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The Mistress Stewarts on the Isle of Bute

Where you can meet your ancestors on holiday

Margie Pearl
Middle-Pause
6 min readJan 14, 2022

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3 elderly women in raincoats on a town street
Three sisters holding hands in Rothesay, Scotland / picture by author

Meet Mistress Stewart, Stewart, and Stewart

The three sisters were on their seaside holiday in the town of Rothesay, Scotland.

I met the sisters at a seaside hotel when I was 19. It was my very first trip out of America. For me and the two Davids I traveled with, Scotland was a foreign land.

On the way out of the breakfast room one morning, the short sister leaned close to our table and asked, “Are you sure you’re Americans? You’re very polite.” The eldest sister shushed her and off they went for their morning rambles.

I concluded it was my boyfriend’s composure and red hair.

My high-pitched laugh startled people wherever I went, but once they saw it came from me, they’d smile with indulgence. I was young and reacting to something the Davids were doing.

Fond Memories. . .

I smile whenever I pull this picture out. I just noticed that they are holding hands. The middle sister keeps them close to her with steady purpose.

Seeing the three so strong together made me wonder about the bond I hoped I would have with my own sisters. Maybe it was because these women…

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Margie Pearl
Margie Pearl

Written by Margie Pearl

Tell me a story! margie@margiepearl.com. Author, storyteller, poet, seamstress, knitter, gardener. Bio.link/margiepe

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