A Success: Reunion Summary

The Crawford Reunion, held Saturday, June 11th, was a huge success.  With not even two months notification time (to round up names and addresses of relatives we had lost contact with and send information to those we could), we had over 68 people at our event.

The 2011 Reunion Planning Group - top:  Judy, Reba (me) and MaryKay, next: Donna, then: Roger, then: Tammy.  A great big THANK YOU to all of you for all your hard work and wonderful participation on Saturday.

People came from St Maries (Idaho), Jerome (Idaho), Portland (Oregon), Stites (Idaho) and locally from Caldwell, Nampa, Boise, Garden Valley, and Emmett.  There was a lot of visiting, good food to eat, and family albums to pour over.  I believe fun was had by all.

Some of the albums displaying family photos. 

Tomorrow is the Day

Tomorrow is the Crawford family reunion and I am looking forward to visiting with cousins I haven't seen for years and those I have never met.  We are realistically acknowledging that we won't get a lot of genealogy done in just one afternoon, so some of us are meeting on Sunday to share information.

We have people traveling from North Idaho, Portland, and Jerome.  This is better than we expected - we had figured on just a few locals to show up and help make plans for a larger reunion next year (probably a weekend in Cascade, Idaho at the state park there by the lake).  But it looks like we may have around 50 people there (only a small 'drop in the bucket' compared to the how many descendants Elisha and Christina Crawford have). 

I've been following a lot of genealogy blogs lately and have gotten more ideas for my blog.  Many involve adding interesting items about one or two individuals in your database each week.  With over 5000 individuals in my Family Tree Maker, that could last a lifetime.

 

I look forward to sharing the outcome of our event in the coming days.  I hope I have lots to share.

 
Emmett, Idaho looking across at the butte.

My Ancestry.com database is private, but I am willing to share with anyone who emails me with a valid request for information about any of my branches  (Crawford, Tuttle, Dexter, Logue, Washburn, Bennett, Scott, Earle, Wingate).  Comment on this post if you would like to share any info.

Stirring Up Memories as Well as Dust

Searching through old photo albums and boxes and boxes of newspaper clippings, negatives, and loose pictures sure stirs up many memories.  Imagine coming across that snapshot of you holding your first grandchild and next to it a picture of your grandmother holding your mother as an infant.  There's the pictures of loved ones long parted and that stack of pictures of a family event which was the last get-together for a recent lost loved one.

I recommend that everyone do this at least once every year or two.  Check those photos to see if the persons photographed have been identified.  If not, be sure to mark them if you know who is in the picture and when it was taken.  If you don't know about the photo, find a relative who might know.  Don't wait until all those who might know are gone.

 My brother Adrian, holding my granddaughter (lost him in 1999).

My parents, Cecil and Rachel (Crawford) Logue.  Dad died in 1983, after their 50th wedding anniversary, and Mom died in 1993.  (Shown with their grandson, Jacob)

 My sister, Christina, enjoying a family get-together in August 2010.  We lost her in October.  She was my answerer of questions about who, what, where and when.  If I found someone in the death notices that could be a relative, I would pick up the phone and call Christine.  It may have taken her a few minutes, but she generally could recall names and stories about many of our relatives.  I miss her so much and daily wish I had spent more time with her while she was alive.

So find your 'answerers' and appreciate every moment you have with them.