Memories of Attending Family
Reunions
by
Thomas Clayton Ferguson III
Growing up, one of the yearly family vacations that we often took, was
going to the
annual family reunion that was held for the descendants of Lester and
Laura Ferguson (my Great Grandparents). My family did not make it
every year, but a good
number of them.
The first one I remember, may have been the first, or one of the
first reunions held. It was in Iron River, Wisconsin. I
think I was six
or seven at the time. If my memory serves me right, it was at a
lake and it was a rainy, drizzly day. What I remember most was
that there
were some neat old cars. I also
remember that I thought it was so strange that I was somehow was
related to
all these people that I had never met before.
One of the reunions that I remember being a lot of fun, was when the
reunion that was held in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. My family went
and
camped for the weekend of the reunion. My Dad's cousin Bob and
his wife Barb also were camping. Barb's kids Dave and Ann were
there as well. The part of that reunion weekend that I remember
being the most
fun, was doing things with Dave. We had a lot of fun and got into
a little mischief as well. Which is one of the things that made
it so much fun as a kid of course.
Another fun reunion was one held in Iowa. I think it was in 1988,
if my memory is correct.
Our family camped in Bob and Barb's yard for the reunion weekend.
It was a lot of fun. The thing I remember most about this reunion
weekend, was that I got my first
taste of champagne during a cook out the night before the
reunion. It tasted very good, and probably is one of the best
champagnes I ever
had.
The reunion that I remember most, is the 1990 reunion that my parents
held in
Jackson, Wisconsin. My parents owned land on Tilly Lake and is
where the reunion was held that year. My parents were in in the
process of
building a house there at the time. What made this reunion so
much fun was all the people who came and camped out at the lake for the
entire reunion weekend. It was not just a one day event like many
of the others had been. It was like a big party that ran for
several days, with a big blow out on the last day. There was
swimming, volleyball, campfires. Lots of things to do.
There were a lot of people there for the potluck
picnic lunch on Sunday. It also was a very rare reunion as well,
because my Grandma
Ferguson attended this reunion. I think it may have been
the only time that she went to one.
There were many more reunions that I went to. My parents held two
more in
Jackson as well. But the ones I mentioned here, really stood out
as my
favorites. And over time the reunions went from being a kid, with
the fun of seeing and playing with people you didn't see much, to still
having fun while you caught up with distant relatives. And as I
got older, it was fun learning about the family history as well.
Like many traditions, over time it slowly seemed to fizzle out.
During the 1980's and early 1990's the turn outs usually were quite
good. They ranged between a hundred to two hundred people.
But the last few were hard pressed to get a couple dozen people.
And then they stopped all together.
Last summer when I was visiting my Uncle John and Aunt Cathy we got to
talking about what a shame it was that the family stopped having it's
annual reunion. We talked about how great it would be to have
another reunion. Also about how much more information about the
family history has been learned since the last reunion that can be
shared. One of the other things was how an entire generation has
never attended a family reunion before. Kids never got to
experience the things that I was so lucky to experience.
I was left with really missing the annual reunion. So that's when
I started to consider reviving it for 2009. This time it would be
for all the descendants of Nelson Ferguson (Lester's Father).
Since the advent of the internet, many of the descendants of Nelson
have gotten back in touch, so it only made sense to open it up to more
branches, giving people the oppurtunity to meet new relatives. It
also gives more people to draw from to get a large turn out. But
finding people to invite will still be hard. I know in Lester and
Laura's descendants, people have lost touch over the years and some
family members are no longer with us. So the hardest thing is
finding people so they know that the reunion is back on for 2009.
I tossed around the idea in early fall and with the begining of this
year it went from planning stages to the first two dozen invites being
mailed out earlier this week. I have more ready to get mailed out as
addresses have begun to trickle in. Reviving this family
tradition is going to take a lot of hard work. Looking back the
reunions there are a lot of great memories and some that are hard to
ever forget. And hopefully their will be many more memories made
at future anual family reunions. This should make all the hard
work worth it.