Family’s broken link with relatives in Canada is restored
A CAITHNESS family and their Canadian relatives have been reunited "completely out of the blue" after losing contact for almost 100 years.
Alexander Sinclair was born at Waas on May 30, 1883 and grew up at Blacklink near Janetstown, but emigrated in the early part of last century and became a pioneer and homesteader in Canada.
His incredible story only emerged when his relatives contacted family members here during a bus tour of Scotland. Alexander’s grandson, Wayne knew his grandfather came from the far north of Scotland and was familiar with the name Blacklink but that was all. However, after a few enquiries he got in touch with Betty Cook in Thurso. Alexander was her uncle.
Arrangements were made for Wayne and his wife Sandra to meet Betty, her nephew Eann Sinclair and relatives Graham and Johanna Geddes and have a meal at the Pentland Hotel.
During the course of the evening, they exchanged photos, documents and stories. Some of the photos had never been seen before by the Caithness relatives.
Among the material was a copy of the Caithness Courier from March 23, 1906 which had a report of a presentation to Alexander when he left the county to emigrate to Canada.
"I could not believe it," said Eann when he saw the old Courier. "Alexander had kept the paper all these years and passed it on to his family.
"He also took a lot of photos out with him and clearly wanted to retain his links with the north and they were his links." Alexander left Scotland in 1906 when he was 23 and emigrated to Canada.
The family in Caithness knew he was in a place called Owensville in the Prairies in Saskatchewan but the last correspondence they had seems to have been in 1918 when Alexander's sister Janet wrote to tell him his father had died.
It was a letter he kept as the Caithness family discovered during their meeting with their Canadian relatives.
"We thought there had been no contact after 1909 but that was not the case as Janet wrote him in 1918," said Eann.
"His first two years must have been very hard. He kept a memoir and talked about walking 100 miles to get stock and then walking 100 miles back.
"It was all about survival but he appears to have done reasonably well for himself," said Eann, who explained that Alexander was a pioneer and help found the settlement of Eston where the family are still based today.
"I tried to find Owensville on the map and it does not exist any more. It must have been a temporary staging post for the pioneers. You don't think of people going out from here as pioneers but that's what he was," he stated.
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Sadly, as the years passed the family lost touch but Alexander did well.
He married Alexandra Glen from Ontario on April 12, 1919 at a place called Brock in Saskatchewn. The couple had two children – Glen the younger of the two just died in May aged 91. Glen had three of a family, Wayne, Gerald and Janet.
Alexander prospered in Canada after a tough start and served for several years as a director on the board of the Snipe Lake Agricultural Society and was elected as a member of the Eston Wheat Pool Shipping Committee.
He was also one of the original shareholders of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company. When he died in 1954, an obituary in his local paper described him as "one of the homesteaders who took up land in this district in 1908."
It said he was a man of "a quiet unassuming nature and a neighbour who could be relied on at all times when help was needed in the early settlement days."
The obituary also stated Alexander resided in Ontario for a year before moving to Moose Jaw where he worked until he relocated to the homestead.
"The respect in which the deceased was held was evidenced by number of early settlers present at the funeral service," it added.
The Sinclair family still live in the Eston area and are still involved in farming.
Wayne, 68, decided to try and meet his relatives while he and Sandra were on holiday in the north of Scotland. He knew the name Blacklink – the family farm near Janetstown and got in touch with a genealogical group and then made contact with Betty Cook, who lives in Ormlie Crescent in Thurso.
"It was great to be reunited with the family completely out of the blue after all these years," said Eann.
"We caught up and looked at letters and photos we had never seen before or knew existed. I could not believe when Wayne pulled out the actual copy of the Caithness Courier from 1906 with the report of Alexander’s presentation.
"Betty was absolutely delighted to meet up with the Canadian side of the family after all these years. Alexander went out there before she was born. She never knew him but had heard about him.
"She was really excited and nervous about meeting Wayne and Sandra as she did not know anything about them but everything clicked into place once we met and we all had a great night," said Eann.
"It was incredible to meet up with family members we did not know existed. It was an enjoyable evening but tinged with regret that we did not find out about them years ago. But better late than never, as they say," stated Eann.
He took Wayne out to Blacklink and showed him where his grandfather came from.
Eann also showed him the local school and the area where Alexander lived before he emigrated to Canada.
"We have been in touch a couple of times since they went back home and intend to keep in contact now and retain the link that was lost for so long," he added.