July 7, 2003 Batavia, NY The Daily News FAMILY RENEWS IT TIES Clan descended from Stafford couple who settled in area in the 1850s By Roger Muehlig-Daily News Staff Writer Robert and Charlotte Joslin Call came to America and settled in Genesee County in the 1850s, but many of their decendants moved on over the the years and never really got together again. A lot of that changed Saturday when relatives from literally across the country got together for a first-time family reunion at Letchworth State Park. 'Gosh, I'm overwhelmed," said Bea Call as she read through an array of family members names on a computer-generated genealogy list posted on the back wall of the parks North Highbanks pavillion. Bee is from the town of Batavia and married to well-known farmer Richard Call. She and her husband had to travel about 30 miles to get to the reunion. Add Stafford, Le Roy and Rochester to the local listings as well. Then the guest list got national, with family members from Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, California all on hand for the occasion. There were 72 in all, ranging in age from 4 1/2 months for Nicholas Call of Morganville to 88 years for Alden Jones of Norwich, N.Y. A lot of them brought old family photographs that most had never seen before said Patty Hankins of Bethesda, MD., who co-planned the event with Sharon Kessler of New Orleans, La. The two are third cousins, but had never seen each other before Saturday morning. They met on the internet, they said, while both were doing genealogy work on their family heritage. They exchanged information and hatched the reunion idea in the process, aware that individual families had held reunions before, but not the entire Call-Joslin clan. "Just in talking, we decided, wouldn't it be great if we had a family reunion, "Kessler said. They went to work from there, pegging their plan for the 150th anniversary of their great-great grandfather coming to America. 'So we decided this was the year to get everybody together,"Hankins said. Hankins, a photographer, brought along photos she had taken on a genealogy trip to England where the Call and Joslins came from. While there, she said, she thinks she found the house-a little cottage in Devon-where Robert Call's family lived in 1851. Research indicated that Robert and Charlotte had worked on the same farm in England, that he came to America in 1853 and she followed in 1854, the same year they were married. In 1858, they moved from Massachusetts to Stafford where Robert became a prominent farmer and prohibitionist, and Charlotte headed the Women's Christian Temperance Union for 22 years. They had two sons and a daughter, An earlier child, Kessler said, had died in Massachusetts. Photos, including the family homestead in Stafford, and information on different descendants were posted on the walls inside the park pavilion. For identification purposes, family members were given name tags listing their lineage from one generation to the next. They even played a "get to know each other" game where they had to go around the room and find out something about a specific relative. The food, a family outing mix of chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, italian sauage, salt potatoes and salads, was catered by Vasile Catering of Hunt. The planners were pleased with the results of their efforts. "Just to get the family to reconnect and sharing the pictures and the stories," said Kessler. "Meeting all these people from the family and connecting to other parts of the family was wonderful, "Hankins said. Quentin Call of Stafford sounded in agreement. "It was a great-great party, well run too," he told the pair as the event was winding down. Said Bee Call: "It worked out very well. It was a special day. Hankins, daughter of Philip and Barbara Hankins, and Kessler daughter of Robert and Doris Call La Due, also got to know each other during the two-year process. They said they had not worries about not actually seeing each other until about a half-hour before the reunion started. We planned it electronically. We knew we"d be here. So we had not problem, "Hankins said. They could have done it without the internet, she said. But it would have been a whole lot harder to track everybody down and it would have been a whole lot more expensive." And, with the groundwork in place, they could do it again. Its going to get easier," said Hankins. Sharon La Due Kessler RESEARCHING: CALL, JOSLIN, HARPER, HENSEL, WHITE, DANIELS, LA DUE