By Janet Young
Janet is a local author. Her book "A Place Called Presque Isle: An intimate history of Lake Huron's historic harbor" is available for purchase at the Presque Isle Lighthouses, Young's Art Van in Alpena, Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan in Alpena and online from Amazon. Visit Janet's Facebook page!
Adeline, the beloved wife of Lightkeeper Capt. William Sims, is buried near the range lights at Lake Huron’s historic Presque Isle Harbor. The following story is an excerpt from A Place called Presque Isle, by Janet Young.
Adeline’s Tombstone
In the winter of 1881, forty-nine-year-old Adeline Sims developed a troublesome cough; all efforts to remedy her declining condition failed. Consequently, Adeline died a few months later, not an unusual occurrence at a time when medical procedures that may have spared her life had not yet been discovered. Captain Sims made the following entries in his logbook:
April 8- Wind S, fresh and clear. My Wife don’t seem to get any better.
April 9- Wind NW, light and clear 6 A.M. My Wife is no better, getting weaker.
April 10- My Wife is still alive, but is all it is. 6 P.M. My Wife Seems to be a little better. The weather looks bad, wind NW, fresh, cloudy, has every appearance of a storm.
April 11- 6 A.M. My Wife is Still alive but that is all. 11 A.M. My Dear Wife is Dead. O how lonesome.
April 12- Wind NW, fresh and cloudy. 10 A.M. wind NE light and clear. My Dear Bosom Friend was Buried at 4 P.M., every one in the place was at the funeral. I Cannot write anything, it Seems my heart will burst.
The captain buried Adeline on the narrow, sandy peninsula separating Lake Huron’s North Bay from Presque Isle Harbor, in close proximity to the primitive road lying between the rear and front range lights.
Family and friends mourned Adeline’s death, but as time passed few people remained in the sparsely populated community that personally remembered Mrs. Sims. Ordinarily, the captain’s wife would have been forgotten, but because of her unique burial site and tombstone, conjectured stories of her life have been told and retold for over 100 years. By the early 1900s, the unexpected grave had stirred the curiosity of visitors enjoying the harbor’s popular white sand beach. Romantic fictional stories persisted, recounting the poignant tale of Captain Sims and his wife sailing the Great Lakes together. Supposedly, after Adeline tragically passed away on a stormy voyage, the loving, grief-stricken husband buried his precious wife on a knoll near the harbor’s shore so he could catch sight of her grave as he passed Presque Isle in his ship.
In a 1928 interview, Presque Isle Lighthouse keeper Thomas Garrity related what he knew about Mrs. Sims’ burial. Thomas, nearly fifteen years old at the time of Adeline’s death, recalled that the neighboring Sims family intended to bury Adeline in Port Huron, her birthplace. However, the snow was exceptionally deep at the time of her death in April of 1881 and ice in the harbor prevented vessels from traveling, leading friends to dig what they thought would be a temporary grave for Mrs. Sims. For unknown reasons, the Sims family never moved Adeline to Port Huron, nor did they place a permanent headstone on her grave.
Keeper Garrity recalled that after a period of time, the Masonic fraternity (of which Capt. Sims had been a dedicated member since 1854) stepped in to help. The group placed an engraved headstone at her burial site to not only mark her grave, but also to ensure the site would be cared for in the future.
The tombstone’s intriguing Masonic emblem fueled the creation of fabricated stories designating Mrs. Sims as the only female ever allowed to join the all-male organization. Allegedly, Adeline eavesdropped on the closely-guarded Masonic meetings, gaining membership in exchange for keeping secret the overheard information. Once storytellers labeled Mrs. Sims as a rebel-of-sorts, additional embellishments described Adeline as a woman who dressed like a man, swore like a lumberjack, and chewed tobacco. Supposedly, Mrs. Sims served as a midwife for many births at Presque Isle and possessed a kind heart under her tough exterior. With the exception of the Masonic membership myth, all of the above descriptions of Adeline are accurate of Captain Sims’ second wife, Laney King.
Lore concerning Mrs. Sims’ burial site also indicates that two presently unmarked graves of unknown souls are located next to Adeline. Time has obliterated their original wooden crosses or mounds of beach stones. Lighthouse keeper Thomas Garrity thought the two graves held the remains of unidentified mariners; one contained a corpse washed ashore in a storm, and the other held the body of a sailor killed in an ice jam near Presque Isle. Florence Merchant, a resident of Presque Isle from 1920-1990, steadfastly believed that Merchant ancestors living at the harbor, John and Mary Curtindale, buried their two infant sons at the site. Two-month-old Jessie died of cholera in July of 1879, and three-month-old Roscoe passed away in April of 1884.
Today, cedar trees and an undergrowth of juniper bushes partially obscure the burial spot. Wild ferns, beach grass, and an occasional bluebell encircle Adeline’s resting place. Four identical beveled stone posts, one placed at each corner of the burial plot, support an iron bar bearing a draped metal chain which surrounds and protects the site of the lone tombstone.