Kin making trip from all around world
BY KEITH McLEOD k.mcleod@dailyrecord.co.uk MORE than 100 members of one family from across the world are gathering in Glasgow for a reunion.
And for many generations of the Wark family, it will be the first time they have met their far-flung kin.
Warks from Canada, Australia, England, Ireland and Wales – as well as Scotland – will descend on Pollokshaws Burgh Hall in south Glasgow, where they will be piped in and then offered “goodie bags” with Scottish products.
The event on August 4 came about after Anne Wark Stuart from Glasgow and cousin Sam Wark from Canada started planning a year-and-a-half ago.
Rachel Boyd (Wark) said: “Through my sister Anne researching the Wark family tree, she has found my nephew that emigrated to Australia.
“We have family from Canada, America, Wales, England, Ireland who we’ve never met.
“My sister has coordinated the descendants from our great-great-grand parents, through to the youngest child.”
Anne said: “I was wondering where all my aunts, uncles and cousins were and what happened in their lives, so I set out to gather as much information about them as I could, adding more names to my family tree.”
Anne’s research traces back to the marriage of her grandparents Sandy and Mary in 1896.
But she was shocked when an older cousin, May Stirling, said that her gran had been married before.
And that opened up a whole new line of research.
Mary had married at 17 in 1890 and had children but became a widow and saw her children dying young.
Now, a photo of Mary and Sandy at their golden wedding celebration in 1946 will have pride of place at the reunion.
And it will act as a fashion aid for the family. Anne, 73, said: “We hope to replicate the look of the photo.”