UcuiectS£atie*..&i£afrada 929.27305 Ag63g !Co, v. 13, no. 1 m\mW/v- 12, no. 4 /Vi. March-June 2000 Vol. XH, No. 4 and Vol. XIII, No. 1 March - June, 2000 DOUBLE ISSUE • Official Publication of the Agnew Association of America • 1924 Hillock Court, Rocklin, CA 95765-5401 Convener's Corner trip, staying with dear friends. Bill & Freda Petherick. An by Convener Joe Dunn ironic thing happened 10 days after we returned from Scotland -1 was notified that I won 2 free tickets to Scotland, which must Greetings from Virginia! By the time you read this be used by May 31, 2001. Scotland! Here we come again! article, the 'Dunn Hilton' will be open for the fall season with The next 3 trips were to attend reunions, one family the arrival of my mother, Elise, from Australia on August 28 reunion in Indianapolis the middle of June, and then 2 Agnew and our friends, Lynn and Roger Rose from England on reunions. The first of these was the annual Agnew Association September 1. Bobbie and I have had a hectic and full summer, Gathering during the weekend of June 23, 24 and 25 in and as a result my house and yard work has suffered. Our first Vancouver. British Columbia which was hosted by members trip was in March to visit our daughter, Betsey, and her family Tom and Joanne Cartwright, and held in conjunction with in Colorado. the B.C. Scottish games. To kick off the weekend activities Then we were off to Scotland at the end of April to Tom and Joanne held a lavish reception on Friday night at the attend an 8 day International Police Association "Gathering of home of their son, John, and his wife, Judy. On Saturday, the Clans" in Dunblane. Each day consisted of day trips to everyone gathered at the Agnew tent at the Scottish games. castles, a distillery, a cruise on Loch Katrine, etc., and each Clan Agnew was an honored clan and was chosen to lead the night we were entertained by different musical groups, a Burns parade of clans in review. The day was spent discussing Night Supper and a formal dinner ball - kilts galore! Bobbie genealogy and "Ag-news" amid the sounds of bagpipe bands, and I declined a day trip to Edinburgh in order to visit with athletic events and various demonstrations including my fa­ fellow Agnew clan members, Jocelyn and Ray Jenner, at their vorite - the sheep dogs. Our reunion dinner was held that home in Pitlochry. Jocelyn made a 50 mile journey to pick us Saturday night at the La Rustica Restaurant with over 20 up, and we were treated to a lavish lunch and then some members in attendance. Tom and Joanne made a great choice sightseeing, visiting "Queens View", which is an absolutely as the food was delicious and the service excellent. gorgeous panoramic view of lochs and mountains. We also visited a salmon ladder which bypasses a large dam, and were able to see salmon in ascent and descent. [Please see Convener's Corner, continued on p. 9] At the conclusion of this gathering our son, Chris, Table of Contents joined us and we were off to Edinburgh for several days. A highlight of the trip was our visit with our clan chief, Sir Convener's Corner : ...... Page 1 Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, Bt, his wife Lady Susan, and Editor's Rambhngs Page 2 family. Sir Crispin performed yeoman's duty by picking us up Letters and Queries to the Editor.... Page 3 at our B&B and taking us to his home for dinner and an AgNewmembers/Address Changes/Deaths Page 5 evening of comraderie. Susie prepared a coronation chicken Before Ellis Island .,...........,;. ..Page 5 dinner which Bobbie still raves about and covets the recipe. I School Law nabs Eagle Scout Brian Agnew. Page 5 presented Sir Crispin with an American flag which was flown When my Grandmother was a Child..............................Page 8 over the U.S. Capitol Building on August 22, the purported Agnew Boy killed in School Bus Accident Page 8 anniversary date of the death of Sir William Wallace - better New Agnew Home Pages on the Internet Page 9 known as "Braveheart". More Agnew Deaths Page 22 We departed Edinburgh for Oban and along the way Off Limits (story) Page 27 visited the tomb of Robert the Bruce and the gravesite of "Rob Signs that You are in the 21st Century Page 28 Roy" MacGregor. We used Oban as a staging area for visits to Ten Years Ago in the Agnewsletter Page 28 Loch Ness and the Isles of Mull, lona and Staffa. Staffa is an History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway, uninhabited volcanic island with sea caves and a nesting area Part5. Page 29 for puffins. We arrived on this isle at the right time, as the The Downfall of the Gael (poetry) Page 32 temperature was almost 80 degrees and the puffins were in full Photos of the Agnew Association Reunion 2000 Page 33 swing. Then we were off to Dundonald for the remainder of the Photos of the Harmonsburg, PA Agnew Reunion Page 34 Membership Application Page 35 The Agnewsletter • March -June 2000 Editor's Ramblings by Jim Agnew, 08/25/2000 The back yard trenches are dug, sprinkler and drain that I wrote about on p. 23 of the last issue, formerly at lines glued together and placed, trenches refilled, trees planted, www.onelist.com, is now located at www.egroups.com. drip lines run, weeds pulled, Navy son shipped off to Pearl Egroups purchased Onelist soon after the last issue came out. Harbor, old hobby car fixed east coast vacation taken, and the Egroups, in turn, has been absorbed by Yahoo.com as of June kids are back in school. Guess it's time to get the next Ag­ 27, but retains its own URL address. So, look for the Agnew newsletter started and out the door! Association mailing list at http://www.egroups.com/groups/ Sorry for the delay in getting this issue out, folks, but AGNEWASSOCIATION. Join the mailing list to read and post real life took precedence for the last 9 months as we continued messages, upload and download files (pictures, Gedcom files, the process of settling in to our new house. We have no "soil" etc) in the Files section, check impending Agnew get-together to speak of - just football-sized rocks cemented together with info on the Calendar, and find links to other online areas of hard clay and sandstone. It took me 6+ months to dig almost interest to Agnews in the Links area. 300 feet of trenches, a few feet at a time. After spending a Speaking of mergers, the huge genealogy online couple of hours hacking away with a pickax/maul, and getting database RootsWeb.com has merged with MyFamily.com only four linear feet dug, it was nap time! There are still things (owned by Ancestry.com) as of June 21, but retains its own left to do - construct a retaining wall, spread topsoil, and lay URL at: http://www.rootsweb.com. There is no charge to ac­ sod - but that can wait for cooler weather. cess their databases. Highly recommended! I was unable to attend the recent Agnew Reunion Ken Agnew [Email: [email protected]] 2000 in British Columbia due to other pressing issues (see wrote on Mar. 2 to tell us that John Singer Sargent's portrait of above) and the fact that we were down to one working car. Lady Agnew of Lochnaw appears on the cover of the art book Please see elsewhere in this issue for others' take on the John Singer Sargent by Carter Ratcliff. He found it online at festivities. Hamilton Books [URL: http:'/www.erhbooks.com/titles/6/8/4/ I found a good book in Price/Costco this spring -1000 684473.html]. Coincidentally, I also saw this book at Price/ Years of Irish Poetry, edited by Kathleen Hoagland, Konecky Costco last Christmas time, but did not buy it (I was looking for & Konecky Pub.. NY, NY, 1947 (copyright renewed 1975). gifts for others at the time). Of course, I haven't seen it since! ISBN: 1-56852-235-5.1 bought it because it includes a famous A recent article in the Sacramento Bee (9 Jul 2000, p. poem by Fearflatha O'Gnive, "The DoMmfall of the Gael". 4 Encore section) relates the high incidence of copying of translated by Samuel Ferguson. This is the first poem to appear famous paintings and shows Sargent's Lady Agnew of in the book's Part II - Modern Irish Poetry, from the Sixteenth Lochnaw as one example, copied by Jeff Nichols. The interest Century to the Present. Readers may recognise O'Gnive as an is so high that a "Forgery Competition" was held in Sacra­ early Gaelic spelling of Agnew. The poem appears on p. 32. mento in July at the Barton Gallery, 1723 I St - a challenge to Computer Items: Have you made the switch to cable local artists to attempt to reproduce famous modern art. Indeed, modem or digital subscriber line (DSL) service yet? If so, you your editor notes that there is even one Lady Agnew reproduc­ certainly appreciate the much faster Internet service, but be tion currently listed on e-Bay (www'. ebay.com), the online aware that hackers can enter your computer, damage your data auction house. Do I hear $300, anyone? Lady Agnew often and possibly obtain credit card information any time you are appears as a print on e-Bay for opening bids around $9.00.