Ezekiel Stone Wiggins (December 4, 1839 – August 14, 1910) was a Canadian weather and earthquake predictor known as the "Ottawa Prophet". He was the author of several scientific, educational and religious works.
Early life and education Ezekiel Wiggins was born in Grand Lake, Queens County, New Brunswick, in 1839 to Daniel Slocum Wiggins and Elizabeth Titus Stone, both of United Empire Loyalist descent. The Wiggins family claims descent from Capt Thomas Wiggins of Shrewsbury, England, who became the first Governor of New Hampshire in 1630.
Ezekiel was a pupil at the Oakwood Grammar School (1858). He attended secondary school in Ontario, and stayed to become a teacher in Mariposa Township, Ontario. On August 2, 1862, he married his sixteen-year-old cousin Susan Anna Wiggins, the daughter of Vincent White Wiggins and Charlotte E. Wiggins. The couple did not have any children. Their religion was Episcopal. Susan became an author and poet. He was a student at the Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery, where he earned an MD in 1867-69. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Albert University, in Belleville, Ontario, in 1870, while serving as the head master of a highschool in Ingersoll, Ontario.
Career and theories Wiggins wrote The Architecture of the Heavens, which was published in Montreal by John Lovell in 1864. He worked as a local superintendent of schools in 1866.
In 1867, Wiggins wrote a criticism about Universalism in Christianity Universalism unfounded: being a complete analysis and refutation of the system which was published in Napanee, Ontario, by Henry & Co. in 1867Universalism unfounded being a complete analysis and refutation of the system Henry & Co. Napanee, Ontario 1867 According to the preface, "Here every Orthodox minister and private Christian is furnished with a text book on Universalism. Containing a complete refutation of every position, hithero assumed either in the affirmative of universal salvation or the negative of punishment"
Wiggins served as the first principal (1872–1874) of W. Ross Macdonald School,The history of the County of Brant, volume I, by F. Douglas Reville, 1920 p 235 whose motto is "the impossible is only the untried". The school, which opened its doors in Brantford, Ontario, in March 1872, provides instruction from kindergarten to secondary school graduation for blind and deafblind students.Michael Madesker, "Braille Alphabet: Educational Facilities (part III of III)// Canadian Philatelist; 2006, Vol. 57 Issue 3, p176 Wiggins wrote English Grammar, which was published by Copp, Clarks & Co, Toronto in 1874.
Wiggins founded Thompson's School in 1874, a boy's day school housed upstairs in Whelpley Hall near the Rothesay railway station, in Rothesay, an affluent suburb of the prosperous city of Saint John, New Brunswick.Ezekiel Stone Wiggins in the Rose Cyclopedia
Wiggins, who was an amateur Cryptozoologist, argued in "Days of the Creation" published in the St. John New Brunswick Globe in July 1876 that Plesiosaurus dilichodeirus, genus of large marine Sauropterygian reptile that lived in the Oolitic era was not extinct, based on reported sightings by passengers and crew of the Steamer New York, of a marine animal swimming with its head twelve feet above the water near Boston.E. Stone Wiggins "Days of the Creation" St. John New Brunswick Globe July 1876 He later theorized that "the Plesiosaurus exists in Rice Lake is certain and it is probably twenty feet in length," John Robert Colombo Mysteries of Ontario 1999
In 1876, the Wiggins advertised their summer home, consisting of Hunting Lodge dwelling, guests' house, wood, ice, and bath house on a wilderness property on the west shore of the Grand Lake, New Brunswick.
Wiggins was an amateur historian who wrote "The History of Queens County" New Brunswick in a series of articles in the Saint John newspaper, The Watchman, in the fall and winter of 1876 and 1877. The History of Queens County by E. Stone Wiggins was edited by Richard and Sandra Thorne and was published in 1993 by the Queens County Historical Society, Saint John, New Brunswick.Ezekiel Stone Wiggins
He ran unsuccessfully in 1878 to represent Queen's (New Brunswick federal electoral district), which was a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada. The Wiggins collection of "Scraps concerning Queen's County election, Sept. 17th, 1878" is in Library and Archives Canada.Library & Archives Canada Clippings concerning Canadian politics and government, and the history of the Wiggins family 1875-1906, with handwritten title page.
He was appointed federal civil servant in the finance department by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald in 1878. He continued to serve as a federal civil servant until 2 years before his death. From 1878-1892, the couple lived at 237 Daly Avenue, in Ottawa, Ontario. From 1892–93, the couple lived at Arbour House in Britannia, Ottawa.
Wiggins wrote the Architecture of the Heavens containing a new theory of the universe and the extent of the deluge, and testimony of the Bible and geology in opposition to the views of Dr. Colenso. Wiggins' theorized that storms, unusual tides, earthquakes and cyclones were all caused by planetary attraction, and that both visible and invisible planets could shift the Earth's centre of Gravity.Harrowsmith's Truly Canadian Almanac, 2010 He claimed to have predicted the 1869 Saxby Gale. He claimed that the Sun was merely an electric light, which did not generate any heat.www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=49742.0 No heat at all in the sun: Professor Wiggins says it's an electric light -that the earth has a second satellite he knows an eon of storm and earthquake possible The New York Times
In 1901-02, Wiggins served as rector's warden at St. Stephen's Anglican Church (Ottawa).The Evening Citizen, Ottawa, Ontario Saturday May 30, 1936 St. Stephen's Anglican Church 50th anniversary
Wiggins theorized that the unusual proximity of Jupiter to the Earth and the action of the Moon upon Jupiter were responsible for the cold weather Canada experienced in the winter of 1904.
Although Wiggins claimed to have discovered Earth's second moon in 1882, it was reported in The Comber Herald in 1907 that astronomers were unable to verify the discovery.
Wiggins' prophecies about storms and earthquakes, which were based on his astronomical calculations, appeared in Wiggins' storm herald, with almanac, 1883 Wiggins' storm herald, with almanac, 1883 by E. Stone Wiggins. Published 1981 by Grip Print. & Pub. Co. in Toronto and in his warning letters reprinted in various newspapers.
Wiggins predicted a number of storms in February 1883.The church guardian: Vol. 4, no. 44 (Feb. 28, 1883) The Auckland Star reported that Wiggins' prediction of a storm on the Atlantic March 7, 1883, came to pass "A severe gale, accompanied by a heavy fall of snow, has been experienced over the greater part of England. Much damage has been caused on land by the wind and snowdrifts, and many disasters at sea are reported owing to the severity of the gale which raged along the coast.""Wiggins to the Fore" Auckland Star, Rōrahi XIX, Putanga 3931, 10 Poutūterangi 1883, Page 2
Wiggins predicted that a great storm would strike Earth between the March 9–11, 1883 with a theatre of its ravages India, the south of Europe, England and North America, and leading to the submerging of the lowlands of the Atlantic. He predicted that no vessel smaller than a Cunarder would be able to live in this tempest.The church guardian Notes of the Week: Vol. 4, no. 22 (September 27, 1882) Wiggins predicted that a great Hurricane and Tidal Wave would strike America on March 9, 1883.Wiggins a false prophet: The great tidal wave does not appear but the professor continues confident the hurricane sure to burst over America in a few hours March 10, 1883 New York Times Wiggins advised the Canadian Minister of Marine and Lords of Admiralty that all vessels should be in safe harbours not later than March 5 since minor storms precede great ones. Some Canadians accorded the prophet credit for having made a fair prediction based on a severe storm on 7 March, a few days early of Wiggins' prediction of the 9th.Wiggins's Dreaded Blow What The Canadian Prophet Has To Say March 8, 1883.
Wiggins explained that the severe snowstorm on March 7–8 was caused by one of planets moving into position to take part in great storm he predicted on 9th and 11 March. Wiggins predicted that the Northern Lights would precede his storm; The Aurora borealis was bright on March 8. On March 10 there was a light rain and hail followed by a gale in Halifax.Papers Past—Manawatu Standard — 12 April 1883 — Wiggins' Prediction
After the storm failed to appear at Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Toronto, Ontario, on March 9 and 11, fishermen complained about the Fishing industry losses stemming from keeping the fishing fleet in port.A Prophet in trouble: The victims of Wiggins Wax Wroth The News and Courier March 10, 1883
The Hull, England Fishing fleet was hard hit in a storm on March 9, 1883, losing 37 vessels and leaving 500 families destitute. Sydney Australia suffered a northerly buster, which fell short of the tidal wave and hurricane predicted by Wiggins. "If the storm does not come as predicted, Wiggins must go to the foot of the class. We shall have nothing to do with Canadian prophets. If we must have weather prophets we shall raise them ourselves and thus stimulate home industry" Wiggins to the Fore Auckland Star, Rōrahi XIX, Putanga 3931, 10 Poutūterangi 1883, Page 2
Wiggins lost credibility and was termed a "false prophet" and "a fool and his folly" since the storms were not as terrible as Wiggins had predicted; Neither a great tidal wave nor a hurricane appeared. "This Wiggins, as a prophet, is a mushroom creation of American journalism and the ripe result of as shrewd a piece of inferential advertising as had lately been attempted. He achieved fame in the sailing of one balloon."Fool and his Folly A.S. Barnes, 1883 The International review, Volume 14
A cartoon by Grant Hamilton from the front page of the New York Daily Graphic on Jan 17, 1883, explained Wiggins' prophesies concisely. "The Great Wiggins shall the weather prophets or the people be snuffed out? Wiggins, the weather prophet prophesied 'We will have a terrible storm in March.' The effect in a country town. This is a US signal service man trying with all the latest improved instruments to foretell the weather 48 hours he can but that is all. But Prof Wiggins has no difficulty to write with his left hand a letter foretelling the weather 3 to 6 months, with an extra month thrown in by way of variety. Prof W up in the wee ours of the night as the great storms occur in March - he prophesies and publishes it accordingly.'Grant Hamilton from the front page of New York Daily Graphic Jan 17, 1883 New York
Some of the Wiggin's predictions were fulfilled. He predicted, for example, the earthquake that appeared in England in 1884.The biographical review of prominent men & women of the day: With Briographical Sketches and Reminiscences ... - Thomas William Herringshaw Chicago W H Ives & Co 1888 p 116
In 1885, Wiggins' retirement as a weather prophet was reported in Once a Month. "The days of weather prophets are not yet over, despite the immense scientific advancements of meteorology – for who did not hear a year or so ago of "Wiggins" Predictions, and how fleets of ships actually remained in port in the United States, deterred from putting to sea by the Wiggins prophecy of terrific storms on the east coast of America? These storms did not come off and Wiggins retired into the shade" Dec 15 1885 No VI Vol III Once a Month Monthly Note