When I was a kid it seemed normal to attend at least one family reunion in the summer. There were two that I remember as a child and both on my mother's side of the family. The Moulton-Thompson reunion and the Woodward Family Reunion. Sadly it wasn't until the Woodward reunion ended that I learned how it began.
The Woodward reunion began from a family gathering in 1913 to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of my ancestors, Benjamin Jordan Woodward and Mary Emma (Thurston) Woodward. They were married on July 10, 1863 in Atkinson, Maine.
It was from this event that a reunion began and it continued for another 80 years. Reunions were a serious events held annually. Officers were elected, a meal was served, money was raised to cover costs for the following year either by asking for donations or asking for an items for the reunion auction where miscellanous items were bid on to raise money. It was a once a year coming together of parents and children, siblings and cousins that you would not probably see otherwise unless it was a wedding or a funeral and usually it was the latter. Although as a kid I usually hung with my immediate cousins I knew and older kids and youngers kids didn't usually mix unless it was playing baseball or horseshoes. Everyone was expected to bring a dish which you would be assigned to on your reunion invite, a dessert, rolls, coffee or soda, or a salad or maybe a can of brown bread to go with the baked beans that were always the dinner staple. There always seemed to be plenty of food and leftovers to be bid on at the auction. Of course it was the women who worked in the kitchen cooking the food in the hot summer and doing the dishes afterwards and the men to play a game of horseshoes until the official reunion meeting began.
On September 10, 1913, the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Benajmin and Emma Woodward as well as Benjamin's siblings and Emma's surving uncle who was in his 90s at the tiime, gathered at their home in Atkinson to give them a surprise party as the local newspaper recorded.
Those in attendance
1913
Front Row L to R: Thelma Bragg, Marion (Carr) Whitney, mother of Eva Woodward, Erwin Woodward, Rutillus Woodward holding Delma Cochran, Thornton Woodward, Delila Woodward, Clinton Woodward, Orman Pettigrew, (Eva Woodward's nephew)
Second Row L to R: Lillian Brooks Woodward, wife of Seth, holding Harland Woodward, John Woodman, uncle to Mary Emma Woodward, David Woodward, Lydia (Woodward) Gerry, Benjamin J. Woodward, Mary Emma (Thurston) Woodward, Jennie (Woodward) Hutchinson, Emma (Paine) Moulton holding Aubrey "Bob" Moulton
Third Row L to R: Seth Woodward, holding Ramson Woodward, Lela (Woodward) Cochran, Walda Woodward, Harriet (Hudson) Woodward, William Woodward holding Donald Woodward, William Bragg, Ethel (Woodward) Bragg, Theodore Moores, Dorothy Bragg.
Fourth Row L to R: Irving Woodward, Edmond Woodward
Fifth Row L to R: Virginia Woodward, Geneva (Turner) Cochran, wife of Harry, Eva (Whitney) Woodward, Ella (Woodward) Reed, Minnie Woodward, Marion Woodward's mother, Frank Putnam and Eva Reed
Sixth Row L to R: Harry Cochran, Marion Woodward, George Reed, husband of Eva Reed.
The Dinner Table
(my great-grandmother, Emma Moulton on the very right hold Bob)
My great-grandmother, Emma (Paine) Moulton attended the reunion with her youngest child, Aubrey Moulton. As her husband and other children do not appear in the photos, I have to assume, she could not bring her whole family or maybe my great-grandfather did not want to attend. He must have been back at the family farm with the other children, although, the family was also residing in Atkinson, Maine. It may have been a situation where my great-grandmother was taken to the anniversary party by another relative who did not have enough room on their horse and wagon for the entire Moulton clan. A 5 generation photo was taken of her while there with her youngest child still nursing, she needed to bring her son. Sadly her mother, Elsie (Woodward) Paine had died in 1891, so her aunt Lela filled in for her mother, just as Mary Emma (Thurston) Woodward's uncle, John Woodward filled in the generation foir her mother, Emily (Woodman) Thurston
Five Generatons of Family
Left to Right
John Woodman (1818-1918) uncle to
Mary Emma (Thurston) Woodward (1848-1924) mother of
Lela (Woodward) Cochran (1873-1927) aunt to
Emma (Paine) Moulton (1888-1951) mother of
Aubrey "Bob" Moulton (1912-1989)
As time went on and the generations of descendants from Benjamin and Woodward grew, as with any reunion, eventually the cousins become more and distant in relationship. Some family lines stopped attending due to distance to travel or lost interest as cousins who attended were now 4th or 5th cousins. It seemed through the years, one family line would have more members attending and running the reunion. The often resulted in fights, sometimes fueled with alcohol, feelings were hurt and rifts grew. My cousin said when wasn't there a fight at the reunion between siblings, cousins, spouses who didn't get along or gossip about some relative that may or may not have been true, all lead to a decrease in attendance year after year. Eventually the reunion decided to disband.
I'm sure my family's reunion was no different than other eeunions that have come and gone through the generations and years. They would begin with a family gathering and deciding to make a more formal arrangement of gathering once a year. The reunions you see continuing to day are more of people who have an interest their surname's family history or their connections to more famous people of history, like the Alden Kindred of America. Where as our family reunion began with family members who had a desire to see each other at least once a year and not to reserve a family history, and ended when there was no interest in seeing the family of strangers only bound by a common ancestry.
