Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath Family Newsletter
1Q - February 2001
Table of Contents:
Editor's Corner
Letters to the Editor
Meet the Family
Family Stories
Family History Mystery
WebSite News
Request for Articles
This is a very good sign: a second issue of the
Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath Family Newsletter. We still need to get
more input from members around the world, so please keep those article
submissions coming in!
Since this newsletter is provided electronically, please feel free to
forward it to other family members or print it out for family members that do not have
access to email and the web.
Electronic distribution is now via a mailing list with
subscribe/unsubscribe on the web site at: http://www.redpath.org/news/rrnews.html.
You can use this to change your email address or delete multiple mail
addresses.
A section to let us know what you thought about the last
newsletter and other ideas or thoughts you would like to share.
Ian Redpath, Peterborough, South Australia - in
response to article on the origin of the family name(s).
Just for interest I would like to tell you of how we "Redpath's" received
our name as told by my grandfather Archibald Redpath. Archibald was born in
Scotland and arrived here in South Australia on the day WWI was declared.
He left the ship that he was a crew member on and immediately joined the
Australian Army. After the war was over he settled in Adelaide South Australia.
Archibald was a typical grandfather and used to tell stories to us small
grandchildren. I would assume that some of these stories were embellished as
only grandfathers can. I remember him telling us how we got the name Redpath
and in my mind it was a lot more colourful than being named after a distinctive coloured path. Here's the edited story as far as I can remember,
it was forty years ago when I first heard this story.
In the time of William Wallace and inter-clan warfare (we are members of the
clan Cameron of Arrack) our clan/family were noted for being very warlike
and had a reputation for ambushing our enemies. Every where we fought we
used to leave a trail of the blood of our enemies and Redpath is the English
version of our Gaelic name which was, roughly translated, "bloody path". My
grandfather would then tell of the battles that our ancestors fought in.
Now like I said before this was told by a grandfather to the grandkids but
it is certainly more "colourful" and appealing to a child.
This section of the newsletter introduces some current family members
scattered across the globe, so we can get to know each other a little better.
Cathy Lampshire
California, USA
I live in Anaheim, California, which is close to
Disneyland. In fact, my first job after graduating from high school was
at Disneyland. I continued to
work there during summers while I attended California State University
Fullerton. I received my
Bachelors Degree in English Literature.
Six years ago I joined the Peace Corps (an American
volunteer organization.) I
was sent to Cameroon (West Africa) where I taught English
(English-as-a-Foreign-Language) to Francophone students.
Upon my return to the US, I went back to the university to obtain a
Masters Degree in TESOL
(Teaching-English-to-Speakers-of-Other-Languages.)
My interest in genealogy grew out of two sources. My
paternal grandmother (Fauntella Stephens) was Mormon and instilled a love
of genealogy and the need to know and keep in contact with relatives.
My second source came from my maternal grandfather (Raymond L.
Groves, Sr.) and my mother (Beverly Groves.)
Whenever we asked a question of them, we never received just a
yes or no response. They
gave detailed descriptions and information about the houses they lived in,
the neighborhood children, or the little cinema around the corner.
These detailed responses left me always wanting to know more about
the people and places in their stories!
My Redpath connection is through my father (Robert L.
Lampshire.) My paternal great
grandparents were Emma Rnetta Redpath and Edwin Francis Lampshire.
Emmas parents were Temperance Carmichael and Jacob Redpath, both
born in Indiana.
I look forward to learning more about my Redpath
ancestors, as well as learning more about my fellow Ridpath/Redpath
researchers.
In this section, you can tell us something interesting
or funny that happened to you or another family member.
Brian Ridpath - Ashford, Kent, UK
Just a little bit of nonsense:
My paternal grandfather was John Ridpath out of Liverpool - a shipwright. My
father was one of 7, a mix of lads and lasses. One of my dad's sisters was called Doris, so Doris Ridpath. She married and became Doris Kelly.
My father courted my mother, also called Doris, and, of course she eventually became
(Mrs.) Doris Ridpath. Weird how things turn out. Mum is now 90 and we held a small family gathering for her last October and
so I am attaching a jpeg scan of the family group. So Mum, her 4 children, some of her grandchildren and a few of her great
grandchildren are all gathered around.
My own daughter is due to give birth to my her first child about mid-march.
Sorry for a shortage of news, 'been a little pre-occupied.
In this section we try to bring questions about the family past that today
are not fully answered. In order to make this more readable, there is no source citations
or footnotes, but there is some basis for all the facts and theories posed here.
Valerie Glass, Leeds, England.
My Redpath anecdote concerns a tale told by my grandfather about his uncle
John Redpath who emigrated to USA in 1867 from Northumberland, England. My
grandfather told me as a child that John had left for the USA without telling his parents and broke his mother's heart in so doing. Presumable not
daring to tell them in person the story goes that he wrote a note to them
and wrapped it round a potato, flinging it onto a station platform as the train steamed through. An unlikely story, you may think. However it began
to make sense when about 40 years later I discovered that his grandparents
lived at this particular station. But why a potato? I was beginning to think I must have imagined this until I read an article in a Family History
Journal about a tried and tested way of sending messages from a train. You've guessed it! The trick is to make a deep cut in the potato and wedge
the note inside. So my grandfather's story could well have been based on
fact.
Incidentally, John eventually settled in McAlester, Oklahoma where he founded the Union Ironworks and made his fortune. He returned to visit his
birthplace -in the 1920's. I have made contact with some of his descendants in Oklahoma
but I hope the internet may put me in touch with members of the family interested in our family history.
Since the last newsletter, the changes on the
Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath Family website have been directed towards
cleaning up the pages and making some of the features more robust. A
guest book was added, newsletter subscribe and unsubscribe functions
were added, and the membership application was automated. Also, all three
family name domains ( www.redpath.org,
www.ridpath.org, www.reidpath.org
) now point to our combined family website.
Very recently, two new genealogy features were added
that are very exciting. The first is a way to gather our Family Tree data
through a Genealogy Survey.
It is a web form to enter all the data needed to fill out and update our
Family Tree. It will take a little time and effort to fill out, but
it is well worth it to preserve and extend our Family Tree. Stop by
and fill out your branch of the family today.
But what is the good in gathering all this data, if it
can't be used to find our place in the Family Tree? That's where
JavaGED comes in. It is a way to browse our Family Tree. The web site
is currently running the test version using some data compiled over
the years from several people's research.
Over the next several months plan on even more new features
being added. In the works are personal pages and email addresses
for family members and a calendar
that family members could post birthdays/anniversaries/family
events.
This second edition of the Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath Family Newsletter is
still rather small, but much more diverse, thanks to the contributions of
other family members. Thank you! The next one can be even more diverse and interesting with your help. Items
to consider contributing would be short biographical articles; interesting or funny family
stories; histories of places, buildings, or institutions associated with the family name;
announcements and notices of family events; even art and poetry could go on the extended
virtual family refrigerator. If you would like to submit an
article or item for publication in future editions, please send via email
to newsletter@redpath.org or newsletter@ridpath.org
or newsletter@reidpath.org.
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