We welcome you to our reunion as a friend and genealogyist! We have a lot of related and some unrelated surnames. Ben Mertens [email protected] MERTENS REUNION 2000 Peter Francis Mertens & Anna Marie Rosa Lee (Rosalia) VanGossum & 7 Children: Henry, Frank, Angelena, Leona, Gustav, Maria and Alfonse left Belgium by boat in 1887, arrived in New Orleans and traveled, probably up the Mississippi and Red Rivers, to the area of Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana Where: Kees Park Civic Center, 2450 Highway 28 East (near Hwy 167 & I 59), Pineville, LA (over) When: Saturday, September 30, 2000; all day, bring a covered dish &/or dessert. Contact persons: Tom & Lorraine Mertens, 937 325 3673 2040 Sunset Avenue, Springfield, Ohio 45505; Jack & Carol Mertens, 409 985 7551 2515 Date Street, Port Arthur, Texas 77642; Ben Mertens, 740 477 3830 18418 Winchester Road, Ashville, Ohio 43103 Email [email protected];Karen Mertens Wescott, 303 363 7092 14214 East First Drive #A1, Aurora, Colorado 80011 No admission fee We will present genealogy of nearly 3,000 Mertens-related relatives from the past 270 years. We will present genealogy of nearly 100 relatives Born in Belgium. We will present hundreds of old photographs of Mertens relatives and SHARE COPIES. We will have a high density (megapixels) Scanner & Printer. Let us copy, print & share your photographs (any size up to 8 ½½ by 11), Within minutes - on the spot. No charge; donations accepted to cover costs.. All set up at Best Western Alexandria Tuesday, Sept 26 thru Friday, Sept 29 and at the reunion Saturday, Sept 30. Tell us about your branch of our family. Bring your old photographs and share. You, all your friends and everyone related to these surnames are cordially invited to join us and meet our multitude of descendants: Albertson Andries Antosie Arcangeli Atken Barnett Barnidge Bartholomew Barton Beaubouf Berry Bishop Blackman Bringol Broach Brock Brown Bunner Buquis Bushby Butchka Canales Cash Castillo Chaudoir Chagoyan Cheek Connell Cook Coon Cooney Cooper Cresong Daenen Daniel Dauzat Day Descant Dess Deville DiCola Dinkel Doiron DuFour Dupuy Dutra Eskew Farmer Ferguson Fillette Fleming Fredericks Gagnard Gallent Glentz Godderviendt Godfrey Grantham Guillot Gunnells Hilton Hines Holt Issa Johnson Jones Kidwell Kiels Knoepke Kojis Krause Lamkin Lavin Lichtey Lindsay Loudermilk Lucus Luno Luyten Maginnis Malensek Mann Mathews McCarty McCallahan McDaniel McIntire McKaughan Mertens Michels Micochero Mihaly Milam Miller Milner Mitchel Monroe Moore Monsey Montalbano Morel Molar Monsley Mosley Moulton Mullen Murphy Nelson Newgord Nolan Nollen O''Neal Pardue Patton Paul Paulk Pearson Pentecost Pertson Perry Peterman Peters Plemel Popejoy Posey Rebouche Reeves Robinson Ryder Saucier Screpetis Seav! ey Sisk Smith Sparkman Spaulding Stapleton Straka Strange St. Romain Swearingen Tassin Taylor Thiels Thompson Thornhill Toomey Tutenel Vanderhoeven VanDevelde VanGossum VanVeckhoven Verheyden Vits Viviano Warner Watkins Weatherford Wegner Welch Wells Wescott White Wiley Wittenberg Wright Zacharia Also being presented are 16 families that EMIGRATED TO RAPIDES PARISH and central Louisiana around 1900 (some not related to Mertens) who were BORN IN BELGIUM, whose ancestors go back to the early 1700's: Jammaer, VanLangendonck, DeWit, Goddevriendt, VanMeldert, VanDegaer, Verzwyvelt, Daenen, Tutenel, Stercux, Mues, Andries, VanGossum (J.C.), Michiels, Marien and VanGossum (J.B.) Please pass this information on and give us any additional addresses for mailing. We need volunteers to help us organize, speak & work, before and during the reunion. Anyone who would like to come and share knowledge of our Families: We welcome you!