North We Go

Friday, July 31

We have been parked behind Pat's mother's house for 6 weeks with plenty of wildlife surrounding us. It was a tight fit to get down the driveway, but once in it was quite comfortable. 

Our NJ site

We pulled out of the backyard of Pat’s mother and headed north to the town of Unadilla, NY. This is the closest campground to my brother Peter who lives in Otega. Have you been to upstate New York? Well it can be a very picturesque setting, depending on your location. However, the roads can be the pits.

Our trip was only 160 miles with the last third being the back road twisty type, but still quite nice. My brother David and his wife Barbara came down from Syracuse for the weekend to make it a mini family reunion and we had a wonderful visit. Took a drive over to Oneonta to find Dad’s house is still standing much the same with only a few more homes surrounding it.

Monday, Aug 3

We are headed North to Thousand Island RV park for an overnight before we face the border crossing with the RV. The drive was short, so we have time to explore and are off to Cape Vincent to grab a picture of the Lighthouse there.

Tibbitts Point Lighthouse

Overlooking lake Ontario, Cape Vincent and Wolfe Island. Years ago, Pat and I had done a bike ride from Clayton, NY taking the ferry across to Wolfe Island then another ferry over to Kingston, Ontario where we had a wonderful lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Chez Piggy. So, for the heck of it, we decided to run over to Kingston for dinner. We were first on line to the ferry to Wolfe island, no problems. Then we drove across the island to:

This line that we did not realize was so long. 2 ½ hours later, we boarded the next ferry. Seems they were using the smaller winter ferry. There was no turning back, the ferry to the US was closing before we could make up our mind. Then when we go into town, the only parking was blocks away from the restaurant and required coin for the meter, which we only had US with us, so, we drove around to the bridge stopping at a Denny’s along the way. Dumb move on our part, oy vey! Sometimes those spur of the moment things don’t turn out the way one thinks they should, eh?

Tuesday, Aug 4-7

I know for a fact they have my picture at the border and a note that says, “if this guy comes through with an RV give him as much crap as you can!”

“Do you have anything to declare?” “No, sir”  “How long do expect to be in Canada” “10 days, Sir” “Pull over next to the building and someone will come out and talk to you.”

Next thing is they are asking the normal do you have guns, then they take our passports, search our vehicle and we have to go into the building for more questions before they return the passports and gives us the old “have a nice visit.” Is it me or does every RV that enters Canada get searched and interrogated. What happened to the old days when they just passed you through?

We are headed to a campground in Durand, Ontario where one of my cousin Alvin Ross lives. His brother Mel lives in the house located on the Ross family homestead which was purchased in the 1830’s as near as we can figure.

Melville Ross in front of the Ross Homestead

The house seen in the picture was completed in 1869 and the fellow standing in front is my cousin Melville Ross the current owner of the farm. Still raising cattle with several acres of hay and some acres of timber nearby. This is an older picture (forgot to take one this trip). For a short period of time this was the township of Torbolton, it’s mailing address today is Woodlawn. If you walk up to the right of the house and look out you can see the Ottawa River as it winds its way around to Fitzroy Harbour. How does the Ross family fit in? My Dad’s mother (my grandmother) was a Ross. One of the sons decided to move on to Michigan, eh?

Recently Mel and his brother Alvin did a lot of work inside the old homestead. When they opened one of the walls, this little goodie was found.

He hasn’t done anything with it, basically it sits in an old tin up on a shelf and comes out as a conversation piece now and again. But it is a neat find, we have no idea how old it really is.

I spent some time with Alvins wife, Fay and we worked on the Munro side of the family. It seems the Munro’s and the Ross’s were inseparable and go back centuries. We are hoping to find some ties back in Scotland when I get some good wifi to connect to and get my research running again.

We all gathered at Jenifer Craddock’s house for dinner one night, yes another of the pesky Ross cousins. She and her husband Chuck were kind enough to put on a fine feast where we talked about our fine ancestors and I actually remembered to take a couple of photos.

 

Jenifer Craddock

Mel Ross

The pictures hanging on the wall were painted by Jenifer’s husband Chuck, a fine artist. One of those paintings is of a bridge in Packenham, Ontario.

Packenham Bridge

This bridge is one of two 5 arch stone bridges found in the world and I am proud to say that one of the masons on this bridge was a Ross. Did I find time to play some golf? You bet I did Cousin Richard Munro owns a golf course in Arnprior, Ontario, can you guess where I played? Well before we move on to the London area of Ontario, I would like to mention a sight we have not seen in the US but have seen many of here in Canada.

A log barn? Well, not quite log but split wood with the openings between the boards chinked. This barn was located across from our campground, but we did see many similar barns in the area.

Saturday – Aug 8

A stopover in Grafton, Ontario and yes there was a golf course right there and no, I didn’t.

Sunday – Aug 9 – 12

I’ve driven by but never stopped here in London, Ontario. We’re here for the purpose of genealogical research. The Coopers came into Canada and settled into Eastwood, near Woodstock. We had done some research a number of years ago and found no records about the Coopers there. When we checked with the church that did exist in the 1850’s we were told that they did not have the records back that far and the records would have been moved to the archives in London.

Monday found us in the archives here in London. They are quite nice and the deal is research is $25 and a copy of the data is $25. It didn’t cost us a dime. Like I said they were quite nice, the assistant, looked at the records and informed us that their records for that area did not go back that far.

My Great Grandfather’s Brother Charles was married and had children in Blenheim, Ontario which is about 60 miles west of London, so on Tuesday we are off to see if we can find some information on his family there. We found the historical society and went in for a visit with some lovely ladies that were nothing but help. It turns out we were in the wrong Blenheim. We should have been in Blenheim-Blanford which it turns out is right next to Eastwood. This all makes sense and puts the family back together.

Lake Erie

After leaving Blenheim we stopped along Lake Erie and took this shot for Pat’s cousins who live on the other side of the lake, can you see their house?

We didn’t time this very well, our friends who live here in the area happened to be away this week, except Russ whom I did hook up with on Wednesday for a round of golf. That night Pat and I went into the city for dinner at The Church Key a wonderful little pub that we would recommend. What a nice way to enjoy our last night in Canada.