Hello to all who are a part of the NIDA/NIDAY/NIDY & von NIDA Families. Here is some important information that I hope will be of interest to you. On 19 Sept 1999, starting about noon, there will be a Family Reunion at the Barboursville City Park in Barboursville, Cabell Co., WV. This is only a few miles from Huntington, WV and very convenient to I-64. This reunion is in its' fourth year, a young but exciting group who decided that it was time that our family became a little better acquainted and break bread with one another. I learned about the reunion while delivering my family history book to cousins that I had never met in the Ohio and West Virginia area . It was a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to spending the day with many of them and meeting more of my relatives in September. Let me invite you and your family to attend this affair if at all possible as we are expecting the biggest turnout ever. I have contacted some of you already and many have promised that they will be in attendance, even from as far away as Oklahoma. This will be an opportunity to meet and talk with many cousins about their family and share interesting stories with each other about them. I would like to see this project expanded to an annual affair with a committee to work on the project each year in different locations of the country. Our family within the past 250 years has scattered throughout the U.S. since our ancestor,Johann David, first came to America. I have been in touch with cousins in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts while researching our family history. It is because of you all that I have spent the last seven years compiling information and publishing The Family von Nida book as a way of preserving that which has gone on before us. With the recent interest in genealogy and the availability of information on the internet, research has become less expensive and much more accessible than in the past. However, there is no substitution for browsing through the old records and archives at the county courthouses, libraries, historical societies, and capital buildings around the country. (If you are getting the idea that I enjoy this sort of thing, you're right!) I know that it is impossible for all of you to attend, but please mark your calendar and consider joining us on the 19th of September. Bring a covered dish, bucket of chicken, pack of soft drinks, iced tea, coffee or whatever you feel like, including a hearty appetite, and a desire to meet other members of your family. Contact me if you would like more information. Hope to see you there. Your cousin, Jack Nida Jonesboro, GA