TI Life in August ‘11

Q&A:  (1) How many of you sat on your deck (cottage/boat/cockpit) and watched the world go by? Answer: Everyone.  (2) How many ate too much buttered corn?  Answer: Most.  And, (3) How many complained about the weather? Zero, Zip, Nobody…  Summer ‘11 in the Thousand Islands will be remembered for a long time as just about perfect!

This month we received three submissions all related to family histories: Charlie and The Magedoma… Romance and Tragedy on the River by Charles Maclean Cochand was triggered when the author received a pointer to Kim Lunman’s story from our June issue on the Fulford Yacht’s Historic Homecoming .  The Keech Family of Clayton and Fishers Landing, by  Bruce McAdam; and  Discovering my past… by Kathleen Burtch  show family life on both sides of the border.  We also present Judith Pearson’s In Search of Molly Brant  which will begin telling the story of Fort Haldimand on Carleton Island.

Regular contributors include: Brian Johnson’s  Arthur Pullaw: River Rat Extraordinaire, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Gananoque Boat Line.  Lynn McElfresh presents Grenell Island Regatta and Robert  Matthews presents 1904 .

Thanks to Tom French History Comes in 3-D allows me to highly recommend a thoroughly-enjoyable book, it would be a welcome addition to your library or that of a friend!  We also take this opportunity to publish The Map  - parts of the 1889 Frank H. Taylor map found in 1990s by contractor Steve Taylor. Rex Ennis has written a book identifying those listed on the map thus providing a snapshot of islanders in the Gilded Age. 

In early August I gave a presentation at the Cornwall Bros. Store Museum in Alexandria Bay on Place Names in the Thousand Islands. One of the questions I was sure to be asked was, How The American Thousand Islands Are Named and Renamed?  To find the answer, I went to the expert, Ross Pollack, who has been studying and recording Island Names for the past five years. His answer was not only in-depth, it also deserved to be shared. Ross will return next month with Canadian naming information.”

New Contributors

	Charles Maclean Cochand - Charlie and The Magedoma… Romance and Tragedy on the River Chas Cochand was born in Montreal and raised in the Laurentians at his family's ski resort Chalet Cochand. At 14 he went off to school in Switzerland but returned to the University of Western Ontario in London, ON for a degree in English & History. He attended the Inns of Court School of Law, London UK,  and was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1978 and has been practicing criminal law in England ever since. He lives with his wife Judy and three adult sons in the New Forest, Hampshire U.K., but comes home every summer for a month at Judy's family cottage on Lake Simcoe.
	Judith F. Pearson - In Search of Molly Brant Judith F. Pearson is a founding member of Cape Vincent’s writer’s group, Poets & Writers INK. She became a River Rat while dating Art Pearson in 1958 as his parents had homes in Cape Vincent and a Canadian Island in Lake Fleet.  Judy, as she is known, has not missed a summer since. She is the proud mother of four and six “grands”. After moving from the island to the mainland at Cape Vincent the Pearson home, Featherbed Shoals, became a B & B for a few years. Winter months are spent in Naples, Florida. Throughout the years poetry remains a passion.
	Kathleen Burtch - Discovering my past… Kathleen Burtch is a sixth-generation Burtch family of Rockport. She came back to the Thousand Islands in 1983 after studying Geography at the University of Waterloo and at Queens University to work at St. Lawrence Islands National Park. Kathleen was the editor of and contributor to Life on the Edge - The Cultural Landscape of the Thousand Islands Area. She is also a keen birdwatcher and spends every spare moment exploring the natural and cultural history of the Thousand Islands.
	M. Bruce McAdam -The Keech Family of Clayton and Fishers Landing M. Bruce McAdam lives in Maryland with his wife and son. He grew up in Brownville, New York, and attended General Brown High School. He spent five summers working at Wellesley Island State Park during high school and college. With family in Clayton and Watertown, and cousins in Canada, he visits the Thousand Islands often. As the family historian, he discovered this fascinating branch of his Keech ancestors.

Dudley Danielson

When Dudley Danielson left the River community two years ago, we knew he would stay connected.  Dudley was responsible for promoting tourism in our island communities for a quarter century. For 17 years, Dudley published Relax! In The 1000 Islands.    This month we learned that his first novel has hit the book stores.  The jacket cover reads:

G. Duaine Andrews, beloved pastor of First Church of Calumet, New York, recently widowed, is delightfully flamboyant in his sermons to end all sermons. When he prays it’s always for his Congregation, as if he and God share braggin’ rights over his people. The St. Lawrence River flows past Calumet with a mission to fill the Atlantic. Everyday Christianity is reflected in its quiet pools: love and loss, temptation and triumph, despair, rebounding victories!

These revelations-from-behind-the-pulpit, encased in fictional robes also conceal messages impressed with the seal of the King: you will see a beautiful reflection of our Lord shimmering thru. You will identify with nearly every person on every page. You’ve met them on your personal journey. You’re living in another town, a different parish, in real time but you know this Congregation; though fiction it is as true as I dare to write it.

The book is available through Publish America at $29.95.

Linking islanders

In March 2010 we published  “Duck Hunting”, a story by David Whitford  and this month Bob Hirsch ( T.I.Park/Coto de Caza, CA ) commented on the story asking “I wonder if this is the same David Earl Whitford I knew as a teenager at T.I. Park. He writes as I remember him!” A few emails later the two discovered that they had indeed been “best buddies” several decades ago. This editor is pleased, indeed. 

Reader’s Exchange

Foster Holcombe and Theda Hansen sent a photo of their Glass Blowing demonstrations for students in Chaumont NY.  Foster’s interest in glass began in 1976 with his stained glass studio in Denver, CO.  He then studied glassblowing, decorating and technology in Stourbridge, the heart of England’s glass industry.  In 1985 Theda Hansen joined Foster.  Each summer they come to Northen New York to demonstrate glass blowing and sell glass at the Sterling Renaissance Festival.  They are there on the weekends and then work in their garage studio in Chaumont during the week.  Part of their ritual includes inviting children from the Lyme Library to see how glass is made. 

Summer 2011

A call for photographs on  Facebook  produced the following slide show. We thank everyone for sending their Summer shots – only wish we could post them all…

Continue to enjoy Summer 2011 and stay safe.

Susan W. Smith, Editor,

[susansmith@thousandislandslife.com]