This year I decided to do a walk through the Picnic Ground..

     On a just perfect, sunny day, 155 cousins from 12 states and Ontario met on the family picnic ground at 5353 Gurneyville Road NW Of Wilmington. Thanks to Ashley and Allen Inwood and John Mothersole mowing the four acres all summer, the site was beautiful. Thanks to Steve Pidgeon for providing the water, the bathrooms were ready.
     Susan Doster again welcomed cousins. She read from a 1924 Picnic story in the local newspaper. "With all its annual accessories namely cloudless skies, smiling sun, gentle breezes, immense baskets of epicurean as well as more substantial delicacies, and assembled and animated multitudes, the 58th annual CM family picnic was held Saturday. 'It is just this spirit, manifested by every Collett and McKay, which makes our picnics such a decided yearly success,' remarked a member of the family.... Nearly 300 people lingered and talked and frolicked and relaxed in sun flecked shade of the grove until sundown Saturday, in accordance with the yearly custom. Then, they reluctantly disbursed, with the enthusiastic and yearly comment that it had been "the best Picnic ever." Before Rosalie Beers asked the blessing, we learned that Charles "Chip" Collett and Dr. Maxine Hamilton had died.
     Because John Mothersole got the enclosed inflatable bouncy house from "Imagine Party Supplies", kids from three to much older had a great time-bouncing, climbing, and sliding. I will always remember watching three-year old Quentin, our oldest g-grandchild learning how to participate. And, I got to meet his six-month old brother, Wesley Wainright, for the first time. He was the youngest person at the picnic.
     At age 91, Carolyn Wengler and Jeanette McKay Musser were the oldest persons any of the 14 kids found doing the Picnic Quiz this year. Cory Makar mistakenly thought I was the oldest. Realizing he was sharp, I asked this maybe nine-year-old boy whether the mean, median, or mode was the middle number in a series. He knew. Next year, he's bringing his PC to show me something in a spreadsheet.
     Dr. Hamilton lived in the c. 1835 George McKay house on New Burlington Road, just east of Anderson Fork crossing. Three years ago, while I was taking her to the Moses McKay tombstone in nearby Mt Holly Methodist cemetery, she told me just before she married, she saw a map showing Moses McKay owned 7500 acres. I've found 3500 acres he bought in Greene, Clinton, and Warren Counties. Who knows of Moses' other purchases?
     Daniel and Mary Haines Collett, and son Jonathan, bought 2356 acres in Chester and Adams Township, Clinton County, in 1814. In 1815, they bought 1300 acres just east of Moses McKay's 1805 purchase of 1,000 acres, including the four-acre picnic site. Because Mary Haines Collett was re-instated in Hopewell Friends Meeting in VA in 1797, and Moses/Abigail Shinn went to Quaker Quarterly Meeting there, the Collett and McKay kids would have played together at Hopewell. Not too surprisingly, four McKay's married four Collett's here. They and their kids started the Picnic here in 1866.
     For the 2020 Picnic, I plan to bring maps of the townships where Moses McKay and Daniel Collett bought their land, some of which is still owned by their descendants. Where did your C-M ancestors live?
     And for the 2020 Picnic, Greg Stephens hopes to have Howard Collett's 1943 genealogy blueprint copied into his computer. He'll invite cousins to list their genealogy back to the youngest person on the blueprint. Bring your information. And, Kim Becker Price, Kathryn Luby's daughter, will again offer to update her mother's McKay genealogy. Finally, maybe find yourself, as well as former Picnic stories, in Michael McKay's genealogy. Google: RobertMackayClan.com. The generations of our McKay ancestors are: Robert, Robert, Andrew, Moses, and, for me, Sarah. You may be descended from one of Sarah's siblings.
     Out of state cousins included: Robert and Louella Rowsey, Auburn, Alabama; Robert and Mary Lou Doster, Buckeye, William, Tammy, and Jacob Doster, Goodyear, Arizona; Robin, Fred, Cory, and another Maker, Elk Grove, and Chuck, Chad and Karen Fabian, Des Plaines, Illinois; Susan Doster, West Lafayette, Indiana; Greg Stephens, Glen Burnie, and Brenda, Brad, and Todd Stephens, Linthicum Hts., Maryland; Dan, Ashlee, Quentin, and Wesley Wainright, Ann Arbor, and Adam Doster, Novi, Michigan; Brendan Bogan, Las Vega, Nevada; Marilyn Talmage, Freehold, New Jersey; Dan and Melody Doster, Raleigh, North Carolina; Michael McKay, Maria and Sierra Brock, Winchester, Virginia; Ellen Magee, Madison, Wisconsin; Kristen Morin, Cornwell, Ontario.