Family reunions are the perfect time to reunite with distant family members you haven't seen in a long while, and to meet distant cousins you might have never known existed. These photos document families celebrating their relationships and common ancestors through family reunions over the years.
Sometimes, because of busy lives, adoptions, or the nomadic nature of people, families are separated - for a year, or a decade, or more. Or fights among siblings or generations divide a family. And sometimes we just forget to connect regularly.
Family reunions are a time-honored way to get together and celebrate our shared relationships. Whether it's traveling to the old homestead or home town or meeting in a new place, it's the coming together that counts. It's fun to relive old times, tell funny stories, catch up on what everyone has been doing, meet new family members, and look at faces that resemble our own. And family reunions are wonderful ways to help build your own family tree history. The stories, photos, and research of other members of your extended family can fill in your genealogical research or help you with a brick wall.
Reunions are always worth the effort and this story proves that:
Most people’s family reunions are like the ones my mom grew up attending, with not just cousins but second and third cousins, distant and close relatives. She recently shared a happy childhood memory of a family reunion that involved her favorite cousin and her dad. Apparently her cousin Julie had long beautiful hair, and my mom’s dad was bald. He had teased Julie for years about giving him some of her hair if she ever cut it. Well right before this particular family reunion, Julie cut her hair. She showed up to the reunion and gave my mom’s dad a ponytail she had saved, just for him, of her long red hair. Well later that night, after it got super dark and everyone was around the campfire roasting marshmallows, this man who no one recognized creeped into the campsite. He had long hippy-like hair and was just kind of standing there, not saying much. It took several minutes before everyone figured out it was my mom’s dad, wearing Julie’s hair. They laughed until they cried and simultaneously created a lifelong memory.
Family reunions are sometimes awkward and almost always inconvenient. They take time, effort, money and planning. As cliche as it sounds though, they are priceless and can’t be replaced with any amount of clocked hours at work. Make them happen and you’ll make the type of memories that give life meaning. - Jessica Harris, July 2013
Whatever the reason for our reunions, it's a joy to congregate with our own flesh and blood. The photos on these pages celebrate past reunions - and may reunite you with family that you didn't know you had!
- Elizabeth Bush (Autrey) McGee
- Wesley Bowen
- Willie Belle (Bowen) McGee
- Luticia Jane (Reedy) McGee
- Frank McGee
- Pearl McGee
- Newton McGee
- Dink Barnett McGee
- Claiborne McGee
- Bert Warren
- Nettie (McGee) Warren
- John Newton McGee
- Mac Bowen
- Garland McGee
- Francis McGee
- Hazel Dean McGee
- Evelyn McGee
- Hugh McGee
- Wilbur McGee
- Sidney Eugene Bratcher
- Matte Bell (Buckingham) Bratcher
- Jimmy Lea Bratcher
- Laura Margaret (Miller) Bratcher
- Merry Eugenia Bratcher
- Thomas Lester Bratcher
- Albert Dale Bratcher
- Terry Glenn Bratcher
- Sherry Lynn Bratcher
- Albert Sidney Bratcher
- Thomas Grady Bratcher
- Louise Bratcher
- Audie Gene Bratcher
- Elmer Bratcher
- Charles Bratcher
- Morris Wayne Bratcher
- Edward Joe Bratcher
