The Barfield Family Reunion

Descendants by blood  (not including the some of the younger attendees)

     Today I attended my first Barfield family reunion, the first one held in many years.  The event was held in Martinez, GA (near Augusta).  In attendance were many of the descendants of William and Frances Boatright Barfield of Emanuel County, Georgia.

     This reunion gave me a chance to meet cousins that I'd heard of but never met, a few of whom I'd communicated with online. It was great to finally meet these cousins in person. There was an intentional genealogical emphasis built into the reunion, so I was also looking forward to extending my family tree.

     I traveled to the reunion with my Aunts June and Charlotte and my Uncle Richard. Both of my aunts brought photos, some of which I'd never seen before, and I brought my laptop. We arrived right as everyone else did, on the dot at 11am. There was a ton of food but most everyone's attention was focused on sharing photos. In only a few minutes we'd taken up an entire picnic table with photo albums and genealogy scrapbooks. Cousin Barbara had brought a number of duplicate photos that she shared with everyone. Cousin Shirley helped me identify a few Barfield "unknowns" in my photos. Everyone remarked on how much Cousin Frank resembled William Barfield.

    After a bit we ate, filling up on chicken, macaroni and cake. I admit, I did not try the pineapple sandwiches.  These are simple sandwiches of white bread, mayonnaise and pineapple.  I have a somewhat irrational aversion to mayonnaise, but understand that these are delicious.  Apparently my grandmother's favorite meal consisted of pineapple sandwiches and fried chicken.

     After eating we had a photo session. We took sets of photos organized by each of William and Frances' children and then a photo of the blood relatives (though some of the younger folks got left out - not sure what happened there). I have to admit, I didn't talk to everyone and can't remember everyone's names.  But, I've put the photos on Flickr and Cousin Anne promised to help me identify everyone.  For more photos, check out the Barfield Family Reunion set on Flickr: here.

     It really was great to be able to attend and meet so many relatives. I'm looking forward to the Craft family reunion next summer (with some of the same folks) and next year's Barfield family reunion.