master of the yacht "Pantooset" owned by the yacht club's commodore, copper mining millionaire Albert Bigelow.
1929 - He was captain of the motor yacht "Hi-Esmaro" owned by Hiram Manville, Board Chairman of Johns-Manville Corp according to an item in the Bath Independent newspaper of August 1929.
1941 - He was apparently held in high regard as the branch of the World War Veterans American Merchant Marine was named in his honour as the "Alexander C. Corkum Post No. 7" in Newton, Massachusetts where he lived (The Newton Graphic newspaper, July 24, 1941 - Page 3).
1946 - Alexander's obituary was published in The Newton Graphic, January 24, 1946, page 6.
Capt. Alexander once again made the pages of that corporate magazine in 1922 which you can download here. Go to page 7 and see the story "Old Friend Publishes Poem" which talks about Capt. Alexander recently publishing his "Musings of a Mariner" book and also prints one of his poems in the magazine. At this time he is now captain of the "American Legion".
Some other references I found are:
1902 - In the history of "The Eastern Yacht Club" of Marblehead, Massachusetts. At the bottom of page 72 it states that Capt. Alexander was sailing master of the yacht "Pantooset" owned by the yacht club's commodore, copper mining millionaire Albert Bigelow.
1929 - He was captain of the motor yacht "Hi-Esmaro" owned by Hiram Manville, Board Chairman of Johns-Manville Corp according to an item in the Bath Independent newspaper of August 1929.
1941 - He was apparently held in high regard as the branch of the World War Veterans American Merchant Marine was named in his honour as the "Alexander C. Corkum Post No. 7" in Newton, Massachusetts where he lived (The Newton Graphic newspaper, July 24, 1941 - Page 3).
1946 - Alexander's obituary was published in The Newton Graphic, January 24, 1946, page 6.
• • • • •
Capt. George Howard Corkum (1881 - 1959)
Captain George was my 3rd cousin three times removed and spent over 50 years at sea. He has such a colourful history that I hardly know where to begin. I'll start with the following from his obituary.
The stories of Captain Corkum's experiences at sea would fill many volumes, and to mention two or three, he was mate with Captain C. J. R. Kohler on the schooner "Percy" in 1917 when they were captured by the German sea raider "Seeadler" under the command of the famous Count Felix Von Luckner. When the raider took the crew aboard, the schooner was riddled and sunk. After spending two months at sea, aboard the "Seeadler" and a German prison ship, they were landed in South America.
In 1937 when Captain Corkum was Master of the "E. P. Theriault", he was hit by heavy gales three hundred miles from Turk's Island, and lost his rudder in the heavy seas. He navigated for six weeks with sails only, finally reaching the Nova Scotia coast, and was towed to port. Three years later when at Turk's Island with the same vessel, his crew of foreigners deserted ship leaving him with two hands, George Snow and Arthur Burns of Lunenburg. Unable to pick up a crew, Captain Corkum and his two Lunenburgers, sailed the ship to Nova Scotia with a cargo of salt in sixteen days. In the opinion of seasoned mariners, this was a remarkable feat.
Another sea experience came in the early 1940's when he commanded the three master "A. W. Chisholm", and on his way to Barbados with a load of lumber the vessel sprung a leak when eight days out. When she filled with water, the pine lumber swelled breaking out seams and raising the deck. The ship floated partly submerged with the crew spending eighteen days on top of the cabin house. They were rescued by a Swedish freighter. The New York Times and Toronto Star carried a full page story of the "Chisholm" experiences with pictures and illustrations.
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The story of the "Theriault" was written in the Toronto Telegram newspaper of April 3, 1937 as follows (found on this web site).
Rudderless 1,300 Miles - Safe Home
NAVIGATING for six weeks without a rudder, Captain George Corkum brought his big three masted schooner, E. P, Theriault, to a safe anchorage at LaHave one Saturday last month, and accomplished a feat of seamanship which will go down in history. The Progress Enterprise, of Lunenburg, N.S., says so, and we may well believe it. La Have is only a few miles from Lunenburg, on the Nova Scotia coast and Capt. George Corkum is one of Capt. Angus Walters' contemporaries. There are so many Corkums in Lunenburg that the eastern section of the place, near the waterfront, is called Corkum Town.
Forty-six days on the passage from Turks Island, with a cargo of salt for Lunenburg, the Theriault had one of the most trying and difficult times of her career. The schooner left the West Indies on January 27th and from then on one gale followed another in quick succession.
About 300 miles out of Turks Island the ship's rudder broke clear from the sternpost, floated up and washed away never to be seen again. With nothing but his sails to navigate with, Captain Corkum tacked here and there, taking advantage of favorable winds and often being pushed back by those that were unfavorable.
"Some days," said Capt. Corkum, "we would make 50 miles, and on others go back 30."
How, without a rudder. Capt. Corkum kept his vessel heading in the general direction of north and Nova Scotia is a mystery to sailors as well as landsmen. While he had south winds pushing him it would not be impossible, for if he kept sail on the forward end of the vessel she would drive or drift before the wind, and he might be able to correct her wanderings somewhat by towing hawsers of some other form of drags, from one side to the other. But when the wind came to blow from the north, as winter gales do, What then? Capt. Corkum wisely stripped to bare poles so that he would not drift back as fast and as far as he had come ahead. And how, with this uncertain weaving back and forth sometimes to east of his true course and sometimes to the west of it, and sometimes being pushed back altogether, could he determine what course would ultimately bring him as close home as LaHave — even could he steer it?
If ever Capt. Corkum comes this way his story of steering the Theriault home will be a good one. The Huguenot family name she bears, by the way, is usually pronounced Terrio. Many Huguenots settled in Lunenburg County when driven out of France.
Capt. Corkum made little of his feat when telling his fellow-townsmen about it. He probably said much the same as Angus Walters when I asked him how he sailed to Naples with a load of dried fish, never having been there before.
"Father taught me navigation," said he, "and I just kept on till I got there."
To his old friend, H. R. Arenburg, editor of the Progress-Enterprise, Capt. Corkum confided the following details:
The steering apparatus of the schooner was not used from the time the rudder went and no jury rudder was fixed up. The schooner was steered with her sails. When the wind was fair, the head sails were the only ones that could be used; when the wind was on the beam, the foresail, mainsail and storm sail were added. When the winds were adverse, all the sails were taken in. Up to the time the schooner arrived off Hatteras it was possible to get an observation every day so that the exact position could be determined, but after that they could only get a shot every two or three days. Gale succeeded gale, and while the weather was rough it was not severely cold. In one of the gales, the seas boarded her from stem to stern.
Shortly after the schooner had lost her rudder, the Lunenburg motor vessel Jean and Frances, in command of Captain Kenneth Iversen, was sighted, and she came over to the Theriault, who was flying a distress signal. The Jean and Frances was enroute to Panama and had only supplies sufficient to last her voyage, so that they could give nothing to the crew of the Theriault, and as there was nothing else they could do, they proceeded on their way to Panama.
The Dutch freighter Amazone was sighted on the 15th of February and gave them sufficient supplies to carry them along. By this time most of the supplies of the Theriault had been exhausted. The cook stove had been moved aft and- the-members of the crew all bunked aft, so that the one fire would do the cooking and providing heat for the entire crew, and they all ate at the one table in order to effect a further saving.
The Theriault arrived off LaHave on the 13th March, 46 days out from Turks Island, and was towed up the LaHave River by one of the Government patrol boats.
The E. P. Theriault is 17 years old. She was built at Weymouth and is now owned by Archibald Publicover of LaHave. She carried a cargo of 10,000 bushels of salt. There was no insurance on the vessel, and when asked if there was ever any discussion of abandoning the schooner, Capt. Corkum said the matter was thought of but they decided to stick by the ship, as in the event of their abandoning her there would be little possibility of collecting their wages.
The schooner is now in Lunenburg and will be hauled on the marine railway for repairs. Capt. Corkum has been going to sea for 42 years and has been a master mariner for the past 16 years.
Capt. Corkum made more of picking up a passenger than of picking up the land at the right spot. "One of the unusual incidents of the voyage occurred about 245 miles off Cape Hatteras," said the Progress- Enterprise, "when a pure bred homing pigeon lodged on the rigging and refused to leave. On its leg was a band bearing the inscription 315 IF 36 W. D. C. The bird was brought to Lunenburg and Capt. Corkum will notify the owner, who apparently lived in Washington, D.C."
And the biggest incident of the forty-six days was off stormy Cape Hatteras, when The Dutchman gave him, not a new rudder nor a tow, but enough food to bring the three-master home.
"It was a lucky day for the Theriault's crew when about 300 miles off Hatteras they sighted the Dutch freighter Amazone. After days of battling storms and with little prospect for a fast passage, provisions were running dangerously low. The Dutchman was spoken and sent aboard sufficient supplies to last the crew for the remainder of the passage."
With Capt. Corkum on board were John Pottinger, Lunenburg, mate; Reg. Legag, West Dublin; Wilbert; Minick, West Dublin: Maxwell Corkum, West Dublin; and Freeman Demone, Lunenburg.
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Capt. George also sailed as mate on the Bluenose during the fall of 1935 on a voyage to England described by the Nova Scotia Archives as ...
In 1935, in what was perhaps its most significant role as an international ambassador, Bluenose sailed to England to represent Canada once again, this time at the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. The King, elderly and too frail to come aboard the Bluenose, instead formally received Angus Walters on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, and acknowledged the schooner's presence by observing that it was "a vessel of considerable merit typical of the spirit of Nova Scotians."
On the return voyage from England, Bluenose was almost lost in a violent September gale in the English Channel. Two hundred miles out from Falmouth, a huge sea hit the vessel and hundreds of tons of water crashed down, flooding the compartments. Ten passengers were on board, including five women who were not allowed above deck during the storm. They were down below, accordingly, entertaining themselves with a gramophone player, and had just put on a recording of the popular song 'Anything Goes' when the tremendous sea struck: "Amazing as it may seem, the gramophone, propped securely in a bunk, continued playing, but sounding a strident note to the women who at that moment thought they were doomed." Bluenose spent an eternity of several minutes rolled over completely to leeward, then slowly righted itself and sailed on through the storm.
There was a story printed in "The Western Morning News" of Plymouth, England on November 19, 1935 which provides a lot more detail about that storm - you can read that here.
The stories of Captain Corkum's experiences at sea would fill many volumes, and to mention two or three, he was mate with Captain C. J. R. Kohler on the schooner "Percy" in 1917 when they were captured by the German sea raider "Seeadler" under the command of the famous Count Felix Von Luckner. When the raider took the crew aboard, the schooner was riddled and sunk. After spending two months at sea, aboard the "Seeadler" and a German prison ship, they were landed in South America.
In 1937 when Captain Corkum was Master of the "E. P. Theriault", he was hit by heavy gales three hundred miles from Turk's Island, and lost his rudder in the heavy seas. He navigated for six weeks with sails only, finally reaching the Nova Scotia coast, and was towed to port. Three years later when at Turk's Island with the same vessel, his crew of foreigners deserted ship leaving him with two hands, George Snow and Arthur Burns of Lunenburg. Unable to pick up a crew, Captain Corkum and his two Lunenburgers, sailed the ship to Nova Scotia with a cargo of salt in sixteen days. In the opinion of seasoned mariners, this was a remarkable feat.
Another sea experience came in the early 1940's when he commanded the three master "A. W. Chisholm", and on his way to Barbados with a load of lumber the vessel sprung a leak when eight days out. When she filled with water, the pine lumber swelled breaking out seams and raising the deck. The ship floated partly submerged with the crew spending eighteen days on top of the cabin house. They were rescued by a Swedish freighter. The New York Times and Toronto Star carried a full page story of the "Chisholm" experiences with pictures and illustrations.
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The story of the "Theriault" was written in the Toronto Telegram newspaper of April 3, 1937 as follows (found on this web site).
Rudderless 1,300 Miles - Safe Home
NAVIGATING for six weeks without a rudder, Captain George Corkum brought his big three masted schooner, E. P, Theriault, to a safe anchorage at LaHave one Saturday last month, and accomplished a feat of seamanship which will go down in history. The Progress Enterprise, of Lunenburg, N.S., says so, and we may well believe it. La Have is only a few miles from Lunenburg, on the Nova Scotia coast and Capt. George Corkum is one of Capt. Angus Walters' contemporaries. There are so many Corkums in Lunenburg that the eastern section of the place, near the waterfront, is called Corkum Town.
Forty-six days on the passage from Turks Island, with a cargo of salt for Lunenburg, the Theriault had one of the most trying and difficult times of her career. The schooner left the West Indies on January 27th and from then on one gale followed another in quick succession.
About 300 miles out of Turks Island the ship's rudder broke clear from the sternpost, floated up and washed away never to be seen again. With nothing but his sails to navigate with, Captain Corkum tacked here and there, taking advantage of favorable winds and often being pushed back by those that were unfavorable.
"Some days," said Capt. Corkum, "we would make 50 miles, and on others go back 30."
How, without a rudder. Capt. Corkum kept his vessel heading in the general direction of north and Nova Scotia is a mystery to sailors as well as landsmen. While he had south winds pushing him it would not be impossible, for if he kept sail on the forward end of the vessel she would drive or drift before the wind, and he might be able to correct her wanderings somewhat by towing hawsers of some other form of drags, from one side to the other. But when the wind came to blow from the north, as winter gales do, What then? Capt. Corkum wisely stripped to bare poles so that he would not drift back as fast and as far as he had come ahead. And how, with this uncertain weaving back and forth sometimes to east of his true course and sometimes to the west of it, and sometimes being pushed back altogether, could he determine what course would ultimately bring him as close home as LaHave — even could he steer it?
If ever Capt. Corkum comes this way his story of steering the Theriault home will be a good one. The Huguenot family name she bears, by the way, is usually pronounced Terrio. Many Huguenots settled in Lunenburg County when driven out of France.
Capt. Corkum made little of his feat when telling his fellow-townsmen about it. He probably said much the same as Angus Walters when I asked him how he sailed to Naples with a load of dried fish, never having been there before.
"Father taught me navigation," said he, "and I just kept on till I got there."
To his old friend, H. R. Arenburg, editor of the Progress-Enterprise, Capt. Corkum confided the following details:
The steering apparatus of the schooner was not used from the time the rudder went and no jury rudder was fixed up. The schooner was steered with her sails. When the wind was fair, the head sails were the only ones that could be used; when the wind was on the beam, the foresail, mainsail and storm sail were added. When the winds were adverse, all the sails were taken in. Up to the time the schooner arrived off Hatteras it was possible to get an observation every day so that the exact position could be determined, but after that they could only get a shot every two or three days. Gale succeeded gale, and while the weather was rough it was not severely cold. In one of the gales, the seas boarded her from stem to stern.
Shortly after the schooner had lost her rudder, the Lunenburg motor vessel Jean and Frances, in command of Captain Kenneth Iversen, was sighted, and she came over to the Theriault, who was flying a distress signal. The Jean and Frances was enroute to Panama and had only supplies sufficient to last her voyage, so that they could give nothing to the crew of the Theriault, and as there was nothing else they could do, they proceeded on their way to Panama.
The Dutch freighter Amazone was sighted on the 15th of February and gave them sufficient supplies to carry them along. By this time most of the supplies of the Theriault had been exhausted. The cook stove had been moved aft and- the-members of the crew all bunked aft, so that the one fire would do the cooking and providing heat for the entire crew, and they all ate at the one table in order to effect a further saving.
The Theriault arrived off LaHave on the 13th March, 46 days out from Turks Island, and was towed up the LaHave River by one of the Government patrol boats.
The E. P. Theriault is 17 years old. She was built at Weymouth and is now owned by Archibald Publicover of LaHave. She carried a cargo of 10,000 bushels of salt. There was no insurance on the vessel, and when asked if there was ever any discussion of abandoning the schooner, Capt. Corkum said the matter was thought of but they decided to stick by the ship, as in the event of their abandoning her there would be little possibility of collecting their wages.
The schooner is now in Lunenburg and will be hauled on the marine railway for repairs. Capt. Corkum has been going to sea for 42 years and has been a master mariner for the past 16 years.
Capt. Corkum made more of picking up a passenger than of picking up the land at the right spot. "One of the unusual incidents of the voyage occurred about 245 miles off Cape Hatteras," said the Progress- Enterprise, "when a pure bred homing pigeon lodged on the rigging and refused to leave. On its leg was a band bearing the inscription 315 IF 36 W. D. C. The bird was brought to Lunenburg and Capt. Corkum will notify the owner, who apparently lived in Washington, D.C."
And the biggest incident of the forty-six days was off stormy Cape Hatteras, when The Dutchman gave him, not a new rudder nor a tow, but enough food to bring the three-master home.
"It was a lucky day for the Theriault's crew when about 300 miles off Hatteras they sighted the Dutch freighter Amazone. After days of battling storms and with little prospect for a fast passage, provisions were running dangerously low. The Dutchman was spoken and sent aboard sufficient supplies to last the crew for the remainder of the passage."
With Capt. Corkum on board were John Pottinger, Lunenburg, mate; Reg. Legag, West Dublin; Wilbert; Minick, West Dublin: Maxwell Corkum, West Dublin; and Freeman Demone, Lunenburg.
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Capt. George also sailed as mate on the Bluenose during the fall of 1935 on a voyage to England described by the Nova Scotia Archives as ...
In 1935, in what was perhaps its most significant role as an international ambassador, Bluenose sailed to England to represent Canada once again, this time at the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. The King, elderly and too frail to come aboard the Bluenose, instead formally received Angus Walters on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, and acknowledged the schooner's presence by observing that it was "a vessel of considerable merit typical of the spirit of Nova Scotians."
On the return voyage from England, Bluenose was almost lost in a violent September gale in the English Channel. Two hundred miles out from Falmouth, a huge sea hit the vessel and hundreds of tons of water crashed down, flooding the compartments. Ten passengers were on board, including five women who were not allowed above deck during the storm. They were down below, accordingly, entertaining themselves with a gramophone player, and had just put on a recording of the popular song 'Anything Goes' when the tremendous sea struck: "Amazing as it may seem, the gramophone, propped securely in a bunk, continued playing, but sounding a strident note to the women who at that moment thought they were doomed." Bluenose spent an eternity of several minutes rolled over completely to leeward, then slowly righted itself and sailed on through the storm.
There was a story printed in "The Western Morning News" of Plymouth, England on November 19, 1935 which provides a lot more detail about that storm - you can read that here.
• • • • •
Ivan Corkum
I haven't yet researched this branch but I believe this Ivan Corkum is a 4th cousin twice removed. This is a very interesting video.
"Ivan Corkum is a third generation operator of the family lumber mill in Lunenburg County, NS. The water-powered sawmill was built around 1913 by Ivan's grandfather. Once common in Nova Scotia, operational water-powered mills are now rare. Except for the turbine and key iron parts, these mills were hand-built of local lumber." (From video description) There is a government publication that listed all the sawmills in the Atlantic Provinces in 1959 ... see here ... Nova Scotia starts on page 52. There were a lot of them back then!
"Ivan Corkum is a third generation operator of the family lumber mill in Lunenburg County, NS. The water-powered sawmill was built around 1913 by Ivan's grandfather. Once common in Nova Scotia, operational water-powered mills are now rare. Except for the turbine and key iron parts, these mills were hand-built of local lumber." (From video description) There is a government publication that listed all the sawmills in the Atlantic Provinces in 1959 ... see here ... Nova Scotia starts on page 52. There were a lot of them back then!
• • • • •
Capt. Leo Parks Corkum (1889 - 1971)
Leo was a fourth cousin twice removed. What I found very interesting about him was that he dictated the story of his life the year before he passed away. The original web site is gone but a copy was archived and you can find it here. It's a very interesting story of the life of a fisherman. (If you click on the HOME button, there are links to other interesting sites.)
• • • • •
Murray James Corkum (1878 - 1955)
Murray was a second cousin twice removed and I include him here because I thought it was interesting that we had a relative who worked for at least 25 years as a machine operator for the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham MA. The Waltham company went out of business in 1957 but for a long time before that it had been a very famous watch brand (for those of you too young to know of that brand.)
• • • • •
Paul Bruce Corkum
I have two comments for visitors to this page. 1) What is an Attosecond, and 2) Don't forget the chocolate. OK, if I have peaked your curiosity, you will have to read this 2015 article to find the answers. And the answer to the next question after reading the headline is no, he didn't win a Nobel prize - it was a long shot anyway. Paul is a second cousin once removed, born in Saint John NB and now in Ottawa. His official title is "National Research Council-Canada Research Chair in Attosecond Photonics and Professor of Physics, University of Ottawa". I'd say he is a pretty impressive relative in my tree (even if I don't know what most of that means, and how he fits it on a business card). His CV (resumé to us commoners) is 47 pages long! (That was 2017 - probably longer now.) In November 2018 he went to London, England to be the first Canadian to receive the Isaac Newton Medal, the UK's highest physics award. Here is the announcement on the UK's Institute of Physics site. He has received numerous awards as listed on his WikiPedia page. Google his name and you'll find many articles. Paul was once again a contender for the Nobel Physics prize in October 2023 but unfortunately was again unsuccessful. (Paul's father, Mark Corkum, as far as I know was the last Corkum born in our ancestral home in Middle LaHave ... built I believe by my 2nd Great Grandfather Caleb Corkum.)
• • • • •
Kezia [Cassie] (Corkum) Chesley (1887 - 1959)
Cassie (a second cousin twice removed) married Irven Israel Chesley, both from Lunenburg County, in 1911. Irven was a farmer. These were two ordinary people however upon marriage they immediately moved to Saskatchewan to be homesteaders. It was at that time that the government was opening up prairie lands to settlers and Cassie and Irven obtained a parcel of land near Nokomis SK which today is just one hour south of Humboldt. They apparently farmed there until Israel died in 1947 and Cassie came back to Nova Scotia. The Google map coordinates of the homestead are 51.536390, -104.848645 (enter those numbers in Google maps search). The latest satellite image seems to show lighter coloured sections that look as if they are fields currently farmed today with some barely visible wheel tracks.
• • • • •
Edith Marguerite (Corkum) Wallis (1908-1988)
Edith was a first cousin twice removed and she was the owner/editor of the Digby Courier newspaper from 1955 after the previous owner (her father-in-law) passed away until she sold it in 1973. There is an interesting article about the paper in the January 1969 issue of Macleans Magazine which you can find here and also a 1979 interview she gave about the history of newspapers in Digby County of which you can find a transcript here.
Next (alphabetically) ... those of other surnames who are descendants of a Corkum ...
Angus Benjamin Beck (1889-1959)
Angus was a 3rd cousin once removed. Angus is noteworthy to me for his connection to a bit of history. Angus was from Lunenburg County and was a blacksmith. He married in 1913 however his wife died of tuberculosis less than six years later. Angus apparently decided to move to the US in 1921 however it appears he must have changed his mind and delayed the move until 1933. A few months later we find Angus has become the engineer on the Gloucester fishing schooner, Gertrude L. Thebaud. OK, have you recognized that name? If not, more information at WikiPedia. The Thebaud was the famous US schooner that competed against our Bluenose in the races in 1931-32. The races had ended by the time Angus joined and both vessels by that time had engines installed. The Bluenose and Thebaud raced once again in 1938 but for most of 1937-38 Angus was on another schooner (part of which time an engineer would not have been required on the Thebaud as the engines were temporarily removed from both schooners to qualify for racing). Angus later returned to the Thebaud at the end of 1938 through 1942 after which the Thebaud was commissioned into the US Coast Guard for war service. I found nothing more on Angus other than he is buried here in his home community cemetery. Interestingly Capt. Angus Walters of the Bluenose was another cousin so fortunately we did not have family on both sides of the race at that time.
• • • • •
John Acy "Red" Campbell III (1921 - 2012)
Another noteworthy relative I found. John was a sixth cousin (yeah, not that close, but I'll take what I can get) in the United States who had joined the RAF before the US entered WW2. He was a Spitfire pilot. According to the story, he found that the British weather was constantly giving him colds and he also was looking for more action, so he requested transfer to North Africa but soon ended up transferred to the South Pacific. Unfortunately it was not a good move and he was there only a short time when he was shot down over Java and ended up spending 3½ years in a Japanese POW camp. He survived and in 2012, his son-in-law, R. S. Hunter, wrote his biography titled "Where Eagles Fly, Uncensored". The book is out of print now - some used copies may be available online. I bought a copy at a good price ("cheap") on Barnes and Noble marketplace. It's a fantastic story - an excellent read if you can find a copy. [UPDATE: As of September 2019, Richard Hunter has posted an "audio book" version to his YouTube channel so you can listen to the book here.]
On a bit of a side note, John's 3rd Great Grandmother was Hannah Corkum (1806-1893) of Chester, Nova Scotia. Hannah married a John Skerry from Halifax who had become a Mormon missionary, and they moved to Utah in the early 1850's. Hannah is the earliest "Corkum" I've found in a US census - she appears in the Utah Census of 1856. The first appearance of the actual name Corkum in the US census is in 1870.
On a bit of a side note, John's 3rd Great Grandmother was Hannah Corkum (1806-1893) of Chester, Nova Scotia. Hannah married a John Skerry from Halifax who had become a Mormon missionary, and they moved to Utah in the early 1850's. Hannah is the earliest "Corkum" I've found in a US census - she appears in the Utah Census of 1856. The first appearance of the actual name Corkum in the US census is in 1870.
• • • • •
Andrea Chappell
Andrea is my third cousin. She is the Director, Instructional Technologies and Media Services at the University of Waterloo. She is also the granddaughter of Edith Wallis (above). What makes Andrea interesting to me is that we have an "occupational" connection. I also have worked in the audio visual technology field for 41 years although my work had been as accountant (later purchasing) for a Maritime equipment supplier prior to recent retirement.
• • • • •
Naomi Maud Conrad (1891-1938)
Naomi was a 3rd cousin once removed born in Lunenburg County. I know little about Naomi however I am including her because of who she is related to. Naomi was the daughter-in-law of George Henry Murray from Cape Breton. Unless you are a political historian, you probably have not heard of George (I didn't) but he was the Premier of Nova Scotia from 1896 to 1923 - 26½ years - the longest serving politician in Canadian history. George's son and Naomi's husband was Wilfrid Laurier Murray who was a lawyer and they lived in Montreal. Naomi died in 1938 and her remains were transported to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia for the funeral and burial. Her funeral was March 4, 1938 and tragically three days later Wilfrid died of a heart attack in Bridgewater. They were both only 47 years of age.
• • • • •
Keith Lennox Cook (1925-2010)
Keith was a 3rd cousin once removed born in Indian Path, Lunenburg County and lived in First South. He had a long career as a marine mechanic at the Lunenburg Foundry however what I found interesting about him was this statement from his obituary. "One of the highlights of Keith's life was being a crewmember on the vessel, "The Bounty" and spending a year sailing to Tahiti while the movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty" was being filmed. Keith was an accomplished, self-taught accordion player and was often invited to come and play a tune at local gatherings. He often spoke of the time he played with Harry Hibbs from Newfoundland and had him over to the house."
. . . . .
Ellen Daly
Here is a talented young musician in the family from the Ottawa area. Ellen is a third cousin twice removed. Check out her web site here. And listen to some of her music on her YouTube Channel.
• • • • •
Alwyn Loring Eisenhauer (1928-2013)
Captain "Ike" or A. L. Eisenhauer on his books, was a commercial pilot. Alwyn was a fifth cousin originally from Boston, later living in Florida. He wrote two books - the first titled "The Flying Carpetbagger" and then a sequel "The Flying Carpetbagger II" co-authored with his wife and son. He seems to have led quite the life including some involvement as pilot for a notorious US criminal financier, Robert Vesco. Click to enlarge the book picture below and read the short synopsis on the covers. Used copies of Ike's books were available from various on-line bookstores. He was working on a third book at the time of his death which apparently was never published. His obituary is here.
Amazon describes the second book as "Fly with Captain Ike through his Navy career. Roll the beautiful 707 over the ocean and then hijack her back to the United States for our government. You will live these adventures with Captain Ike as he wrote about them or in many cases as told by his crew members or family. This unique individual believed in sharing what he had learned (often the hard way) in order to save lives, perhaps yours and mine. Ike was most at home in the air. He was welcomed throughout the world, sometimes with a weapon pointed in his direction. He took it all in stride and lived to tell about it. Flights to Nigeria, Libya, Malta, South America and Switzerland each involved an unforgettable story. He was possibly the last swashbuckler to fly the world and though he denied it often Ike loved to be in the catbird seat on a journey."
Alwyn's son and wife, Bar and Dannie Eisenhauer operate Van Sant Airport in Erwinna, Pennsylvania - check out his web site, however also have a look at this short video (2:50) of the gorgeous Pennsylvania scenery from the air.
Alwyn's son and wife, Bar and Dannie Eisenhauer operate Van Sant Airport in Erwinna, Pennsylvania - check out his web site, however also have a look at this short video (2:50) of the gorgeous Pennsylvania scenery from the air.
• • • • •
David Ernst
Terra Beata Cranberry Farm - OK, I just thought I'd throw in a "plug" for a family business. I learned that the owners of this business near Lunenburg NS are David and Evelyn Ernst. David is a third cousin once removed. Click the link to visit their web site - the "Where to Buy" tab will tell you where to find their products in Canada. Look for their products the next time you are in one of those stores.
• • • • •
Clell Elwood Joudrey (1926-1981)
Clell was another fifth cousin. There are a variety of interesting people on that far side of my tree. While Clell lived in Lunenburg County (in the rural community of Elmwood), he was unknown to me until now. I am including him here as he was quite an accomplished fiddle player, and his name has been included in the same sentence with other famous Maritime fiddlers I do know such as Don Messer, Ned Landry, Ivan Hicks and Jarvis Benoit. Clell's father gave him a fiddle on his 8th birthday. Three years later he was offered a chance to tour North America with a group of musicians which of course his parents refused. Later in life Clell won a number of fiddling awards including Best Reel in the Maritime Fiddle Festival in 1979 and 1980. In 1978, three years before he passed away, he recorded one vinyl record album "Fantastic Fiddling" which is very rare today if you can find one. (Picture above from that album.)
• • • • •
Jared Lutes
Jared is my latest "musical surprise". He is a 4th cousin twice removed and is a musician/music producer in New Brunswick. His maternal grandmother was a Zinck from Lunenburg. You really need to check out his music on his YouTube channel. I've watched some of them so far and every one is fantastic. Try these to start: "Quand Mon Heure Est La" sung by his wife Marie-Josée Poitras (in French). Now for something a little informal by Jared - a kitchen party song - "Nowhere To Go" (This is on my home page). And to end off, let's go out on the back deck for one more - "Make It Up To You". (Jared's Web Site, and FaceBook)
• • • • •
Nancy MacCready-Williams
Nancy is a 4th cousin once removed. Her connection to the Corkum's is through the Lohnes family. I have included her due to her occupation. Nancy is the CEO of Doctors Nova Scotia since 2011, the professional medical association representing over 3,500 physicians in Nova Scotia.
• • • • •
Capt. Atwood Maxwell Parks (1895-1974)
Capt. Atwood lived in East LaHave, Lunenburg County and was a member of my church so I remember him although not well as it was a long time ago. Like many in our area, he followed the sea and was Captain of a number of ships. There is one interesting story from 1944 when as Captain of the fishing schooner Kasagra, they rescued three British airmen who had ditched their plane in the Atlantic. Capt. Atwood was awarded the OBE by King George VI. The Progress-Enterprise newspaper of Lunenburg printed this story titled "Fishing schooner saves lives of three airmen".
The story of the rescue at sea was told here yesterday by Captain Atwood Parks of East LaHave who saved the lives of three airmen on the high seas on May 15th. When the 60-foot fishing schooner Kasagra put into port here early in the week, Captain Parks and his crew busied themselves with the usual routine and went to their homes saying little of the good deed done.
Hearing about the incident, the Progress-Enterprise editor went aboard to interview the skipper who related his experience, while seated in the small cabin of his vessel. The Kasagra left Lunenburg on May 12th and after picking up bait in Halifax proceeded to the Banks. Early in the morning of May 15th when aboput 60 miles south of Louisburg a plane circled above the craft, dropping flares in a manner in which the fishing skipper understood to be distress signals and without hesitation changed his course and proceeded in the direction given by the plane. At 7 a.m., they sighted a small rubber raft with 3 men hanging to it. To assure a successful rescue in the choppy waters, Captain Parks put out two dories to pick up the men who turned out to be three R.A.F. flyers. Two of the men were in serious condition when picked up while the third could talk and tell what happened. Their plane had crashed at sea at about 4 a.m.
The Captain and members of his crew gave the men hot coffee and did all they could to make them comfortable. Some time after, the plane which had led them to the rescue returned and again signaled them on a course, leading them in the path of a Corvette to which the three men were transferred. "We lost a day's fishing in doing this, said the skipper, but we are mighty glad we came along to save these men who are doing so much for us." The skipper's son, Lowell, who was busy at his engine remarked "It brought us luck, each man in the crew netted over sixty dollars with the catch in the next five days." Keith Parks, another son is a member of the crew and was one of the dory crew who went out for the flyers.
When the Captain arrived at his home, a letter from Eastern Air Command was waiting for him expressing the gratitude of the Air Force for his good deed. Another letter signed by the three airmen, thanked the skipper and his crew for saving their lives. The flyers said that they could not have lasted much longer and had not the little craft responded so quickly to the distress call, they would have been lost.
Again, our fishermen who face the war hazards of the seas to feed the nations, register a heroic deed and take it in their stride as part of their routine.
The "Kasagra" is owned by Reginald MacDonald of Souris, P.E.I.
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Atwood was also involved in one of the first feature films made in Nova Scotia, when as Captain of the "Marguerite B. Tanner", he sailed his ship, renamed "Santa Isabel", in the film World In His Arms. This starred Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and Anne Blyth. During the filming, "Santa Isabel" and "Pilgrim" nearly collided, and except for Atwood's quick action of taking the helm, all on board may have been lost."
The setting of the movie was 1850 San Francisco and Russian Alaska. The scenes at sea were filmed here in Nova Scotia.
These stories are from the book, "Up Parks Creek" by the late Barry Alan Parks, published in 2007 (pages 217-219).
The story of the rescue at sea was told here yesterday by Captain Atwood Parks of East LaHave who saved the lives of three airmen on the high seas on May 15th. When the 60-foot fishing schooner Kasagra put into port here early in the week, Captain Parks and his crew busied themselves with the usual routine and went to their homes saying little of the good deed done.
Hearing about the incident, the Progress-Enterprise editor went aboard to interview the skipper who related his experience, while seated in the small cabin of his vessel. The Kasagra left Lunenburg on May 12th and after picking up bait in Halifax proceeded to the Banks. Early in the morning of May 15th when aboput 60 miles south of Louisburg a plane circled above the craft, dropping flares in a manner in which the fishing skipper understood to be distress signals and without hesitation changed his course and proceeded in the direction given by the plane. At 7 a.m., they sighted a small rubber raft with 3 men hanging to it. To assure a successful rescue in the choppy waters, Captain Parks put out two dories to pick up the men who turned out to be three R.A.F. flyers. Two of the men were in serious condition when picked up while the third could talk and tell what happened. Their plane had crashed at sea at about 4 a.m.
The Captain and members of his crew gave the men hot coffee and did all they could to make them comfortable. Some time after, the plane which had led them to the rescue returned and again signaled them on a course, leading them in the path of a Corvette to which the three men were transferred. "We lost a day's fishing in doing this, said the skipper, but we are mighty glad we came along to save these men who are doing so much for us." The skipper's son, Lowell, who was busy at his engine remarked "It brought us luck, each man in the crew netted over sixty dollars with the catch in the next five days." Keith Parks, another son is a member of the crew and was one of the dory crew who went out for the flyers.
When the Captain arrived at his home, a letter from Eastern Air Command was waiting for him expressing the gratitude of the Air Force for his good deed. Another letter signed by the three airmen, thanked the skipper and his crew for saving their lives. The flyers said that they could not have lasted much longer and had not the little craft responded so quickly to the distress call, they would have been lost.
Again, our fishermen who face the war hazards of the seas to feed the nations, register a heroic deed and take it in their stride as part of their routine.
The "Kasagra" is owned by Reginald MacDonald of Souris, P.E.I.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Atwood was also involved in one of the first feature films made in Nova Scotia, when as Captain of the "Marguerite B. Tanner", he sailed his ship, renamed "Santa Isabel", in the film World In His Arms. This starred Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and Anne Blyth. During the filming, "Santa Isabel" and "Pilgrim" nearly collided, and except for Atwood's quick action of taking the helm, all on board may have been lost."
The setting of the movie was 1850 San Francisco and Russian Alaska. The scenes at sea were filmed here in Nova Scotia.
These stories are from the book, "Up Parks Creek" by the late Barry Alan Parks, published in 2007 (pages 217-219).
• • • • •
Lt. Charles Allister Ritcey (1915-1944)
Charles is a 3rd cousin once removed. He was from Lunenburg and enlisted in the non-permanent militia, Lunenburg Regiment, at age 13. Following high school graduation he became a salesman for a Montreal wholesale furniture company. He continued his service in the militia and was living in Yarmouth at the time of World War II. He had attained the rank of Sgt. in the militia, 2nd Battalion, West Nova Scotia Regiment (Reserve) when in 1941 he officially joined the Canadian Army at that rank. His military file shows he rose quickly to the rank of Lt. and in late 1942 he was transferred overseas to Britain with the Prince Louise Fusiliers. Unfortunately in May of 1944 while serving in Italy he was seriously wounded in action and died from the wounds. He is buried in the Cassino War Cemetery, Cassino, Italy. (See also his entry on the Wartime Heritage Association page.)
• • • • •
Joyce (Wentzell) Seamone
Joyce is a fifth cousin and although she is on a distant branch, I'm proud to have her in my family tree. For any of you who may not be familiar with Canadian country music back in the 1970's, Joyce's first song was "Testing 1-2-3" and it went to number 1 on the Canadian country music charts in 1972 earning Joyce a gold record. I bought her first album (and her third) back then and never knew until now that she is a relative. Joyce and her husband live in Pinehurst near Bridgewater. I also have a more recent video on my home page from Joyce's YouTube channel. She leads off with that song.
• • • • •
Arthur Perry Shankle (1906 - 1993)
Arthur was a third cousin once removed. He was born in my home community of Middle LaHave and later moved to the US. His sister was a neighbor to me for many years. Arthur is interesting to me not because of anything he did but again because of where he worked. Arthur worked for nearly 40 years for the Norton abrasives company in Worcester MA until retirement in 1969. I'm sure that means nothing to anyone reading this. But why is that interesting to me? Well, my father was a carpenter and he used a lot of sandpaper and I remember that Norton was the brand name on much of the sandpaper he used. It's interesting to think that a relative may have helped make that product. Norton today is still one of the world's largest manufacturers of abrasive products.
• • • • •
Donald Winsor Shankle (1928-2004)
Don Shankle of Oceanside, California, born in Boston was a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army. Don was another noted genealogist who did extensive research in Lunenburg County. He was a sixth cousin. Don had a web site "Down East, A Maritime Heritage" which is still active and has much useful information.
• • • • •
Capt. Angus James Walters (1881-1968)
Capt. Angus Walters should be very familiar to any Canadians reading this. Angus was the skipper of the legendary Bluenose fishing schooner, the "Queen of the North Atlantic", and well known for winning races for the International Fisherman's Cup. Angus was my 4th cousin twice removed. He would likely be more recognizable to you from the pictures below of the days when he skippered the Bluenose. The picture on the far right was on the wall in one of the meeting rooms at the White Point Beach Resort in Queens County, Nova Scotia.
If any of you want to know more about Capt. Angus, check this 47 minute video about his life: "The Canadians: Angus Walters"
Here is a good short 2-minute video about the Bluenose: "Canada Vignettes: Bluenose 1921-1946". And another similar 1-minute video: "Heritage Minutes: Bluenose". - I remember seeing these quite often on television.
This 4-minute video shows a dive team exploring what is believed to be the wreck site off Haiti: "Bluenose, The Final Resting Place"
Finally I offer this story from a March 1927 issue of MacLean's magazine. This is a very good story and I highly recommend it: "The Flying Bluenose".
You can use Google to find more on the Bluenose and Capt. Angus if you like. The year 2021 was the 100th anniversary of the Bluenose.
Here is a good short 2-minute video about the Bluenose: "Canada Vignettes: Bluenose 1921-1946". And another similar 1-minute video: "Heritage Minutes: Bluenose". - I remember seeing these quite often on television.
This 4-minute video shows a dive team exploring what is believed to be the wreck site off Haiti: "Bluenose, The Final Resting Place"
Finally I offer this story from a March 1927 issue of MacLean's magazine. This is a very good story and I highly recommend it: "The Flying Bluenose".
You can use Google to find more on the Bluenose and Capt. Angus if you like. The year 2021 was the 100th anniversary of the Bluenose.
• • • • •
George Albert Walters (1914-1960)
George was a 5th cousin once removed. He was born in Parks Creek (now East LaHave) Lunenburg County. George became s star athlete winning many Maritime awards and setting records. George moved to Prince Edward Island in 1941. He retired from competition in 1953 but remained active in sports until 1959. He died suddenly in 1960. He was posthumously inducted in to the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. Click the link to read more of George's biography. This picture of George is from their web site.
• • • • •
Chris Whitten
This is a case where Chris found me. Chris is the President and founder of WikiTree in New York which is described by Wikipedia as "WikiTree is a free, shared social networking genealogy website that allows users individually to research and contribute to their own personal family trees, while building and collaborating on a singular worldwide family tree within the same system." Chris is a another American sixth cousin. I have been adding pages on various deceased relatives to that site.
• • • • •
Dr. J. Christopher Young (1940-2018)
Chris was a scientist in the field of chemistry and also a noted historian who studied the families of the immigrants from Germany, France, and Switzerland who were the original settlers of Lunenburg in 1753. Chris is the grandson of Capt. Leo Parks Corkum above and is a sixth cousin. His obituary is here, and here. (It is his research that told me exactly where Great (x5) Grandfather Wilhelm's property in Lunenburg in 1754 was located.) Chris had a very good web site titled The Wizard's Cove that contained a wealth of useful information and after his death, it had been hosted on another site which also had some good information but that site is now gone too. The WaybackMachine site has archived it but their archives don't always get everything so it's hit or miss what will still work. The 2006 version is here but some pictures are missing. An earlier 2002 version which seems to have more pictures is here.
And finally (also alphabetically) ... a few notable people who have married into our extended family ...
Vivian Ruth (Wamback) Corkum (1920-2009)
Vivian is related via marriage. Vivian's husband was a fourth cousin twice removed. Vivian was a school teacher who lived in New Cumberland, Lunenburg County and when she retired, she became very interested in genealogy and researched the Corkum family. She made three trips to Germany resulting in her book in 2003 (pictured here) which provides much information about our Gorkum family in Germany prior to the emigration to Nova Scotia in 1752, as well as the New Cumberland branch of the Corkum tree. This is a treasure of family history and I am very grateful for her work. (I just wish she would have explained how she found the portrait of Johannes [above].)
• • • • •
The Hon. Wilfred P. Moore, Senator, Q.C.
Wilfred is a retired lawyer (Queens Counsel) (1968-1999) who lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, now in Chester. He served as a Halifax city alderman from 1974 to 1980. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada and served as a Liberal Senator for 20 years from 1999 to 2017. Wilfred is related by marriage as his wife is Jane Ritcey, a 4th cousin, who is President of Adams and Knickle Limited.
• • • • •
Richard Wesley Smith (1871-1954)
Richard along with George Rhuland formed a partnership in 1900 with Richard being the senior partner, and established the "Smith and Rhuland" shipyard, famous for building the "Bluenose". Richard is related by marriage as his wife was the former Ella Walters who was my 4th cousin twice removed.
• • • • •
Gordon Fenton Tanner (1930 - 2013)
Gordon's wife, Beatrice Corkum, was a fifth cousin once removed. I am including Gordon as an interesting relative as his obituary states that he had worked on the Avro Arrow airplane. I always thought it was a government mistake when they canceled the project and destroyed everything.
Etc.
Now for something a little different. When digging into your family past, sometimes you find the oddest things. But this one really surprised me. I found a fifth cousin named Ora Vaughan whose first husband died a few years after World War 1 as a result of injuries sustained in the war. She later remarried to Roderick Hamm. These were both just ordinary people like most of my relatives. They lived in Gold River, Lunenburg County. However here is where it starts to get "freaky" for want of a better term. Besides having the same first name as me, look at the signatures in the picture here (click to enlarge). The one on the top is Roderick Hamm's signature from his marriage in 1926 - the one on the bottom is mine from 1971. What are the odds of two people with the almost identical handwriting? Of course handwriting changes over time and my signature is very different now, but that is just weird! And to add something else, Roderick Hamm was a carpenter. My father was a carpenter and I "grew up" in his work shop so gained some carpenter skills although I went a different career route.
• • • • •
Quadruplets - Twins are fairly common and there are a number scattered in our family. I have found one case of triplets but they all died at birth. However I have found one quadruplet birth. Faith, Hope, Charity, and Joseph were born to A. Bennett Eisener (a third cousin twice removed) and his wife Ida of Scarsdale, Lunenburg County in 1913. Sadly, Faith and Hope did not survive but Charity and Joseph lived full lives until they passed away at ages 87 and 70.
Of course my extended family is no different than most. When you dig deep enough you find that records reveal stories, some that I'm sure that those involved long ago believed were forever buried and forgotten. Then there are some family members you may wish were not part of your family (I found a few cases that I won't mention here, most now deceased) and you may find some really heartbreaking stories about some people too. Here are two examples.
One fourth cousin once removed (who I will identify only by her first name, Maud, for privacy as there may still be living relatives) seems to me to have had a very hard and short life. She lived in rural Lunenburg County and was born in 1918 (according to the date on her tombstone). She was married in 1931 to a man aged 23. Her marriage certificate says her age was 15 but that was obviously not correct. She was just short of her 13th birthday! Three months after marriage Maud gave birth to two premature twin girls who died at birth. There were four more girls born between 1932 and 1936. One died three weeks after birth, two others died at ages 12 and 16. Only the last daughter survived and still lived in the area in 1999 at last report that I found. (She had put the tombstone on her mother's grave.) Maud and her husband were later divorced in 1952 and he remarried a month later. Tragically Maud died in 1958 at age 39.
Another sad case is a third cousin I will identify also only by his first name, Martin. His family at some point lived in my home community of Middle LaHave (I don't remember them) and then moved to the US. Martin was a few years younger than me, having been born in 1956. All I know about him is that by 1994 he was living in California. He died in 2011. He was cremated and his remains were unclaimed and held in storage by the local county. After three years, they were buried along with other unclaimed remains in an unmarked grave in the local Potters Field (a pauper's cemetery). I think it is sad that his remains were unclaimed, as he did have a brother living in the area at the time, but also that there is a family plot in the Middle LaHave Cemetery with his name pre-engraved on the tombstone, so there was a burial place waiting for him with his mother. There are other family names on the tombstone but I believe only the mother is buried here - the rest all lived in the US. She had returned to Lunenburg County in later years.
One fourth cousin once removed (who I will identify only by her first name, Maud, for privacy as there may still be living relatives) seems to me to have had a very hard and short life. She lived in rural Lunenburg County and was born in 1918 (according to the date on her tombstone). She was married in 1931 to a man aged 23. Her marriage certificate says her age was 15 but that was obviously not correct. She was just short of her 13th birthday! Three months after marriage Maud gave birth to two premature twin girls who died at birth. There were four more girls born between 1932 and 1936. One died three weeks after birth, two others died at ages 12 and 16. Only the last daughter survived and still lived in the area in 1999 at last report that I found. (She had put the tombstone on her mother's grave.) Maud and her husband were later divorced in 1952 and he remarried a month later. Tragically Maud died in 1958 at age 39.
Another sad case is a third cousin I will identify also only by his first name, Martin. His family at some point lived in my home community of Middle LaHave (I don't remember them) and then moved to the US. Martin was a few years younger than me, having been born in 1956. All I know about him is that by 1994 he was living in California. He died in 2011. He was cremated and his remains were unclaimed and held in storage by the local county. After three years, they were buried along with other unclaimed remains in an unmarked grave in the local Potters Field (a pauper's cemetery). I think it is sad that his remains were unclaimed, as he did have a brother living in the area at the time, but also that there is a family plot in the Middle LaHave Cemetery with his name pre-engraved on the tombstone, so there was a burial place waiting for him with his mother. There are other family names on the tombstone but I believe only the mother is buried here - the rest all lived in the US. She had returned to Lunenburg County in later years.
My Family - The Rhodenizer's
My mother's paternal side is Rhodenizer, some spell it Rodenhiser and appears that it was originally spelled something like Rothenhauser back in Germany. The earliest known relative on this side was Hans Heinrich Rothenhauser, born about 1650, who was my Great (x7) Grandfather and lived in Hoffstetten, Germany. Again all my information so far has come from other people's research, however it looks like at some point in his life he had been the mayor ("Schultheis") of that town. I have not been able to identify the town with certainty as there appeared to be multiple places of this name (although I hope it is the one in the beautiful mountain valley below. Wouldn't you like to live there? Click the picture for a larger view). [Picture by H. D. Schmidt posted to Google Maps.]
My Great (x5) Grandfather Johann Philipp Friedrich Rothenhauser and his wife Anna Elizabeth (both born in Kleinheubach, Germany) emigrated to Halifax with possibly four children in September 1751 (a year before the Corkum's!) By 1753 they were living around First Peninsula just outside of Lunenburg.
I haven't done much research on this side of the family yet to find famous or important relatives however I have found one.
I haven't done much research on this side of the family yet to find famous or important relatives however I have found one.
Carroll Baker
Carroll is a fifth cousin which puts her on a distant branch however I am proud to have her in my family tree. Carroll is another famous Canadian country music star found in my extended family. Joyce Seamone above on my father's side is the other. Carroll released many songs and won a number of awards in the 1970's. She is in the Country Music Hall of Fame and is also a Member of the Order of Canada. Carroll was from Queens County, Nova Scotia and moved to Ontario in her teen years. Her web site seems to have disappeared. As with Joyce Seamone, I also have two of Carroll's record albums I bought way back then and until now didn't know we were related. Here is another news article from 2009 which has some more biographical information on Carroll. (Note, the author made one mistake - Bridgewater is not a "small fishing village" - it is the largest town on the South Shore of Nova Scotia! The author was probably referring to the community where Carroll originally lived.)
A Puzzle for You
For those of you interested in your family history, here's a puzzle for you to ponder.
You had two parents. Each of your parents also had two parents, and each of them also had two parents. So starting with you the number of your direct ancestors doubles as you go back each generation ... 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. Picture this as an upside down triangle getting bigger as you go up (backward in time). Makes sense, right?
A "generation" is assumed to be about 30 years on average so if you start today and count back doubling every generation, by the year 1600 you should have over 16,000 "great grandparents" and by the year 1150 that number would skyrocket to over 500 million which is impossible as the total world population at that time was estimated to be less than that number. So where is the fault with this calculation? Population growth is a right side up triangle getting bigger as you go down (forward in time). Obviously they can't both be right ... well, yes they can BUT (it's a big "but") there is an explanation (warning - it's complicated!)
It's something called "Pedigree Collapse" and apparently is quite complex mathematics. It basically says that instead of one upside down triangle, you have a diamond shape with points on top and bottom. I have found a web site that tries to provide a more understandable explanation (without the math) which you can find HERE although I must advise that it is still a rather deep subject and this is a long article. The extremely short answer is that somewhere in everyone's history a lot of ancestors married close relatives thereby severely limiting the number of "grandparents". The article indicates that this would have had to happen in large numbers over time (hence the "collapse") as a few cases would not have had much effect on the results of this puzzle. There's also an interesting YouTube video on this subject HERE.
It depended a lot on migration patterns too. In times past many people tended to live in a small geographic area all their lives (travel was difficult) so communities probably eventually developed many closely related people severely limiting available spouses who were not related in some way. So if you marry a cousin, you share grandparents somewhere so have two less. If a lot of your relatives over time married cousins, then you can see the number of grandparents gets reduced quickly. (I have found over 200 cases in my tree of over 19,000 people.)
You had two parents. Each of your parents also had two parents, and each of them also had two parents. So starting with you the number of your direct ancestors doubles as you go back each generation ... 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. Picture this as an upside down triangle getting bigger as you go up (backward in time). Makes sense, right?
A "generation" is assumed to be about 30 years on average so if you start today and count back doubling every generation, by the year 1600 you should have over 16,000 "great grandparents" and by the year 1150 that number would skyrocket to over 500 million which is impossible as the total world population at that time was estimated to be less than that number. So where is the fault with this calculation? Population growth is a right side up triangle getting bigger as you go down (forward in time). Obviously they can't both be right ... well, yes they can BUT (it's a big "but") there is an explanation (warning - it's complicated!)
It's something called "Pedigree Collapse" and apparently is quite complex mathematics. It basically says that instead of one upside down triangle, you have a diamond shape with points on top and bottom. I have found a web site that tries to provide a more understandable explanation (without the math) which you can find HERE although I must advise that it is still a rather deep subject and this is a long article. The extremely short answer is that somewhere in everyone's history a lot of ancestors married close relatives thereby severely limiting the number of "grandparents". The article indicates that this would have had to happen in large numbers over time (hence the "collapse") as a few cases would not have had much effect on the results of this puzzle. There's also an interesting YouTube video on this subject HERE.
It depended a lot on migration patterns too. In times past many people tended to live in a small geographic area all their lives (travel was difficult) so communities probably eventually developed many closely related people severely limiting available spouses who were not related in some way. So if you marry a cousin, you share grandparents somewhere so have two less. If a lot of your relatives over time married cousins, then you can see the number of grandparents gets reduced quickly. (I have found over 200 cases in my tree of over 19,000 people.)
All links on this page were verified working as of April 13, 2021
Additional pages related to the Corkum family history
Additional pages related to genealogy