Two Rivers to Honor 100th Anniversary of Shipwreck

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Posted: Thu 2:35 PM, Nov 22, 2012

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Two Rivers to Honor 100th Anniversary of Shipwreck

POSTED: Thursday, November 22, 2012 --- 2:35 p.m.

TWO RIVERS, Wis. (AP) -- A fishing village in eastern Wisconsin is hosting a centennial celebration in honor of a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan exactly 100 years ago.

The Rouse Simmons was carrying Christmas trees from Michigan to Illinois in 1912. It sank Nov. 23 as frigid swells crashed on its aging deck, capsizing the vessel and killing all 15 or so people on board.

A report in the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter says Capt. Herman Schuenemann was a beloved figure. For 13 years he delivered his cargo of Christmas trees from Thompson, Mich., to Chicago.

To honor the lives lost, the Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers is hosting a centennial celebration Friday and Saturday. Plans call for a musical performance and a re-enactment of ship officials distributing Christmas trees.

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Information from: Herald Times Reporter, http://www.htrnews.com

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by Gloria Location: Madision, Wisconsin on Nov 23, 2012 at 11:07 AM

I was born and raised in Two Rivers,a ong time ago, and would love to have planned to be there, but that isn't possible due to late notice of times of celebrations. However, I would like remark that my Uncle Butch LaFond was a fisherman for years, and occationslly, their nets would pull in bits of Christmas trees. It wasn't a story I heard as a child, so today it is exciting to have found the ship, which can now be examined by divers. The Wisconsin Historical Society has good records of that, too. I have the book written about the Christmas Ship. What a good man was the captain, and his family as well. I am sure his family remembers him even today, great grandchildren. I believe there is a monument in the "old cemetery" in Two Rivers to the unknown sailors from that ship, paid for by the people of Two Rivers. Two Rivers, Wisconsin, is the best place to have grown up, and worth a visit by anyone who would like to sense a place where there were good and decent people who did their best, and still do, it is still a fine small city.

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