Good job, grandpa

Tom Eadon and the portrait of his great great great great grandfather, the ninth Earl of Dalhousie. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Imagine digging down in the roots of the family tree and discovering a few Scottish barons and earls.

When Tom and Constance Eadon started pulling back branches, they found a straight line back to George Ramsay, the ninth Earl of Dalhousie—the Governor of Nova Scotia and the founder of Dalhousie University.

On Thursday, the Eadons arrived in Halifax via the cruise ship The Caribbean Princess and toured the university founded by Tom’s great great great great grandfather in 1818.

“It’s a lot of absorb,” said Mr. Eadon, after a tour of Studley campus courtesy of Dalhousie tour guide Alyson Murray. “I think we’ve got a better appreciation of the depth of the family history.”

“I feel so proud,” added Mrs. Eadon. “To think someone in our family created an institution like this one, an ecumenical university. And look how progressive Dalhousie still is today, with its connections to NASA and the Ocean Tracking Network and its sustainability initiatives … At every turn, we’ve been wowed.”

From Hoffman Estates, a suburb of Chicago, the Eadons knew little about the details of the Ramsay family until Tom’s brother, Jack, took a trip to Scotland and visited the ancestral home, Dalhousie Castle, a 13th century fortress that’s been converted into a luxury hotel. (The earldom passed out of the Ramsay family in 1860 when no male heirs remained and went to a cousin.)

Then, looking at the itinerary for their cruise—the “Colours Tour of New England”—they noticed that Halifax was one of the stops. “Halifax?” said Mrs. Eadon. “Isn’t that the place your brother was talking about?”

While at Dalhousie, the Eadons met with President Tom Traves, took at look at Lord Dalhousie’s portrait, which hangs in the stately Lord Dalhousie room, and examined the bronze Dalhousie crest on the floor of the A&A Building, which is based on the Ramsay family’s heraldic coat of arms. They took a peek into classrooms and visited the bookstore to pick up souvenirs.

Gazing at Lord Dalhousie’s portrait, Mrs. Eadon thought she could see a resemblance between the Earl and his great great great great grandson. “I’m not sure, but that looks like the family nose,” she said with a laugh.