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This out-of-place grave of Charles Morgan Blessing is located near to the Barkerville Highway (Highway 26) west of Barkerville, British Columbia. His headstone reads the following:
In Memory of C.M. Blessing
A native of Ohio
Age 30 years was murdered near this spot May 31, 1866
Background info: Blessing and Wellington Moses were friends who had met on a trail traveling to Barkerville in the spring of 1866, another man named James Berry soon joined the two. Wellington Moses had noticed an unusual tiepin made of a gold nugget shaped like a man's profile on the breast of Charles Blessing. Wellington was detained in Quesnellemouth (now Quesnel) on business and assured Charles he would meet up with him again in Van Winkle in route to Barkerville. Charles and James continued on. When Wellington reached Barkerville, Charles was nowhere to be found; James Barry informed Wellington that Charles had turned back on the way to Barkerville. This concerned Wellington, and he became suspicious when one of his customers turned up wearing the gold nugget pin. Wellington ask the gentleman where he had got it from, and the man told him a dancing girl. Wellington found the girl who readily admitted she had received it from James Barry. Wellington told his story to Judge Cox in Richfield. James Barry was arrested. The Honorable Justice Matthew Bailie Begbie presided over the trial. William H. Fitzgerald, the first witness stated that he discovered the body at a place about two miles on the other side of Edwards' ranch at Beaver Pass. Charles Morgan Blessing was shot dead at the spot he now rests at in 1866, during the Cariboo Gold Rush. His killer, James Barry was found guilty and hanged, along with Nikel Palsk, a native Indian, on the same day (August 12, 1867) for the murder. A collection was taken to pay for a proper funeral and a headstone for Charles Blessing. It was the same then as it stands today. A book written "Remember Me" The Charles Morgan Blessing Story was authored by Mervin Dykes. His gravesite is British Columbia's smallest provincial historic site.
More info here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3372/charles-morgan-blessing
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