Genealogy Forum NEWS
June 1999

 




Reunion Center

EDITORS' NOTE: Reunion Center IS still a part of GenealogyForum.com, at http://www.genealogyforum.com/gfaol/reunion/.

Summertime is Reunion Time!
submitted by GFSJill@aol.com


There are more family reunions held in the summer than in any other season of the year. On any given weekend you'll find families sharing picnics, meeting in parks and clubhouses, celebrating at resorts and banquet halls. Is your family gathering this season? How can you find out if any of your distant relatives are holding a reunion? What can you bring to or do at your family reunion that will aid your family research? How can you gather ideas and start planning a reunion for your own family in time for next summer?

All of these questions can be answered in part, in the Reunion Center Check the Reunion Announcements area for a familiar surname or two. If your upcoming family reunion is not listed there, e-mail GFS Anita with all the pertinent information. Another option is to plan an online reunion. Get all your family members on AOL together once a month, or quarterly, for a reunion chat. Check the Reunion Schedule by Surname first and if you are interested, contact GFS Joe to set up a family or surname chat in the Family Reunion meeting room.

For ideas on how to encourage family stories, the sharing of family history, and exchanging of family tree information, look in the area entitled:

  • How Do I ...? There are several stories of successful family reunions, websites to check out, reunion-related books and magazines to find and read.

  • The Family Reunion Checklist has some tips that relate to the distribution of family group sheets prior to the reunion as well as other suggestions, all in a handy timeline form. Be sure to read George Morgan's column from last September about planning a family reunion, too!

  • One of the best resources online and by snail mail subscription has to be Reunions Magazine. For a look at the latest issue, visit Reunions Magazine Spring Homepage This great quarterly periodical covers not only family reunions, but class, military, and adoption reunions. Read the online version and find out how you can subscribe now for half price!

    Another way to obtain this magazine (for free) is to participate in the contest held in each issue of the Odom Library's The FAMILY TREE There's a bonny "bony guy" (skeleton) hiding somewhere in the original version (non-internet) of this popular bimonthly newspaper, and if you can be one of the first to find him in the pages and send in a postcard, you might win a free subscription to Reunions Magazine!     The Family Tree, which concentrates on Scottish, Scots-Irish, and Southern genealogy (but has regular Native American, Jewish, and Hispanic origins columns as well) has no subscription price, but donations are welcome. Look for occasional reunion notices in this publication as well!

Today is not too soon to start planning for next year's reunion. With online white pages like Switchboard, message boards, and other accessible services, it's easier to locate kinfolk around the country and the world. Think of the internet as a great "leveler." Families are more spread out than they used to be but in today's online world it is possible to locate folks even if they're not down at the local "Five & Dime" or out plowing the field across the county line. Use the Reunion Center and the internet to help develop a plan, and a list for next summer. Happy hunting and many happy family reunions!

Some of the surnames listed in the Reunion Center as having newsletters or family associations: CALHOUN, CARSON/MAXWELL, CHOATE, COST, HASBROUCK, HITE, HONAKER, HUFFMAN, HUNTSMAN, PAUL, RHEA.

If you have submitted a family association or newsletter listing, and don't see it mentioned in the Reunion Center, please send GFSBrenda@aol.com a reminder.

Thanks for your patience while the Reunion Center listings are being edited!

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© 1999-2005 Graphics By Carol, All Rights Reserved
Content © 1999-2005 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of the Golden Gates Genealogy Forum, Inc. of Armada, MI
The Editors welcome your ideas and articles, success stories, favorite genealogy research tips, comments and suggestions.