Chilmark joins the rest of the world in grieving the terrible losses in Belgium this morning...as I write this on Tuesday, however, it strikes me that we could grieve for the victims of unexpected violence everyday somewhere in our world. It is a sad time.

We send congratulations to Chris Fischer, whose newly-published cookbook, The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook, has been nominated for a prestigious James Beard Foundation award. Cheers from us all!

The Chilmark Historical Commission will hold a public hearing on March 31 at 5 p.m. at town hall regarding a request to demolish the great house on State Road. It is known in the town records as the Benjamin Lambert-Robinson house, near Boston Hill, built in 1735 and said to have been occupied by the British during Grey’s Raid in 1778.

Easter services at the Chilmark Community Church will be at 9 a.m., with Sunday school at the same time and an Easter egg hunt for the young following the service. All are welcome.

The West Tisbury First Congregational Church will have a 9 a.m. traditional service at the church and at 11 a.m. there will be a community service at the Agricultural Hall, with an Easter egg hunt for children from two through 12 following. All are welcome.

There are two locations for the rabies clinic scheduled for dogs, cats and ferrets on Saturday, April 2. The up-Island site is the West Tisbury Fire Station from 10 a.m. to noon with Michelle Jasny, VMD, doing the first hour and the SeaBreeze Veterinary servicers doing the second hour. The down-Island location is the animal shelter. Please call the animal shelter for more information at 508-627-8662.

And, a reminder that the Chilmark PTO will hold their annual fundraiser tomorrow night at the community center with Johnny Hoy for music plus dancing, raffles, auctions and more for an evening of entertainment. All the funds will benefit the after-school activities that the Parent Teachers Organization sponsors.

The League of Women Voters will conduct a candidate forum on Friday, April 6, at the Chilmark library at 7 p.m. The finance committee and selectmen have been invited to speak to the warrant articles of interest. All are welcome at no charge.

It is not a joke, but the semi-annual collection of real estate taxes for Chilmark is on April 1...in case you need a reminder.

In order to tell you about the Vineyard connection I found in Melbourne, I have to repeat some history I told you about in this column back in 2011. My great-grandfather William Mosher was born and raised with his four brothers in Chilmark in the mid 1800s. His brother, George, went whaling. The ship put in to Sydney where he met and fell in love with the laundress’s daughter, Sarah. He married her in 1865 and they established their home in Sydney and raised 13 children who now have many heirs throughout Australia.

In 2011, one of George’s great-granddaughters traveled to Martha’s Vineyard, the first of that family to return to the old home that still remains in the family. Kerin and I found our great-great-grandparents at Abel’s Hill cemetery and she was amazed to find our third and fourth greats there also.

It took me until this year to get my courage up to follow George across the Pacific to see his newfound homeland. It will always amaze me that we flew over that vast ocean in 15 hours. All the Mosher boys went whaling but we don’t know the names of any of the boats they sailed on. None of them rose in rank or made a career of whaling. Next week we will move on to what I found on the walls of a Melbourne building!

Send Chilmark news to slaterjn@comcast.net.