In the year 1640, James and Mary Phipps ventured across the sea from Bristol, England to America.
After their two adventurous sons, John and William, discovered 300,000 pounds of sterling in a Spanish shipwreck, the young men brought the treasure to King James II of England who then knighted William for his honesty and appointed him the first Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
“We are the descendents of Sir William Phipps,” Halifax resident Joan (Ewell) Towne said during an interview this week. “Before Sir William’s brother John died, he asked [William] to adopt his son. The Ewells descend directly from John Phipps, so we are the collateral descendents of Sir William Phipps.”
This past Sunday (July 20), the Ewell family of Rockland hosted its 90th annual reunion, a tradition the family has followed since 1918 when Teresa Phipps hosted the very first...
...“We’ve been having the same old-fashioned family reunion for the past 90 years,” Towne said, smiling. “Everyone knows the schedule and everyone looks forward to it.”
Since 1918, the Ewell family has been holding a family reunion every summer at a different home. Although a good portion of the family lives in Rockland, there are always a few families who travel great distances to get there. For example, this year Jenny Dowling is flying in from Jacksonville, Florida.
“The reunion has never been rained out,” Towne explained. In response, Joan’s cousin Deirdre (Ewell) Thibault of Rockland, laughed as she knocked on the wooden table where the two were sitting, hoping to ensure their good luck would continue.
“I’ve been going to this reunion my whole life and it’s something I always look forward to, especially the water balloon toss,” Thibault added. The party is known for its old-fashioned games like the balloon toss, horseshoes, sack races, and cribbage games for the older family members.
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