A Grave With A Secret Code

Great Lakes’ curiosities include a mysterious gravestone with a secret code! Dr. Samuel Bean had wanted to honor his first two wives, Susanna and Henrietta, in 1866 with a puzzling epitaph. This fifteen by fifteen array of letters and numbers hadn’t been solved for decades following Dr. Samuel Bean’s untimely death in 1904. Dr. Samuel Bean had perished before sharing his mysterious coded solution. Why had he created a puzzle on their tombstone? Why had it been a secret he hadn’t shared? Who had finally solved it? Join us as we investigate this curiosity.

*The original grave marker from 1866 (right) and the replica 1982 (left) stand side by side*
*just outside of Wellesley, Ontario at Rush’s Cemetery.*
*It’s known as “The Most Curious Tombstone in Canada.”*

Henrietta Furry and Susanna Clegg

Let’s take a moment and learn about Samuel’s first two wives who share the same plot. Their grave marker has been known as “The Most Curious Tombstone in Canada.”

At 23 years old Henrietta Furry had left her home in Pennsylvania, where she’d been born (1842), when she had married Samuel Bean in 1865. Henrietta had left her family and friends behind for a new life in Canada with Samuel. Soon she became sick and after eleven weeks of illness, she’d passed on September 27, 1865. They’d only been married seven months.

Susanna Clegg had been born in Ontario between Wellesley and Crosshill in 1840. She had been 26 years old when she and Samuel had married. They had a baby girl who they had named Susanna. Sadly only a short time following the birth, Susanna, his wife, had passed on April 27, 1867.

Why had he created a puzzle on their tombstone?

Well, Dr. Samuel Bean had been well known for being a cruciverbalist, a crossword enthusiast. He had enjoyed working all sorts of puzzles as well as creating them for others. No one is quite sure, however, why Dr. Samuel Bean had been motivated to create this unique epitaph for his departed wives.

One clue had been Henrietta’s funeral card, his first wife. It had included a nineteen by nineteen array of letters and numbers. The message could be read by starting in the center and circling around in a spiral.

Why had this puzzle been a secret he hadn’t shared?

Was Dr. Samuel Bean ashamed of being an incapable doctor following the deaths of two youthful wives? There hadn’t been any reports of foul play in Henrietta’s or Susanna’s deaths. However, the “Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania,” where he’d gotten his medical degree, was known as a diploma mill. People could pay to get their certification.

Following the deaths of his first two wives, Samuel Bean stopped practicing medicine and moved to New York and later Iowa. I feel like he had been working through grief and reinventing himself. Possibly, he’d started teaching again as he had before he’d gotten his M.D. certificate.

Then, he settled in Florida as an Evangelical preacher where he married, Annie Wankmiller and raised three children: Salem, Caroline and Mace. The family grew oranges. With this busy new chapter in life, Samuel had never shared the solution to the mysterious gravestone he’d left behind in Canada.

In 1904 Samuel Bean had been aboard a boat near Cuba when it capsized and he drowned. His body had never been recovered. The solution to the puzzle had never been revealed.

Attempting To Solve This Puzzle

*The original marker had been placed in 1866.*

This coded epitaph has drawn curious visitors to the little town of Wellesley for over a century. Many people have come to make rubbings of the headstone in an attempt to solve the mystery. As the sun and wind had continued to smoothed the inscriptions over decades, the original marker had become illegible. By the 1980s it had finally been reinstated with a replica.

*A replica gravestone had been created in 1982 and placed next to the original.*

Who had finally solved it?

Mr. John Hammond, the 83 year old cemetery caretaker, had claimed to have solved the puzzle. He had copied the letters and numbers and worked on decoding the secret epitaph for months. However, he had never shared his solution with anyone. So his solution could never be confirmed.

Then came Florence “Flossie” Dewar. She had lived in village for 60 yrs. She’d copied the symbols onto a cardboard grid in 1936 and spent many weeks working out the solution. When she’d been interviewed at 92 years old, she had promptly produced the cardboard grid which she’d used to solve this mystery.

The key is to start at the seventh symbol down and the seventh grid space across then move in “a counter clockwise and sometimes a zigzag fashion.” She had spearheaded the installation of the replica headstone in 1982.

*“Susanna” stands vertically on the left and “Henrietta” is closer to the center in a zig-zag pattern.*

The Solution

Florence “Flossie” Dewar had described the solution. “Beginning on the seventh character of the seventh row down and reading in a spiral fashion with some parts reading in a zig-zag pattern, the inscription reads: ‘In memoriam Henrietta, 1st wife of S. Bean, M.D. who died 27th Sep. 1865, aged 23 years, 2 months and 17 days and Susanna his 2nd wife who died 27th April, 1867, aged 26 years, 10 months and 15 days, 2 better wives 1 man never had, they were gifts from God but are now in Heaven. May God help me, S.B., to meet them there.’ Across the bottom of the stone is a quote which is plainly written; “Reader meet us in heaven.”

Stay Curious!

Thank you for joining Chuck and I as we’d investigated, “The Most Curious Tombstone in Canada.” I encourage you to stay curious, connect with others and make memories!