Did You Ever Notice This in Beckwith Park? Thanks to Gary Box

Gary Box wrote on my story about being a Tombstone Tourist yesterday.

“I sometimes find wandering through cemeteries and reading the stones can be quite an emotional experience. I found a cenotaph bearing the name of Nursing Sister Jessie M. McDiarmid who drowned June 27th, 1918 by a German Submarine. I was so taken by the words that I looked up the incident and found the Hospital ship carrying Jessie and over 300 Canadian Soldiers to safety when it was torpedoed”.

“There was no warning and those who were not killed instantly were machined-gunned right in their lifeboats. Only about 25 people survived to tell the story. I also went to ST. Fillans Cemetery to find ancestors when I came across a McDiarmid family Grave and there on the bottom was Jessie’s name. I was quite taken by such a tragic, sad and emotional experience”.

“The sinking of the ship and the finding of the gravestone were purely coincidental and happened within 2 years of each other. I made the connection only because some else thought that Jessie was on the Lusitania when she was torpedoed on May 7th 1915…….my maternal grandparents were survivors of the U20 attack which sank the ship in 18 minutes. At the time the Lusitania was the greatest cruise ship in the world and this was the first incident of indiscriminate Warfare by the Germans, illegal under wartime “Rules”. The loss was 1200 passengers and 700 survivors The Germans then stopped, after this tragedy but reinstituted indiscriminate warfare when the U.S. was dragged into the War…..at least that’s how I heard it.”

“Here is the Cenotaph Story. The cenotaph is located at the Beckwith Sports Complex at Blacks Corners” Thanks Gary, I had to search for the story myself.

Gary Box runs runs the The Ottawa Valley Box Family, Relatives and Researchers and you should check it out.. CLICK

Jessie Mabel McDiarmid was born in Ashton, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada in August 14, 1880. She was the daughter of John McDiarmid, Beckwith Township, Ontario and niece of Mr. J. McDiarmid of Ashton, Ontario. She was 35 and single when she enlisted as a nurse with the Canadian Army Medical Corps and 37 when she died. Only twenty four of those on board, including the captain, survived the treacherous attack, which came without warning.

The submarine commander, who ordered the destruction of the Llandovery Castle declared that he had sunk the ship because she was carrying American aviation officers and others in the fighting service of the Allies. He added to this later by asserting that the vessel was carrying a lot of ammunition stores, because an explosion had occurred after.

The hospital ship that contained the 12 twelve nursing sisters capsized and the sisters were drowned. It is assumed that the fourteen nursing sisters reached a lifeboat, but so far as was known there was no trace of them after the ship sank in July of 1918.

Clipped from

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun Screamin’ Mamas (USA) and The Sherbrooke Record

Being a Tombstone Tourist

Comments –What was it Like Being German in Lanark County 1915?

Did the Germans Start the Fire at the Portland School in 1915?

Was it the Germans Or UFO’s that Invaded the Ottawa Valley in 1915?

There were Spies Among us in Carleton Place

Ted Hurdis’s Treasures Uncle Don

The War Children that Tried to Come to Canada–SS City of Benares

The Children of Ross Dhu –Evacuation to Canada

Does Anyone Know What This is?

The Very Sad Tale of Horace Garner “Sparky” Stark of Carleton Place

Photos by the Sky Pilots of Carleton Place- Bill and Carole Flint

Lambs Down last weekend.. at the Woolgrowers Roundhouse

A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables. The defining feature of the traditional roundhouse was the turntable, which facilitates access when the building is used for repair facilities or for storage of steam locomotives.

Early steam locomotives normally travelled forwards only; although reverse operations capabilities were soon built into locomotive mechanisms, the controls were normally optimized for forward travel, and the locomotives often could not operate as well in reverse. Some passenger cars, such as observation cars, were also designed as late as the 1960s for operations in a particular direction. A turntable allowed a locomotive or other rolling stock to be turned around for the return journey.

Canadian Co-Operative Wool Growers (Old CPR Roundhouse and Shop)

Built in: 1872 Architect: unknown

The railway constructed a large stone roundhouse and machine shop at Carleton Place in 1872, and continued to use this location until 1939. Since 1940, the Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers have occupied the old roundhouse. Come and enjoy railway memorabilia, the Real Wool Shop Boutique and the tack/western clothing equestrian centre--Heritage Carleton Place