I’ve been working on the Meston family website (on and off) for some time, and the most common question people have asked me is, “Where can I get a copy of Gordon’s book?”.

Unfortunately, the book is no longer available in print, nor have I been able to find the original publishing house to inquire about reprints. The only copies in existence are those originally published by Gordon Meston in May of 1977, which means that for many of you, it’s not been possible to see the book in its original form.

Our Goals

The initial goal for this website was to make the images and contents of the original book available to everyone. I’ve just completed the images portion of the project, and those are now available on-line.

The entire contents of Gordon’s book is being transcribed to improve Internet access and text searching for specific details. This is a continual work in progress. Transcriptions will attempt to follow the original format of the book where possible, however, formatting for the web will inevitably cause some changes from the original as tabs and indents or other formatting is lost.

Once the transcriptions are complete, this will enable us to move the Meston family history and genealogy on-line in a format (possibly GED compatible) which will be easier to update and maintain. It’s been 30 years since Gordon’s original complation was published, so we certainly have some catching up to do!

Long term, I would like to have the MestonClan genealogy project set up as a trust organization with tax-exempt status. This could provide us with a central archive location for family history, records and memorabilia, as well as give us a management framework for future generations.

“Gordon’s Book – Scans“

The entirety of Gordon’s book has been scanned and all images are online and can be viewed by selecting the appropriate menu bar on the left side of the home page for this website. Depending on your Internet connection, the original images make take a little while to load, so please be patient.

Urgent Request!

Related to our long term project goals, if anyone has access to, or knows the location of any of the following items, please contact me via email at: webmaster@mestonclan.com

– The original reconstructed “Meston Heraldic Crest” by David S. Meston

– The original Meston Snuff Box. (The Motto “DEUS PRO VEDERIT” on the Meston Snuff Box was used as the passwords “SHALL HAVE RIGHT” for a group of French Resistance fighters operating in Normandy during WW II.)

– Any of Gordon Meston’s original research materials, notes or correspondence

– Any copies of the “Fragmentary Sketch of the Meston Genealogy” written in 1895 by A.J. Meston of Pittsfield Massachusetts, U.S.A.

– Any copies of the “Observer’s Book of Heraldry” by Charles Mackinnon of Dunakin, published by Fredereick Warne and Co., London and New York.

– Any copies of any books or writings by William Meston, A.M. Poet.

What can you do to help support us?

The most important area where you can make a difference, is to update us with your personal family history and records.

If you’ve got details of your own immediate family history, scanned or electronic documents, records, or any verifiable background and historical information, please send it to us. I am looking at ways of automating the data entry and display of family branches, but that will take some time. However, collating all the information into one location would be a good start, and will be of tremendous value to the family history longer term.

Assistance with documents or research:

Typing, transcription, proofreading, scanning in documents, research in your local area, etc. All these are extremely time consuming due to the volume. If you have time to contribute, please ask me what you can do, and I’ll let you know which areas are currently in need of assistance.

Financial contributions:

You can contribute direct financial assistance to be used exclusively to offset the costs for web site hosting, domain name and registration services, support materials, government records access, etc. For the past few years, the web site and development has been funded out of my own pocket, so it has only been able to progress and grow as I have time and available resources.

Tell your family and friends:

If none of the support options above appeal to you or your sense of karma, then at least tell other family members or friends who may have in interest in our history about the website.

Thanks to Gordon

I would like to give my thanks to Gordon Meston, John Meston, and all the contributors to the original 1977 publication, since without that book, we would not have anything at all. Their hard work has enabled future generations to have a strong base of our family history. 

I can only imagine what Gordon would think of our ability now to research and communicate globally via the Internet. I hope that Gordon’s memory and spirit will live on with us as we pick up the task he suggested so long ago in this closing passage of his forward in the Meston Genealogy.

“I would again like to thank all those who made it possible and sincerely hope all of you as well as succeeding generations enjoy the history of the Meston family and perhaps someone in the future may again take up the task and bring it up to date.”

Legal Stuff

Keeping with what I believe was the original intent, public spirit and generosity of the author and original contributors to the book, and reserving future rights for future generations of the Meston family:

Contents of this website and all images (unless otherwise noted) are made available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License