Two Sore Backs

With help from my uncle Brian and aunt Sheila, we made connections with the PEI McGuires and Larkins earlier this year.

My great grandfather’s homestead was near Morell which is in northeast PEI. Daniel and my great grandmother Mary had eight kids – William, Daniel, Ralph, Pius, George, Ernest, Louis and Margaret. Just the three youngest went on to have children, but they had a lot!

Ernest (Ernie) my grandfather, moved away from PEI in his early twenties, eventually settling in Saskatchewan, marrying my grandmother Janet, and having eight kids. My dad, John Ernest (Jack), was the second eldest.

Louis, Ernie’s younger brother, stayed at the Morrell homestead, marrying Henrietta and having eleven kids. Brian and Bobby have passed away. Fortunately, we met many of these relations while on the island (so keep reading). A common thread: many stayed on PEI or moved away for period(s) or moved away and come back regularly to visit.

Margaret (the only daughter and youngest) married Eugene Larkin and had two sons, Louis and Daniel, and four daughters, Janet, Maureen, Irene and Florence. Janet and Irene have passed away, but Florence was one of the group that we had connected with. (Many names are repeated generation after generation.)

On Louis’ side it was his son Kevin and his wife Margot who we spoke with before coming to PEI. Kevin was the second born with older sibling Louis and younger siblings Brian, Joe, Garry, Paul, Larry, Bill, Anne, Bobby and Audrey.

Our introduction to the family was at a small get together at Kevin and Margot’s where we also met Bill, Garry, Larry, Joe and his wife Mary, and Brian’s widow Alycia. Florence was there from the Larkin side, as well as Kevin’s son Greg and daughter Kelly, and her husband Stephen. Kevin and Margot have a beautiful property in East Royalty (Charlottetown).

There are a few golfers in the group. We plan to get a game with Joe at his home course when we return in late September. And a few days later Bill arranged a game at his course, Avondale, joined by Louis who was on his way from Ottawa to visit his daughter Cindy who was at her cottage in Lakeside, just east of Morell.

Later that evening it rained like hell at our campsite in Stanhope. It didn’t let up the following day either, so we popped into Charlottetown where we ran a few errands, charged the car, and took refuge at Florence’s place where we talked genealogy but mainly watched Wimbledon. Val and Florence are both tennis nuts.

Florence is an interesting character. She’s lived in what seems like hundreds of places, worked for NGO’s most of her life, and knows all the cool stuff about Charlottetown. We went for dinner at Cedars Eatery, an awesome Lebanese restaurant, but because we hadn’t made a reservation we had to eat in the pub upstairs. That pub is called Baba’s Lounge and is a really important venue for up and coming musicians. There were concert promo posters on the walls from a bunch of awesome Canadian bands. We didn’t want to leave. That is until they started setting up microphones beside our table. They were setting up for an open mic comedy show, and our table was on the stage!

We met up with Florence again, later on, near the end of our PEI stay. This time we went to The Churchill Arms for British-style curry. So good!

Kevin arranged a visit to the McGuire homestead for the following day, which was the one-year anniversary of William (Bobby)’s passing. Bobby had been a mining engineer and lived in Newfoundland.

The homestead is now owned by Paul, who is a doctor in Nova Scotia. (Seventh son of the seventh son!!!). We missed meeting Paul when he came later in the week, but hope to fix that later when we’re in Nova Scotia later this summer. Paul is making steady improvements to the place.

We messed up and didn’t get any pictures from our golf game with Bill and Louis. Bill is quite a golfer, plays most days, and our round was his second that day. Avondale is a solid course – nicely routed, generous landing areas, interesting green sites, never intimidating.

Bill has been a member there for only a short while. We were impressed- everyone knows Bill and he was addressed by one of the younger members as “Mr. McGuire”. I dare say he gets more respect here than from his siblings!

The last get together was arranged for Bogside Brewery in Montague. I mentioned our plan to a group of campers from PEI that I met at Red Point, and their eyes all lit up: it’s their “Go To”, their favourite!

Bogside is owned and run by Gary’s eldest son David. Amazing that he’s doing it as a side hustle – he also works full time for the PEI government. He’s doing a lot of good things here – it’s got a great vibe. Val enjoyed the cucumber mint vodka soda.

We will miss this bunch. We’ll be back later in September for more PEI experiences and good times with family.