Digest>Archives> November 2001

The Two Mystery Writers

By Richard Clayton

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There are hundreds of logbooks filed away in boxes in the National Archives warehouse near Washington, DC; all of them written in longhand with a quill pen dipped in ink. They are not easy to read. I was carefully researching the Lighthouse Keepers logbooks, looking for human-interest stories.

Here were the logs of the Waugoshance Lighthouse...a majestic sentinel in northern Michigan, marking the western entrance to the Straits of Mackinac. Lake Michigan is west and Lake Huron is on the east. Ocean-going ships arriving and leaving from the Port of Chicago passed through these Straits.

The lighthouse built on Waugoshance Shoal was first completed in 1851. The tower, fog signal building and the keeper’s house were perched on a rock and cement crib that measured forty-eight by sixty-six feet, painted with red and white horizontal stripes. It was equipped with a 4th order Fresnel lens displaying a fixed white light, varied by a white flash every 45 seconds that was visible to mariners at a distance of sixteen miles.

As I slowly read the logbook of 1885, written by Keeper Thomas Marshall, I noticed his handwriting was shaky with a buildup of ink on the capital letters. This indicated that Mr. Marshall was elderly. He reported weather and general routine. There were no personal remarks at all.

April 29, 1885: Fresh South West wind so heavy that the ice in the bay is moving to the East ward passing the Station in big fields at the rate of 2 miles an hour. Working in signal house scrubbing paint in dwelling house. McGulprins Light is visible.”

I was about to “give up the ghost” on Mr. Marshall’s writings. His reports were far from being human-interest stories. Wait a minute! What are these? Two entries jumped off the pages. An incredible short story was unfolding right before my weary eyes. Very fascinating indeed!

Two entries, written in far different much younger-looking strokes of the pen: The first one written on the April 30, 1885 page and dated October 15, 1907. The second entry was found at the back of the book beside comments of the August 31, 1894 report. It was dated October 10, 1907; two messages in old Keeper Marshall’s 1800’s book of “general duties,” written several years later. The mystery began!

The message of October 10th was written in bold penmanship that suggested a male author. However, the October 15th entry had a softer, lighter, rather feminine stroke of the pen. There were two mystery writers, male and female. Quoting them in the sequence in which they were written, we read:

Crane Island, Michigan

Oct. 10, 1907

My Darling,

You know what will happen! Before the morrow you and I will have set out on that long journey through life, hand in hand, man and wife. My pen trembles as I write the words. I cannot wait any longer. Why should I? Throw all you doubts and fears to the wind and come and help me lift me nets.

Your Humble Servant,

Dingleburry

Cheboygan, Michigan

Oct. 15, 1907

My Darling,

Do not be frightened when you read what follows, and do not hesitatez. Think, as you read, that our happiness depends on your decision. I want you to come with me by the eleven o’clock train to Cheboygan.

Yours Ever,

Leyaster

Well, thank you young folks, who ever you were. How ingenious of you to write your love letters on the pages of Thomas Marshall’s log books. No one was about to find your secrets in his boring old books. One would assume that there was a special library space reserved for keeping all logbooks. It was most likely somewhere in the tower, rather than in the Keeper’s dwelling.

So, we fast-forward to the logbooks of 1907, where we discover: The Head Keeper is Ingwald Olsen; The 1st Assistant is James M. Marshall; the 2nd Assistant is Edward M. Wheaton and the Laborer is William Gyers. The October 1907 log reports:

On October 17th the first and the second assistants Marshall and Wheaton left the station with Mr. Cortlett for Mackinaw City and Cheboygen. On November 4th the keeper and assistant returned at 8 AM. This would mean that Edward Wheaton had been ashore for eighteen days.

Is it possible that Edward Wheaton was in love with the Keeper’s daughter? Life on the station was undoubtedly quite proper in 1907. Can we imagine that Edward took the old logbook with him over to Crane Island where he often went to pick berries? While he was there, he wrote his proposal that they “be man and wife on that long journey through life.”

Then after returning to the lighthouse and putting the old logbook in its proper place, he managed to whisper to the young lady that she should look at the August 30, 1885 section of the logbook. Perhaps she giggled. And when she read it in the dim light of the tower, she may have almost swooned in the excitement of the moment.

Five days later, she whispered to the young assistant that he should read the August 31, 1894 section. Was he frightened by her answer? Did they take the eleven o’clock train to Cheboygan together? Two young people, very much in love, writing notes to each other in a very secret place where no one would ever look for them.

Who are the mystery writers in the old logbooks? At least we do know their pen names. His was Dingleburry and she was Leyaster. Now the mystery...was Dingleburry...Edward Wheaton? Was Leyaster...Miss Olsen, the Keeper’s daughter?

There is the possibility that the descendents of Ingwald Olsen, James M. Marshall and Edward M. Wheaton would know. Then again, maybe not! It is a sad fact that most people remember very little about their grandparents and next to nothing about their great-grandparents.

The key to the love mystery of Waugoshance logbooks lies somewhere in Cheboygan, Michigan, perhaps in the Marriage Records. One thing is certain; never in a million years would these two mystery writers have dreamed their love notes would not only be discovered, but also published in a national magazine, ninety-four years later. Thank you Dingleburry and Leyaster.

This story appeared in the November 2001 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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