Maria (Cooper) Breckon (1805 - abt. 1842)

Born 1805 in Farndale, Ryedale, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Wife of Joseph Breckon — married 1823 (to 1842) in Westerdale, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died about 1842 at about age 37 in Canada

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Biography

Maria was christened 30th September 1805. In Farndale Ryedale Nth Yorkshire

She passed away tragically while on the Steam Boat Shamrock (explosion) in the river St. Lawrence North America With her husband Joseph Their final resting place could most likely be Lanchine Quebec

Death 1st or the 9th July 1842

She married Joseph BRECKON on the 21st March 1823 Westerdale Yorkshire

JOSEPH BRECKON BIRTH 21ST MARCH 1802 LACENBY YORKSHIRE Death with his wife Maria

It looks like they had x3 DAUGHTER'S together Ester B. 13 April 1824 Lastingham Yorkshire D. 29th October 1857 Farndale Yorkshire so perhaps a spinster ? Mary Jane Christened 30th November 1828 Kirbymoreside And my Great Great Grandmother Sarah Christened 2nd Jan 1826 Kirbymorside Buried June 1906 flamborough Yorkshire

Google find  Victims of this disaster Tillypeg - 22 Apr 2010 - 15:06 Joseph Breckon and his wife Mary (née Williamson) perished in this disaster. There is a headstone in the churchyard at Westerdale, North Yorkshire, England, (their home in 1841) which reads: "Erected in memory of Jane the wife of Joseph Breckon who died 19 Nov 1836 aged 37. Also the above Joseph Breckon aged 43 and Mary his second wife aged 45. They were lost 9 July 1842 by the explosion of the steam boat Shamrock in the river St Lawrance, North America." MARY / MARIA

Joseph was a joiner and cartwright. He had married Jane Wheldon on 26 May 1822 at Lastingham, North Yorkshire. After Jane's death in 1836, John married Mary less than a year later at Stokesley parish church.

I wonder what inspired them to leave a small dales village and venture abroad on such a long journey. What a terrible end.

Google find

POOR MARIA HER BODY FOUND IN THE CABIN R.I.P

Shamrock boat explosion, Montreal, 1842

Montreal Transcript

12 July 1842

Steamboat accident- fifty-eight persons killed

It was with the deepest regret we record the most distressing and fatal casualties ever arising from steam on the waters of British North America.  On Saturday last, the high-pressure steamer Shamrock, owned by Messrs Atkinson, Mathie & Co., of this city, having three barges in tow, two of whom were empty,) while between Lachine and Pointe Claire, about 8 miles from the former place, on her usual trip to Kingston, burst her boiler, and in a moment about 58 souls were hurried into eternity.  Such was the force of the explosion, that it completely carried away her bows, and she almost instantaneously went down bow foremost.

There were on board at the time of the melancholy disaster 120 passengers, almost half of whom were English, the rest being Scotch and Irish; the English emigrants being in the bows of the boat, suffered most severely.  The steamer Dolphin being at the time about five miles distant, the Captain, on hearing the explosion, immediately dropped two barges he had in tow and hastened to the wreck, where he was enabled to rescue 48 of the unfortunate sufferers who had been picked up unhurt by the three barges; eighteen were conveyed to the Montreal Hospital,  of whom have died of their wounds- one died under the amputation of both legs.

The emigrants are described to have been of a superior class, and as little comparatively was saved, there must have been a great deal of property lost, among which we hear mentioned several large sums of money; Messrs Grant, Laflamme, Oldfield, Chamberlain, Nor~~, Col Wildgress, and Dr. Stein, however, were able to save some valuable property by immediately repairing the wreck in boats.  Mr. Harper-13580 07:32, 29 August 2021 (UTC) of Lachine, and other gentlemen, deserve the highest commendation for the generous assistance and hospitality shown to the survivors.

The coroner, Mr. Jones, on Sunday morning went to the wreck, and suspecting that there might be some of the bodies in the cabin, caused it to be burst open, when the body of a female was found.  A Coroner’s Jury sat yesterday, and after a long explanation brought in the following verdict: – “That the deceased Mary Breckon, wife of Joseph Breckon, came to her death by the accidental explosion of the boiler on board the steamboat Shamrock, Thomas Halliman, Master.”

During the day five bodies were brought in to Lachine, and boats are employed in searching for the missing.

Such was the force of the explosion, that a bar of iron, about three inches in circumference, was forced through the side of one of the barges alongside the unfortunate vessel; and indeed the barge seems on looking at it, to be shattered in every part.  The Shamrock was a new boat, 32 horse power, built at Niagara, and was on her fourth trip upwards.  The public confidence in this class of boats must be materially affected by this accident, and it is to be hoped that a strict investigation will be made into all the facts, so as to set the public mind at rest.

Sources