I have an old family story from my grandmother that I'm not quite sure is true.

I have a sticky note saying: "Arthur Hamilton drowned May 28th, 1872. Occurred at the mouth of the Montreal River (31 drowned)."

However, there are many Montreal Rivers. I know most of the family was in Canada at that time, but it could very well be the United States. Even within Canada there are multiple Montreal Rivers. My grandmother was not known for being exact with her stories. She also got family names mixed up, so this very well could be Arthur Blackburn and not Hamilton. The dates could be completely off as well, and I could be completely off and it's not a shipwreck but another sort of accident.

To top this all off, we're not sure exactly how Arthur Hamilton (or Blackburn) is related. There are many Hamiltons in the family tree and he could be a brother or son or nephew to any number of them. The same goes for the Blackburns.

Although I'm interested in finding out about my own relative, I'm wondering about this from a historical perspective, too. If there was an accident where 31 people drowned, it wouldn't be a small event. If anyone has any leads on this or has heard a similar story, please let me know.