Family Forever - A Green-Hawkins Virtual Family Reunion!

Graphic (provided by Evite.com) from the invitation to the Green-Hawkins Virtual Meetup

On Saturday afternoon, April 18, 2020, my Green-Hawkins family line had our first-ever Virtual Family Reunion Meetup, and it was great! We all descend from one mixed-race couple, my second-great-grandparents, Nathaniel HAWKINS and Anna GREEN, of Louisburg, NC. Nathaniel and Anna had six children together, between 1864 - 1879, from whom we all descend.

Nathaniel and Anna's six children were born between 1864 and 1879. The last child, Esther, was born the year Nathaniel died. 

This, like all of my family lines, is a disjointed, and mostly disconnected family. For the most part, people only really know their immediate families and their first cousins. This meetup, the brainchild of one of our younger cousins, Jamila, was designed to begin to change that. Working together, for about three weeks, Jamila, our cousin Willa-Jo, and I created an agenda and set up this event for today. Though I've had a Facebook group for this line, for seven years, this activity gave us a first chance to truly meet and interact with each other. Our participants ranged in age from 5 months to 100 years old, and stretched from the east coast to the west.

The Agenda

We had 35 households to RSVP, but I believe at the highest point there were 21 families on the call, with approximately 30 people participating. We heard from our centenarian, first; and then two other family elders - first cousins, in fact - in their 80's introduced themselves and shared some family insights. Next, I gave a very brief history of Anna and Nathaniel and encouraged everyone to read the posts that have been made in the Facebook group, to get caught up. :

Next, we wove through the participants, each giving a brief introduction (including introducing other members of their household) and, if they knew it, telling which of Nathaniel and Anna's children was their direct ancestor. About half way through, we paused, so that I could give a very brief overview of the history; then we resumed introductions. The next thing was (at least for me) one of the highlights of the meetup. My super-talented cousin, Willa-Jo, had prepared a lovely slideshow, using photos that I've posted, over the years, in the Facebook group, along with a few extras I'd sent her. The background music for the slideshow was the song, "Family Forever," which was written by Willa-Jo. (Shameless plug - if you need a beautiful, perfect song for your next family reunion, let me know, and I'll put you in touch with my cousin.)

The chorus to Willa-Jo's song says:

We are FAMILY FOREVER,

Growing together

Loving each other,

Dying never!

And, since I can't show the ppt, here's just a little snippet of the slides.

After the slide show, which was about 11 minutes long, we did a little housekeeping about the family tree, the survey that had been sent out, my blog, DNA testing, and the Facebook group. Also, there was an agreed-upon consensus that we must plan for an in-person reunion, for 2021, so a committee will be forming for that! People then asked a few questions, and it was time to go. We closed with a beautiful prayer, given by my cousin Rochelle. As we all waved goodbye and checked out of the meeting, one by one, I felt the warmth of our Ancestors, as they smiled on us. No matter what, we are FAMILY FOREVER! Thanks for reading!

Renate

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