Mr & Mrs Ken Edwards from Canada have been in touch through the Brechin & Farnell Parish Church office to see if anyone in the Brechin and Angus Area knows any of their relatives who might still be in this vicinity?

Their request is with a view to perhaps meeting up towards the end of September this year when they intend to “visit the land of their forefathers”

Ken’s grandfather was Norman Edwards of Montrose and his grandmother Agnes Stewart from Farnell. Agnes’s parents were George and Flora Stewart who lived in cottar houses at Farnell Mains. Agnes was born on 30th August 1905 at the Mains of Farnell. Her father was a “Farm Overseer”. The 1921 Census shows Agnes at the age of 15 years and 10 months, working at Gallery House as a Kitchen Maid. Norman Edwards was born in 1902 in Montrose.

Agnes and Norman married and emigrated to Canada before 1929 where they started a family of their own. Interestingly, a younger brother of Agnes’s, Hugh Campbell Stewart (born 1910 Farnell), also emigrated to Canada to the same area as his sister.

Ken recalls that when he was a child, he visited his great uncle with his grandparents. Norman and Agnes both died in Canada. Agnes in 1990 aged 85 and Norman in 1991 aged 89.

If anyone has any connections or information regarding the Edwards or Stewart families from Montrose or Farnell (We are aware Edwards is a well-known name in Brechin) then please get in touch via the Brechin & Farnell Parish Church Office on 01356 629191 or email office@brechinfarnellchurch.org Alternatively see the Facebook page at @brechinfarnellparishchurch

Please note the Church Office is closed until18th August 2026

Thanks in advance