Earlier this week, a friend of mine asked me a question out of no where: "Sara, what is a.. Beek?" Puzzled, I replied, "my cat?" For several moments there was silence. Again, I replied, "Beek is my cats name." The next question to follow suit was, "Like a bird beak? How in the world did you come up with that?!"
During the summer months of 2010, I found myself wandering through a familiar place. Wandering through the cemetery beside Trinity Anglican Church, I glanced at the familiar names on every tombstone. Eventually, I stopped dead in my tracks in front of a long white stone, and whispered the name out loud, “Beek Lindsay.” How had I missed this before?! Both humoured and amazed, all I could think was, “Someone named their child BEEK?”
John Gerbrand Beek Lindsay (more commonly known as “Beek Lindsay”) was born on February 25, 1808. Reverend Lindsay not only rebuilt the old Trinity Anglican Church in 1836, but he was the first to pontificate in this church as well as in Williamsburg, Matilda, and Edwardsburg. It is said that Reverend Lindsay dismantled the first dilapidated church building, and rebuilt a new one in a different style. Nearly all of the white oak timber from the first church was used to construct the second. The arched window frames from the former church were incorporated into the new one. This second church was named “Trinity Anglican Church.” In the winter months of 1845, Reverend Lindsay contracted Thyphus shortly after ministering to a recently immigrated family who were suffering from the fever. On November 28, 1845, Beek Lindsay would die from Thyphus fever at the age of 37.
Eight years after his death, tragedy would strike the Lindsay family again. On December 10th, 1853, three of Reverend Lindsay’s children, Salter (aged 15), George (aged 14), and Gerbrand (aged 11) fell through the ice while skating on the Cornwall canal. Unable to free themselves of the waters icy grip, all three boys drowned to their death. Reverend Beek Lindsay, his wife, and their children are interred at Trinity Church Cemetery. On the opposite side of Trinity Church, there is a tall Seniors residence at 210 Augustus Street. This building was named after the Reverend, and is known as the Beek Lindsay Seniors Residence.
After the death of our family cat Sparkles, and losing her best friend Lucky (who escaped our home and never returned) in 2012, fate stepped in. After seeing dozens of articles online, and a news report on TV about Valleyfield’s OSPCA being overpopulated with cats who faced the threat of being euthanized, my family and I travelled to their animal shelter. On the drive home looking up from my lap, was a coal coloured cat with big green eyes. Her name was decided during that car ride home. To my surprise and amusement. my Mother let me name our new furry friend Beek.
