Dear Family and Friends,

Once again, it is time for our annual Thompson Reunion, along with allied families.  This will be the 54th year of the gathering.  Sunday, October 2, 2011, is the date so mark your calendars.  As always, we will meet at Ebenezer Methodist Church in Kemp, west of Swainsboro.  Our speaker this year is cousin Hugh Thompson.  Hugh is a Georgia State Supreme Court Justice.  We are looking forward to hearing him.  The church doors will open at 9:30 for registration and visiting, with the program at 10:30.  Casual dress is fine.

Dinner on the grounds will begin at noon.  As is the tradition, the Robert Thompson family will be serving their delicious barbeque.  Please take a minute to thank them for all their hard work.  There will be several buckets around the picnic area to collect donations to cover the expense of the meat.  Also, bring your favorite dish or dishes to go with the meal.  If you don’t want barbeque, it’s fine to bring other meats as well.  Plates, cups, utensils, napkins and table coverings will be provided.

We received a very generous donation in memory of Tommy Kirkland Nelson to help with roof repair on the church.  This was from the Joe C. Nelson family and we are very appreciative.  Many of you may have missed out on our family cookbook (Cooking at Kemp) last year.  It will be available again at this year’s reunion.  They are still $10.00 each.  It has six pages of the history of our family association.

If you have lost a loved one in the last year, or know someone who has, please send me the names, dates and other information so they can be included in the memorial service.  I need this information right away, as it is difficult to organize on reunion day.  We will also have notebooks to record recent family marriages and births. Thanks so much to those who have donated to the foundation in these hard economic times.  Many of our older relatives are fading away, so its our responsibility to step up to take their place.  Please consider mailing a donation to help with our many expenses, primarily the upkeep of the Historic Ebenezer Church and Cemetery.

I look forward to seeing each of you on our Big Day!  Come and visit with cousins old and new under the towering pines.  Remember, it won’t be as good a time without you there.

Yours truly,
Philip Stephens, President
1083 Woodland Drive
Soperton, GA 30457
912-529-3624
wphilipstephens@yahoo.com

Saturday October 1 Swainsboro Library
1:00-4:00 Sharing Time

Sunday October 2 Ebenezer Church
9:30 Registration, visiting & copying of old photographs
10:30 Program
12:00 Dinner on the grounds

Reubin Thompson Family NEWSLETTER
September 2011

Beasley, Coleman, Flanders Hall, Lumley, Kea, Kirkland, Kitchen[s], Moore, Rowell, Riner, Scott, Sumner, Thigpen, Youngblood & more

Every reunion is special, but last year’s food, weather, humorous and inspiring speaker and crowd were all terrific!!  We enjoyed honoring HALL family members and hope that those who came for the first time will return.  Our gathering this year is on Sunday, October 2, and the speaker will be our cousin Hugh Thompson, a Justice of Georgia’s Supreme Court.

In addition, the family to be recognized this year is YOUNGBLOOD.  According to Larry Ketchum who wrote Youngblood Roots in Emanuel County, Georgia, the family roots were in Germany and later in South Carolina.  Many Youngblood descendants trace their ancestry to Spencer Pinckney Youngblood and second wife Martha Caroline Martin, both of whom died in the 1890’s and are buried at the Youngblood Cemetery, near Kemp.

Many thanks are due to Thompson cousin Ray Kane of West Virginia who attended last fall’s reunion, took photos and posted some on his website www.reubinthompson.org.  If you have not attended, these will give you an idea of what to expect!  Ray is the great grandson of Ferris Furman Youngblood, Sr., and Lillian Irene Flanders. He also has applied for headstones for CSA veterans in the family.  He will be bringing a headstone for J. Henry Youngblood.  Henry’s wife was Melinda Rowell, a Thompson descendant.  We very much appreciate his efforts!!!

Again this year we will have the SHARING SESSION on Saturday, October 1, from 1:00 to 4:00 at the Swainsboro Library.  This is a lot of fun!  Come and share some stories of “days gone by.”  Please bring your old family photographs, as we will have a portable scanner to copy them.  They also can be scanned on Sunday.

Reporting Good News

Dr. and Mrs. L. Gene Thompson (Carolyn) are both in the Oxley Nursing Home at 181 Oxley Drive, Lyons, Georgia 30436.  They just celebrated their 69th Wedding Anniversary.  Congratulations!!  They are doing well and would love visitors.

Vivian Wiegand of Loganville, Georgia, is serving as treasurer of DAR’s Philadelphia Winn Chapter, having joined on Reubin Thompson’s [citizen] service at Kettle Creek.  (She is one of 33 women who have joined DAR on Reubin.)

Emily Connor graduated in May from Georgia Tech with highest honors, her degree in architecture.  She is the granddaughter of Nell Thompson Smith.

Ashley P. Scott was recently named as US Inbound leader for the Private Company Services (PCS) within PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Her new role will involve coordination of work for many multinational companies headquartered overseas. In addition, she was named as the Atlanta PCS Tax Leader.  Ashley has been a CPA for 15 years and has just returned from Tokyo on business in this new national partnership role. She is the daughter of Garry and Rhetta (Thompson) Pittman.  Please send in more good news about our family members!!

Important Announcement

Emanuel County will be 200 years old December 10, 2012, and the Emanuel County Historic Preservation Society is compiling a book with historical narratives of Emanuel County pioneers and their descendants. Possibly you have old letters, diaries, manuscripts, ledgers etc.  Older citizens can write “I Remember When…”.  Your story can be one paragraph or up to 8 typed pages.  Pictures are to be scanned 300 dpi and TIFF format.  Please use older pictures and Times font, 11 point.  This book, Pine Log Echoes, will be 8.5×11 inches, printed on archival paper with hard binding.  The deadline is November 1, 2011.  If you have any questions please call or email Mary Ann Smith at 478-237-9322     diggingupkin@yahoo.com

As usual, at the reunion, we will honor all those who have passed away since our last reunion.  Among those are Betty Thompson Wilson who died January 26 in Clarksville, Florida, Donell Thompson Akers of Statesboro who died April 10, Sibyl Thompson Matthews (the editor’s mother) of St. Simons Island who passed away May 31, John A. “Jay” Youngblood, Sr. who died July 9 in Swainsboro, and Weldon T. Strahan who passed away August 15 in South Carolina.  We send our condolences to all their loved ones and to others who have lost a family member.  In addition, we would like to record the marriages and births in the family.

Finally, consider getting more involved with this association, as many tasks are necessary to communicate with family members and to make the reunion run smoothly.  Contact any officer or director.  We have much to be proud of and thankful for.  Join us in October at the old white frame church to meet cousins and celebrate our unique family heritage!!!

Newsletter Editor and family historian:
Marilyn M. Lear
4106 Riverside Drive
Brunswick, GA  31520
BackRiver@comcast.net
912-265-5916

Officers & Directors: Philip Stephens, President, Rhetta Pittman, Treasurer, Bo George, Clarke Johnson, Marilyn Lear, Allen Thompson, Andy Thompson, Rev. Clarence Thompson, Robert Thompson, Martha Walker.

PLEASE SEND IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES TO HELP SAVE MONEY FOR CEMETERY UPKEEP, OTHER PROJECTS, AND EASE OF SHARING WITH YOUR FAMILY.

Philip Stephens, President
Reubin Thompson Memorial Foundation, Inc.
1083 Woodland Drive
Soperton, GA  30457

Spencer Pinckney YOUNGBLOOD, 1826-1893
Had 10 children with wife Martha C. MARTIN.

James Smith KITCHEN[S],CSA, 1834-1863
Had 4 sons with wife Catherine THOMPSON.

NOTE: you can also download the Reubin Thompson Family Newsletter September 2011 in .pdf format – you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (a free .pdf file reader) in order to read it.