Cousin Agam Fhein

What’s Cousin Agam Fhèin about?

It’s about stories. Stories about people. Or, as I first tried to describe it, Cousin Agam Fhèin is “a bunch of stories that someone told about someone.”

Did you ever sit with a bunch of friends and relatives in a kitchen or a family room or at the back of a banquet hall while the reception’s winding down? Hughie tells a story about his sister Cassie, and then John tells one about her husband Art, and that reminds someone about the time his cousin Theresa, who went to school with Art, came out of church and couldn’t find her car…

That’s Cousin Agam Fhèin. It’s my online kitchen, a place for friends and family to hear a story–or tell one–for the hundredth time, or for the first.

You don’t have to be from Cape Breton to enjoy them, though if you’ve never heard of the place you may have missed out. You don’t have to be connected in some way to my grandparents–Mattie Ferguson, Sadie MacDougall, Jack D. Macdonald, Annie Belle Rankin–but if you are, you’ll enjoy the stories that much more.

And the stories aren’t all in the distant past. Between them my grandparents had over 60 grandchildren, and who knows how many great-grandchildren… each of those people has a story or two to tell. It might be about a parent, or a sister, or a spouse, or a child. If it’s worth telling, it’s probably worth saving.

So: if you feel some connection to the stories and the people: as I said, it’s my kitchen, but you’re not “company” — you’re cousin agam fhèin.

Feel free to get your own tea. See if you can find anything in the fridge.

What does Cousin Agam Fhèin mean?

It’s a hybrid.

“Cousin” is English.
“Agam” (a as in hat) is Gaelic for “my” or “belonging to me.”
“Fhèin” (f is silent; fhéin sounds like hain) is Gaelic for “self.”

It means “my cousin,” or “my own cousin,” or “my cousin (not someone else’s).” In Alistair MacLeod’s novel, No Great Mischief, Calum MacDonald explains it as “he’s with me.”

Here, cousin agam fhèin is anyone who shares in a story.

Whose idea was this?

Mine. I’m Dave Ferguson. I was born in Inverness, Nova Scotia, in the same town where my parents were born. We moved to Detroit in 1952, but Inverness always was and always will be “down home.”

I grew up surrounded by so many stories, I hardly noticed they were there. But stories need people to tell them and people to listen. The Fergusons in Detroit are only one part of a community linked by family and friendship and stories.

I don’t want those stories to vanish. Cousin Agam Fhèin is a way to capture them and keep them alive.

If you’ve got one, let me know.