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� 2008, Mount Mora Burial Records |
Record Last Updated On:
6/4/2021 |
Name: SIR WILLIAM SALTONSTALL WISEMAN |
Death Date: JUL/15/1874 |
Interment Date:
JAN/14/1875 |
Birth Date: AUG/4/1814 |
Age at Death: 60 |
Cause of Death:
Heart disease |
Location at Death:
St. Joseph, MO |
Physical Location at Death:
The Saunders House |
Sex: M |
Nativity: ENGLISH |
Ethnicity: Caucasion |
Occupation: Admiral in the British Navy |
Military Branch:British Navy & K.C.B. |
Military Rank:Rear Admiral |
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Other Known Relatives: According to Burke the admiral married into another sea family of England. His wife was a daughter of Admiral Paterson of East Cosham house, Hants, great-grandson of Sir Patrick Hume, eleventh earl of Marchmont. His widow died May 23,1891. Their son, Sir William was the father of the present baronet.
The history of the family is traced back to Edward IV of England when it was in possession of Much Canfield Park in Essex County. The first member to be created a baronet was William Wiseman, and his title was bestowed Aug. 29, 1628. Since then the family has figured in English history.
Sir William Saltonstall is believed the only one who lies in a grave so far from his native Albion. |
Brief Biography: English Admiral William Saltonstall Wiseman
Source: St. Joseph Gazette June 24, 1934
English Admiral Sleeps in Mount Mora Cemetery
Sir William Saltonstall Wiseman Died Suddenly at the Old Saunders House
"Hard by the spread of the friendly shade of a large elm tree in Mount Mora Cemetery is a small stone cross, on a stone pedestal which marks the grave of a member of British royalty, the eighth baronet of his family, who died suddenly in St. Joseph nearly sixty years ago next month, under an assumed name, and whose identity was not established until nearly a week after his death.
The stone pedestal bears the words:
"Sir William Saltonstall Wiseman, Bart, Rear Admiral in the British Navy K.C.B. Born Aug 4,1814, died July 15, 1874."
Some of the letters are so weather beaten that it is difficult to make them out. There is nothing on the stone which indicates the family history of this man who sailed the seas in the warships of the English, at the time that Britain ruled the waves.
Dr. James Runcie, former rector of Christ Episcopal Church, made the arrangements for placing the simple memorial over the grave and officiated at the burial of the former admiral.
Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage,"
which is regarded as an authority on English royalty and which work is on the shelves of Central Public Library, contains the name of this eighth baronet of the Wiseman family, and states that the present baronet, Sir William George Eden Wiseman, the tenth, followed his forebears in the military service of this country; serving in the Duke of Cornwall's L.I. (the duke is the Prince of Wales), and who was on the M.I. staff during the peace conference in 1917, and was chief adviser on American affairs to the British delegation in Paris, 1918-19. This grandson may have learned something about American affairs in studying his family history, because his grandfather, who passed away so suddenly in St. Joseph, had taken out his first American naturalization papers in 1872 and had a home on the Nebraska prairie near Fairfield at the time of his death. There he was known as William Chambers, and it was as William Chambers, Lincoln, Neb. that he registered at the old Saunders House here a few hours before his death.
The account of his death appeared in the St. Joseph Herald, the morning after it occurred, but it was four or five days later that his real identity was established. In the account of his death, it was stated that "he had informed Richard Saunders, proprietor of the hotel upon registering, that he had just got in from New York, making the trip in three days, and he was tired. He asked for a room and was being shown to it by a bellboy when he suddenly sank to the hall floor, within a few feet of his door, and before a doctor arrived, he was dead. The coroner returned a verdict of death by heart disease.
It was thought that "Mr. Chambers"
was a resident of Lincoln. Inquiry was made there and a few days later William Edmund Downing wrote from Fairfield, Neb. that he was the agent for Sir William, that he had been in this country two years from England and that the British admiral was on his way back to Nebraska from England at the time of his death.
In the meantime, it was learned that the stranger had $85 in cash on his person, and that his trunk which came a day or so later, had private letters indicating who he was, and the trunk also contained the uniform of an admiral of the British navy.
At the time of his death the stranger was described as a man who was "portly, well dressed and affable."
This was borne out by what was learned later.
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Epithet: British Rear Admiral Wiseman, Bart was the eighth baronet of Canfield Hall in Suffolk County, K.C.B. He joined the Naval Academy in 1827, and was appointed Commander and Chief, Australia Station in 1863. In 1874 he registered at the Saunders House in St. Joseph on Third Street under the name of William Chambers of Lincoln, NE and started up the stairs to his room when he
fell dead of heart disease. |
Tombstone Material: N/A |
Tombstone Shape: N/A |
Tombstone Condition: N/A |
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Burial Number: 530 |
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Mausoleum: N |
Ashes: N |
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Other Relatives in Plot: IN MEMORY OF |
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Block Location: 6 |
Section/Range Location: C |
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Cost of Interment: $0.00 |
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Photo(s): |
Sir William
Courtesy Of:Mt Mora Board
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