On September 8, 1860, the Lady Elgin, a steamer, carrying 400 Milwaukee travelers who had gone to Chicago to hear Steven Douglas speak, was struck by a lumber schooner, the Augusta, just off the cost of Winetka, Illinois.

She was in sight of shore and valient efforts were make by those on shore, including Northwestern University students to save the passengers, but the lake was being lashed by a storm and it was useless. Over 300 passengers were lost, most of them Irish. Each year at St. John's Cathedras, a Mass is said for the victims.

Phillip King, was orphaned by this shipwreck. He was taken in by the Michael Bowser Family, Michael Bowser is my great grandfather. Later her married my Mother's great aunt Charlotte. There is still a King who owns a sheep farm out in the kettles, not far from the original Bowser homestead.

There were lots of ballads written about the Lady Elgin at the time. The following is the lyrics for one of them.

"Up from the poor man's cottage,
Forth from the mansion's door,
Reaching across the waters,
Echoing on the shore,
Caught in the morining breezes,
Borne on the evening gale,
Cometh a voice of mourning -
A sad and solemn wail.
Lost on the Lady Elgin,
Sleeping to wake no more,
Numbered in death three hundred
Who failed to reach the shore."

Quite a story.

Mary