SEPTEMBER
2001. PETER POND SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, Number 9
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I hope everyone had a good summer. Hits on the site have
exceeded 7,600. Judy Pond has complete her own Peter Pond
Pilgrimage and written several reports en route. Some of you
may have received them including such highlights as: Seeing
the old convent in St. Anne-de-Bellevue outside of Montreal
built on the site of the former chapel where PP and others
blessed themselves before paddling into the wild north, dinner
at the elegant Beaver Club in Montreal which included seeing
PP's name among a list of charter members under a glass case
at the entrance, being welcomed as a PP descendant complete
with newspaper story in Ft. McMurray, AB which has several
buildings named after the explorer, touring Ft. Chipewyan
on Lake Athabasca from which PP's protege, Alex. Mackenzie,
made his two famous explorations and last but not least, a
week's canoe trip down theClearwater River which PP was the
first white man to descend. All this was paid for by her Hanover,
N.H. school district where she plans to place what she learned
this summer into the curriculum. If anyone who didn't get
one would like a report, I believe Judy would be happy to
forward one to you. Let me knowand I'll ask Judy.
Now into the fall, and we have news. It started as a pipe
dream, but there are developments in my search for PP's unmarked
grave. An engineering firm is willing pro bono to provide
its radar scanning device used for such purposes just for
this purpose. How did I get this far? Wild stuff, you say?
Let me try to explain. The company is named Fuss and O'Neill,
based in Manchester, CT. I read a newspaper article last November
about F&O donating the device to find unmarked graves in an
abandoned 18th century cemetery in Hartford, the state capital.
I got enough nerve to write F&O in July and three weeks later
they responded and said yes, noting they would appreciate
any publicity generated from the project. I guess they did
well by the Hartford story. And I told them my search has
already gained newspaper and television notice.The matter
rests in the hands of the Milford Cemetery Commission. How
the project would be undertaken, I'm not sure, but I think
F&O knows about such things. How would they know when they
find the right guy? My guess is that there might be some kind
of copper Indian knife, unique to the Coppermine River area
of Western Canada, like the one he gave Yale president Ezra
Stiles in 1790, or maybe some other significant Indian artifact.
Please read pertinent correspondence below:
32 Elizabeth Street
Milford, Connecticut 06460
July19, 2001
Jeffrey Heidtman
Chief Operating Officer Fuss and ONeill, Inc.
146 Hartford Road
Manchester, Connecticut 06040
Dear Mr. Heidtman:
Please find enclosed a clip from a Nov. 26, 2000 Connecticut
New York Times story referring to your company. It mentions
Fuss and O'Neill offering free service of a certain kind
of radar scanner to try and find unmarked graves in an old
Hartford cemetery. Could you extend a similar service to
Milford? It regards the unknown gravesite of 18th century
explorer Peter Pond. I believe he is buried somewhere in
the pre-1800 section of Milford Cemetery on Gulf Street.
He has no headstone. But I believe he is buried near his
mother who does have a headstone. I am president and founder
of the Peter Pond Society, which numbers close to 60 members
in both the United States and Canada. Perhaps you have seen
stories about my search for the gravesite in the CONNECTICUT
POST newspaper and Channel 8 television. Peter Pond was
born and died in Milford (1740-1807), but he is better known
in Canada where buildings and monuments honor him. I contend
there would have been no Lewis and Clark Expedition without
Peter Pond's earlier explorations. You can find more about
him on the Peter Pond Society website at: http://sites.netscape.net/bmcdonb/homepage
Under what circumstances could you provide such service
for free? If not for free, how much would it cost? Would
it make a difference if we went through the Veterans Graves
Commission in Milford? Thank you.
Sincerely,
WilliamN. McDonald
PeterPond Society
Radar probe due for historic grave
By FRANK JULIANO fjuliano@ctpost.com
MILFORD -- The search for the grave of 18th-century explorer
Peter Pond is going high-tech. A Manchester engineering
firm has agreed to use ground-penetrating radarto search
for Pond's remains in the old Milford Cemetery on Gulf Street.
If any remains are found, it's possible DNA samples from
Pond's descendants could be used to establish whether the
remains are his.
Pond was a member of one of the city's founding families.
He was born in Milford in 1740 and died here in 1807. He
was a fur trader who mapped much of upper Canada, opening
it to exploration. He also served as the fledgling U.S.government's
ambassador to American Indian tribes in the Midwest. But
he squandered his profits from the fur trade and died broke
He was buried in an unmarked grave, said William McDonald
of Milford, president of the Peter Pond Society. "His
mother's grave is marked and he may be somewhere near her,
but in those days they didn't have family plots," said
McDonald, a sportswriter for the Connecticut Post. "They
buried you where the next open spot was."
The engineering firm of Fuss and O'Neill -- which once
used its ground-penetrating radar to map Hartford's Old
South Cemetery -- will help search for Pond's grave, said
company Vice President David Hurley. The company will do
the work for free next time it's in the area on a paying
job, he said. No date has been set, and the work would take
two to four hours to complete, Hurley said in a letter to
McDonald. The cemetery would not be disturbed by the equipment,
which finds buried objects by sending radar waves into the
ground and measuring their rate of return.
If bones are found in the area of the cemetery that dates
to the period when Pond died, it's possible DNA samples
would be used to confirm whether they're Pond's, officials
said. The Peter Pond Society might also settle for "a
suitable marker" on the gravesite, McDonald said. Timothy
Clark, a descendant of Pond's, said he would be glad to
give a DNA sample, "but there are a lot of Ponds with
closer DNA to his than mine." He said Pamela Pond of
Bethlehem is a direct descendant. She couldn't be reached
Monday.
If the grave is found, Peter Pond may qualify for a headstone
paid for by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said
Thomas Cody, chairman of the local Veterans Graves Committee.
Pond served in the French and Indian War on the side of
the British. Mayor Frederick L. Lisman said if Pond's grave
is found, the city may place a marker. "He was a member
of one of the founding families," Lisman noted.
Frank Juliano, Milford bureau chief, can be reached at
878-2130.
The above CONNECTICUT POST story appeared Aug. 28, 2001.
Perhaps this is enough information to digest for now. Hope
it all makes it to you by email on the first try. Let me know
if problems. Incidentally, I have written several times to
authorities in Prince Albert, SK on the relocation status
of the PP cairn, but have received no reply. I guess bureaucracy
works slowly, as probably will this grave search project.
Will keep you posted.
Au revoir,
Bill
Letter from Fuss & O'Neill
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