Stories passed down, clues preserved in records, and questions that still invite an answer.

Some parish stories come with names, dates, and documents. Others survive as family recollections or striking tales whose origins are difficult to trace. Here we explore those stories, explain what the available evidence supports, and leave room for new discoveries.

The Mandarin’s Secret

Research status: An unverified tradition associated with St Margaret’s. The sailor’s identity and the reported monument have not been confirmed.

A familiar language in an unexpected place

The story begins far from Prince Edward Island, in a courtroom in China. Three merchant sailors from St Margaret’s had gone ashore, drunk too much, and landed in trouble with the police. One was a MacPhee; the other two were MacDonalds. Now they waited to appear before an official whom the story calls a Mandarin.

According to the tale, the sailors feared a severe punishment. The retelling even speaks of offenders losing fingers—a detail of the story, rather than a practice established by our research. Faced with what might happen, one of the Islanders turned to his companions and spoke in Gaelic.

“Let’s make a break,” he said.

The reply came from the Mandarin himself, in the same language: “I wouldn’t try that.”

To hear Gaelic in that distant courtroom was astonishing enough. What followed was stranger still. The official called a recess and took the three men into his office. There, he told them that he, too, was a MacPhee—and that he came from St Margaret’s, Prince Edward Island.

The shipwreck survivor

He explained that years earlier he had been shipwrecked on the coast of China. Somehow he had reached shore, barely alive. A Mandarin walking nearby had found him and taken him home to be cared for.

His rescuer had daughters but no son. In the telling, he regarded the young sailor’s arrival as an answer to his prayers. The stranger recovered, became part of the household, and eventually married one of the Mandarin’s daughters. The story says that when his benefactor died, the sailor succeeded to his position.

But the shipwreck had left him without any memory of his earlier life. He had built a new existence in China without remembering the Island home he had left behind.

Then, in the courtroom, the sound of Gaelic changed everything. Hearing the sailors speak had brought his memories back.

A monument for a man who was still alive

The visitors had news from home, but it was painful news. His parents had died several years before. Believing their son lost, they had placed a monument to his memory in St Margaret’s cemetery.

He asked the men to leave the monument as it stood. He would not return to Prince Edward Island. He had a wife and children, and China had become his home.

The retelling ends with the inscription said to have commemorated him: “MACPHEE, LOST AT SEA, 1869.”

That is the mystery at the heart of the tale: a man mourned at home, living another life far away, whose past returned through the sound of his own language.

Where the story comes from

This is a paraphrase of the retelling supplied to the archive, which attributes the story to Montreal’s Family Herald. It preserves the narrative without presenting its events as verified history. The original article, issue date, author, and sailor’s given name remain unidentified. The account of succession to the Mandarin’s office also remains part of the tale, not an independently established fact.

What the cemetery records tell us

The cemetery inventory contains a possible lead: John D. McPhee of Big Pond, recorded in the Pioneer Cemetery with the description “Lost at sea.” His recorded death year is 1860, rather than the 1869 given in the story.

This is a similarity worth investigating. It does not establish that John was the sailor in the tale. The inventory records a stone and gives a grid reference, but that entry alone does not confirm the monument’s present condition or the exact wording visible today.

What remains unanswered

• Can the original Family Herald article be located, and was it presented as reported history, folklore, or fiction?
• Does a surviving monument carry the reported inscription, and can its full wording and date be photographed?
• Can a named sailor be connected to the story through ship records, correspondence, or family documents?
• If a sailor is identified, is there independent evidence of his life in China?

Until those questions can be answered, the China account should remain separate from John D. McPhee’s biography. Neither a similar surname nor a lost-at-sea inscription is enough to identify him as the man in the story.

Can you help follow the clues?

A dated newspaper clipping, a photograph of the complete inscription, an old family letter, or a reference to a ship could help move the research forward. If you have material relating to this story, please share it with the St Margaret’s Cemetery & Heritage Archive, including where it came from and any names or dates recorded with it.

Sources and research notes

The story summary comes from a retelling supplied to the project on 20 October 2026, attributed there to Montreal’s Family Herald. The original publication has not been located in the project research reviewed for this page.

The possible cemetery lead comes from the original Honouring Our Ancestors sheets, entries “PC By Year of Death” row 80 and “PC By District” row 93, as preserved in the archive’s research notes. These record John D. McPhee, Big Pond, lost at sea, 1860, with grid reference R2, number 33.

The cemetery entry and the retelling are separate pieces of evidence. Their connection remains unproved.

This collection will grow as other parish stories are researched. New evidence may clarify a name, correct a date, or show that a remembered tale belongs to a different person or place.