Perth & District Historical Society 19 November Meeting

 Uprooting Your Family for a Life in a New and Uncertain World

What would make you decide to uproot your family, take the arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and start a new life in a strange land?

For our November 19, 2015, meeting, the Perth and District Historical Society presents Kay Rogers, local editor and co-author of At Home in Tay Valley.  Kay will begin her presentation by posing the question:  What prompted people to leave their homes to start new lives in Tay Valley Township, indeed more generally, the Perth Military Settlement, starting in 1816?

Kay will tell us about the settlers’ first year, the year of no summer.  She will describe how the Algonquin, the First Nations people who were here long before the settlers arrived, helped the newcomers survive in their new homeland.  Kay will paint a picture of the lives of the settlers at a time when there were work bees of all kinds and that the fiddler was the focus of community gatherings, barn dances, fairs and socials.

Throughout her presentation, Kay will draw from Tay Valley Township’s recently released book celebrating the people, places and events in the history of the Bathurst, North Burgess and South Sherbrooke municipalities.  Over 60 community members contributed to At Home in Tay Valley, a history that’s been 200 years in the telling for the settlers, and several thousand years for the Algonquin.  Kay will illustrate her presentation with maps, paintings and photographs.

The proceeds from the sale of At Home in Tay Valley, as well as the 200th Anniversary calendar of the Perth Military Settlement, will be directed to a Tay Valley Township 200th Anniversary legacy project: a history scholarship for a student graduating from PDCI or St. John who has demonstrated a keen interest in history and who has been accepted into a post-secondary programme.

Raised in Ottawa, Kay’s ties to Tay Valley extend back to childhood visits to Christie Lake, and later, visits with extended family near Sheridan Rapids.  Over this time, Kay fell in love with the area; about a decade ago, she fulfilled her dream of making Tay Valley her adopted home.

Please join us for an evening visit back to the very beginning of our community,
at Perth's Royal Canadian Legion, home of the Hall of Remembrance,
26 Beckwith Street E., Perth, at 7:30pm (Toonie donation)