TWO sisters whose great-great-grandfather founded the Stroud Journal in 1854 visited the Five Valleys and were shown around the SNJ office.
Kate Gibson Oswald and Beth Gibson, who live in British Columbia in Canada, are related to former editor William FW Harmer through their mother's side of the family.
They were visiting a cousin in London for a month and wanted to explore their ties with Stroud.
Kate and Beth were shown around the SNJ office and looked through the paper's archives.
"It was really exciting to look through the old editions of the paper from that period," said Kate.
"It was absolutely amazing to see William FW Harmer's name at the top of one of them.
"We only had a day to visit the various sites in the town and the SNJ and the Subscription Rooms, which William Harmer was also linked to, were at the top of our list of places to see."
William FW Harmer started the Stroud Journal in 1854. He remained editor for four years before emigrating to Canada with his wife Bertha and daughter Lois, Kate and Beth's grandmother in 1858.
The Stroud Journal amalgamated with the Stroud News in 1957 to become the SNJ.
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