WESTERN MANITOULIN—Another piece of the puzzle in regards to one of the mysteries involving the identity of the man who lies at the bottom of a makeshift grave in the Robinson Township area has been solved. This involves the cross on the gravesite, who had put it up and put the letters E.V.P. on the back of it in 1978.
Greg Duncanson of St. Catharines, who has spent a lot of time on, and has family connections to Manitoulin Island provided some information to the Recorder after reading the story on the mystery in the March 8, 2019 edition of this newspaper.
“The initials on the cross, E.V.P. are for Earl Patterson and his wife Virginia,” Mr. Duncanson told the Recorder last week. “Francis was his (Mr. Patterson’s) middle name,” he said, noting that the couple was married in 1978. “Earl Patterson had lived in Silver Water for many years before that.”
“I can remember as a teenager in the 1980s, my dad (Ben Duncanson) visiting Earl several times and seeing the cross in Earl’s shop, as he was in the process of putting it together,” said Mr. Duncanson.
“I remember being in his shop quite a number of times over the years. I spent quite a bit of time in Silver Water,” said Mr. Duncanson.
Mr. Duncanson noted that Irene and Bruce Duncanson of Silver Water are his cousins. He said that in conversations with them it is unknown whether the cross is at the original gravesite.
“I can remember one time, I was eight or nine years old, I was dune buggy riding with my dad and we stopped to look at the cross (where it is currently),” said Mr. Duncanson. “I can remember because it was a beautiful summer evening. We stopped and when dad tried to get his buggy started it wouldn’t. It was a little scary with that happening and a cross right there.”
As has been reported previously, Jim Howlett of Hamilton is researching the identity of the man in the Robinson Township area gravesite. The grave site is dated “1900” with lettering “Unknown” on it. It also has the inscription E.V.P. 1978 on it, of those who put the new cross up.
