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Tracing their family tree

Sisters searching for Summerland connection
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A pair of British sisters are searching for family connections in Summerland, hoping to find memories of the Beattie family, or someone that recognizes their Aunt Kitty and their grandfather. (Submitted photo)

A pair of English sisters are coming to the Okanagan to do a bit of exploring in their family tree, but they sent a letter to the Summerland Review in advance, looking for a little help from the locals.

Dear sir/madam,

William J. Beattie tending to one of his cows. (Submitted photo)
My sister Judith and I will be visiting B.C. in June this year. As well as a holiday, we are also hoping to trace where our grandfather, William J. Beattie settled in Summerland and grew an orchard and reared cattle after emigrating from Scotland in the late 1800s.

Unfortunately, we do not have a specific birth and death dates, which makes our search so much more difficult.

We knew our grandfather married and had a daughter, Aunty Kitty. Sadly, his first wife died and grandfather employed a nanny from England to look after Aunty Kitty. They then married and had our father, David Johnstone Beattie.

Their marriage sadly broke down and our grandmother returned to England with our father. Grandfather kept in touch with our parents until he died, around the 1970s in B.C. Also, Aunty Kitty kept in touch and send beautiful calendars of B.C. each year.

Our parents are no longer living and, as my sister and I are both retired, we are looking forward to visiting your amazing country and hopefully tracing the steps of our grandfather.

The reason we are writing to you is we were wondering if you would be willing to place a small article in your newspaper in the hope that someone may recognize the photos of grandfather and Aunty Kitty.

Kind regards, Linda Berman and Judith Knox

So, does anyone remember the Beattie family or recognize anyone in these images?