The Family that Plays Together Stays Together
The earliest curling matches were between rinks of eight players, each player throwing one stone. It is interesting that the change to four players per rink (with two stones each) seems to have occured in about 1851 -- at least for the popular Scarborough / Toronto matches.
Some time later, as curling became more and more popular, it occured to someone to start a "Four Brothers Club" for the "Dominion of Canada" -- that is, rinks made up entirely of brothers, each throwing two rocks. It is probable that this Club was conceived in Scarborough, because, in 1874, well over 50% of the members were from Scarborough. According to one of the "curling annuals", the Scarborough membership was four Clarks, four Crawfords, four Flemings, five Gibsons, five Hoods, five Lawries, seven McCowans, four Secors, seven Thomsons, and five Youngs. The Four Brothers Club also included the Brodies from Quebec, Calders from Ancaster, Hutchisons from Ottawa, McDougalls from Bowmanville, Malcoms from Toronto and Reids from Ayr.
Shortly after this membership roster was drawn up, the pronounced migration from Scarborough to western Canada began. Four of James W. McCowan's sons -- William, Robert, David and John McCowan -- were to soon all relocate to Portage La Prairie in Manitoba.
FromCurling-A Scottish Sport in Scarborough