We picked up some liquid refreshments to go with our friends' offerings, and descended on our friends, Anna and Hal, who have moved into a Century-old home which they are reconditioning, with beautiful grounds and a lot of history, and 19 acres of land. Hal was just off to a night shift, so we picked up a pizza for dinner and visited with Anna until 2AM.
Hal, Anna, myself and Linda at H&A's place
Next morning, it was up and off to meet our cousins Jarrell and Arlene, and daughter Marla, all of whom are researching the same family lines, and who'd offered to guide us through the various cemeteries in the outskirts of the Soo. We drove east to Leeburn, photographing many ancestral graves, then off to Bruce Mines for lunch. Marla and Jarrell have done extensive research on our McKay line, and were able to complete a great deal of our missing links, and questions. During lunch, we learned of the possibility that McKay Island and lighthouse, nearby at Bruce Mines, was likely named after our common gt-gt-grandfather, BlackJack McKay (this story has a ring of truth to it, as opposed to the Mt McKay story of Thunder Bay). We visited the light, and climbed up, viewing the reef where his ship may have foundered while entering Bruce Mines harbour. Then it was off to visit more graveyards, all to the north of Bruce Mines area, and we managed to find most of our 40-some people. We also visited a very much alive relative, Donald, grandson of the twin brother of my gt-grandmother. He was able to show us numerous old family photos and memories - priceless! We finished off with one final graveyard before returning to visit Anna and Hal.
Their 3 children were all arriving for a family meal, so we had a great chance to meet them, and visit with the whole family, had a delicious meal, all followed by a bonfire in the yard and more catching up.
Jarrell and Arlene, cousins and friends, who guided us through many cemeteries in search of roots.
Marla and Jarrell had both invited us over for dinner tomorrow, but we had made contact with even more cousins, who were driving up from Traverse City Michigan area, to visit and share genealogy. So Marla gave us a wonderful option to do a picnic in her yard, with her gazebo......and a mini-family reunion was born, with 3 branches of our roots getting a chance to meet and share information. We had a fashionably late morning next day, with a Sunday brunch (yes- it was Sunday) prepared by Hal, who has an amazing wrist action as he tosses homefries around in the skillet. Then it was time to say our farewells to our old buddies Hal and Anna, and to move over to the KOA Kampground to meet our internet genealogy cousins, Leslie and John, who'd driven up to meet us and camp with us. They managed to beat us to the campgrounds, and were assigned a site well away from the one that had been assigned to me when I'd reserved it, so we ended up waiting for each other at opposite ends of the grounds, until making phone contact, and getting together. With our camping gear out of the car, we had room for the two of them in the car, and drove over to meet the other cousins, with a fabulous barbecue, enormous salads, and new cousins who became new friends.
Family BBQ made up of newly-made friends and cousins.
We even managed to compare a few genealogical notes! Abbie, Marla and Tim's border collie, is an avid ball player, who can dribble a soccer ball around a yard with amazing dexterity. We visited until late in the evening, and made it back to our campground in time to wake up the only other tent in our campground, set up nearby. Next morning was another fine sunny day - the only clouds, in fact, were the clouds of mosquitoes and blackflies enjoying our visit. It at least added extra meat in our breakfast meal. We then decamped and headed back to Jarrell and Arlene's place, via a couple of local cemeteries, where we found nine more dead relatives waiting for their headstone photos to be completed. Arlene had managed to find a real treasure - the silver engraving from my gt-gt-grandmother's casket, which had been presented to Jarrell's grandmother. An absolutely amazing find for us, so we managed to take multiple photos of it, before piling into their van for another tour of the graveyards and historical sites east of the Sault. Leslie managed to find some more family history information at the Bruce Station Municipal office, which also collects local history. And we all visited some 5 or 6 cemeteries, searching for our "people". Finally, as evening was setting in, we said our goodbyes to Leslie and John who were off on a late 4 hour drive back to Traverse City, and we were off to find a campsite with less bugs. We found it near the Sault airport, at Point des Chenes, near where I'd first lived when I'd moved to the Sault area 35 years ago. Things are looking good......the price of gas here is back down (95.5/liter), we've found our numerous dead ancestors/relatives, we've seen some old friends, and met some new ones in our cousins.
Katie, Marla, me and Jarrell comparing genealogy notes.
Tomorrow is going to be a travelling day eastbound again, after a breakfast and visit with Jarrell and Arlene, Marla, and Katie (Marla's daughter) It will also be another day of reckoning, and I believe we may end up going a bit over on this week.....we shall see. Oh yes.....I almost forgot to mention today was a two-bear day. We'd seen a bear in our travels around Leeburn and Desbarats, and then again on our way to our last campsite. Bears seem to be as common here as the deer back home - several had been walking around Anna's yard earlier in the week, although we hadn't personally seen those.
It was a two-bear day (this one walked out on the road in front of us, on the way to our campsite in the Soo).
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