Last weekend was our Seigal Family Reunion. This is a line on my mother's side. Below is a picture of the Jacob Conrad Seigal Family. Right at the moment I can't tell you which one is my line but his name is William Edward Seigal. Our family has been having these family reunions ever since I can remember and in the '70s they even made it official and formed an organization with bylaws and everything. We haven't kept up with holding official meetings using Robert's Rules, but we do have informal meetings. We hold our reunions every two years.
This reunion was hosted by my mother's first cousin that lives in Kansas so we didn't have all that far to go this time. The reunion was held at their home so first order of business when we arrived was a tour. In the living room was a wonderful collection of clocks and Coors pottery. I had to get the history on the pottery because I didn't know that Coors made pottery. This was something that they did when they couldn't make beer. Quite interesting.
Most of the reunion occurred out back on the deck. Family members slowly started arriving on Friday evening for supper and relaxing conversation.
Looking over the fence on the deck you see a lovely expansive yard. It's about twice the size of my yard but surrounded by trees and bushes making it totally private.
To the right of the picture above is a large open area that family members pitched tents in.
Looking back toward the house from the garden you can see that the deck is over a walkout basement.
In the basement is the host cousin's workshop, he not only collects clocks but is trained in clock repair.
Saturday morning we all gathered back at the house for a great breakfast casserole made in the dutch oven. I'm going to have to check the web for other recipes made in the dutch oven. Sounds like something I could use for this coming 4th of July gathering. Then after breakfast we all formed a convoy and went to an antiques museum.
The main building of the Yesteryear Museum held a display area in half of it and the other half was a kitchen and dining room. While we all toured the facility the hosting family got busy setting things up for grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and fixings and our family meeting.
The main building held just a small sampling of all the old items in the museums holdings. Out back was a huge metal building and going inside you saw that it was packed on two levels.
I took loads of pictures here, but I'm not going to post them now. In the area they called the Print Shop there was old type for presses that I took pictures of so I can use them in graphics creations. There was also a wall of bricks that had different things stamped on them, both words and patterns.
Below is a small portion of a car plate collection. Anita, if you look near the bottom middle of this picture you'll see a "Big Well" plate.
Below is just a picture taken from the second level looking down. You can see half of the car plate collection in the upper right hand corner.
Back in the main building, after our meal, we proceed with planned activities. One thing we always do is have a fund raising raffle. Everyone is to bring items for the raffle then we all buy raffle tickets. This is how we pay for food and renting facilities like Yesteryear. The children had a GREAT time as there were lots of things for them, two tables full of raffle items.
After the raffle we held our regular meeting, the main objective to figure out where the reunion is to be held next year. This has been a problem in recent years with our aging family population. The same cousins graciously volunteered to take it on another time. Back at the house the boys decided to go to the park for a game of disk golf.
At this time I would like to take the opportunity thank our hostesses for all their hard work. They kept us overfeed and happy all weekend and I know we all appreciated all that they did. Here they 're preparing for Saturday evening taco dinner.
The children headed back to the pool and other games. I can't say that heard one single "I'm bored" all weekend and I know that the two grandsons that roomed with us hit their beds hard each night and slept soundly.
Sunday morning we all gathered again on the deck for pancakes and....
...Boyscout omelets. These were made by putting eggs in a Ziploc freezer bag, add whatever ingredients you'd like in your omelet, mush it all up, zip it shut and dip it in boiling water till cooked.
After breakfast family members slowly started heading out to their respective homes. It was a wonderful weekend of visiting, eating, and seeing new sights.
9 comments:
COOL! I see it!!
What awesome pictures.. great deck and yard!! The museum is too - I love museums... :)
I miss family reunions... :(
We had a GREAT time! The reunion isn't as big as it used to be, there's branches that, as the older ones cannont travel, the younger cousins don't attend. It's always fun to show the kids the antiques.
My husband is a horologist like your cousin so I especially enjoyed the picture of the clocks. We have a couple of the same "blacks."
Isn't the family photo interesting. You can certain tell those folks are relatives as they have so many of the same facial features. Have you noticed that people back then had such nice straight noses? That always strikes me when I see old pictures.
I didn't know that's what it was called. I'm just glad he didn't have all the clocks wound, the ticking alone would have been distracting, let alone what all chimes would have sounded like.
I hadn't noticed that about the noses. Do you think the type of photography might have something to do with it? Maybe accentuating the noses?
HOLY COW that is a lot of clocks!! And I seeee the poooooool! :( I miss mine already.
You have so much fun - I wish our family was as close. Family reunions have been banned on both sides of mine!
Hippychic - Collections are fun, aren't they? Sorry about your pool. I wonder if you could subsitute some other kind of pump to run through the filter?
Our family reunions aren't what they used to be. My parents generation were the ones that were the 1st cousins that really held it together and we loose more of them every year.
I may need to talk with your cousin! My husband has an old mantle clock like some of those pictured in this post. He actually wanted to get rid of it ... but I've wanted to keep it since the clock reminds me of my grandparents (how's that for selfish!) Anyway, I keep it stored away since it doesn't run ... and that seems like such a shame! By the way, it looks like your family is very organized with that diverse schedule of activities! Looks like there literally was something for everyone to enjoy!
Email me about the clock, my address is in my "About Me" section. We try to have things for everyone, it's hard to get family to come if the kids don't have fun. I the kids enjoy getting together with their cousins, then they ask to come back.
Hello my name is Barbara Smith I saw your website. My great grandparents on my mothers side were Bertha Oma Seigal and George Scism. When my mother died in 2003 I found a suitcase with pictures of the Seigal Family Reunions of the Seventies and Pictures of Jacob Conrad Seigal. I have been trying to find this family group for years. It also had a note with how to trace your family by Jacob. bsue1958@yahoo.com
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