Acknowledgments and Thank You

A sincere Thank You goes to the many people who have assisted me in the research for this website.  Helping to make local history come alive is very worthwhile. Any misinformation is my own.

This all-digital project by researcher and storyteller Gayle McBride Stewart aims to make the history of the Westmeath Peninsula easily available worldwide. What started as a small hobby has grown and grown. Now people no longer use books to get information; the first inquiries are always on a search engine.  A digital publication can be easily edited or expanded. You can make as many drafts and reviews as you want.

Many other area volunteers are also hard at work making sure the early settler story is not forgotten. I  encourage you to use other important, history–preserving, local organizations, – all run by volunteers, – and read one premier historian and author in particular: Evelyn Moore Price. 1984. “History of the Corporation of Westmeath Township.” online through the University of Calgary, Alberta.

• Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogy Group   www.uovgg.ca. 
• Ross Museum,   www.rossmuseum.ca  and the Whitewater Historical Society.
• “Upper Ottawa Valley Heritage Centre” in Pembroke, ON – the former Champlain Trail Museum,  

Access to important source documents was made possible by the Region of Whitewater Township,  councillors and administrative staff, allowing the use of the early Westmeath Township Council Minute Books. 

Similarly, the North Renfrew District Women’s Institute granted permission for materials from the local Westmeath, Beachburg, and Laurentian View “Tweedsmuir Books” to be used as source materials.  Thanks go out to all the women, (including my mother),, who through the years,  compiled these history books with such pride and diligence – they all deserve our gratitude.  Their work kept their community’s stories alive for later generations in pictures and writings, to fulfill the Institute’s motto “For Home and Country”.   History-in-Renfrew-CountyDownload.  I should note that the Women’s Institute started very early here. The Beachburg W.I. in 1904, and the Westmeath and Forester’s Falls branches in 1905; thus making them some of the oldest books in the province.

The Ancestry.ca and Newspapers.com websites, plus a myriad of other online resources, have made research much easier.  Squinting at illegible handwriting and trying to follow the generations in sequence can be a headache. Families had many children and reused the same first names.  I thank all the unsung men and women who have archived and digitized endless documents. 

Welcome to my website.  I hope you enjoy your time here and visit often.

Gayle McBride Stewart