T is for Tightrope Walker

Olive Tree Genealogy is continuing a new Alphabet Genealogy series of blog posts. I'm not following the usual way of going A-Z surnames. Instead I will create a one word "tag". Then I will share an ancestor (mine, my husband's, an inlaw's or one of my children's) who fits the tag

Today's letter is T for Tightrope Walker and yes, I have one in my family tree.

So today I want to tell you about my very adventurous 2nd cousin 3x removed, Stephen Peer the Tightrope Walker of Niagara Falls. I've talked about Stephen before on this blog but he gets another spot. He is the only tightrope walker to be killed on the wire. He was killed in 1887 and to this day there are rumours of murder.

Here are some of his adventures as noted in various newspapers of the day.

"Daredevils of the Falls".
It was unusually windy on June 22, 1887, but Peer gave his performance as scheduled. His five-eighths inch cable was a mere thread compared to the heavier ropes of his prdecessors, and the wire was held steady by 20-30 guy wires and weighted down between them with 12-20 sandbags, each weighing about 35 lbs. His walk was a complete success, and he returned to Canada in a carriage via the suspension bridge, welcomed by thousand sof applauding spectators. Three days later he was dead, discovered on the gorge bank below his cable. The reason for his death remains a mystery, but stories suggest murder.

Peer performed under his own billing for the first time on June 22, 1887. His performance was free, but a collection box was passed through the crowd. Somewhere along the way, Peer had gained the title of Professor and added an extra "e" to his surname for effect. [Prof. Steve Peere] HIs first 'official' ropewalk took place between the Great Western's suspension bridge and the Michigan Central's cantilever bridge. These bridges were replaced by the present Whirlpool Rapids Bridge and the Penn Central Bridge, in 1897 and 1925 respectively.

From "History of Welland County"
"On Wed. June 22 [1887] Stephen Peer of Niagara Falls outdid Blondin by walking across the Niagara River between the cantilever and suspension bridges on a wire rope only 5/8ths of an inch in diameter. This is the first occassion on which Niagara River was ever crossed on so slender a rope. The elevation was about 200 ft from the water. Peer carried a balancing pole twenty-one feet in length and of forty-five pound weight. He got a collection of $35.00 for his daring, but reckless deed. On the Sat. evening following, Peer either fell or jumped over the bank or off his cable. He had been drinking heavily, went out from the hotel and was last seen alive near his rope. Not returning soon, a search was made and his body was found down the bank under the cable dying from the effects of the fall. And thus was added another but not unexpected victim to Niagara."

Ancestor Occupations

Labor Day weekend is over. But many genealogists were talking about their ancestors' occupations. It has been fun and enlightening to read comments on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend.

So I thought I'd do a rather quick overview of some of the occupations held by my ancestors. It's an interesting exercise to look them up as I realized that I have much more to learn about some! For example one of my ancestors was engaged in the Rattle Watch in New Netherland (New York) in 1659. When I first learned of this I had to research to find out what a Rattle Watch was. Basically the rattle watchmen patrolled what is now New York City, using wooden rattles to warn people of threats or fires. They were responsible for stopping theft and other crimes, so we can think of them as a type of police force. The patrols carried green lanterns and walked the streets of the city from sunset until dawn.

Many of you will find that certain occupations were carried on from father to son to son - down many generations. Let's take a look at some of mine, going back 5 generations:

My maternal grandfather was a bookkeeper and manager of the Guelph Lumber Company. His father was a gardener.

My maternal grandmother was a dressmaker, and her father was a coal carrier while her mother ran a boarding house.

My paternal grandfather was one of the first firefighters in Guelph but after an injury went to work in a steel factory. His father was a general labourer, while his grandfather ran a tavern called Speed the Plow near Guelph.

I have a Niagara Falls tightrope walker, an early (if not the first!) base jumper, the first female pilot in Canada, circus performers, innkeepers, shopkeepers, shipwrights, commercial fishermen, farm labourers, dressmakers, washerwomen, and a hatmaker.

What's in your ancestral heritage?

The Age of Daredevils - Fun Stories of Niagara Falls

By turns a family drama and an action-adventure story, The Age of Daredevils chronicles the lives of the men and women who devoted themselves to the extraordinary sport of jumping over Niagara Falls in a barrel—a death-defying gamble that proved a powerful temptation to a hardy few.

Available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com

Read more at  Niagara writer dives into the Age of Daredevils

These stories fascinate me because my great-grandfather's cousin Stephen Peer walked Niagara Falls on a tightrope, and has the dubious distinction of being the only tightroper walker to fall to his death. You can read his story on my blog at Stephen Peer, Tighrope Walker of Niagara Falls in Carnival of Genealogy “I read it in the news!”

Stephen Peer, Tighrope Walker of Niagara Falls in Carnival of Genealogy “I read it in the news!”

Newspapers are a great source of information on our ancestors. I didn't actually find this news story in a newspaper until after I had been told about it. One of my uncles had always told this tale, and insisted it was in a Hamilton Ontario newspaper. Uncle Roy's retold tale of family lore was that my great grandfather's brother had walked Niagara Falls on a tightrope and plunged to his death.

To say I was intrigued was putting it mildly! Uncle Roy could not find the newspaper clipping he claimed he had from the 1880s, so I began searching. Sure enough my grandfather's cousin (not brother) Stephen Peer (whose flyer proclaims him as Professor Stephen Peere) had indeed walked Niagara Falls on a tighrope, then fell or was pushed to his death a few days later on 25 June 1887.

The full story is given in various newspaper accounts, for this was high drama and intrigue!

The Niagara Falls Public Library has this report:

Stephen Peer was born in Stamford Township in 1840. He was nineteen when Blondin performed the first of his many tight rope walking feats at Niagara Falls. Peer became determined to become the first real "Niagaran" to walk the Gorge. In 1873 he became an assistant to Henry Bellini, he then illicitly used Bellini's equipment to perform his own first stunt. Bellini was not amused and attempted to cut down the tight rope. The residents chased him out of town, after all Peer was the home town boy ! By 1887 he had become famous enough to begin performing under his own billing and on June 22, 1887 he successfully walked on a wire cable stretched between the present Whirlpool Bridge and the Pen Central Bridge. Three days later he went to the platform from which he had started his crossing, with friends. Speculation is that they had been drinking, Peer began to walk across the cable and fell forty five feet to his death

The reports of his death claimed accident, suicide and murder, but his family was convinced Peer was murdered.

The first report of his successful first walk across the Falls follows:

"NIAGARA FALLS TIGHT ROPE WALKER in The Hamilton Daily Spectator, Hamilton Wed. June, 1887, pg. 1 Col 7

Niagara Falls Ont. June 22 Steve Peer, a local tight rope walker, crossed the Niagara River on a 5/8 inch cable stretched from the Canadian to the American side between the Cantilever and Suspension bridges at 4 o’clock this afternoon successfully. A stiff breeze was blowing during the time, and the cable was not properly guyed and he says that several times he very nearly lost his balance from its vibrations. Several thousand people witnessed the daring performance. Peer will repeat his performance several times during the season. "

The famous Canadian author Pierre Burton wrote about Stephen's walk and mysterioius death in his book Daredevils of the Falls.

It was unusually windy on June 22, 1887, but Peer gave his performance as scheduled. His five-eighths inch cable was a mere thread compared to the heavier ropes of his prdecessors, and the wire was held steady by 20-30 guy wires and weighted down between them with 12-20 sandbags, each weighing about 35 lbs. His walk was a complete success, and he returned to Canada in a carriage via the suspension bridge, welcomed by thousand sof applauding spectators. Three days later he ws dead, discovered on the gorge bank below his cable. The reason for his death remains a mystery, but stories suggest murder.

The Hamilton Daily Spectator Hamilton, Canada, Monday June 27, 1887 called its story Peer the Rope-Walker Suicide

Niagara Falls, June 25 Steve Peer, the local celebrity who outdid Blondin in daring feats around Niagara and recently crossed the rapids on a 5/8 inch cable is dead. Ever since he did the daring act he has been drinking very heavily, and Wm. Leary proprietor of the Elgin House where Peer has been stopping, has been watching him closely. This evening about 7:30 pm Peer went out unobserved with John Gillespie and a stranger, and later was seen with 2 men near his rope. As he did not show up by 8:30 and no trace of him could be found elsewhere, it was suposed that he had attempted to walk his rope and had fallen from it or stumbled over the bank, and ropes and lanterns were procured and Peer’s brother, with John Connolly was lowered down. Near the bottom of the incline they found his lifeless body, badly cut around the head. There was a large gash leading from his nose over the top of his head so that his brains protruded, and death must have been instantaneous. His body was raised to the top of the precipice by means of ropes, and taken to the Elgin House, where it now lies awaiting the coroner. A good many rumors are afloat regarding how he met his death, amongst them one that he suicided, there being, it is said some trouble between himself and his wife. The general belief is that he attempted to walk out on the cable when recovering from his drunk and lost his footing and fell into the abyse below.

The coroner's inquest labelled his death suicide. Others proclaimed that as nonsense, for why would Stephen, just as his career as a tighrope walker was about to peak, end his life? Sadly 121 years later, the mystery remains - accident, murder or suicide?