70th Annual Family Reunion by danette

70th Annual Family Reunion

Today was our Family Reunion. My great-grandparents had 9 children (most of whom had children). Today, the son of the youngest son was the host. It was held at a park in Davie, Florida that used to be owned by an individual. I will post some photos this week. It is such a beautiful location and doesn't at all look like S. Florida.

My grandfather (born in 1894?) was the oldest of the 9 children and my dad was my grandfather's youngest (by many years since he was married twice). The youngest of the nine was born in 1917. One of his wives (he was married several times!) was at the reunion today. It's hard to keep track of the generations since there is so much overlap (some of my dad's half-brothers seemed like his uncles to me).

For a long while, our family updated these history books and revamped everything when it was our turn. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent on organizing the extended family information. I am quite thankful that a local cousin of mine is now the "permanent keeper of the books".

I love how each generation proudly shows off the history books to their kids. I took this one in black and white to look a little historical.
Love this shot and the story. We know all about it.... My husband and I are the "record keepers" of my mother's LARGE family who moved to Alberta from the States in 1908 (my great grandfather and several of his adult married and unmarried sons!!) Great fun getting together at our every three year family reunions, usually in Canada.
July 27th, 2013  
How wonderful to have information on your family history and to be able to pass it down to your children. I hope you all are enjoying your reunion. This is a great shot.
July 27th, 2013  
Wow how wonderful is that? Great shot
July 27th, 2013  
Great shot!
July 28th, 2013  
that had to be a lot of fun, plus not keeping the records anymore!
July 28th, 2013  
@aglennc Thais so ,ich for your comments and stopping by. Your reunion sounds like fun. Record keeping is invaluable (and unappreciated!).

@mittens I love our history books. We are going to try to put them on a DVD We have one of the smaller branches, so I get elected when it's our turn!

@lucypics I couldn't have asked for a better "pose"!

@chrismarfil thanks so much, Chris!

@chard it is nice to have one person in charge so things aren't lost. I used to have to do things on a typewriter!
July 28th, 2013  
Lovely sweet shot of sharing the albums! It's so wonderful having family reunions and keeping up the family history. :)
July 28th, 2013  
Wonderful shot and tradition. Family reunion is a serious business. DO you meet every year ?
July 28th, 2013  
cool
July 28th, 2013  
@bardejov Yes, we meet every year. For the past few years, Jly has worked out well. As the family grows and changes, we must change. We have always run it like a business, with rules and meetings.
July 28th, 2013  
This is great in B&W.
July 29th, 2013  
Great shot! That is a huge undertaking and so nice that you have a set of books that are kept up to date. We have reunions every 5 years and it is a mish-mash of info.
July 29th, 2013  
B&W is a great touch for this moment-in-time, Danette!
July 30th, 2013  
Really cool, Danette. Perhaps this photo will make its way into the annals.
July 30th, 2013  
Great capture Danette - love the B&W!!
July 31st, 2013  
Some one's got to keep it straight and wright it down.Some one did the work on my fathers mothers side of the family. I got a hold of it and copied it to my comp. then after my grandmother pasted away I copied her photos of her brothers sisters and family's it was a big family and I don't know none of them. The next family reunion I hope I can get some names to go with the faces. The rest of the branches of the family I have tried to do the same thing but it has been easier for I know most of them. My grandmother got disowned for not marring a Norwegian, So my grandfather didn't have much to do with them. I can see why he didn't the last reunion I went to I didn't feel very welcomed to be at either. Maybe some old photos will break the ice.
August 1st, 2013  
@wildernesswillie We are fortunate to now have some pretty good record keepers in the family. We initially had one who started the scrapbooks from way back when (before I was born). I was the next unofficial keeper as I only re-did everything when it was our turn (no one did much in between). You could tell by the photos which years belonged to my family! Fortunately, it got us through many years (about 20) until my cousin became the permanent secretary. She does an awesome job and it makes the reunion easier on everyone who hosts it. It's too bad when history is lost. In fact, one of my relatives put together a huge family tree on Ancestry.com. Another more distant relative has added me to her family tree. They have a humongous reunion every year but I have never been (it's far). Families are funny with who they "allow" in are not! I felt the same way with my in-laws!
August 1st, 2013  
It's nice that the tradition of family reunions are still carried on by some families! Hopefully it will for many more generations!
August 2nd, 2013  
This is such a wonderful capture and such a special moment! Wow, lovely. Had to fav.
August 3rd, 2013  
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