Steeves family’s world record attempt falls short at reunion in New Brunswick
MONCTON, N.B. – A New Brunswick family has failed to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of individuals with the same last name.
Susan Steeves estimates 1,900 members of the Steeves family congregated at the Moncton Coliseum for the world record attempt on Saturday.
But she says many relatives were disqualified from the count for having changed their names through marriage or inheriting another variation on the original “Stieff.”
In the end, the Steeves family gathering fell 552 people short of the 1,489 needed to claim the world record.
Organizers say the unsuccessful bid did not put a damper on the Steeves’ extended family reunion celebrating the 250th anniversary of their ancestors arrival in New Brunswick.
The Steeves clan kicked off their weeklong heritage celebration on Thursday with events in the Moncton and Hillsborough, N.B.
Heinrich and Regina Stieff of Germany and their seven sons settled in New Brunswick in 1766 and helped build communities in areas that were left vacant after the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755.
Their seven sons ended up fathering 71 children — planting the seeds for what is now thought to be up to 300,000 descendants of the Steeves family around the globe.
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