This past week at the museum we had two sisters who came from out of state to do some research on their family while here for a funeral. My heart reached out to them because they had so many unanswered questions and I thought about how very lucky I am to have such a close family. I did everything I could to find information to answer some of their questions. Summertime seems to be the time for most family reunions, and our family is no different. Though I was just back to Ohio the end of June for my siblings’ reunion, after a call from my Uncle Don from Texas and my Aunt Martha in Ohio, Arnie and I made another trip to Ohio for a reunion of my mother’s family.

To give you a little history, my mom’s paternal family came to America from Germany the summer of 1850. We celebrated our 150th anniversary in America the summer of 2000. I had organized the reunions for 17 years prior to that by myself, with attendance ranging from 300 to 550. But because this was going to be our 150th anniversary, I wanted it to be a very special event and to get as many relatives to attend as possible. So in 1997, at our family reunion, I began to recruit family members to be on the 2000 Hartings Reunion Committee. With a committee of 13 relatives, we began to plan the events for the day well in advance. We held quarterly meetings in Ohio for three years as we planned this very special event. My second book on the Hartings family would be complete in time for delivery at the reunion. We took orders for T-shirts with our family crest and date of our reunion on them, along with mugs to commemorate the day. We sent out postcards two years in advance to all known family members to mark the date for this special event. So by the end of the first year of planning we had secured the date and place for the reunion, the photographer and the caterer and had notified the majority of our relatives. We also planned several family fundraisers to help with expenses.

The second year we began to plan the events of the day. We wanted it to be a day to be remembered by all that attended. We had several members of our committee form a sub-committee to plan games for the kids. Three members of our committee worked closely with the caterer to assure that we would have the type of meal we wanted (roast beef, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, noodles, corn, green beans, relish tray, rolls, cake and ice cream). A couple others were in charge of press releases and working with the governor of Ohio to recognize July 15, 2000, as the 150th Anniversary of the Hartings Family in Ohio. Another member had visited our home farm in Veert, Germany, and would present a slide presentation at the reunion. Another member was in charge of ordering the extra things we needed for the day of the reunion such as a tent that would hold 400 to 500 people, tables, chairs and several porta potties, etc. And another mailing was sent to relatives to keep the excitement building.

The family came over to America with eight children. One died as a teenager. Gerhard was the child who was ill and left in the care of a priest when the family traveled on to Ohio to get settled and was not there when they returned for him. The remaining six — four sons and two daughters — were all married and had children. Until 1999, we had lost contact with the descendants of one of the daughters that had moved from Ohio in the 1870s. With the help of online research and a trip to Breese, Ill., and surrounding towns and some research in the cemetery and a local library, I was able to finally find a group of lost relatives in time to invite them to the reunion.

Going into the third year of our preparation for this reunion we needed to be very organized and each had specific items to follow up on and report back to me.

Letters were sent to more than 1,000 families along with a registration form. Pre-registration was required for the meal, mugs, T-shirts, book, and photo along with payment in advance. The last six months I worked full time on this project. By June 1, we had 920 people pre-paid for the meal and many orders for the other items too. Color-coded name tags were made to show which child they were a direct descendant of and color coded cards told the items they had ordered and paid for in advance. A packet was made up for each family that included a program, meal tickets, color-coded cards for any items ordered and an evaluation sheet. We contacted family members to bring photos and family items to display and had many previous reunion photos on display. We made family charts to post and had a handmade quilt (by my Aunt Sally) that was raffled to help with expenses.

The day was a huge success with more than 1,040 relatives in attendance from 34 states and two foreign countries. We served 940 meals in an hour and there were 135 kids under 10 there who had the time of their life playing games and enjoying the fellowship of family. We had a program, gave awards and recognized the youngest, the oldest and who traveled the farthest, etc. What a blessing to have family! So after that, how could I not go back for a smaller version of something I had worked so diligently to organize a few years back?

I slipped away from the reunion for a short visit with my mother’s oldest sister, Sally. She has Alzheimer’s and is in a memory care wing of a local nursing home. The nurse had said Sally was having a rough day and could not get settled, but she acted as if she knew me. We talked about the weather and the birds outside her window and she told me about tricks she and her sisters had played on their brother, Don and other things from her early childhood. We laughed and giggled and had a nice visit.

It’s not quite the same, making those visits without my mom, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I feel safe, happy and content to be at home with family and to make new memories to pass on to my grandchildren. In my next column I’ll tell how I spent the day before the reunion.

The next big event for the museum will be Autumn in the Village. The date is Sunday, Sept. 21, and will be from noon to 4 p.m. Watch for more details in my column on Sept. 14. We have been very busy with projects in the village; stop by and see our progress. We are building the future by preserving the past.

Pat Mulso is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum in Albert Lea.