Father & Son ~ Explosion At Work

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2020 Week 15 (FIRE)


It was a Thursday.
January 19th 1905 when Michael Aspden went to work at the sawmill in Cultus, Ontario, Canada. He, like many of the local farmers, made extra money during the winter at sawmills. 

Whitehead's Sawmill, 1905

That day, like any other winter day, he probably said goodbye to his wife & children. Maybe he kissed his wife Maggie goodbye?  

Michael & Maggie (nee Murphy) Aspden
My husband's X2 great grandparents

Maybe his kids chased after him?  Maybe he left with a full heart?  Maybe he left worried about things?  What exactly he was thinking about we don't know.  

What we do know is that Michael went to work at the sawmill. He was working that day with his oldest child John, and third oldest child Tom.  He likely met them at work. 


By 1905 Tom likely was not living at home. In the 1901 census he was listed as  living nearby with the Fleming family. By 1905 he may have moved back home since he was not married. 

Oldest son John had gotten married just a few weeks before on December 28th to Jessie Burger. He and Jessie likely lived nearby as was typical of that era. Maybe John met up with Michael & Tom to go to work, or maybe he met them there.


The day likely began & progressed just like any other work day. Just before quitting time John bent over to pick something up off the floor. That moment would save his life. 


At about 5:00 p.m. the boiler at the sawmill exploded. Tom and coworkers Charles Hainer, and George McCallum were killed instantly.  Michael & Freeman Moffatt critically injured. 

Simcoe Reformer, January 27th 1905 

An Aspden family member wrote the following after hearing the stories at a family reunion. 
"We can imagine the horror of John when he straightened up and gaped at the wreckage around him. His younger brother, Thomas, was dead. So too was the hired help, Charles Hainer. At first glance, Michael was in shock, badly burnt, but looked like he was going to make it."1


It was 6 days later that Michael succumbed to the injuries he sustained that day. 

Thomas Aspden & Charles Hainer died instantly
Michael Aspden died from inernal injuries 6 days later

When I decided to write about Michael & Tom Aspden for this week's blog, using the prompt, FIRE I thought I knew the story well having heard it from my husband's aunt who had heard it from her father who was 21 at the time of the explosion that killed his father and brother. 


I found researching fairly difficult because of the errors and misspellings in the past. There were a lot of media articles that listed Tom as George Aspden. The name Aspden was spelled as Ashben, Aspben, and Ashpen, and other ways. Once I finally figured out the sawmill wasn't owned by Michael as the family believed, but was owned by a gentleman named George Whitehead, researching became a little easier. 


It was known as Whitehead's Sawmill. The family story only included two killed, and one injured. There was much of the tale that we didn't know.


The insurance company released the information below. It doesn't list Charles Hainer who was included in the death registration above. Nor does it list Michael as dying from the injuries.I wasn't able to find Charles Penard so it's possible that the Charles listed below is the same Charles listed above. Which name is the correct one can't be determined, but likely the burial information is correct. The death registration isn't fully correct since Charles' age was not 18. Charles. This burial record appears to be accurate:

Source: Ancestry.ca

"(36.) — A boiler exploded, on January 19, in Whitehead's sawmill, at Cultus,
a small town near Langdon, Ont. Charles Penard, George Aspden, George McCallum, and Freeman Moffat were killed, and George Whitehead, Michael Aspden, and Charles Whitehead were injured. The property loss is estimated

at $15,000." 2

Below is part of an entry I found in a local history book: 
"Another incident occurred at the Whitehead sawmill east of Fairground on December 19, 1904, when a steam boiler ran dry and someone tried to replace the water with the result that four men were killed and a fifth died on January 25, 1905. Four other men were injured. Charles. Hanner and Thomas Aspden were killed instantly, the latter by a brick driven through his skull. Freeman Moffatt of Cultus lived ten hours and George McCollom lived just a few minutes after being carried to the nearby boarding house. Michael Aspden died later in Langton on January 25, 1905. The injured were John L. Gee, Wally Whitehead and Allan Moffatt. Aspden was blown out of the fire hole about thirty feet beyond the west end of the mill. Wally Whitehead, nephew of John Whitehead, the owner of the mill, had just arrived on the scene when the explosion occurred and was hit by a flying object in the shoulder and arm, disabling his arm. John Aspden and Walter Stansell were the first to gather up the dead. The latter was mistaken for a doctor as he came upon the scene carrying a satchel." 3

After the explosion
Lower right of the photo is a hat - believed to be Michael Aspden's

In the photo above you will see a hat in the lower right. The family had been told it is Michael's hat. The family was told that Tom was decapitated. In the excerpt above it was described that a brick was driven through Tom's skull. It must have appeared to the family member who identified him that he had been decapitated. 


John was first to gather up the dead which included his father, brother, and colleagues. If he wouldn't have bent over right at that moment in time he too would have been injured or killed. His wife left a widow after only 22 days of marriage. His first child born 11 months later would never have been.  Like Tom's family line John's would have ended that day at work. 



In the book excerpt above the date of the explosion is wrong. After reading it I realized I needed to research this story more. I was able to confirm the date with the registration of Freeman Moffatt's death. I was not able to find George McCallum's death registration, but did find his death information on Find-A-Grave (sourced in the section below). Death records for both confirm the date of the explosion as January 19th 1905. 

Once the details were correct it was possible to find articles about the explosion. 

The Daily News, January 21st 1905

The Ottawa Journal, January 21st 1905

Manitoba Morning Free Press, January 21st 1905 

Toronto Daily Star, January 20th 1905

The Buffalo Times,  Jan 23rd 1905

The Windsor Star, January 20th 1905

When considering all the details presented the story passed down to the family regarding this tragic accident are mostly correct. The family's belief that the sawmill was owned by Michael Aspden isn't correct. I can find no connection between the owner George (or John or Charles) Whitehead and the Aspden family. 


There were 10 men working at the sawmill on the day the explosion happened. 5 were killed, 3 recovered from their injuries, and 2 were uninjured. 


The lack of safe work practices in the past is why we now have rules & legislation around safety at work. Everyone should come home at the end of their work day. 





Taking a moment to remember those who didn't come home from work in our Bramble Bush Family Tree. 






This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***





Footnotes:

1 Our Aspden Roots In Lancashire, England: A Tradition of Stationary Engineers and Sawmills, Aspden, Murray Bruce.  Self published eBook, 2016, pg 4

2 The Locomotive, Vol. 25, The Hartford Steam Boiler Insepction and Insurance Company, The Case, Lockivood & Brainard Company Printers, Hartford, Connecticut, October 1905, pg 213   Retrieved April 14th 2020 from
https://archive.org/details/locomotive25hart/mode/2up

3 Sims' History of Elgin County Volume III.  Sims, Hugh Joffre. Elgin County Library St. Thomas, Ontario,  The Aylmer Express Ltd., Aylmer, Ontario, Canada, 1988, pg 160.  Retrieved April 12th 2020 from

https://inmagic.elgin.ca/ElginImages/archives/ImagesArchive/pdfs/REF15_Sims%20History%20of%20Elgin%20County%20Book%203.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0Ujt5P2b81GpcST5fBqzx6FLc39j24nNTvgJALmnYw8l3xLJiBw3J8qDo


Sources:

McCallum, George Thomas. Find-A-Grave, Retrieved April 12th 2020 from
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109151264

News Articles unsourced belong to the newspaper who published them.

Our Aspden Roots In Lancashire, England: A Tradition of Stationary Engineers and Sawmills, Aspden, Murray Bruce.  eBook, 2016

Vital statistics records, Ontario, Canada, Ancestry.ca


Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

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