Looking for ideas for a family reunion? Consider one that was set up earlier this month to help relatives understand a wee bit about the voyage their ancestors experienced when crossing the pond.
At a gathering of 60 relatives in Riverfield, Quebec, near Howick, on July 1, the reunion organizers arranged the tables in the exact dimensions of the brig Jean of Irvine that brought their ancestors, John Stewart and Margaret Rodgie and their four young children, from Glasgow, Scotland to Montreal 201 years ago. The family was from the village of Methven in Perthshire and they settled in Howick, Quebec.
Reunion activities included visits to family landmarks, graveyards and homesteads, along with a Sunday service at the ancestral church.
This wasn’t the Stewarts’ first family reunion. Back in 1922, cousins gathered in Howick for the centenary of their ancestors’ arrival in the new country.
Read more about the reunion in The Gleaner.
