>From: "Dan Hamrick" <dhamrick@neo.rr.com> >To: Judith Hamrick <judith.hamrick@gte.net> , Lisa Gregory <wvgregory@erols.com> >Subject: Reunion origins >Date: Thu, Aug 17, 2000, 5:18 PM > >Dear Judy and Lisa: > Here from the 1999 Reunion program are excerpts from a history of the Pioneer Family reunion by Bill Gillespie of Charleston. I know that the first reunion was >held on the farm of Moore Hamrick, brother of Adam Dolliver Hamrick. Moore also was >Anna Dodrill's grandfather. I believe it is correct that Anna never has >missed a reunion, having been born in 1923. > It is known that informal gatherings after church services began when >the Hamrick Barn was the only Church between 1833 and 1841. >Excerpts from Gillespie's history: >"The gathering, an informal affair, is held annually the 4th Sunday in >August to commemorate the stalwart pioneer ancestors of the respective >families and to prove the descendants and opportunity to renew >acquaintances. >"The reunion was more or less formally organized in 1928 but meetings were >not held during the war years of 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945. Thus, the 1975 >gathering is either the 47th or the 43rd depending upon whether the four war >years are countd. (Editor's Note: Then the 1999 reunion would be the 67th or >the 71st.) >"The counting, however, is not quite so simple if meetings held before the >organized meeting in 1928 are to be considered. >"The meeting, which may qualify as the first, took place in the fall of >1926. It began with a suggestion by Adam Dolliver Hamrick, father of Mayme, >Portia and Viola, Frank and Otha, that there be a get-together of the James >Miller Hamrick descendants." > > >dhamrick@neo.rr.com >Dan Hamrick >402 23rd Street NW >Canton OH 44709 >Phone: 330-454-2376 > > > >