Solving a mystery from the past
May 31—LOCKPORT — Delving into the past and finding answers is not easy — take the search for the identity of Lockport Tender No. 10, who's photograph on the steps of the Flight of Five by F.B. Clench in 1897 baffled teams of researchers even as artist Susan Geissler formed statues based on the photo that were being placed on those same steps.
Finally, the identity was unveiled at the Saturday, May 20 ceremony at the Lockport Discovery Center.
His name was William Crowley. He has no known direct descendants, but his identity was uncovered, at least 99% sure, through the photographs of Geoff Harding, the great grandnephew of Crowley.
Harding is a history buff. A painter of historic scenes, a re-enactor of colonial times and has many photos of his family's history at his home. He has done a lot of research into his own genealogy which includes his great grandfather Richard Crowley, son of James and Margaret, both Irish immigrants, and his brother, William.
"He would be my great grandfather Richard Crowley's brother William," Harding said adding that the Crowley brother's uncle, another Richard Crowley also served as a state senator between 1866 and 1870 and lived on High Street in Lockport at the old Presbyterian home.
Harding said he was first approached in 2021 when the first three of the lock tenders in the monument were installed. He said that they were trying to identify who William was in the photograph, and then in the winter of 2022, he was called up and asked, "Do you have any photographs of William?"
"I've got a lot of old photographs," Harding said. "But I can't identify all of them. Some of them aren't labeled. Some are, some aren't. I had photos of Richard and I had photos of their sister.
"I guess they took their hands and faces of Richard and maybe his sister and did something on the computer where they said, 'I think this is 99% William.'"
According to a document passed out at the Lock Tenders Tribute on Saturday called the "Identification of Lock Tender #10," the Crowley brothers had, "very strong similarity in physical stature." This was found from studying the "thumbs, temples, lower lips, jaw line, mouth, eyebrows and eyelids," of both Richard and the photograph of Lock Tender No. 10. Geissler also determined that William was 5"4' in height and the rest of the team, Jeff Degnan, Shelley Richards and Dave Kinyon, found the similarities seen in the pose, eyes, eyebrows, hairline and hands, as well as the wear of the shoes on the right foot of William, to that of his father, James Crowley.
Kinyon, one of the team and chairman of the Lockport Locks Heritage District, said that he is still looking for other relatives of Crowley to find the photo that will "back up the conclusions that have been reached to the identity of Lock tender #10."
Meanwhile, Harding continues to work on his family tree. He said that two of his family were in the Civil War, one of whom died and did not come home. He also noted that six men in his genealogy fought in the Revolutionary War, as well.
"I have all the letters. They survived and were packed together," Harding said of John and Elias who served in the Civil War.
"My great grandmother had them in a drawer in my grandmother's house. They were all in German, I had to translate them," he said. "They talk about the battles they were in and the people that were killed around them. They're pretty fascinating."
