An Erie Canal Mystery: Aunt Rebecca's Death: Suicide, Murder or Accident?
Rebecca C. Whyland of Hamlin (Brockport) went missing on a Sat., Nov. 8, 1941 (just weeks prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor) and was found in her coup the following Wednesday - underwater in the Erie Canal
As yet, I have not seen the 80-year-old coroner's report on my Aunt Rebecca. I woud like to know why the coroner determined she died "by suicide while temporarily insane." How did he know she wasn't murdered and driven into the canal or that she wasn't the victim of a hit-and-run?
Aunt Rebecca went missing on a Saturday, Nov. 8, 1941, and was found underwater the following Wednesday. My local librarian helped me find clues, like the Brockport newspaper article headlined, HAMLIN LADY FOUND DEAD IN SUNKEN AUTOMOBILE, stating: "A 37-year-old Hamlin woman, Mrs. Rebecca Whyland, who had been missing from her home in the Chase Road since Saturday was found dead in her automobile, which was located at the bottom of the Barge canal, last night, between the Lake road and Sweden-Walker road, about two miles east of this village. Lester Whyland, her husband, reported to Sheriff Skinner that she left home, Saturday, on a shopping trip and when she did not return, that evening, he reported her missing. Following a "hunch," Mrs. Whyland's brother-in-law, Ray Conley of Hilton searched along the Canal bank until he noticed tire marks going into the Canal. The sheriffs office was notified and for an hour a boat hook was used along the bottom of the canal. Finally, it struck the car in the center and a tow truck was called. When the car was raised, Mrs. Whyland's body was found jammed under the steering wheel and the top of the automobile was crashed as though hit by passing barges. The body was taken to the morgue where an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. In an effort to clear up the case, Sheriff Skinner stated that he would continue his conversations with Mr. Whyland and Mr. Conley today.."
A week later, on November 20, the newspaper reported the following: Coroner Issues Suicide Verdict Funeral Held Saturday Coroner Davide H. Atwater, after a thorough investigation, listed Friday, the death of Mrs. Rebecca Whyland of Chase road, Hamlin, who was found Nov. 12 in her car at the bottom of the Barge canal, as "by suicide while temporarily insane." Besides her husband, Lester, Mrs. Whyland is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Chamberlain; two sisters, Mrs. Wilbur VanDorn and Mrs Harold Brown; two brothers, Arthur of Rochester and Irving of Hilton; and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services were conducted from her late home, Saturday, afternoon at 2 o'clock. Internment took place in Parma Union cemetery.
Wouldn't a barge have reported that they hit an object in the canal? My local librarian told me the stretch of road she was reported to have driven in from: “Lake Road is called Main Street in Brockport and Sweden-Walker Road runs parallel to Main (Lake) Street. The road that follows the canal is called East Canal Road. I've driven it and it's very picturesque with no guardrails or anything to stop a car from running off the road. That stretch is about four miles,” said Jacquie Owens, Adult Services Librarian, Baldwinsville Public Library. Owens questions Rebecca's suicide verdict along with me and hopes that as a family member, I may be able to get a copy of the coroner's report (see note below). She says, "In the back of my mind, I did a double take when I saw the suicide by reason of temporary insanity. What was the reason for the insanity? Was there any evidence that she was acting strangely or did the coroner just assume she was because it looked like a suicide? Also, they said that the car was crushed as if a barge passed over it. Didn't the barge, if there was one, think to report the scraping, especially since it damaged the boat? And did a barge even pass by between the time she went in and the time she was pulled out?"
I uploaded the above articles and my photograph of her on Find a Grave at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153574329/rebecca-c.-whyland
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Notes: Monroe County's Office of the Medical Examiner offers the ability to get coroner's reports if you are entitled to it. The hours for record information requests are Monday through Friday (10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.). Autopsy Authorization Request: include a $40 check or money order payable to Monroe County, and send to Office of Medical Examiner, 740 East Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY 14623" https://www.monroecounty.gov/health-medicalexaminer#Archival. The New York State Archives may be an easier way to get a hold of the report.
My husband Jim wants to know if she was wearing the "yellow diamond" ring when her body was found. According to my cousin Laura, her family feared there may have been a curse around it as two of our family members who owned it died at age 37. Prior to Aunt Rebecca, my great-grandmother Alice Lee owned the ring and died from leukemia at 37. Prior to her, my uncle Frank owned it and hung himself (he was in his 20s--but I think he shot himself). According to Cousin Laura, Uncle Frank "bought it and proposed to a lady who turned him down. He was so distraught and depressed that he hung himself in the barn." (My Cousin Laura's family sold the "yellow diamond" ring in a Tiffany setting and learned that it was actually a yellow sapphire.)
I'm also looking into the 1826 case of the missing, probably murdered Freemason William Morgan who was trying to publish a book exposing Freemasonry's secrets. The "Morgan Murder" caused division in my 19th century family who lived along the Canal per a letter I recently read from my 4th great-grandfather, banker William Sisson of Lyons (a Freemason), to his brother-in-law, my distant uncle, Justus Gale, of Rochester, who supported the Anti-Mason movement.
If you have any Erie Canal stories or tips on how to solve old "Cold Cases", please let me know as I'm currently working on a new book, “Walking the Erie Canal Trail: Secrets of the 8th Wonder of the World, CMV and Pandemic Pizza".
