Why would anyone want to write a genealogy ? Well, curiosity for one thing, wondering who your ancestors were, what they did and where they came from, discovering another Meston, not of your own immediate family and wondering if you are related. 

A genealogy, after all is a history book – a living history of a family stemming from a small nucleus in the dim past to thousands of descendants spread across all over the globe.

My interest and curiosity was aroused some years ago by the “Fragmentary Sketch of the Meston Genealogy” written in 1895 by A.J. Meston of Pittsfield Massachusetts, U.S.A.

My branch of the family had a copy of it, and I was fascinated by what A.J. Meston had researched and published. About fourteen years ago, I started to research and complete my branch of the family from where the old genealogy left off down to the present time (Towie-Canada). This took about two years. I found, though, that I couldn’t stop as strange Mestons kept cropping up who were not of my branch and my curiosity got the better of me. The project started growing and spreading as I endeavoured to trace other families.

Even my wife became involved. On a visit to Australia in 1970, she made contact with a Miss Ina Meston who provided us with information. In 1971 my wife and I went to Great Britain for a month during which time we visited Mestons who had been helping us and travelled through areas of Aberdeenshire where Mestons have lived for three hundred years. The research over the past fourteen years started in Ontario Canada, where my branch settled after emigrating from Scotland, spread across Canada and the United States, overseas to Great Britain, France, Portugal, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. 

As I became more involved, I also involved others. Mrs. Isobel Cass of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Mrs. Marjorie Jacobson of Mesa, Arizona USA, and Robert Meston of Glasgow, Scotland took on the task of completing in detail their own branches, which were quite large. I can’t possibly list all the members who contributed in large and small ways, but I can certainly thank each and everyone who assisted me in my research and made it possible for me to complete this genealogy.

John Meston of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Towie-Canada branch also), a distant cousin of mine whom I’d never known before, became interested and was invaluable to me as an assistant and collaborator. As he was young and single, he decided to go overseas to Great Britain to further our research. All told, he made three trips in 1968, 1970 and 1972. In 1970, he went over to the continent and visited Paris, as well as Morlaix in Brittany, where he conducted a brief research. Without his research, we would have had little Meston early history as most of what you read in the early history chapter was researched by John and a friend of his while in Great Britain.

John has asked that a personal thanks be extended from him to all the Mestons in Great Britain who assisted him in his research, drove him around the countryside and encouraged him in his efforts. In particular, he would like to thank Dr. Michael Meston of Aberdeen, Robert Meston and Peter Meston, both of the Glasgow area, Alistair Meston of Auchtermuchty, Fifeshire, and David Meston of Newbury, Berkshire, all of whom provided accommodations and extended their hospitality to him while he was researching in the areas. He also thanks Jean-Pierre Meston of Paris, France who directed him to search in the area of Morlaix in Britanny for Mestons. John’s cousin, Stewart Istvanffy of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who accompanied him on his trip in 1970, was his interpreter while in France. A particular mention and thanks to John’s friend, John Day, who researched much of the Scottish history while in Great Britain working on his master’s thesis in history. 

As research started 14 years ago, the earlier researched branches will not reflect any updates in the past few years except in cases where family members sent me updated information.

I would like to point out that the information printed in the genealogy concerning your various ancestors was either given to us by members of the family for the genealogy or researched from government records or church records which are available to anyone. I have done my utmost to be accurate and factual and sincerely regret any errors or omissions

The history of the Meston family is not complete but we feel we have traced at least ninety percent of the Mestons in the English speaking world. No attempt was made to trace the French side of the name as it would not be relevant to this genealogy and would be too large a task to take on at this time. From the research we did, there does not appear to be too many Mestons in France today.

In conclusion, John and 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. 

Gordon E. Meston