Article 65V4J ‘Claire, we’ll not forget’: Small German town minds gravesite of five-month-old ancestor of Hamilton man

‘Claire, we’ll not forget’: Small German town minds gravesite of five-month-old ancestor of Hamilton man

by
Jeff Mahoney - Spectator Reporter
from on (#65V4J)
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In the year 1881 a large three-masted wooden cargo ship came brooding out of the wide reach of the North Sea, putting in at the German port of Nordenham and dropping anchor for a brief stay, all under a heavy cloud of sadness.

The ship, well built in Nova Scotia and efficiently run, was stoutly afloat but the captain's heart wasn't. It was plunged into a depth of grief. He'd turned The Gloaming landward at that time to bury his daughter. She died at sea, five months old.

Claire Densmore. She is interred at the church graveyard there in Nordenham, northwest Germany, near Bremen.

That captain, Robert Densmore of Maitland, Nova Scotia, was the great-grandfather of Doug Baggs who has lived in the Hamilton area for decades after moving from New Brunswick, to Montreal, ultimately to Ancaster.

There's a grand old painting of his ancestor on a wall of Doug's house. A handsome, formidable looking man with a thick but trim broad beard that bespeaks the dignity and importance of an individual of some high office. A ship's captain, master mariner.

The digging of his daughter's grave that year must have somehow activated a seismic tremor in the town, because it's being felt to this day. A tremor of grace, a shudder of tenderness so resounding that it rings a hope for us even now.

The feeling in Nordenham for that girl has survived all the trauma of a century-and-a-half of upheaval, conflict, influenza, partition, reunification, COVID and, incredibly, two world wars during which Canada, with its claim of birthright to Claire, was sworn in enmity against Germany, and vice versa.

It didn't matter. It never mattered. Through it all the good people of Nordenham laid flowers at the tombstone of the five-month-old girl who died at sea. To this day, they tend her site. They honour her. They have done so unstintingly, uninterruptedly, unheralded since 1881.

It is the true essence of the human spirit," says Doug's wife, Eileen Baggs.

It is a 140-year-old act of kindness," says Doug.

Generation upon generation. They sweep away autumn leaves, they clear the snow, they plant flowers. They make it lovely. They ponder the circumstances that brought her to them, as though in commission of a very special trust. They care for Claire.

There is," says Doug, an old saying: Character is what you do when no one is watching.' For over 140 years the members of this parish have looked after this grave. They did so without expecting to be recognized, without expecting to be thanked, or rewarded. They did it because they are kind and thoughtful people."

Doug said these very words to the people of Nordenham recently because this - 2022 - has been a very special year. You see, despite the wonder of this habitualized, cross-generational allegiance to the memory of an infant girl, no one outside the town knew or knows about it; not even the captain did, presumably, and certainly no one since.

When I was growing up," says Doug, my mother would tell me that my grandfather had a baby sister who died aboard the ship. In those days, the cargo ships would travel all over the world, Japan and Hong Kong." The families of the captains would often sail with, the trips being so long, sometimes years.

But he never gave it much thought.

Not, that is, until 2011. The genealogical resources of the internet had started making remarkable connections possible. That year, when Doug and Eileen returned from a holiday in Quebec City a letter awaited them.

Written in very good English it was from a German woman they'd never heard of named Theda Egermann.

She, speaking on behalf of the town of Nordenham (pop. 26,000), wondered if indeed, as her research showed, Doug Baggs was the descendant of Cpt. Robert Densmore? In the letter she explained what had been happening since 1881.

Needless to say, Doug and Eileen, upon reading, were astonished. They corresponded with Theda and planned to visit Nordenham but Doug had health issues in the mid 2010s and by the time they had determined to make the trip ... COVID.

In the meantime Doug managed to fish out the old captain's log that had come down through the family. In it, he found, in his great-grandfather's hand, the entry of Claire's death.

Finally, this September, Doug and Eileen, being bound for Europe to attend a family member's wedding, visited Nordenham and, of course, Claire's gravesite.

They'd never experienced anything like it. The whole town embraced them. Two newspapers did articles. Theda and her husband took us on a tall ship, like the one my great-grandfather sailed," says Doug, a retired lawyer. Such a lovely couple, such lovely people," says his wife Eileen.

In the parish church, a service was devoted to their visit and the memory of Claire. The pastor spoke, so did others, two musicians, on fiddle and guitar, performed Farewell to Nova Scotia" (not a dry eye) and Doug addressed the gathering. That's when he said those words mentioned above.

He added that in times of great strife, like our own, stories such as this should be told and retold. It shows that there are many good and kind people in the world and this kindness will help us get through the most difficult of times."

It speaks to the idea of the beauty of ordinary people," says Eileen.

One woman said to me, I laid flowers there as a child and now my grandchildren ask about it and want to also.'"

Maybe one of the most moving things Doug and Eileen learned on their visit was the following: Theda, a music teacher who is the main tender of the gravesite now, found and visited Cpt. Robert Densmore's own gravesite in Nova Scotia.

She put her hand on the headstone," says Eileen. and she said, Rest assured, Robert Densmore, we have not forgotten your daughter." Nor will they ever. She went all that way to tell him.

A little baby girl, such a short, short life, such a very, very long reach, extending her brief presence into the timeless heart of the most fundamental human empathy. Rest in peace, sweet child. The good people in this world - as Doug says, there may be more of them than it sometimes seems - will continue to ensure you do.

Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator.jmahoney@thespec.com

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