Great news for those of us who are descendants of Ann CLINCH Campbell
(1804 - 1872). Ann had a 1st cousin, Peter Clinch Essex (1842 - 1917),
who stayed in England, but kept in touch with his American cousins.
Peter was invited to the Campbell Reunions in Nelson, PA, but always
sent letters of regret. A number of us who are older, remember several
visits to the states by Peter's son, the Rev. Cannon Edward Claude
Essex. I remember him well and have many pictures of him at various
family gatherings and letters from him.
Sometime around 1950 our late cousin, Joseph Wallace Buck (1891 - 1995)
of Elmira, hosted a dinner for our English cousin at Brown's Hotel in
London. One of our subscribers, his daughter Cornelia, was present at
the event. But we eventually lost touch with all cousins in England.
I've been researching that branch of the family for several years, with
help from Cornelia, records her mother had compiled passed on to me by
Thelma ELLISON Huyett, and assistance from several genealogists in the
UK. I had the names of many descendants in that branch. Many of them
had to still be living. But I didn't know how to locate them.
Fortunately, they found us. Pam Essex just replied to a message board
posting about Rev. Edward Claude Essex (he preferred being called Cousin
Claude), that I posted 4 years ago. Her husband is my 5th cousin.
It's wonderful to have contact reestablished after many decades. Sadly,
one member of the family, Margaret Betty ESSEX Griffiths, emigrated to
the US and died a few years ago in Norwalk, CT. If only we had know.
As the Pennsylvania "Dutch" say, We Grow Too Soon Old, and Too Late Smart.
But, it's great that we can now electronically "shake hands' across the
sea and get acquainted with our English cousins. And we will once again
invite them to the reunions. Now, if we could just do that with our
Scottish Cousins...