2010 Bemister Family Reunion

To be held August 6th to 8th, 2010

at The Royal Canadian Legion

Carbonear, Newfoundland, Canada

In celebration of the 263rd Birthday of John Bemister of Corfe Mullen!

• Meet distant cousins from all over North America and UK
• Explore Bemister genealogy and family history
• Experience traditional Newfoundland hospitality
• Enjoy guided bus tours of Carbonear and nearby communities
• Take guided tour of cemetery to commune with ancestors
• Savour wonderful grand Newfoundland Feast and Kitchen Party
• Marvel at Bemister travelling museum
• Participate in Bemister Music Festival and Choir
• Share Church Service at traditional home of Bemisters
• Tour historic and archeological sites and provincial archives; and enjoy
whale watching, cultural and social events with Bemister cousins both
before and after the main celebration if you choose this option

Bemisters of Carbonear 2010 Family Reunion Post-Reunion Activity

Ideas for post reunion activities are being solicited
Draft - open for suggestions

Sunday - Aug 8, 2010 - late afternoon

4:30 pm Meet at Brigus or Cupids
See museum or Hawthorne Cottage, Tunnel etc
Have dinner here at pre- arranged restaurant

Monday, - Aug 9, 2010 - St. John’s

9:00 am Need bus transport
meet at convenient spot where there is parking
Bus to Cape Spear
Then to Ferryland via Petty Harbour
Tour Colony of Avalon
Have lunch on site - pay your own

2:00 pm head for Bay Bulls
Take O’Brien’s 3 hr whale watching tour
Have dinner on site - could be lobster or other scoff - pay up front

Back in St. John’s by 9:00 pm - all of the above for less than $80

Tuesday - Aug 10, 2010 - am in St. John’s

9:00 am tour of General Protestant Cemetery and lunch at George Street Church if available or other

OTHER SITES in or near St John's - Signal Hill, Cabot Tower, Geo Site, NF Heritage Store - Joan Parson Woods Exhibit, Water St, War Memorial, walking trails, Quidi Vidi Village, Marine Drive, Bowering Park, - we can recommend

Bemisters of Carbonear 2010 Family Reunion Pre-Reunion Activity

Pre Reunion Activity
Draft - open for suggestions

It is suggested that we provide opportunities for sight seeing with a Bemister flavour before and after the reunion - on a pay as you go basis. We could consider some sort of pre-registration so folks would have name tags and buttons for easy identification. Possibilities are given below. It is especially important for St. John’s committee members to give thought to the feasibility of these suggestions.

(These activities are for people who come as early as Wednesday Aug 4th and stay Wed and Thurs night in St; John’s; Woods family descendants in particular could be invited to stay at Everton House B & B on Kings Bridge Road and some activity can be based there) Group activity provides opportunity to give Bemister buttons and name tags for easy ID We wouldn’t do actual registration here.

1. Thursday morning; 9:00 am. Self guided walking tour of Old St. John’s (optional Bemister group walking tour) including Colonial Building (where Hon J B was an MHA), Cochrane St Church (where his family and Woods family attended; war memorial, site of old Methodist College where Bemisters attended and JB and HGBW were on the Board; Gower Street Church (where Rev. Charles Ladner and Rev. George Payne preached), The Rooms (archives, art gallery and public records of births, deaths etc are stored). Time permitting also the Basilica, the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist,. LUNCH at The Rooms (with a view!) OR Ches’s Fish and Chips (ie folks can either go with the group or go on their own or with the group, and connect at Rooms at 10:30 if they want or at Ches’s or Rooms Restaurant at 1:00pm

2. Thursday am, alternative tour guided and transportation needed, to General Protestant Cemetery followed by Wesley United Church where Rev. Joe Joyce set up NF’s first radio station, VOWR, South side home of Capt Edward and Emma (Bemister) White, LUNCH at George St Church Would have to meet at convenient central place(s). Could include Signal Hill if we were using a bus, followed by run down Duckworth, Water St, Harbour Drive with possible stop at war memorial

3. Thursday pm, short tour of Colonial Building and proceed to Everton House for afternoon tea at 4:00 in H. G. B. Woods drawing room - with ghosts of the past! Especially of interest to descendants of Hon John Bemister. An alternative with large crowd might be a garden party instead.

4. Thursday evening, tour of General Protestant Cemetery, meet at East Gate on Old Topsail Road at 8:00 pm followed by drinks at St John’s pub (eg Ship Inn)

5. Suggest supper at some St John's restaurant - pay your own way - say Velma’s on Water St for excellent fish or The Battery for the view !!! OR the time of this could be later to allow for the view of the City at night - then go up Signal Hill when really dark. The cemetery tour could be dropped or scheduled earlier in this case.

6. NO organized activity Friday am; People expected to make their way to Carbonear at latest for 7:00 pm and as early as noon

2010 Bemister Family Reunion - Carbonear, Newfoundland

2010 Bemister Family Reunion - Carbonear, Newfoundland
Draft - open for suggestions

Game Plan - First Draft -
Schedule of events for the Carbonear Reunion.
Our objectives are:

∙ to celebrate the history and heritage of the Bemister family rooted in Carbonear and Freshwater, Newfoundland expressed through the lives of the ancestor as reflected in stories, artifacts, grave stones and historical documentation
∙ to provide an enjoyable and informative occasion to meet family members from far and wide
∙ to expand our knowledge of family genealogy and to disseminate this to our participating family members; to engage family members of all ages in building the family tree
∙ to show off some of Newfoundland’s historic sites, communities, local culture, and beauty spots with particular attention to the ancestral connections to same
∙ to enhance our knowledge of the West Country connection to Carbonear and the Bemister connection to it; to develop an appreciation of why the Bemisters came to Carbonear 200 years ago and why over time so many of them left
∙ to have one hell of a good time

Tentative Program of Activities

Most activities are scheduled for the Royal Canadian Legion

Friday, Aug 6, 2010

11:00 am Meeting of organizing committee
12:00 noon Lunch for organizing committee
1:00 pm Registration begins and continues through the day, sale of T-shirts etc
NL tourist info available, info on Carbonear
2:00 pm Activities;
∙ Roots, Trunks and Branches; how to read the family tree,
exchange of genealogical information
∙ Local bus tour; Carbonear, Harbour Grace, Freshwater
∙ Short bus tour to Brigus/Cupids
∙ Boat ride to Carbonear Island
∙ Walking tour of Carbonear; or self guided tour
∙ Youth program (?)
5:00 pm Free time
7:00 pm Reception
Meet and Greet
to Grand Opening
Greetings by public officials (Mayor, MHA, MP etc)
12:00 pm Newfoundland Time - Kitchen Party

Saturday, Aug 7, 2010

7:00 am Traditional Newfoundland Breakfast Buffet
8:00 pm Registration
8:30 pm Long bus tours
A. to North Shore
B: to Brigus and Cupids
Box lunches provided
9:00 am Activities
∙ Boat ride to Carbonear Island
∙ Workshop; The Bemisters and the Carbonear Fishery
(could include panel of knowledgeable people - eg Alan Perry who could be invited as our guest - and be guest speaker!!!
∙ Walking tour of Carbonear

12:00 noon Lunch
2:00 pm Activities
∙ Story time: who were the Bemisters? Show and tell, the Bemister’s Travelling Museum on display
∙ Bus tour of Carbonear, Harbour Grace and Freshwater
including Bemister’s Hill, Sheila’s grave, museum etc
∙ Boat ride to Carbonear Island
∙ Youth program

5:00 pm Free time
7:00 pm Dinner and Social Evening
Group Photo (?)
Traditional Newfoundland dinner - banquet style
Choice of seafood or turkey
Toasts
Stories
Guest Speaker (who?)
1:00 am DJ ?

Sunday, Aug 8, 2010

9:00 am Boat tour to Carbonear Island
11:00 am Bethany United Church Service

12:00 pm Lunch at the Church (pay as you go)

2:00 pm Activities
∙ Cemetery Tour
∙ Boat tour of Carbonear Island
∙ Boat tour Dildo Island Archeological Site
Cog jigging if possible

4:00 pm Formal end of reunion

Building the family tree and telling the family story

We would like to ask for your help in building the family tree and telling the family story. We are attaching a family group record form, which you could use as a guide to recording information on your own immediate family. Please enter full names, given names, dates, places, etc. Photocopy to produce other forms as needed - one for each nuclear family. We will be updating our wall charts from previous reunions - and producing a mini family tree to show how all those at our events are related.

It would be a great help if you could send us names and addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of other family members who might be interested in attending any of these events. And it would be a real boost if you could pass on the information to others in your family and bring a group!

We would be delighted to get feedback on future activities - including a dinner in Vancouver in 2008 a picnic there as well in 2009 and a proposed major weekend reunion in Carbonear in 2010. We hope you will continue to support our Bemister family project that will certainly leave a proud legacy for our children.

Yours sincerely

Cameron Hopkins
For the Organizing Committee

ONTARIO PICNIC – SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2007

This year we Bemisters of Carbonear are organizing an exciting family picnic and pot luck supper at a lovely rural location in southern Ontario – just a bit north east of Toronto. We hope you will join dozens of other members of your extended family and become acquainted with our proud family heritage rooted in the West Country, England and Freshwater and Carbonear, Newfoundland.

Our Bemister Family Picnic will be held at the Goodwood Community Centre in Goodwood, Ontario, on Sunday, August 5.

In the mid afternoon we will be organizing activities for children who would like to take part, providing information on family history and genealogy for those who are interested in our heritage, and giving lots of opportunity for Bemisters of all ages to renew friendships and meet new cousins - however far removed. We hope to have our Bemister travelling museum with its marvellous collection of family treasures – artifacts* as we say - and stories to go with them, lots of boards with family trees and pictures, and we will be bringing out a special edition of the Bemister Bulletin in honour of the occasion. Also we will have Newfoundland music and videos on hand.

Now the way we are keeping costs down is to run our event as a POT LUCK SUPPER – so you get to contribute a favourite dish to captivate your cousins. Now this can be a family traditional dish or not – we are sure it will all be delicious. What about Capt. Willis Bemister’s fish chowder? Or Aunt Stella’s Boston doughnuts? Or Obadiah Gilbert Joyce’s baked beans? Or Aunt Maria Shepherd’s spinach salad? Not to mention George Bartlett Bemister’s Railway stew, Granny Ladner’s Methodist butter tarts or Hon John Bemister’s cod au gratin? Well, you get the idea. We can have a wonderful meal with contributions from all branches of our family.

The cost will be a very modest $20 for each adult 18 and over, $10 for youths between 12 and 18 and 12 free. The fee includes a family membership in the Bemisters of Carbonear - which will keep you on the mailing list and ensure you get our newsletters, notification of future activities, and a wonderful buffet dinner. We will supply tea, coffee and soft drinks.

The nearest accommodations are B & B’s in Uxbridge area or motels in or near the other communities mentioned below. Goodwood is about a half hour drive NE of Toronto – and accessible from Highways 401, 404 or 407. The community is E of Markham, W of Uxbridge, NW of Oshawa and Whitby and easily found on MapQuest (try typing Goodwood for the area map or just zoom in from Toronto – Markham area). There are also motels to be found in Newmarket, Stouffville and other communities E of Toronto.

Do return the interest / registration form - with your cheque NOT LATER THAN July 15. We will get back to you with additional information closer to the event. You can also communicate with us by e-mail or telephone if you wish.

On Saturday, August 4, we are willing to co-ordinate some additional activities for folks from afar if there is sufficient interest. These activities might include a lunch downtown, some sight seeing with a Bemister flavour, and perhaps a ball game. But all this is outside the family picnic which stands on its own on Sunday, August 5. Local tourist information will be provided at the reunion as well as Toronto area Bemister grave locations and other Bemister sites that may be of interest.

This should be a great event for the whole family and we are sure you will enjoy meeting the dozens of other descendants of John and Mary Bemister of Corfe Mullen who are likely to attend. This picnic is a real winner!

Artifact – an object made by a human being, for example, a tool or ornament, especially one that has archaeological or cultural interest – viz. interest to the descendents of John and Mary Bemister, needless to say!

Contact - Bemisters of Carbonear,
lchopkins@shaw.ca
c/o Cameron Hopkins, 246 River Street, Ganonoque, ON
Cameron Hopkins (BC) (250) 962 1967
(After Jun 1, ON) (613) 382 7166

Historic Churches in Dorset

The website for Wimbourne Minster tells a bit of the history of this church which has served its community for over 1300 years. It remains an important site for descendants of John Bemister (1747-1832) and Mary Willis (1749-1838) as they were married there on 30 May 1785.

Their sons (William Willis Bemister and brother Edward) established the Newfoundland Bemister family at Carbonear.

Likewise the Parish Church of St. Hubert's at Corfe Mullen, and the church yard cemetery were John and Mary are buried is a very special location for their descendants.

Historic Family Pictures

The Rorke Family fonds, ca.1880 - 1970, includes 330 images of the Rorke, Bemister and Forward families of Carbonear. The Bemister and Forward families were connected to the Rorkes by marriage ties.

These images paint a picture of life in Carbonear, Newfoundland from the 1880's to 1970's.

Locating the first pictures I have ever seen of William Willis Bemister and his son Capt. Willis Bemister (who were both ancestors of mine) was a real thrill.

Welcome To Bemister Blog

Hi Folks,
This blog is dedicated to the Bemister family name - maintaining contact among those who share Bemister ancestry and interest in family history research.

Check out Bemister@HomePort for more information

Sincerely
Ian Scott