1852: An Acadia Tragedy Unfolds (Part 14, Jun 12/25)

Anthony Phalen’s body was never recovered

“The remaining four still clung to the boat. They were washed off two or three times, but gained it again. At length, Phalen and Coldwell were washed off together, and rose no more.” (Distressing Calamity, Christian Messenger extra, 11 June 1852, 1) The story told by Charles Benjamin and recounted in the newspaper by Dr. Cramp helps us know that Mr. Phalen was swept away from the boat and sank. Archivist Wendy Robicheau discovered that Anthony Phalen was missed in his community.

He was born in 1826, in Rawdon, Nova Scotia. His body was not found and no memorial seems to exist for him. But the written evidence paints a picture for us of a thoughtful, young man.

Phalen attended Acadia College in the collegiate course. He may have been a Senior in 1852 without enough credits to graduate, likely because the of the disruption caused by the faculty leaving during his degree. As an advanced student, he studied Classics with Dr. Cramp and Mathematics, Mental and Moral Philosophy, Rhetoric and Elocution, and writing essays with Professor Chipman.

His obituary noted Anthony as “an excellent scholar—industrious, addicted to close inquiry, influenced by high aspirations” and that the writer had “confident hope, judging from his ardour and firmness of determination, that he would fill some important post in society.” (Chrisitian Messenger, 6 August 1852). After Phalen’s death, Dr. Cramp indicated that he was told Phalen wanted to study for the ministry. The essay he orated at the public exhibition in 1852, called “The Student of Nova Scotia,--His Aspirations—His Claims and Destiny,” was published in the Christian Messenger on 15 October 1852.

A letter from Rawdon published in the Christian Messenger on 18 June 1852, describes Phalen as a “universal favourite and extremely useful inhabitant of this settlement.” The writer describes how Anthony’s summer vacation was intended to be spent building a house for a friend, an old man who raised Anthony. His parents Michael and Alice seem to have connections to Belfast, Ireland and Barrington, Nova Scotia. He had several siblings.