The Collett-McKay picnic, held Saturday for the 97th consecutive year, was an all-day affair at the Gurneyville Rd. picnic grounds and was attended by 200 relatives and friends from throughout the state and from various other states.

The Collett-McKay Picnic Association owns a four-acre tract of land on Gurneyville Rd. which is part of the military survey 2280 and which was bought by the pioneer, Moses McKay, on Oct. 16, 1810. Mr. B. M. McKay of New Burlington has the original land grant signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Memorial posts at the gateway are marked by bronze tablets giving brief history of the two families.

The first picnic was held in 1866 and each succeeding year the family connection and friends have met and enjoyed the day together.

At dinner the Rev. Norman Williams of the New Burlington Methodist circuit gave thanks. The day was ideal for the visiting which followed. In all the years since 1866, no programs have been prepared, no officers elected nor any reports of births, deaths or marriages made.

Extensive research into the family genealogy shows that the ancestors, Moses and Abigail Shinn McKay, are of royal descent, Moses from the Vernon line, and Abigail from the Crispin line. Her great-great-grandfather, Silas Crispin, came to America with William Penn, a first cousin.

The families have two Revolutionary ancestors, Daniel Collett and George Shinn. Stephen Collett, born on the Atlantic Ocean when his parents emigrated to America, was the son of a French Huguenot, the records show.

Those from out of the state present were Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Rowsey (Mary McKay) of Huntington, W. Va.; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Sell (Mary Magee) and family of Lexington, Ky.; Mrs. Lorraine Thursanger of Chicago, Ill.; Mrs. Marie Cossum Wildman of Irvington, N. Y., and Mrs. Mabel Ellis of St. Petersburg, Fla.

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