“Did Grant MacEwan Have a Gipsy Queen Ancestor?”

by Charles D. Denney, Feb 2012

Some years ago when Grant MacEwan addressed the Annual Meeting of our Association he confessed (tongue in cheek) — that he had done a bit of family background chasing. Oh, yes, he had found he had some Royal Blood back there some place undisclosed. Then he said: ‘But what worries me is did the Gipsy Queen ever really get married?’ What the begger didn’t tell us was that he had been tracing his ancestors and knew quite a bit about them.

Now I have learned a bit about that from a magazine, which was sent to me by two friends each of whom knows my interest. Before I spill Dr. Grant’s story, however, I want to give you a bit of background.

In June 1978 my wife and I spent some time in Nova Scotia. One of the areas that particularly interested me was Pictou. The why for that is another story. Here I will just say that it was a very exciting experience.

Pictou is a county, of which the seat is the City of Pictou. So one must avoid being careless when one speaks of Pictou. My encyclopedia says that Pictou City started out as an Indian Village. Before it became part of British North America, more commonly called Acadia, it may have had some French fisher folk there. They were everywhere. But you will remember that about 1760 the British turned all of Acadia and New France, into a British possession. They even thought it was forever; which has recently become questionable.

Anyway, my encyclopedia says that Pictou village ‘was settled in 1763.’ By that I suspect it is saying that a few Scotchmen and their families arrived there that year. It goes on to say: ‘It received its first permanent residents from the ship Hector, the first of several emigrant vessels taking settlers from Scotland, which arrived in 1773.’  From my experience there it is perfectly clear that the coming of the HECTOR was an event of tremendous importance. All sorts of people in Nova Scotia delight to claim that one or more of their ancestors landed in the port of Pictou on the ship HECTOR in 1773! More than that, all sorts of folk who no longer live anywhere in Nova Scotia are bold to claim the same thing. One of them is our former Lieutenant Governor, the same W.J. Grant MacEwan. Now hold your breath! I mean take a deep breath. The master of the sailing ship HECTOR who brought that first big load of settlers to Pictou Harbor was James Grant, one of Grant MacEwan’s favorite ancestors. How many of the Grants remain in Nova Scotia is another story; but what belongs to this story is that in 1880 Bertha Grant came to Brandon, in Manitoba. There she met an obviously charming Alexander MacEwan, whose father had come from Scotland to Galt, Ontario, in 1865. What is just as obvious is that Bertha and Alexander tied a nuptial knot. And in due course there arrived a squalling and no doubt redheaded baby that just naturally had to be called GRANT.

Grant MacEwan has admitted that he can trace his family back eight generations on his mother’s side. That is not a bad achievement. That the story of that family background should be recorded for all of us to read is surely incontestable. Can you think of anyone more qualified to do just that than the same Grant MacEwan? Not only has he for the last 45 of his 76 years been tracing history, but also he has done a very great deal to make popular the most exciting history of the Canadian West. His books and his stories are numerous, entertaining, and vital, for, as he says, ‘the pioneers are disappearing and so are their stories’.

He is reported to have said that he hated history when he was a boy. Apparently his teachers didn’t know how exciting history is and had no nack for teaching it. But Grant MacEwan lived in many fields where he just had to learn some history. He says he discovered it not only had a utility but it also had charm, It has excitement and romance, and, as he is quoted as saying,: ‘YOU CAN’T ASSESS THE THINGS OF TOMORROW UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY,’ History is the story of people, and the things they did. Grant MacEwan’s people, your people, and my people. It is exciting.

Relatively Speaking, February 2012 (full-story; originally published February 1979).