Across the Atlantic to Fewston

In early August our Administrator arrived at the Heritage Centre to find a family all the way from Ottawa in Canada waiting in the car park for her to open the door!

Ewen and Donna Marjerrison have visited Timble and Fewston before, but this time brought their wider family. On their first visit, Dawn Meeks, a local and friend of the Centre, encouraged them to visit the Heritage Centre whereupon they discovered distant relatives, one of whom volunteers in our archive team, and the other a member of the Lister family. Our archive volunteer kindly sent them a family tree to show the relationship between them. Ewen and Donna walked the lanes in Timble overlooking the fields of sheep and the stunning landscape …. they felt like they had come home.

Ewen Marjerrison’s great, great grandfather and grandmother emigrated to Canada around 1835 with four children although one of the children, a little girl called Betty, died at sea during the voyage. John and Mary Marjerrison settled in Roxborough, Stormont County and went on to have many more children, 15 in total! John and his son John Jr won a contract to supply oak timbers for the Cornwall Canal, then under construction. The superintendent told them to trim each piece of timber larger than the required finished dimension. On delivery the superintendent found that the timbers were the exact size and were shaped as well as the finishers in Cornwall could have done. The Marjerrison Crawford Tinkess book, written by Selwun MacDiarmid is available in the National Archive in Ottawa … John and Mary Marjerrison and their family are featured in this book and started Ewen on his journey to find his roots.

Later in August we welcomed Ken and Deb Washburn from the USA to the Heritage Centre. This is what Ken had to say:

“Last year we were looking for somewhere to go for our 25th anniversary, which was in 2024, since we hadn’t gotten away as a couple much since the kids were born. We originally were looking to go to Israel, but then the attacks on Israel happened on October 7th. The UK and Ireland were always on our “someday” list because of the great history, literature, music, etc. that has emanated from there and influenced America, and the beautiful scenery and architecture. So, I started researching things to see in January of 2024. I was told when growing up, that our surname was either Welsh, English or Scottish. Not having the patience to research genealogy, I was still curious, though. And so, when I started researching, I came across the Washburn Heritage Centre, and read some of the information on the website, was fascinated, and then reached out to you.”

Jenny Wilson, Heritage Centre Administrator said “How wonderful to welcome visitors from so far away. For Ken and Deb’s visit we referenced the book ‘Higher Wharfeland: The Dale of Romance’ by Edmund Bogg for information about the River Washburn.” The book is available online at https://archive.org/details/higherwharfeland00boggiala/page/n3