Descendants of one of Waterloo Region’s most prominent early families returned to the area Sunday to recreate a photo their ancestors had taken exactly 100 years earlier.
David Goudie moved into a farmhouse on Blackbridge Road in what is now Cambridge in 1860. He lived there until his death in 1896.
On Oct. 23, 1916, his eight still-living sons gathered at the same farmhouse – which is still standing today – for a family photograph.
When Goudie descendant Tom Bunker realized this spring that the 100-year anniversary of that photograph was approaching, an idea sparked in his brain.
He started calling and emailing relatives to try and get the photo recreated.
“It’s been a real hoot,” he said.
In the end, descendants of seven of the eight Goudie brothers showed up at the farmhouse Sunday to pose for a new photograph.
They came from Kitchener and Guelph, London and Toronto, Bracebridge and Nepean. Some even came from Michigan. Many of them had never met each other before.
Joan Todd, who has no first cousins, had never spoken to anyone at the gathering other than Bunker – even though she lives in Guelph, not far at all from Blackbridge Road.
It’s amazing that we’ve spent all these years and never met each other,” she said.
Betty Hooper echoed those sentiments, calling it “wonderful” that so many relatives got a chance to meet each other.
“I keep looking to see if there are any family resemblances, after so many years have passed,” she said.
After the photo, the group visited the cemetery where David Goudie, his wife, five of their sons and many other descendants were buried, then went for lunch.
With reporting by Tyler Calver
