{"id":840358,"date":"2026-08-01T12:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840358\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T12:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T12:35:14","slug":"kayaker-on-st-john-river-makes-a-pair-of-grim-discoveries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840358\/","title":{"rendered":"Kayaker on St. John River makes a pair of grim discoveries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melissa\u00a0Lavigne has done a lot of kayaking\u00a0on\u00a0the St. \u00a0John River\u00a0in Fredericton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But\u00a0recently, as she explored the shoreline on the city’s south\u00a0side,\u00a0she\u00a0came\u00a0across a couple of grave discoveries, one with a possible link to a passenger on the Mayflower. <\/p>\n

Lavigne found a headstone and a grave marker for two different men, buried\u00a067 years apart in\u00a0different cemeteries, kilometres away from each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very weird,\u201d Lavigne said. \u201cI hope this river isn\u2019t\u00a0trying to tell me something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | A headstone more than 100 years old pokes out of St. John River:\"\"<\/p>\n

A pair of grave discoveries made by Fredericton kayaker<\/p>\n

A kayaker out for a paddle discovered a headstone and a grave marker in the St. John River in Fredericton.<\/p>\n

The headstone was visible during the summer’s low water, partially submerged against the rocky shore. <\/p>\n

Some lettering is worn away on each side, but what’s visible on the stone reads:<\/p>\n

WARD BYRON <\/p>\n

BORN 7th\u00a0APRIL <\/p>\n

DIED 24th\u00a0NOVEMBER \u00a004.<\/p>\n

The stone rests about\u00a0100 metres\u00a0upriver\u00a0from\u00a0the Westmorland\u00a0Street Bridge. <\/p>\n

Other than the\u00a0text, the headstone is not unlike other stones\u00a0along the riverbank.<\/p>\n

\"AMelissa Lavigne came across the headstone while kayaking upriver from the Westmorland Street Bridge. (Shane Fowler\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like just another rock on the side of the river,\u201d Lavigne said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But those few letters and dates\u00a0on the stone can\u00a0tell\u00a0a lot.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0man buried a\u00a0little more than three kilometres away\u00a0shares the same name and\u00a0dates.<\/p>\n

\"AThis obituary for E. F. Byron Winslow has the same names and dates as the headstone found in the river. (Submitted by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)<\/p>\n

Records from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick list an Edward Byron Winslow as being born\u00a0April 7,\u00a01842,\u00a0and dying on\u00a0Nov. 24, 1904. <\/p>\n

Winslow’s obituary calls him\u00a0\u201ca prominent lawyer and citizen of Fredericton,” and says he died “after a long illness of brain trouble.\u201d <\/p>\n

Winslow was associated with J.J. Fraser, a former lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, the obituary says, and he was a direct descendant of \u201cEdward Winslow, who came to America\u00a0in the Mayflower in 1620.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the headstone poking out of the river, Winslow is\u00a0now\u00a0buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery\u00a0under a headstone\u00a0complete with his full name and dates for his birth and death.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"AJosh Green of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick was able to track down details on the headstone and grave marker found by Lavigne in the St. John River. (Shane Fowler\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Josh\u00a0Green, manager at the provincial archives\u00a0who helped\u00a0track\u00a0down Winslow’s\u00a0details,\u00a0said he has no idea how the headstone wound up in the river.<\/p>\n

But his theory is that the stone in the river may have been\u00a0discarded\u00a0after\u00a0a spelling error or design flaw during the engraving.<\/p>\n

\"AThe caption on a photo from the archives is worded: ‘Baxter’s Granite and Freestones work Queen Street west – Fredericton, ca. 1900. In the 1901 census a Smual Baxter is listed as a stone cutter. He may have been the proprietor. – [1890-1910]’ (From the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P32\/32 (Item))<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a stonecutter at the west end of Queen Street that we\u00a0found that\u00a0was\u00a0around in\u00a01900, which is around the same time that this fella passed away,\u201d Green said. \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0rank\u00a0speculation, but it did exist. Baxter’s Stone Works.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never heard of that before,\u201d said\u00a0Kathryn\u00a0Murphy, a manager at\u00a0Wolastoq\u00a0Adventures, a rental service for\u00a0canoes and kayaks\u00a0that\u00a0operates\u00a0about a half-kilometre\u00a0away from the\u00a0grave stone. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0awesome, a\u00a0really neat\u00a0discovery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said she\u2019ll\u00a0direct customers to check it out now that she knows\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AKathryn Murphy rents canoes and kayaks near where the headstone was found. (Shane Fowler\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

As for Lavigne\u2019s second grim\u00a0discovery,\u00a0she said she fished\u00a0a small grave marker out of the river\u00a0later on\u00a0her same\u00a0trip.<\/p>\n

The small silver and gold-coloured\u00a0placard\u00a0reads:\u00a0\u2018Walter F. Blair 1892-1971.”<\/p>\n

\"ALavigne found a grave marker for Walter Blair while kayaking. (Submitted by Melissa Lavigne)<\/p>\n

According to New Brunswick\u2019s vital statistics\u00a0records,\u00a0Blair was born at the Victoria Public Hospital, now the Victoria Health Centre, which sits by the\u00a0riverbank\u00a0where\u00a0Lavigne found his\u00a0grave marker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to records from the provincial archives, he was a\u00a0major in the military and an accountant when he became a civilian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Blair served with the 104th\u00a0Regiment,\u00a0and he served in both world wars,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe actually have a photograph of him in his military uniform.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AIn this 1937 picture are, front row, left to right, Paul Tait, Wallace Cameron, Walter Blair, York McLean, Robert Wilby and Norman Burgoine, and back row, left to right, Robert Brennan, Unknown, McKeel (first name unknown), Jerry Hanson, Joe Flannagan and Charles Fisher. (Submitted by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)<\/p>\n

Blair is buried in the extension of the Fredericton Rural Cemetery just upriver from where Lavigne found the marker.<\/p>\n

Lavigne and her husband\u00a0made arrangements\u00a0to have the marker returned to Blair\u2019s surviving family members.<\/p>\n

Stuart Blair said he was a child when Walter died, so he didn’t know him personally, but he was pleased to receive the marker. He plans to give it to a Blair relative who keeps track of family history and related mementos.<\/p>\n

Lavigne, meanwhile, is hoping future kayak trips will be less eventful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s a lot of death in this river.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melissa\u00a0Lavigne has done a lot of kayaking\u00a0on\u00a0the St. \u00a0John River\u00a0in Fredericton.\u00a0 But\u00a0recently, as she explored the shoreline on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-840358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}