Carleton Island, NY

My family was not anywhere near as large as Bessie's. Where she had thirteen siblings, I only had five -- but five's enough when four of 'em are girls. "Moose, Toots, Skin, and Boots" -- that's what we called them. My half-brother, Harry, and I -- even though we were both older -- were definitely out-numbered.

Harry was born in Canada, June 25, 1882, and immigrated to Michigan in 1887, along with our mom and her Chapman family from Frontenac Co, Ontario, Canada. The Chapmans had lived for many years on Wolfe Island, the largest of the beautiful Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River.

One of my grandsons and his wife visited the area in 2006, and even though not realizing at first, they'd rented a cabin on the banks of the St. Lawrence directly across the channel from an island they thought might be Wolfe. When they asked the owner of the cabin if it was Wolfe, she said, "Oh no, that's Carleton Island." "Carleton Island? That's where my great-grandmother was born", my grandson replied. "I'll have to snap a picture!" (Pictured above)

My mom, Effie Rebecca Chapman, had been born June 11, 1864 on that island. It lies just a little south of Wolfe Island. Much later, after having moved further north to Oso Twp, Frontenac Co, Ontario, she and Harry, along with the rest of her parents family, had traveled to a new home along the Tobacco River in Gladwin Co, Michigan. It was there she met and married my dad, James Bird Campbell.