Day: July 28, 2026

John Doe AKA William R. McDowall

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They say everyone who looks into their family history will find a secret sooner or later.

What I found wasn’t a secret, it was just a story that wasn’t told in it’s entirety.

My Great Great Grandfather, William Robert McDowall  drowned in 1925.

How he ended up in the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada remained a mystery, so it was never determined if his death was accidental or if he was the victim of foul play.

He was identified by his Father and Son in Law and if the circumstances of his death weren’t bleak enough, my Great Great Grandfather was  in Ottawa for his Mother’s funeral.

My Great Great Grandfather’s death and the story about his tragic death wasn’t a family secret at all.

I knew before I saw it confirmed in the news paper story that I found  that he had been in the water for a few days. Robert was listed as a a John Doe until some papers were found in his pocket that id’ him. It was  my Great, Great, Great Grandfather who  went into the mortuary and looked down into the face of his son’s corpse and confirmed that was his son because in those days they didn’t have a room for the deceased and another room for the family and a camera or a window to separate you from them.

He looked pretty bad, I heard.

The only detail, and I guess it’s a small one is this- my family who were pretty superb story tellers never really got around to explaining why Robert was alone for the funeral and why they didn’t think foul play was involved.

Those details never made their way into a single story and I will always wonder why.

 

 

The Lion Sleeps Tonight ( Thank Goodness )

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Solomon Linda and bandmember circa 1941

When I was little and  was sure,  no, I was positive that the monster that lived in our attic was going to make an appearance in my room that night ( if you were five years old and had watched ” Nightmare Theatre ” and had an over active imagination like me, you’d have been on edge too ) I used to sing this song to myself until I fell asleep- even now when I’m feeling  stressed out for some reason-  that song pops into my head all on it’s own.

There are a lot of songs that I love, but this is the one that I have to say has stayed with me for my entire life.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight written and composed by the South African musician Solomon Linda in 1939. He has only recently been acknowledged and credited. In fact he lost control of his song when he signed a contract that he could not read.

By the time The Tokens released their version the practice of white washing rock and roll songs ( example- Pat Boone releasing covers of Little Richard’s songs ) was in full swing and in the end  Solomon Linda’s family  could not afford to buy him a tombstone upon his death in 1962.

Solomon Popoli Linda was born near Pomeroy, on the labor reserve Msinga, Umzinyathi District Municipality in Ladysmith in Natal, where he was familiar with the traditions of amahubo and izingoma zomshado (wedding songs) music.[2][3] He attended the Gordon Memorial mission school, where he learned about Western musical culture, hymns, and participated in choir contests