Frederick Eugene Powell's Grave

Frederick Eugene Powell was born March 1st, 1856 in Chester PA.  He first became interested in magic by viewing the shows of Robert Heller, Signor Blitz, and Wyman the Wizard. Powell was a contemporary of Harry Kellar and Alexander Herrmann. For a time he formed a partnership with Servais LeRoy and Imro Fox, they called themselves The Triple Alliance.

Powell was a skilled conjurer, adept at both manipulation magic as well as large scale illusions. He presented a cremation illusion in his show as well as the very large Noahs Ark Illusion. He died very close to his 82nd birthday on Feb 27th, 1938.

During Powell's life he saw the Civil War first hand as well as World War 1. He saw the advent of radio and the movies. When he was alive people got from town to town either by horseback or by train. But during his life he saw the invention of the automobile as well as the airplane.

Frederick Eugene Powell is buried in an unmarked grave in his family plot at the Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester PA Plot: Sec K Lot 10 Grave 5

Wyman the Wizard's Grave

Here lies a great 19th Century Conjurer John Wyman, known professionally as Wyman the Wizard. He was born in 1816 in Albany NY and according to several magic history books, he was the most successful magician of his time from a financial perspective. I think that Signor Blitz would take the honor of being the most well known of that time, especially with his dozen + imitators. Though a number of newspapers dispute that fact and say that Wyman was THE most popular. Either way Wyman apparently made the most money, and unlike Blitz, Herrmann, Anderson, Heller and others he was American born!

He had the honor of having performed for President Abraham Lincoln four times. Apparently Mr. Lincoln was a big fan of magic as he had seen, Blitz, Compars Herrmann and now Wyman the Wizard! David Copperfield has in his museum, the very coins that Wyman the Wizard used to pass through the hands of Abraham Lincoln during one of his performances before the President. Wyman lived on 6th St in Washington D.C. for a period of time. And his regular performance spot was a place called The Odd Fellows Hall, which was located at 419 7th St N.W Washington, almost exactly half way between the Capital Building and The White House. I assume that his close proximity to the White House and his celebrity status helped him obtain his numerous appearances before not just President Lincoln, but also President Martin Van Buren and President Millard Fillmore.
According to Houdini, Wyman had one particular attribute that made him popular, he was honest! This is an important fact to remember because Wyman presented what were called 'Gift Shows'. Basically, all the tickets that were sold to his shows had numbers on them and every ticket received a prize depending upon the number. Wyman apparently gave out some really good quality items, among them, watches, table sets, family bibles, silver plated ware and more.

To read more about the life of Wyman the Wizard, please visit the following link
http://www.themagicdetective.com/search/label/Wyman%20the%20Wizard

Wyman is buried next to his wife in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River Mass. His grave is in Lot 105, Oleander Path. John Wyman died July 31st 1881.

Photos courtesy of fellow magic historian Gary Hunt!

Horatio G Cooke's Grave

Photo used by permission of Don Lynch

Horatio Cooke lived quite an exciting life. He was born Feb 1, 1844 in Norwich Conn. By his mid teens he was a school teacher. The break out of the Civil War interrupted his teaching and he enlisted in the Union Army. He eventually became one of President Lincoln's Federal Scouts.

Cooke met Lincoln personally at a meeting he had been called to in Washington D.C. Word had gotten around about Cooke's uncanny ability to free himself after being tied up. At this meeting, Cooke was put to the test and he passed with flying colors.

Harry Cooke went on to be an accomplished magician, escape artist and spirit debunker. Later in life he would become friends with both Harry Kellar and Harry Houdini, as well as many others in the Los Angeles magic scene.

Harry Cooke died June 17, 1924 and was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. His grave is located in Plot: Sect 5, Lot 66, Grave 2NE.   Harry Kellar is also interned in this same cemetery.

Don Lynch, a contributor at Findagrave.com gave us permission to use the photo.

To read more about the life of Harry Green Cooke, visit
http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/08/civil-war-era-magician-part-6.html