Category Archives: Family history

The boating party

For Marnie, with thanks for many happy memories, and for your long-standing support of this blog. Sail on, silver girl. I am thinking about boats today, for several reasons. One is the fact that a good friend of ours who … Continue reading

Posted in Family history, Seine, Toronto | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

My mother’s adventure in Paris

This blog is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Rosemary Felicity Campsie, née Orchardson, July 24, 1924 – April 5, 2021. She was a cheerful traveller with great curiosity about the world. I remember a story my mother told … Continue reading

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The postcard collector

To her employers and patients, she was known as Nurse Pirie. But to Norman, she was simply Grandma Stevens. She lived with Grandpa Stevens in a house that his Grandpa had built, near enough to Norman’s family home in Hamilton, … Continue reading

Posted in Family history, Paris postcards | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

The Auld Alliance

On November 8, 2015, I posted a blog about my great-uncles who died in the First World War: Raymond Hummel, who died in 1916 and is buried in France (shown on the left, below); and John Lonsdale Sieber, known as … Continue reading

Posted in Family history, World War I | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Some corner of a foreign field

To the memory of Raymond Hummel, 1886–1916, and John Sieber, 1893–1917, and to the 166 men and 1 woman of Perth Academy who died in the Great War. The remains of my great-uncle Raymond Hummel lie in France, in a … Continue reading

Posted in Family history, World War I | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

The first time I saw Paris

This blog is dedicated to the memory of my father, John Campsie, 9 April 1921 – 8 February 2014. He passed his love of travel on to me and encouraged me to learn French. The first time I saw Paris, … Continue reading

Posted in Family history, Paris hotels, Paris nostalgia, Paris travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 48 Comments