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!

The Grave of William Fay

William Marion Fay was a partner in the Davenport Brothers act. He joined them in 1864 as tour manager and would fill in for the often sick, William Henry Davenport. He clearly had a bigger role than just a fill-in however because his name actually appears on the billing as "The Davenport Brothers and Fay".

In 1873, Fay left the Davenport Brothers and went with fellow employee Harry Kellar to start FAY & KELLAR. Some books say that the brothers were retiring, others claim that Kellar had a falling out with William Davenport and left and took Fay with him. Regardless, the two went off on their own and performed together until they lost all of their props and money in a shipwreck in the Bay of Biscay.

William Fay rejoined the Davenports in 1873 and stayed with them until William Henry Davenport died in Australia in 1877. Fay remained in Australia and purchased a farm. He came out of retirement briefly to try and resurrect the Spirit Cabinet act with Ira Davenport, but it was unsuccessful.

He died on July 16th, 1921. William Fay is buried in Melbourne General Cemetery, Church of England grave number NN214, 215. To find the grave, enter by the south gate to South Avenue. Turn off South Ave into path directly opposite the grave of Amalia Hirshfeld which is on the right hand side of South Ave coming from the south gate.

The Davenport Brothers with William Fay (center

)

 The photos are courtesy of Kent Blackmore. To read more about the Davenport Brothers and William Fay check out this article by Kent. http://www.sydneymagic.net/history/davenport.html

Also to get a slightly more in depth biography of William Fay, check out my blog: 

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/02/who-was-william-fay.html

William Henry Harrison Davenport's Grave

Magician and historian Kent Blackmore at William Davenport's Grave

The Davenport Brothers were a sensation across the globe. They created something called 'The Spirit Cabinet' which was a large rectangular box which apparent spirit manifestations took place. They brothers would sit in chairs inside the cabinet and then were tied to the chairs. Next,  musical instruments were placed inside the cabinet and the doors would be closed to hide them from site. As soon as the doors closed, the instruments began to play. Yet every time the doors were opened the brothers were found to be still securely tied.

The team was made up of William Henry Harrison Davenport and Ira Erastus Davenport. William was born Feb 1, 1841 in Buffalo NY. The brothers began presenting their Spirit Cabinet shortly after some sisters also from New York, the Fox Sisters, began to claim they could communicate with the spirits of dead people. Strange rapping sounds were heard in their presence seemingly a signal from these dead spirits.

In the 1850s the two brothers took their show on the road and they were an instant sensation. Within a short time they were traveling the globe presenting this effect. It should be noted that the Davenports themselves never claimed these were supernatural feats, those claims were often made by others who had seen them. The Davenports, like good magicians, really left it up to the audience to decide.

William died rather young at the age of 36 of Tuberculosis. He was buried in Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney Australia. Over the years, many famous magicians have visited the grave including Houdini.

There is a fantastic article written about William Davenport and his grave that I discovered online. In fact, the photo above and the location of the grave below came directly from that webpage with permission of the author Kent Blackmore. The article is an  investigative story which covers some biographical information, the brothers tours of Australia and news of a special monument that was supposed to have been constructed as the grave for William Davenport but was rejected by the Cemetery authorities. Mr. Blackmore does a great job in his detective work. To read his very interesting and informative article,  http://www.sydneymagic.net/history/davenport.html

Locating the grave of William Henry Harrison Davenport

Rookwood Necropolis (Sydney), is located near Lidcombe railway.
The grave location is SECTION E, Grave 848 in the Anglican (Church of England) section.
Come up through the Lidcombe entrance, up to the road which goes in a large circle.
Look for a road on your left, clearly signposted "William Drive." This runs North from the Circle Rd. Go along William Drive about 250 meters.
Look for posts marking sections on the right.. There is a track running between the borders of section "E" and section "F", on the right hand side of the road. (There is also a sign indicating Section EE there, which is accessed from this track and lies further on.)
Go down the track, only about 20-30 metres in. On the right hand side of the track (on the side facing away from the Olympic Stadium), about four graves in, look for a low-lying extended pyramid shape. The grave is no longer white as it was originally.
For those with access to a GPS, the grave is at - 33 degrees 51.986S, 151 degrees 03.148E
Died July 1st 1877

Alan Shaw, Charles Carter and Houdini